Bringing Technology to the Library

Part of my job is to help in the Library. I love to find ways to bring technology into the library. Our students were listening to the book Snowflake Bentley and when they were done they created snowflakes online. They had so much fun and we didn't have any paper mess to clean up. They went to Make-A-Flake & Snow Days to create their online snowflakes.

We are currently getting ready to create some things using IPads and Chromebooks with 4th, 5th and 6th graders.

4th grade will be using iPads & the app Toontastic to create their own stories.
5th grade will be using iPads & the app iMovie to create a book trailer of one of their favorite books.
6th grade will be using their Chromebooks & creating a book trailer using the Powtoon website.

Each group will be planning first and then creating.
I found several planning pages to go with each of these.

Toontastic Planning Pages: 

• Planning the Plot
• Toontastic iPad Activities
• Toontastic Resource 
• Toontastic Storyboard

iMovie Planning pages:

• Book Trailer Planning Pages

Powtoon Planning pages:

• Brainstorming
• Powtoon Planning Sheet
• Powtoon Storyboard

Last Year we created Imovie Book Trailers with 5th and 6th graders. You can view them on my youtube channel

10 Ways to Communicate with Parents

Communicating with Parents is very important in the success of our students plus the teacher & parent relationship. When I taught 1st grade and Computer Technology I really started to realize how important this was because I was a parent myself.

Parents want to know what is going on in the classroom and what there children are learning.
They love receiving positive messages either by phone, email, or a note home.
They like to receive photos of their children working and learning as well as having fun while at school.

How can schools and teachers COMMUNICATE better with parents?

There are so many tools available for us now as teachers and educators to communicate better with parents. There are NO EXCUSES!!

1. Email
2. Write notes home
3. Send notes/letters in the mail
4. Make a phone call (BE POSITIVE)
5. Hand out small rewards and certificates to display what the child has done!
6. Remind (use this to sent quick messages, attach files, voice clips)
7. Bloomz (send quick messages, updates, or photos)
8. Website (create one through the school or another site like weebly or google sites)
9. Symbaloo (create links for students to use at home and share with parents)
10. Using your school's Learning Management System (we use Canvas and Google Classroom)