6 FREE APPS every TEACHER must have

This year at my teacher conference I went to a few workshops that were so super interesting. I learned about a ton of new [and some old] apps that are out there that make a teacher's life so much easier. And let's face it, anything that makes a teacher's life easier is a plus in my book. So since there are so many teachers out there in blogland, I figured I would share some of my favorites with you!! And please, if you have anything to add send me a comment!!

{Remind} - If you've heard of Remind 101, you know remind. It's the "new" version. Remind is an app that allows for you to send text messages to your parents without having to use actual phone numbers. And if you're a middle or high school teacher, you can even use it with your kids. And sign up is super simple. Parents or students text a code to a free number, attach a name and BAM! You're done! There is also a new feature where you can chat one to one with another remind member. So maybe you have a student that needs to make up an assignment before a certain date, or a parent who wanted updates on their child? You can use remind to keep them in the loop! I absolutely love this app and hope you can find it useful, too!!

{Homeroom} - If your parents are just as obsessed with Instagram as their teachers, you need to have this one. Homeroom is a mix between Facebook and Instagram. You can create albums and upload pictures right to the homeroom app. And parents can view the images you post immediately. So, can't take many chaperones on that zoo trip you've been planning?? Take pictures throughout the day and post them to your Zoo album! You're also able to post 30 second videos. So if you have an important accomplishment or something exciting to share with the parents, they won't miss out!!

{Plickers} - Plickers is an app that lets you poll your students without any kind of external devices. All you have to do is print a plicker card for each student in your class. Then, after you create questions, you have the students hold up their plicker to show their answers and you scan the room. Plickers will collect all the data and even graph the classes answers for you in live view. My students love it! The love to see how everyone answered as the results come in, and there is no need to feel embarrassed if they got the question wrong. No one will know who answered what unless you want them to.

{Seesaw} - Seesaw is a digital portfolio app that is kid friendly and the perfect way to keep things organized in your classroom. This is perfect for your parent-teacher conferences because you can keep all of your students' projects in one place. Plus, the kids still get to take them home to show their parents. I don't personally use this in my classroom, but I know teachers who let their students do most of the work with this. Keeping an iPad closeby during small group, kids can take pictures of their progress on computer programs or add their voice to video of how to complete math problems. The possibilities are endless.

{ShowMe} - Ever heard this sentence? "Mrs. {insert last name here} I couldn't do my homework last night because I couldn't figure it out and neither could my parents." Well have no fear....ShowMe is here!! ShowMe is a digital whiteboard where you can record your voice and tutorials for your students to access even when they aren't in the classroom. No more problems doing homework. When students use show me they can watch the process step-by-step as you guide them through it. This is also great for small group sessions. Keep an iPad with access to ShowMe closeby so kids can access tutorials and not bother your small group session.

{Class Dojo} - If you haven't already heard of Class Dojo, go check it out. Go ahead....I'll wait. Class Dojo is the number one way to keep your kids on track. You can download the app on your phone and both students and parents can keep track of the progress at their own leisure. Basically students are awarded points for doing the right thing. How easy is that? And Class Dojo has a chat feature so parents can ask about any possible negative points they might see. And you can turn your points into a spreadsheet to use at parent-teacher conferences. You need to start using this immediately (or well...next year, since this one is almost over).

Linking up for these parties!!

School's Out For Summer!!!

First off...Don't forget about Thirsty Thursday tomorrow!!! I've got a really delicious super awesome summer drink for you tea lovers out there!! And Rachael from Lobster Lovefest is going to be my cohost!!

 

Push play as you read!!

So yesterday was our last day with kids. It was wonderful!! We only had a half day with them which is just long enough for them to come in, get sugared up, and leave!!!

At the end of the day, when all the buses leave, they used to run around the bus circle 2 or 3 times honking and waving. All the teachers stand out front and wave and jump up and down for them. This year things went a little differently and only one bus did it. I was so disappointed because this was so awesome for the kids. It's something they never do throughout the school year and it lets them wave goodbye one last time before summer. 

The last day of school used to be so sad for me. Even as a teacher, when I taught middle school, I would almost tear up waving goodbye to my 8th graders. This year Mike asked me if I was going to be sad. And truth is...I'm not. Being a Specialist we see every kid in the school. That means I see 600 kids a week. Some of them I can't even remember their names. lol. 

I've been thinking a lot about teaching lately. I just wonder if it's something I want to do for the rest of my life. I love it, don't get me wrong. But, sometimes the demands, money struggles, and administration gets to you. Yesterday we had a retirement party for a few teachers leaving our school this year. One had been there for 35 years. My own mother has been teaching for 35 years.

Truth is, when I think about that, I cringe. Not sure that will be me. 

We'll see what life brings me. Maybe I'll make a change some time down the road. Maybe not. 

Linking up with... 

And...

P.S. I love how both these buttons match my blog. hahaha.

Is it over yet?!?

School that is...

Truthfully, the kids are done and I am done. It's getting harder and harder to wake up every morning. Especially with this lovely face beside me...

...notice I wasn't talking about my husband. haha!! 

Actually he works nights which I want to make a post about some time soon so we hardly ever get to spend the night together. Well, "hardly ever" means 15 nights a month if he doesn't have to cover someone else's shift.

But anywhoooo....school...

For those new followers I'm a Technology teacher for kids grades K-5. I get to see each class for 45 minutes a week. I know...jealous?? I spent my time in the regular education classroom so I know what that is like, too. Actually, the challenges are still as frequent, just totally different.

In the regular ed class I had to deal with the same few pain in the ass challenging kids all day every day. With this job, we deal with EVERY pain in the ass challenging kid in the school. Regular ed we had to cram our entire day into one planning session. Specialists often just miss their planning altogether. We are also left out of the loop with EVERYTHING that is going on in the school. We usually find out last minute about the assemblies and field trips and then we miss that class for the week. Which actually sucks because it throws off our schedule and we only see each class 25ish times a year.

...OK rant done...

Anyway. I'm pretty sure the kids expect to play games for the rest of the year because it's almost over and I only get to see them like 2 more times. They literally ask me constantly..."Can we play games?". To which I respond..."Did I tell you you could play games?" and they give me puppy dog eyes and shake their head. Then, I feel bad. Little tricksters...

AND....I just remembered I have to take this down for the summer....

...just to put it back up again next school year. :(

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Thursday is getting closer!! I've had a lot more interest this week so I hope it goes better than the last one!! I can't wait!! Don't forget to link up with us this week with your favorite beer, wine, or cocktail. Remember, it's meant to just be an easy way to get ideas for the weekend. If you want to post an elaborate delicious drink that's fine, but something really easy is cool too!!

My cohost this week is Alicia from Brew Mama!! She is so awesome and the perfect cohost for Thirsty Thursday!! Head on over to her page and check her out!! She has had a rough day so I'm sure she could use some love!!

It's Teacher Appreciation Week!!

First off, don't forget to linkup with me tomorrow for Thirsty Thursday!! Just post a cocktail recipe, good beer, or delicious wine and grab a button from my sidebar. Then come back over here and add your link!!

OK, so back to this post....

I'm a teacher. I teach technology to kids from Kindergarten to fifth grade.

I LOVE it, but I also hate it, but I love it. :) It really depends on the class and the day. Some days can be awesome and some days can be brutal. But, I only have each class for 45 minutes so I can ditch those bratty difficult ones for a whole week after that.

This week is Teacher Appreciate Week.

Let me start by saying that I am very appreciative of everything that is provided for us during Teacher Appreciation week. Our PTA does a great job of providing us with luncheons and gifts. This week we have something special every day.

I do have one quick complaint, however.

It's all unhealthy!!! That doesn't help my horrible self-control!!

Yesterday the PTA provided us with a CANDY BAR!! Not like a Milky Way candy bar...a whole table full of various kinds of candy. And I'm not talking snack size...FULL SIZE CANDY BARS!! With bags to fill up!!

I may just be the cheapest person you will ever meet. So when I see an entire table full of free shiz in front of me, panic!! Sad part is, I really don't even eat candy. But...it's free...and it's there...so...

I brought home a pack of M&M's for Mike and grabbed a Milky Way for myself. Then, a couple fun size Snickers. I did eat both the Snickers but the Milky Way is still in tact.

Not bad, right!! I made it!! AND...the Teacher's Lounge is right next to my room, so it would have been so easy to sneak over there.

But...I held my ground and made it through...

...until today...

...IT WAS BACK!!

I guess we didn't eat enough of it. And this time there were Skittles. Skittles just may be my weakness. So, I vowed to only take a little spoonful. And then when that was gone, I took another. Then it was lunchtime so I took another.

And finally...

I grabbed a bag...

Tomorrow we have a baked potato bar. I'll let you know how that one goes...

And on that note, I'll leave you with last night's post workout fail...

...I should probably just stop opening the fridge...

DIY Scratch-off

These DID NOT turn out the way I thought they were going to. I, however, did not follow the directions exactly, as usual, so it could be my fault. 

Since I am at one school this year I have developed an incentive program with my kids. Ever month I choose one boy and one girl from each grade to be my Technology All-Star. These students get to choose a scratch-off to reveal a prize to them. I saw these on Pinterest and figured I would go for it.

The directions seemed pretty simple: Mix some dish detergent with acrylic paint, put tape over the "scratch-off" part, and paint. I, on the other hand, decided I was going to try to even make it easier. Instead of using the tape, I thought it would be much easier if I just laminated these at school. Not sure if this is where my problems came but...

First off, when I painted these this first time, it pretty much looked like watered down paint. I had to literally dab the paint on for it to even remotely cover the letters. This was where I really started getting worried. I have to have these scratch-offs for work on Tuesday. My first set of All-Stars are being announced then. (Can you say procrastinator?) So, I had to make it work. I just figured I would add another coat when it dried so, I left them outside under the fan and went inside.

This is what it looked like after the second coat. I let it dry and decided I would quickly put on another one.

              And finally the finished product, three coats later...











I also want to mention that the acrylic paint I got cost me $0.59 so....it may have been that, too.

Wordle Wall

Wordle is something that my kids and I do in class. I love it and totally reccommend it for any other teachers out there. (Or if you just want to have fun!!) Another great generator much like Wordle is Tagxedo. Mike and I actually used Tagxedo in our wedding for our table numbers. (I'll post a pic when we get the pics back!)

But anyway, I came across this idea from Pinterest one day and thought it would be PERFECT for my Tech classroom. It's a Wordle Wall!!

 I will admit first off that it took me almost 2 days to get it all done, but I probably did it the long way.

In the forum where I found this, the teacher said that she printed the words out and then laminated them. I'm not sure what kind of printer she used, but my printer doesn't print letters that big, so......I went back to 1980 and did it the old fashioned way.

First, I hung bulletin board paper on the chalkboard, used Microsoft Word to create fancy letters and projected the words onto my chalkboard. I traced the letters and cut them out and then laminated them. (This is part of the reason it took me so long to get it done. I had to cut each letter out TWICE. Once from the bulletin board, once from the laminate.) Because I'm a bit of a spacial perfectionist instead of going at it and hot gluing from the get, I decided to tape the words where I thought I wanted them, first.

***That's another little tip. If you have those horrible brick walls that 

NOTHING sticks to, use hot glue!! It works great! Make sure you get the high 

heat gun, though. Guarantee your posters will stay up most of the year if not the whole 

year. The old school blue tacky putty works good, too***

Then, when I finally got it right, I hot glued away! Drum roll please......................................

I am SOOOOOOOO happy with the way this turned out. I also like the fact that I left a lot of room and there is the opportunity to add more words. I can even let the kids help me with this now!! 

Here are a few more shots I took.

Halfway through

Taped up before the commitment

DONE!! Love it!!

Ruffled Bulletin Board Border

So....I have my own classroom this year which is really exciting because I have been traveling to 4 different schools for the last 2 years. Now I have my own place, my own four walls, a door I can shut, and even my own bathroom!! All the other schools I shared my space with the Media Center which is located in the middle of the school with no walls and open to the other classrooms in the school. 2 out of the 4 schools have an open floor plan where only cabinets and bookshelves delineate where the "walls" are. I have the attention span of a flea so this was quite a problem for me. I'm so excited to start this year with my own area that I won't even complain about the fact that my walls leak and there are crickets all over my room. :)

With your own classroom comes your own bulletin boards. I had a few bulletin boards when I taught middle school, but I hate that boring scalloped border. It's just too....flat?? So, while I was searching for bulletin board ideas for my technology classroom, I came across this idea from Peace, Love and First Grade and, since it seemed pretty easy, I thought I would go for it. 

I love bright colors so first I covered my board with a purple tablecloth from Dollar Tree. Another Pinterest idea. It fit wonderfully and it was soooooo easy to put up. No more guessing how big your bulletin board was and adding more to the bottom because the paper they make isn't long enough. I will tell you that I got a tablecloth from another store and those were incredibly see-through. Dollar Tree tablecloths have thick color so what you see is what you get. 

I chose a turquoise blue for the border because, like I said, I like bright colors and I also had turquoise in the rug I put under my desk. This is such an easy thing to do, but it's a little time consuming. However, because I didn't take pictures during this process, I'll use the pics from Peace, Love and First Grade.

Using bulletin board paper, cut long strips however wide you want your border to go across. (Peace, Love and First Grade says you don't need to measure, however, I didn't measure and my border came out all different widths. I kinda like it, but just so you know...)

Then, all you have to do is fold the paper like you're creating a fan...like an accordion...all the way down. (I also thought if you wanted to just leave the strips without folding them and move right on to the fluffing and stapling, that would look good too. Maybe...)

Then, crumple up the paper so that it gives a little more texture. I twisted mine once it was folded and then just pulled the folds apart and scrunched as I pulled. It should look like this...

All you have to do now is just staple and fluff alllll the way down. 

Here is mine halfway done...you can see that the widths change as it goes down. I don't mind it, but I did consider cutting it off when it was done just to make it look cleaner.

And then completely finished...

Photo Source: Peace, Love and First Grade