Kahoot and Quizizz are both great ways to gamify formative assessment in the classroom. Each has it’s positives and it’s negatives and each has its place. First, why gamify assessment? it’s motivating it’s engaging it’s exciting Both are FREE and students DO NOT need accounts. Kahoot Quizizz Accounts Teacher yes No Questions Multiple Choice Multiple […]
#coffeeedu
On Saturday I met up with some amazing like-minded teachers for CoffeeEduNJ. CoffeeEdu is a one hour chat, or “unconference”, where people get together and talk about…anything. Learn more about it here: http://www.coffeeedu.org/ There were not only awesome local teachers, but Alice Keeler, the creator was able to come. I learned, I was inspired, I ate breakfast, […]
NJ Teacher’s Convention
The first day of teacher’s convention was full of information. Today I presented on Augmented Reality and QR Codes. While it’s hard to see the benefits of AR in slides, click here to see my notes and ideas. Tomorrow I present on creating and iBook, creation and copyright. Download my iBook that is full of […]
Google Expeditions Takes You Out Of Your Classroom
Today I went from the depths of the ocean to the Moon. I visited the Galapagos Islands, the Colosseum, Antartica, Mars, and Mount Rushmore. I saw Sharks, Pythons, and Polar Bears all from inside the school. Along with students and teachers in grades 2-8, I went on and controlled a number of virtual field trips today thanks to […]
Read & Write
Read & Write is my current favorite extension for Google Chrome. Read & Write describes itself as a tool that will help students build confidence in reading and writing. I am here to validate that claim. Each student has their purple puzzle piece icon at the end of the URL bar. The utility bar pops-up once […]
Favorite Chrome Extensions for Teachers
With second, third, and fourth graders on Chromebooks, I feel like I am all Chrome all the time now. Here are my favorite Chrome Extensions for teachers right now: Read/Write: is so amazing, it deserves its own post later this week. AdBlock Plus: this extensions blocks ads EVERYWHERE on every tab open. Ready to show YouTube […]
I’m Back and It’s Getting Better
I’m BACK! This August I came back to my computer lab looking like this: It’s hard to tell but there are 200 new Lenovo N21 Chromebooks, 40 new iPad Airs, 12 Chromebook Carts, and 4 iPad docking and charging stations. What does all this mean? After two weeks of unpacking, assesst tagging, inventorying, and synching the second, […]
A Makeshift Makerspace
I’ve always wanted a Makerspace; it is what inspired me to look into starting a STEM/STEAM program. The reality is a Makerspace would not get used to its full potential due to scheduling and other things. With 2 weeks left of school I created what I’m calling a “Makeshift Markspace”. I set up a variety […]
STEM Poetry
We are lighting up our poems in second grade! During Poetry Month in April the second graders spend time using ReadWriteThinks interactive poetry websites. They wrote Acrostics, Diamantes, and Haikus. After learning about these 3 types of poems and others in their classroom students worked in small groups to brainstorm as many sources of light as […]
STEM Roller Coasters
My favorite part of the school year this year is probably teaching STEM/STEAM. The curriculum concepts, the thinking skills, and the personal skills the students have learned have made STEM days my favorite days of the week. The last few weeks the fourth graders have been learning about basic physics concepts by building roller coasters. […]