Are you a phone photo hoarder too? You NEED this!

I use my iPhone to take pictures,   hundreds and hundreds of pictures.  I post some on Facebook and post some here and message a few to people,   but mostly I just hoard them in my phone.   Then I get a message that my storage is limited and I have to go through the painful process of erasing pictures.   Not fun.   

I am not a great photographer,  but I like have pictures of everyday moments - all the little moments that make up a day, a school year, a life.   Most of my pictures are of my own family (I have a lot of kids) but I make sure to take a lot of classroom pictures too - both for instructional and emotional reasons.    My kids love it but I wasn't that great about printing them because ink and photo paper is so expensive.

But then...I learned about Groovebook on the show Shark Tank one night. It is the coolest app I have on my phone now.     The couple that developed it was trying to get some backing for their product - little photo books they are able to print and ship for $2.99 a piece.   They own a printing company and developed a binding method that allows them to ship very inexpensively.   I don't even remember what happened on the show,  but I went to the app store and added Groovebook that night and I am in LOVE.

You have to sign up for a subscription - which is $2.99 a month.   Then you simply upload up to 100 photos a month into the app and a few weeks later you get a cute little book full of your pictures.   They are printed on pretty thin paper - so not the heirloom quality, but definitely good enough for scrapbooking or the things we use them for in class.  They are perforated and dated above the perforation so you can tear them out or just store them something I love for scrapbooking,  because they all stay organized and dated until you are ready to use them.    The first book is your monthly $2.99,  but you can order as many books as you want a month and they all cost $2.99 - exactly $2.99, - no hidden fees, no taxes, no shipping!!!
I have been ordering a book of my family and one of my class each month for the last couple months.  You don't get to pick your own covers,  but they are different each month (and cute!).   

I post my class photos up around the room and plan to let my kids create second grade scrapbooks at the end of the year.   

My Last Classroom Ever??!!

Have I mentioned this is the last year I will have a classroom?   I am moving to the new STEM Academy in my school district and WE DO NOT HAVE CLASSROOMS.   I am completely a little bit freaked out about it.    We are going to have this amazing state of the art building with learning spaces, amazing technology,  beautiful furniture etc.,  but no traditional classrooms - complete paradigm switch.  We will be a PBL campus and I am super duper pumped up about it.   In fact,   I don't think I have been this excited about teaching ever!   I can hardly wait to get started.   My new team is amazing,  our administrators are the bomb.com,  the possibilities are seriously endless...   but every once in a while I get a little flicker of sadness about not having my "own" classroom. It's what I know, and change can be hard,  but I know the trade off will be totally worth it,  but right now I am soaking up my last weeks in MY little ol' room!  

This is an simulated image of what it will look like (it is still being built).   I think it is BEAUTIFUL.   I am so excited about the possibilities my students and I will have in this school!   

Here is what we are up to this week!

We are working with everything fractions in math.   I love fractions!   We have been having a blast,  playing games,  making fraction pizzas, playing with Cuisinaire rods and doing activities from Amy Lemon's Become a Fraction Fanatic Pack. 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Become-a-Fraction-Fanatic-1132229
If you haven't purchased this,  you should.   It is fantastic!  Today we wrote about when half is small and when half is huge.   I love to see the way they think!   They wrote things like half is small when you have half a minute to get down the hall and half is huge when you have to wait a half an hour for lunch when you are hungry... I love them.

In social studies we are beginning our study of wants and needs.    I like to introduce it with my Those Shoes unit.   The book is precious and sweet and hits a nerve with kids.   The little boy in the story has outgrown his tennis shoes.   His school counselor gives him a new pair but they have a cartoon character on them from a "little kid" tv show.   He is embarrassed because all the other kids seem to have the same "cool" shoes.    His grandma explains that they can't afford them but takes him out shopping to try and find a deal.   They end up in a resale shop and the boy finds one pair that are too small.   His grandma explains that they can't afford to buy shoes that are too small - they have to spend money on what they NEED. The boy decides to buy the shoes with his own saved money and his grandma buys him some boring snow boots.   What happens next chokes me up!   Go check this book out!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Those-Shoes-A-Literature-Study-based-on-Wants-and-Needs-556957

In science, we are still fully engaged in our plant unit.    The students are now creating public service announcements on how to take care of plants and why they are important to our lives.   So cute and sweet.   They are story-boarding away!   We have little green sprouts everywhere! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Plants-A-Project-Based-Learning-Science-and-ELA-Unit-1164475

In reading we are just finishing up Amy Lemons The One in the Middle is a Green Kangaroo book study!   She did such a fantastic job with this!    http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-One-in-the-Middle-is-the-Green-Kangaroo-211818 .   My kids are LOVING Judy Blume right now so we are moving on to Freckle Juice next week and I am currently working on an Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great unit.    I love when they start to fall in love with certain authors.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Freckle-Juice-A-Novel-Study-476994

Our Socks Have Sprouted....

I have to admit,  this is the first time I have ever heard this statement - but it was 100% true!  We are having a blast with my plant unit.    I always love the plant unit - but this year is extra awesome because we are doing it as a PBL.   Loving it.  We have plants growing everywhere.

We launched the unit by dissecting flowers.

Our socks are sprouting, as part of an experiment.    We put some old (CLEAN) socks over our shoes and went around into the field behind our school and stomped around.

Then we took them off and looked at what was on them.   SEEDS!(and grass a just a couple ants).   

We cut out the part of the socks that were covered with seeds and grass and buried the pieces in soil.   

A few days later we had SPROUTS!

I am anxious what we will see tomorrow!

We also experimented to see what stems do...

You can see what we are doing this week in this packet.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Plants-A-Project-Based-Learning-Science-and-ELA-Unit-1164475

Flash Freebie! Plant Unit -Free til Midnight!

I FINALLY finished this unit.   I think.    I would love some feedback,  so if you have a few minutes please check it out.   I have it listed FREE until midnight tonight!   

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Plants-A-Project-Based-Learning-Science-and-ELA-Unit-1164475

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Plants-A-Project-Based-Learning-Science-and-ELA-Unit-1164475

My two favorite words ever...

SNOW DAY!   We are off tomorrow.   This is especially crazy because yesterday we were sporting flip flops and short sleeves,  but I am not complaining.   I will be sleeping in tomorrow!

Best thing EVAH! - Kahoot!

I have not blogged in SOOOO long!  I have been exhausted this year in a way I can't even really explain.   I have had a lot of personal stuff get in my way and just haven't been feeling it.   I have thought,  "I need to blog this", many times but just haven't gotten around to it,  but I CANNOT NOT share this! 

Do you know Kahoot?   If not,  you need to.  It is the easiest, most fun way to get a quick read of how your students are doing, and they LOVE it.   You can easily apply it to ANY subject area and use it during anytime during the day.

It works sort of like bar trivia. You go to getkahoot.com  and sign up for an account.   It is completely painless, it really only asks your name and email I think.  You build a quiz (takes minutes) and give it a name.   

You can use it immediately or launch it later.   When you choose to launch it,  project it and students will be given a game pin.

Students can use any platform to log in - cell phones, iPads, desktops, laptops... whatever!    They simply go to the site kahoot.it and type in the game pin and a name or nickname.   They do not sign up for an account,  no passwords, no logging in (woot-woot).   

As they log in, your screen populates so you can tell if everyone is in.   Then you start the quiz.  The questions pop up on your screen and students answer on their device.   If you have a full class set of devices you can do this all at once,  or you can do it relay style or in small groups.   After each question,  a leaderboard is displayed, so students can see who the top 5 are in the room at anytime.   It tells them on their own screen where they rank if they are not in the top five.   They get points for speed and accuracy.   My second graders BEG me to play this everyday.   EV-ER-EE single day.   But I LOVE it!   They are constantly practicing and begging me to do it.   Holla!  

There is also a handy feature at the end that lets you print out how they did (meaning you can take a grade),  and what questions they need to work on.   And you can SHARE quizzes.   Every time to you launch a quiz it gets a new game pin - so you don't need to worry about other people getting onto your quiz at the same time.   

I have used this in EVERY subject now and have only been using it for a week!   I have created a government quiz,  a few math fact quizzes, a quiz on contractions,  the phases of the moon... anything you can make into a multiple choice or true or false answer!

This is LIFE CHANGING people!   Seriously.   I am in love with Kahoot!  Give it a try!