THE Best Online Resource For Teachers...aside from TPT....

I'm linking up with some lovely ladies for helpful hints today!

Click the picture to link up.

Have you heard?

planbook.com

During professional development at the beginning of the school year, I went to a technology training and was introduced to planbook.

This was after I had spend ooddles and boodles of dollars on my Erin Condren lesson plan book.

You know the name. 

It's popular in the teacher/pinterest/blogger world. 

We see one and begin to instantly salivate like a dog hearing the dinner bell.

You're drooling now.

Go ahead.  Get a kleenex to wipe it up and return to this post.

We'll be right here waiting....

Don't get me wrong.  I love my paper plan book.  When it came in the mail, I took tons of pictures as I opened it up from the purty little box. I have labeled, and planned, and graded in the Condren.

But let me tell you why I will not be purchasing a paper lesson plan book next year.

(All opinions are my own.)

I signed up for the one month free trail for the month of August.

It's nice that they give you a trail before paying or giving any kind of credit card information.  

They are not as sneaky as netflix, where you sign up for a free month but also give them your payment information, then conveniently forget which day you need to cancel before the payment......two years later you are still using netflix......sneaky I tell you.....sneaky....

Once you log in, you will need to create your classes.  

Click on classes and enter the subject areas you teach.

It's easy to adjust this based on elementary or secondary teachers.

Mine looks something like this:

Notice it is color coded?

Just as cute as Erin.

Once you add classes, you can edit the times.

For instance, we go to the computer lab on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so I can adjust that setting accordingly on the planbook.

On my paper plan book, I cannot get this specific.  

There is just not enough room to hand write all of the lesson plans.

Once you have your book set up, you can share and link it to other teachers, administrators, or parents.

This feature is too cool!

I can also add standards to my lesson plans easily!

Check it out:

At any time, I can see how many times I have taught the standard over in the right.

(Don't judge....I have not been good about labeling standards with my lessons.  At my school we are not required to put them into the lesson plans.  Inputting standards lasted through the second week.)

Here is what a typical week looks like on planbook.com

I can include homework, links, pdf files, notes to myself, small group information.  

You name it, there's a spot to input it into this website!  

It's amazing!

Notice at the bottom you can attach files?

And the best part?

Next year, I will input my first day of school in the calendar and it transfer all of my lesson plans accordingly.

What a waste of time to rewrite everything by hand!

-----

Now, what if I don't want to teach the same lesson next year?  OR what if my students work at a different pace and I need to extend or bump a lesson back a day?

Don't worry!  They've thought of that too!

When I am ready to print my lesson plans for the week, all I have to do is print to PDF.

Planbook has made my life as a teacher much easier.

It truly is worth it.

Next year, I will not be buying a paper lesson plan book.

Are you willing to take the leap of faith and go online?

Come on.  Everybody's doing it.

Parent Communication Apps

Howdy Y'all!

Have you caught the technology bug yet?

Technology is continuously changing. 

 And it's hard to keep up.  

Especially in the classroom.

I went to a short training during staff development on technology in the classroom.

I found out about two great parent communication apps for teachers, parents, and students.

Have you heard of them?

 

These are both great apps, but they are two very different apps depending on what you are needing for your classroom.

They BOTH are a safe way to contact parents using your phone without giving out your phone number.  

Being a work-a-holic teacher caring educator, I know that if I were to give our my number to parents, I would "taking my work home" in the sense that I wouldn't be able to say no to those late night text or phone calls.  

I need to be able to leave work at the front door.  

Don't get me wrong, I do not mind sending a quick email or answering a question for five minutes, but I can do those things on my own by choice.  

If someone texts me, I would feel obligated to text back.  

Even if I was at dinner with my favorite man.

That's just who I am as a teacher, but I realize that's not always healthy. 

So when I heard about these apps, I was sold!

An advanced way to communicate without compromising my number.

(email is SO 2010!)

It took a while to navigate and figure out which one would be best for me as a teacher.

I'm here to save you some time!

Here's the skinny!

Remind 101!

Remind101 Website

Safe- Yes

Free-Yes

Teachers can text parents- Yes

Parents must send a text to the remind101 app with your username in the message

Teachers can text students- Yes

Great for older students!

Parents/Students can text teacher- No

If a parent or student tries to text back, they will get an automated reply that says "You can't text your teacher!"

Teachers can text individual parents- No

This app works only as a one-way group message.

Teachers can sent picture images- No

Celly

Celly Website

Safe- Yes

Free-Yes

Teachers can text parents- Yes

Parents must send a text to the celly app with your username in the message or they can create an account online.  Note: It's important for families to create a username that you will be able to recognize since you cannot see their phone number or name.   The Jones Family or Sarah's Mom would work well.

Teachers can text students- Yes

Great for older students who have questions about homework assignments!

Parents/Students can text teacher- Yes

This works as a group message system.

Teachers can text individual parents- Yes

Teachers can add individual usernames to an separate message as well as group message the entire class.

Teachers can sent picture images- No

There ya go!  

I hope you will be able to decide which app you want to use.  

I started with Remind101 but realized I really needed parents to be able to send messages back to me.  I switched over to Celly and feel comfortable with it.  

The only thing I hope they add to this app is the ability to send picture messages.

  

I think parents would really appreciate seeing their students in action as they learn.  

Any questions? 

Easy--Peesy Listen to Reading

A while back I stumbled upon a tutorial from
on how to record audio books on iPods. 
Her post has since been removed (for whatever reason), but I found it very helpful and simple to do.

If you have the GarageBand app, you can record yourself reading a book and save the file into iTunes.  VIOLA- you have a FREE listening center for your students.
Here's a rundown on the steps: 1. Open GarageBand and create a new project as Podcast.

2. The only thing I needed to change before clicking the record button was Female Voice.

3. Once you are done recording, send to iTunes by clicking "Send Podcast to iTunes" under the "Share" tab.

4. Add your track to the Ipod and *BOOM* you're done!

(As my students would say) Easy Peesy!

I'm wondering, what kind of technology are you using in your classroom?

Five for Friday!

Happy Friday! 

 I am so excited to be linking up with Doodle Bugs for a fun *new* linky, Five for Friday.

Here is what I have been up to this week: 1.

 I celebrated my birthday (the big 2-5!) at a local hole in the wall fine-dining, authentic Mexican Restaurant with my parents, sister and husband.  Mr. Hubs and I enjoy finding the best salsa in town and have settled for this new-found eatery.

 Yes, my sister brought the ridiculous party hat,s and I was the talk of the town restaurant.  I was VERY embarrassed to have all six people in the restaurant staring at me as our waitress sang me a traditional Hispanic birthday song (Of which I have no idea what she sang about because I do not know any Spanish.   I do know that it might have been about me because mid-chorus she asked what my name was and added it in.)

2.

I taught my students "No Walk. No Talk." as a mini lesson for writer's workshop this week.  I made this anchor chart last year and decided it would still work for this class as well, although I am a much more laid back teacher now.  Here's what No Walk No Talk looks like in my class:

- 10 Minute Mini Lesson

- 10 minute No Walk No Talk where I display this sign.  This allows students to "settle" into their writing and actually WRITE!  It gets them motivated and sets some boundaries for the workshop (ex: stay in one spot!)  It seems a little strict, but after teaching my students the expectations, it promotes engaged writers!  

- 10 minute writing time- after the no walk no talk is over, I go up to the white board where this sign is located and flip it over.  On the other side it is a Writing Time I Can anchor chart which has a few more ideas for writing time (ex: Whisper read your story, talk to your writing partner about a story)

- We end our writing time with 5 minutes of the Share Chair.

3. 

We learned what a resolution is and wrote our own.  This student promised, "In 2013, I will be kind to my brother."

"In 2013, I will do more chores."  (Vacuum and mop included!)

4. 

I added a bunch (28 to be exact) listening stories onto our classroom Ipods for the Daily 5.  I discovered how to create a podcast on Garageband and save the file into Itunes.  It is BEYOND simple.  Now, my students have a free listening center at their fingertips.  I even convinced Mr. Hubsband to read a story, too! Oh, AND I read my first Pete the Cat story to my first graders (Pete the Cat Rockin in My School Shoes) They could not get over it.  They were singing the song all.day.long.  I am never turning back.  I am chanting along with my students: More Pete. More Pete. More Pete.

5. 

I finally completed my donorschoose Thank You Packages.  I had been needing to upload photos, write two impact letters, and send student-written thank you notes.  It's a good thing, too, because my deadline was quickly approaching.  Check that off the list. Hip Hip Horray!

That's all for me.  You should link up and let me know what you've been up to!

Friday Flashback

I am linking up with Teaching Maddeness for a look back at what has happened in the classroom!

Here is a week in photos:

In math, we introduced IPods into our center rotations!
Hip Hip Hurray! 

We learned a new game called Penny Nickel Exchange.

We also added computer centers to our math rotations!  It was a BIG week in First Grade!
(Website: Spacey Math)

Math Puzzles Review.

Listen to Reading with big books!
*Favorite photo*

Word Work with Wiki Sticks

Sorting Letters, Words, and Sentences to get ready for next week's focus lesson:
complete sentences.
(I found this freebie from Heather's Heart.  Click here: Pete the Cat Sort Freebie to get your copy!
 I love her blog and you will too!)

In writing, we added our Special Places Map into our Writer's Notebook!
This firstie picked to add the library.  :)
This idea was inspired by Leach Teach.  Go check out her blog.  You will LOVE her! 

In Science we focused in on Oceans.
Here we made a replica of the Ocean floor complete with mountains, valleys, high and low tides,
and currents (with straws).  

It was a busy week! Add a new student to the mix and trying to teach him 34 days worth of routines and instruction! I am one tired teacher.  But I *LOVE* my students.

They are super sweet and helpful!  Especially to the new student. I cannot tell you how many times I heard someone helping him figure out our routines in First Grade.  It made my job so much easier!  I am so thankful to have such a sweet bunch this year!


Now I am off to see one of my firsties star in his first soccer game.  He invited me at recess yesterday and told me all about how he is going to get to play goalie and wear fancy gloves that makes his hands sweaty! I love their honesty!

What have you done this week?

Link up with me here:   *Flashback Friday*

Technology Overload

A few weeks ago, our classroom received a package.  We had to wait until the VERY end of the day to open it.  The anticipation was driving us bonkers as we stared at the brown fed-ex box.

(Grainy Android Photo)

In the box was TWO IPod Touches for learning!  To say we were ecstatic would be an understatement.  It was interesting to see how many of my firsties could tell me exactly what the technology was and was not. I immediately got lots of "That's an ipod touch, NOT an iPhone." and "You can't call anyone on it but you can play lots of games."and "My sister/brother/aunt/uncle/mom/grandpa/dog/ has one of those!"

Google Image

AND THEN, this past week, our classroom received yet another package.  I received it after school and absolutely positively could not wait until the next day to open in with the kids.  I ripped into this one and found:

A brand-stinkin' new LAPTOP!

At this point, you are probably wondering   Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

I'm about to let you on the  big secrets.  Shhhhh.  Don't tell!

*This new technology came from donorschoose and costs me/my school $0!*

I stumbled upon this website last year when a fellow co-worker told me about it.  She had purchased a new bookshelf for her classroom library AND got her and her teaching partner all new student desks.

Donorschoose is a a website for teachers who create projects based on what their classroom needs.  You will find projects of crayons, pencils, and glue sticks as well as computers, projectors, and furniture.  How it works is any person can donate to your project. Anyone.  Friends, family, co-workers, strangers you've never met, or businesses.  At any given time, you can find an organization to match your donors *dollar-for-dollar*  It is truly an amazing idea.

I set up my account sometime in between my first and second year of teaching, but I never created a project.  I was scared.  I couldn't bring myself to do it because...let's get real.  I don't know anyone with a lot of $.  I didn't want to create a project that was not funded.  I didn't want to fail.

This year, I was relocated to a brand new school.  My circumstances caused me to reevaluate my fears.

When we opened our school doors, there wasn't a single computer in our building that teachers or students could access. 

"What?" You say.  "How can you possibly stalk other bloggers, get on pinterest, check your facebook, or update your twitter write lesson plans, update your online grades, take attendance, or email parents/administrators without a computer?"  

I will be the first one to tell you: You can't do any of those things.

We were told the computers were on their way.  But it was driving me crazy to the point where I couldn't function as a teacher.  I decided to take things into my own hands.  I'm a bit of a control freak self-starter.

I first posted a project for 2  Ipods. I was nervous to put a computer on because I honestly didn't think I could fund it.  

Within 3 days of me posting the project it was funded.  THREE DAYS?  

That was so easy.  They send me a email saying they had shipped my new toys learning tools.

Next, I posted a laptop and Cah-Bam! Funded. Shipped.  

Signed.  Sealed. Delivered. 

The whole shenanigans. 

<I'm almost positive I have exhausted all of my grandmother's generous donor's resources.  And I don't want to push my luck.  I am going to take it easy on the projects for a while.  >

But I'm writing you to tell you that you can and should do it.  Check it out here.

Think about what your students would benefit from the most that you do not have and just ASK.

It's almost that easy.

Now onto a very important topic that I need your advice on....

I do not want to end up like this:

Google Image

 I need to keep all of my hair intact on my head.  But this new technology situation, (albeit: the possibilities are endless for my kiddos and learning.  I'm not bashing it one bit.  I'm grateful for the technology. Really.  I am.  Honest.) it is driving me crazy.

How do you manage to incorporate your technology into your student's learning?

Do you have a pocket chart? A schedule that tells you which students are going where?  Do you let the student's choose?

And how do you teach them to become independent with the technology?  I even have a technology helper, but those poor little firsties just do not have experience with some of it- especially the tape players! "What IS that?"

I currently have 2 Ipod Touches, 1 cd player, 2 tape players, and *will* have 4 computers.

How do I manage it all effectively?

I'd love to know your thoughts :)

-The Frizz in First

P.S. It has been raining nonstop for 8 hours today and my hair is FRIZZ-EE! And I haven't even stepped foot outside.  Yikes!