Websites Galore!
Being a 1:1 iPad classroom means that we create and access content via apps however, there are still times that we utilize various websites or app versions of websites. Some of my favorites are listed below.
Teacher/Classroom Sites:
Teacher/Classroom Sites:
GoNoodle- This is one of my most favorite sites to use with my class. As a 1st grade teacher I need to keep my students not only engaged but allow time for movement and brain breaks as well. Enter Go Noodle. This wonderful site has small video clips that give students a quick, yet fun and engaging break. Your class gets to pick a champ (a funny named monster) that will grow every time you complete 10 breaks. My class LOVES when our champs go to the Transmogrifier. Who wouldn't with a name like that?!
ClassDojo - Class Dojo is a website the helps to improve student behavior and engagement by awarding adn recording real-time feedback. You can track behaviors daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. You are also able to print out o email behavior reports. This is an excellent site and there are lots of updates and features always in the works (App available)
- Since I started using this site, ClassDojo has also updated with a parent component and Dojo Stories is to be released in the Fall of 2016
Pinterest- If you're not familiar with Pinterest, you definitely need to be! Pinterest is a great way to visually bookmark and save all of your creative ideas, both your own or those you're collecting from favorite blogs and websites. You can check out my Pinterest boards here. (App available)
Kahoot! -Kahoot is a game based platform that allows teachers (and students) to create quizzes. Creating a quiz is super easy! You can embed images as part of your question, change the amount of time students have to answer questions, and even allow students to earn points. Students can play individually or in teams. My class LOVES using Kahoot! I have created quizzes for math review, fact practice, comprehension questions, and more. If you don't want to create your own quizzes, you can also find quizzes that others have made and either use them as is or duplicate them and edit them to fit your needs. If you use Origo Stepping Stones Math and teach 1st grade- here is a Kahoot quiz I made for a Mod 12 review. Give it a try!
Padlet - Padlet is another of my go to sites. Basically, Padlet is an online bulletin board. You can add text, pictures, video, links, etc. It is super easy to set up a board and just as easy to share the board with your students with either a link or a QR code- you can even embed them into a website or blog. I have used Padlet with some of my guided reading groups (you can see examples here- I link them on my blog for students to easily access at school or from home) I also use Padlet as part of a collaborative global reading project that incorporates Epic Books called #EpicPals. You can read more about it on the blog. Padlet can also be used for digital bibliographies, a place to house various links/videos that you want students to access for research and so much more.
Prezi- A cloud-based presentation software that opens up anew world between whiteboards and slides. One my colleagues has called it "Powerpoint on steroids". Before we changed reading programs, I used this tool to create and present the vocabulary words for each unit to my students. (app available) If you teach 1st grade and use Rigby's Lit by Design, check out an example of my Prezis, you may find them helpful.
Sqworl- Since switching to Pinterest I no longer use Sqworl however, depending on your purpose, you may still find it a great site totexplore. Sqworl is an online boomarking tool that saves a screen capture of each page you bookmark. I found this to be a great tool for my non-readers and beginning readers when needing to get bookmark various sites for their research, etc.
Symbaloo- Symballo is another option for online bookmarking. When saving your bookmarks, you create what is called a webmix. You can look for and save other people's webmixes as well. Sybaloo is another site that is great to use for students. I have a Symbaloo of National Geographic Young Explorers magazines linked on my classroom blog in my "Link for Kids" area for my students to use at home and at Listen to Reading/Read to Self time that was created by Kinderchat. Check it out by clicking here.
Skype and Google Hangout- Both of these are great tools for video conferencing and are probably 2 of the most powerful tools I use in my classroom to connect and collaborate not only with other educators but with other classes around the nation and world. My class regularly connects with other 1st grade classes to play Mystery Skype or Mystery Number Skype. Both of these connections help us to learn more about others and helps my students to see that children around the world are no different than they are.
If your district is a GAFE district you can invite up to 15 friends to join you at one time in a video call. If you start your calls as a "Hangout on Air" you will also be able to automatically archive your call to YouTube for viewing again at a later date/time.
Student Sites:
Pics 4 Learning: This is the site that my students mainly use when we are in need of copyright-free images. To make it easy for my students, I have this site linked on my classroom blog in my "Links for Kids" sidebar so my kiddos don't need to type in url's. This site is also easily accessible my iPad. My students find their images and hold their finger down on the image to save it to camera roll and then embed into apps such as BookCreator.
XtraMath- Fantastic site! My kiddos use this site to practice their addition facts. Students can also practice from home. Best part- the site collects data on how students are doing their facts: which facts they've mastered, which ones they've struggled with, what their %s are for facts under 3 seconds, facts under 10 seconds, facts that took too long and facts they got wrong. Parents also have access to this information. XtraMath also does all the work for you as far as getting parents to sign their kiddos up at home by providing you with a take home letter with clear directions and each child's unique code. I highly recommend this site. I've used it with both of my own kiddos at home over the years with great success. Best of all, it's free!!! Check out my detailed posts about this site here (app available but my students still access through the browser)
