Just when I think I’ve reached my “wow” capacity about what the Internet can do, I’m blown away yet again by something some very creative person came up with!
The new “wow” in my life is Live Binders, and here are the top 4 reasons why:
- It’s FREE
- It’s EASY
- The potential is MIND BLOWING, and finally...
- they give you access to a huge number of other people’s wonderful binders! A virtual library listing fabulous resources that we parents and teachers have wasted an entire day searching for.
I know I have. I sit down early in the morning with great expectations of getting a zillion things done, start my research, and get lost in cyber space only to come up short at trying to find what I was looking for, with little accomplished except a feeling of frustration + a headache.
Sound familiar? And how many times have I heard this frantic complaint on one of my mail rings: “Does anyone know this site… it’s one of my favorites but my computer has a virus/crashed, or the school deleted everyone’s files over the summer!”
LiveBinders solves it all.
You can keep it private and allow only a select few to view your binder, (giving access via a password) or allow the public access. Besides having a library listing of all your favorite sites this is a great tool to use for educating your students!
Your students can find homework assignments, complete research, review articles, view YouTube videos, listen to podcasts, or whatever else you can dream up within the scope of the tools of LiveBinder, as additional design features allow teachers to upload resources in the form of PDF’s, images, presentations, documents etc.
So what are the benefits?
- It’s free
- It’s easy
- They have a bookmark icon that sits on your toolbar to instantly add sites to your binder, and you can add your binder icon to your desktop.
- It’s fun
- It’s something different that your students will enjoy.
- It makes you look wonderfully computer savvy and up-to-date.
- Material and resources are up loadable from any computer, anytime, and anywhere with Internet access.
- Use your own blog to provide students’ access to your binder.
- This is a "new" kind of library for you to use other people’s binders to gather more cool website info.
- Use a binder to create a library of resources for yourself, students, and fellow teachers.
- Use your Twitter and Facebook accounts to share your binders and enjoy the power of networking.
- Total storage per account is 100MB, so you can create multiple binders!
These are just a few of the reasons LiveBinders was selected as one of the Top 25 Websites for teaching and learning in 2010! Click on the link to start one today.
Great Binders:
One of the featured binders for this blog is an awesome summer reading binder made by a mom. She has reading lists, online reading, literacy activities, reading programs & parent tips! Click on the link to check it out.
Many teachers in my mail ring have been asking about "cool apps" for their i Pods and i Pads for the classroom. I even found a binder for that! Click on the link and then click on the "Apps Review" tab. iPod/iPad binder.
User "Sparkley" has also made a binder for Apps. Sparkley has 60 (!) other interesting binders as well as several on Best Blogs! Click on that link.
Finally, I know how many of you love bulletin board ideas. I found an education binder designed by "KB Konnected" who has 73 binders (!) that I think many teachers would be interested in. Click on the link to check out her awesome bulletin board one.
I know you will have a blast checking out the many fun binders on this site as well as making your own.
My binder is entitled Great Sites for Elementary Teachers. It’s private right now, as I’m in the process of building it, for now you can check my LINKS above on the menu bar.
Happy Binder-Building!
Don't Forget!
These helpful "remember" items can be found in the 123-page Back-To-School Packet
Click on the link to view/download it.
I had 4 timers at school. I used them to REMIND me of a variety of things. One of the most important was when I put a child in the Time Out Chair.
Sometimes they were so good about thinking about a better behavior, they forgot how long they had been sitting there.
So that I wouldn't, because of the zillions of other things going on, a timer was a must-have for me!
The timers were also very helpful to signal when it was time to clean up after centers, free play, etc.
I'd get busy working one-on-one with students, or assessing and you know how that time flies. It's easy to forget about the time, and one does not want to be late for recess, lunch and specials.
I also had other things that I developed to help my parents and students remember things... from posters to magnets to assignment books and calendars.
I think teaching organization to your students is an important life skill. My parents have told me they appreciate the reminders and it makes for happier and smarter students; a win-win situation all around.
Here are some fun and easy things that you can do to help yourself, students and parents REMEMBER!
Time:
- Set timers to go off.
- Post times and clocks on the board.
Even tho’ my Y5’s can’t tell time, they can compare and match.
I have 3 times of the day that they are most interested in: When is recess; when is it lunch time and when do we get to go home?
I make 3 paper clocks and laminate them and post them on my white board. Each one is labeled: Recess, Lunch, Done for the day! They can look at the hands of those clocks and can compare them to the hands of our class clock.
It's stopped children from asking me these same 3 questions all day long. If they do; I tell them to look at the clocks and become a detective and see if they can figure it out. I use it as a teachable moment to do some math. i.e., How much longer is it before…
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- Notes:
- Send reminder notes home. Sometimes these are half notes or just a strip of paper the size of a bookmark; sometimes they are a slap bracelet.
- I put notes on children at the end of the day and pin them in the middle of their backs. I find that some parents do not check backpacks.
- Sometimes I run off labels with things that I need to remind parents of on a monthly basis.
- I simply put the sticker on their child’s shirt at the end of the day. Parents have given me wonderful feedback about this form of FYI-reminder.
- Labels save me time and paper and the hassle of having to pin things on children or put things in cubbies, folders or backpacks.
- Parents tell me they take the sticker off and put it on the mirror, door jamb or car window to help them remember.
- Send a monthly calendar home.
- Give students a weekly calendar for them to fill out.
- Send a weekly newsletter home.
- Make "to do" lists and encourage your students to do the same.
Assignment Booklet:
- Empower your students and teach them responsibility by having them keep track of their assignments.
- Write them on the board and then have students copy them down. If they complete them, they check them off. Train parents to ask to see this assignment booklet.
- I’ve made one up for you to run off. Have students glue the cover on a folded sheet of colored construction paper of their choice.
- Glue the cover on AFTER you have stapled pages on the inside of both sides. This way the staples won’t show.
Art Project:- Tying a string on your finger has been a symbol of remembering. For a fun art project, run off my drawing on a variety of flesh-toned construction paper; laminate the paper and have students cut the hand out and tie a piece of yarn or ribbon on the finger.
- Staple the yarn/ribbon or tape it on the back.
- Students can write themselves notes with a dry erase marker, or a permanent marker and use a Mr. Clean eraser to rub their note off, or they can add sticky notes to the back of the paper hand.
- You can make these ahead of time and give them as a gift, or have students make their own.
Reminder Magnet:- Make a “Don’t Forget” Happy Face magnet and hot glue it to a clothespin. Students can help with these, or you can make them ahead of time and give them as a gift.
- Send home the magnet letter with the magnet for parents to jot themselves notes to remember important things.
Posters and Anchor Charts:
- Print the reminder posters and have a wall area where you post important things to REMEMBER, everything from rules like “i before e except after c .” “When 2 vowels go walking the first one does the talking.” or your class rules, or spelling words.
- In this “Remember” section I post who has the Secret Sack (my version of Show & Tell), who has the Snack Sack (Who is bringing in snack, My snack calendar) My “Where Am I?” poster for students who are pull outs and have to be somewhere on certain days.
- There is also a hook hung with two-way tape that holds a set of laminated rainbow cards. (You can pick any kind of die cut card at a teacher’s store and laminate and then number them. ) Above it a sign says: How Many Students Are Here Today? This helps me remember at a glance how many children are in my room at any given time should there be an emergency and my brain leaves my head when bells, sirens, and screaming is taking place.
- I use this as a math extension every morning. We count students together, find that number card, show the card and identify that number, compare it to yesterday’s number and see if it is lesser, greater or equal to?
- If a child leaves with another teacher, the card is changed and then changed again when they come back. If a child goes to the bathroom a bathroom tag is put on top of the number so I know at all times how many children I have and who is where.
- Click on the link to view/print all of these ideas and patterns that will help you remember! Back To School Packet.
I hope you REMEMBER to RELAX for the rest of the summer and take time for yourself!
Thanks for visiting today. I hope you can stop back tomorrow for more back to school ideas. Feel free to PIN anything that you think others will find worthwhile.
"Tell me, and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand." -Unknown
I launch into a big measurement unit during October when we go on a fieldtrip to an apple orchard that happens to have a huge pumpkin patch. We get a class pumpkin.
If my A group picks a short-fat pumpkin, I steer my B group into choosing a tall pumpkin so that we can have a great comparison contrast activity.
I know lots of teachers who introduce measurement, with non-measuring instruments, like how many teddy bears long is the Kleenex box? I just jump right in with rulers, measuring tapes and scales.
The children catch on quickly. I have them choose a partner to measure and they have a blast running around measuring each other and everything in sight.
Click on the link to view/print an I Measured My Friend page.
Later in the year we review measurement again with a Bob The Builder Day.
One of the fun things you can have your students do is make an Isabella Inchworm.
Run off the master on green construction paper. Students can add wiggle eyes and color the face.
Send them off on a measuring adventure to find 3 things that are exactly as long as Isabella.
Have them tally things that they find that are shorter than Izzy and then fill in another tally box that is longer than she is. You can graph your findings.
Another fun activity to do is to weigh and measure all of your students. Find out who is the lightest, heaviest, tallest, shortest and what the average height and weight of all of your students are, as well as the total pounds and inches of the entire class.
You can also graph these results. I keep these statistics so that when I do this activity again in June, we can do all sorts of fun math extensions.
Click on the link to view/print Isabella Click on the link to view/print some measurement Certificates of Praise.
Just like the article before, these will be free for the week (June 23-30) and then roll into a 123-page Back-to-school packet for only $1.79
I also have a cute September Daisy Yarn Keepsake activity that incorporates a child’s height. It’s in the FREE September Stuff. Click on the link to check it out.
Two awesome booklets that make measurement fun are My Scale Booklet and My Measurement Booklet. Click on the links to check them out.
As always, if you have a fun idea that you do, to learn how to measure things, I’d enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com
Happy summer! It’s officially here and what are most of my mail rings talking about? This fall and working on things for the upcoming school year! My husband thinks we’re all crazy.
How does that saying go? 3 good reasons to be a teacher: June, July and August. What lunatic thought of that? You are reading her blog. Guilty as charged.I bet you never thought a teacher would dream up such an oxymoronic ditty! I slapped it on a magnet for Russ Berrie for the sake of earning a few dollars back in the early 80’s, because I knew people who weren’t teachers would buy it.
Teachers of course knew vacations were “stay-cations” for cleaning, sorting, revamping, organizing, making stuff, and going to school to get SBCEU’s, our Masters or staying credentialed!
So I’ve decided to start making short little blogs about school stuff that might be of interest to the at-home “resting” teacher who is just dying to whip together a project or two.
This activity can be found in my Back-To-School Packet
The first little ditty for you to do is a big question mark with question words. I don’t know about your students, but my Y5’s don’t know how to ask a question.
The librarian, after her introduction to the library, says: “Does anyone have a question?” and Corry “asks:” “My mommy reads to me.” Lanie “asks” “I have that book.” The librarian finally says: “We have time for one more question.” And Billie “asks:” “I wanna leave now.
The same thing happens in October when the fire department comes for Fire Safety Month and Aubrey “asks:” “I once saw a fire when…”
Now I teach my students HOW to ask a question and that those questions MUST begin with question words. These question words make wonderful word-wall words too.
Header above question mark poster: “Start a question with these words!”
Now…if you have questions, comments or suggestions; I’d enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com
Make a cute end-of-the year bulletin board with summery flowers that will have your students using all sorts of skills and reinforcing lots of report card standards. Here's how:
Look How I've Blossomed & Grown!
I weigh and measure my Y5's at the beginning and end of the year, so I can do all sorts of math extensions of how much they've grown. This information used to be on their report cards.
They subtract their beginning and ending height and weight, we add everyone's height and weight for grand totals, we graph who was the tallest and weighed the most, and we compare these to last year's totals.
Children go on a hunt to see if they can find things in the room that are as tall as they are, and we guess-timate a list of things that might weigh as much as they do.
If you have weighed and measured your students too, you can include it on their flower, if not simply have them write how else they have grown. Discuss with your students what it means to "blossom".
Brainstorm with them ways they have grown since the beginning of the year. For example, they have not just grown physically, but they are smarter. What new things can they do now? Jot these down on the white board.
This could also be a Venn Diagram of how they are the same and how they are different since the beginning of the year as well.
Run off the petal master on red, orange, yellow, pink, blue, and purple construction paper if you're using white paper plates, and on white construction or copy paper if you're using colored paper plates.
You can have students cut these out, or have some of them pre-cut for younger children.
To add some color to white petals, students can write with a colored marker, or draw some colored lines on the petals. (See photo.)
Each student will need 8 petals, 1 stem, and 1 leaf. (If you want the leaves 3-dimensional then they need 2.)
Have students cut out the petals and write something on each one. If you've kept track of their height and weight, students can incorporate this information on their petals.
The ruler master should be run off on lime or light green construction paper so that you can read the numbers. I like to run off the leaves on an emerald green paper so that there is a contrast.
If you want your bulletin board to be 3-dimensional, have students glue their petals to the front of an 8" paper plate.
Write student's name under their photo, along with the date they started and ended school. I also write the grade they were in above their picture. (See photo.)
Flip the plate over, the flower will then look rounded and the bulletin board will "pop" out at you. If you are using sturdier, colored paper plates, leave them face up, as they are deeper and the edges pop up.
Glue the leaves to the back of the ruler- stem. You can make the leaves 3-D as well by gluing 2 together and folding one half up.
Glue the leaves to the back of the stem and the stem to the back of the plate. Make sure that when they cut out their stem-ruler, they leave some blank space at the top so they can glue it to the plate and not cover their numbers.
You can leave the center of the flower white or you can add colored construction paper circles.
To make the flowers even cuter and more of a keepsake, enlarge your students' school pictures on the copier and have them glue the photo to the center of their flower.
Cover the bulletin board with blue paper. Snip green construction paper and use this as a grass border on the bottom. Add a yellow circle for the sun in one corner.
If you want to make it more 3-D, twist some yellow crepe paper and staple on some strands as rays.
Add your students' flowers to the grass and you're set. Caption: Look how ____________'s Preschool / Kindergarten / 1st grade students have blossomed and grown this year!
Click on the link to view/print the flower bulletin board patterns.
