Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Bloomz

I'm so excited to try this in my classroom this year!  A new parent communication app. It is available for free to parents on iTunes and Google Play Store.

  Private to just your parents.  Share pics, make appts, set conference times, send a reminder!   I will update you as the year goes on to how it's going.





Sunday, August 23, 2015

Ziggedy

Teacher friends:
I got the ok to try this for my classroom this year. So far I have I already have $7 from my own purchases. 
Through Ziggedy, your classroom parents, friends, and family, can support your class through their online shopping at thousands of popular retailers. There is absolutely NO COST to you or your supporters.
I also am an ebates user. The other day when I shopped at Kohl's I was able to use both. I went to ebates first, clicked on Kohl's. Then because I had installed the Ziggedy reminder on Chrome browser (Free, gets my class $5 and lets you know if a site has a donation) I was able to click on that too! For my small purchase at Kohl's, I made over $3 on ebates and over $2 for my classroom! Double win!
Like I said, I would highly recommend putting the remind install on your browser. It's not up all the time, but if a site has a donation attached, it pops up in the top and lets you know so you don't miss one!




Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Classroom Library Check-Out System!







Need a great classroom library check-out system? Check out the site that I've been using for the past 3 years!

Put your books into this website and have the kids checkout their books on the computer. You'll know who is picking what and who had a book if it goes missing or damaged.

I love the reports options so I can better track what my kids are reading. We all know it's tough to get track of 20+ kids at the same time!

I was fortunate enough to already have my books inventoried in an excel spreadsheet. However, if you don't it would be an easy job for a parent volunteer to tackle!

I incorporate "Book Selection" into a Daily 5 choice (they can go once a week). This way students are rushed and have time to choose books correctly! Feel free to ask any questions you might have!

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Storylords

 Let me tell you about a hidden gem of a resource.  Something that I use every year and the kids love!  Something that any kid who was taught in WI in the 80's and 90's probably saw!

STORYLORDS!

Produced by the Educational Communications Board (ECB) and UW-Stout in the 80's, Storylords has a hero Norbert who works to fight against the bad guy Thorzuul.  He needs to use the skills he learned in his class as well as help from his sister.

Reading strategies covered include:
Activating Prior Knowledge Before Reading
Connecting What You Know With What's On The Page
Knowing When You Don't Know (In Your Head)
Knowing When You Don't Know (On The Page)
Directed Reading-Thinking Activity
Question-Answer Relationships
Decoding Words in Context
Inferring Word Meaning in Context
Story Mapping
Pronoun Anaphora
Identifying Main Idea and Details
Integrating Comprehension Strategies

These quick 15 minute videos are the perfect addition to your reading comprehension skills lessons.  And because they are from the 80's, plenty of laughs are sure to come too!


I included links to the videos as well as FREE posters in my TPT store.

VIDEOS: Click Here

TPT Store FREE Posters:  Click Here

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Packers 5K - COMPLETE!

You can't have a name like "Teaching in Titletown" without showing a bit of Titletown!  Yesterday, some of my teacher friends and I ran the Packers 5K.  I am NOT a runner but did Couch to 5K this summer with some of the girls to "train" for the 3 miles.  We had so much fun!  We got to run through Lambeau field before the finish line.

Below are pics from before, during and after the race!