Here’s what we’ve been up to!

• Google Earth: Google Earth has some really neat features. Students can check out images and videos taken at the location they are viewing. Virtual field trip! It really helps to get a feel for the daily life of people in the area.
• Edmodo: Edmodo is awesome! We recently started using it in our class, and the kids love it. I add polls, quizzes, and homework on Edmodo, we are becoming paperless! The kids love the “playground” group, where they can chat with each other and just be social. The “Homework Help” group is great because students can post their questions *and* answer their peers’ questions. We just started our next round of Literature Circles, and each group has their own Edmodo group where they can chat about their book and ask each other questions.
• Kindle: The kids love it when I show our read aloud book under the document camera. When there is a word they don’t know, they ask me to click on it to learn the definition or see a picture. About half the kids are reading books on their tablets with Kindle. The only tricky thing is the page numbering … wish they’d fix that. 🙂
• Astrid Tasks: To-do lists which allow you to set multiple alarms. No more late work!
• IXL: Woo hoo! We love this site! Students are practicing math more than they ever have before! Students are practicing their math facts, current and past math topics, and they are even extending their math learning by clicking on topics that they are interested in learning about. Talk about individualized learning!
• WordWithFriends: The whole class plays WWF! I currently have 23 games going … exhausting! Perfect to play anytime there’s a down moment, on the bus ride home, or from … anywhere!
• Evernote: Note-taking, password storage, voice recording!