Typetastic!

I sit at my desk steadily typing away while my students look on in amazement.  "Mrs Bond!  How do you type so fast?" they ask in awe.  I practiced!  

Typetastic!  is a FREE online typing program that uses colors and games to engage young learners.  Give it a whirl!  I am sure that many of your students will appreciate this skill when they are typing up those essays when they get older :)

Qustodio-Device Monitoring

On days when I am feeling particularly exasperated by my children, the quote, "The days are long, but the years are short" has kept me pushing along and has caused me to stop and try to savor small moments with my children.  Unfortunately this summer, one of those small savory moments was discovering in my search history that my children had looked up something that made my cheeks burn.  This wasn't supposed to happen with MY kids.  I mean, I am pretty tech savvy and was sure that I had made our devices "kid safe."  Truth be told...our kids are digital natives, and we have to try to stay one step ahead of them.  After confiscating their technology, I began my search and trials of different parental monitoring apps.  I decided that for now my favorite tool is Qustodio.

Why Qustodio?
1.  I wanted an app that could monitor "search history"....AKA what the heck did my kids Google?
2.  I wanted to be able to shut their device down from my phone instantly.  You know-I asked my loving son to do the dishes and he continued to tap that screen...BAM  screen locks.
3.  I wanted the ability to schedule screen time either by hours per day or by time of day
4.  I wanted to see HOW my kids were using their devices (Netflix, Pokemon, etc.)
5.  I wanted an app that included a filter so that I could try to prevent some of the yucky stuff from showing up.

Qustodio met all of my requirements.  They do have a free version, but in order for me to monitor my multiple children, the $49.95 price tag per year was worth it.

Qustodio does have an app, but it can also be used by logging in to the website on a computer.  Is it perfect?  No.  Could it miss something once in a while?  Sure.  Does having something like this take away my responsiblity as a parent to monitor my children and their technology usage? ABSOLUTELY NOT!  Does it make me feel just a bit better to know that I'm doing what I can to keep my family safe?  Yes.

When I open the app on my phone, I can easily choose which child I would like to check up on.

The Layout is visually appealing and is easily understood.

My favorite tool is being able to click that Block/Unblock button on the bottom right hand corner of the screen.  Once I click block, and the circle turns red, my child's device is locked until I unblock it.

These are just a few of the many features that Qustodio has to offer.  They have a FREE version that allows for you to monitor one child/device.  Give it a whirl, see what you think, and upgrade if you think it is worth it.

Interactive-Road to the Whitehouse

Scholastic has done it again!  Here is an amazing resource that reminds me of an infographic, except that it is interactive.  As you scroll down the page, the "campaign vehicle" drives down the road and pop-ups appear that explain each step from the Campaign Kickoff to the Inauguration.  

Quizizz

Do you like Kahoot?  I LOVE Kahoot, but I was running into an issue (especially with math) with my kids running out of time before they could select an answer.  Kahoot has a maximum time limit of 120 seconds.  Now, one suggestion that the help desk at Kahoot suggests is to make a copy of each question and insert it BEFORE the scored question.  This is a bit much for me, so I decided to look into some alternatives.  Quizizz has become my new favorite.  Quizizz has a bank of member-created assessments, but it has features that Kahoot lacks.  First of all, you can set the time limit to 15 minutes.  Second of all, it is self-paced.  Students move on to the next question once they answer the one they are currently on.  Finally, you can create quiz and give it as homework with a window of time to complete the quiz.  

Do students need an account?  Nope! Just like with Kahoot, students go to the site and enter the code to play :)

Kiddle Search Engine

Kiddle is a safe and kid-friendly visual search engine powered by Google.  This is a much better alternative to "Googling" for our younger students.

Post-It Speech and Thought Bubbles

Sometimes when we are reading a book in class with great illustrations, I'll put a post-it with a speech or thought bubble in the book so that the students can infer what the character is thinking or saying.  I made some templates...feel free to use them :)

Speech Bubble https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7SsbSy9Hn82cmI4ZW1pYlBxSFU/view?usp=sharing

Thought Bubble  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7SsbSy9Hn82LTJFRkR3czFRSGM/view?usp=sharing

Science Snacks

We all know that students learn best when they combine "hands-on" with "minds-on" activities.  Sometimes, however, planning those hands-on experiences can be daunting.  Exploratorium takes the work out of planning simple science experiments.  These science "snacks" are organized by standards, topics, and alphabetically.