Today I am happy to share that I am taking part in a blogging exchange.
As part of the exchange I'm hosting a guest blogger! Check out her awesome post:
I’m Kristin from iTeach 1:1 and I’m so thrilled to be guest blogging today for Jennifer! This is my second year teaching with 1:1 technology, meaning each student in my classroom has his/her own laptop. I piloted a 1:1 program when I taught first grade last year and now I teach fourth grade with these same devices. We are also fortunate to have five iPads to share and a SMARTboard.
Since I have all of this amazing technology at my disposal, almost all of my Daily 5 centers incorporate some form of technology. Today I’m going to share my (and my students’) favorite techie centers for each of the Daily 5.
Read to Self: I recently subscribed to an amazing free site called Tween Tribune , which has current event articles for kids. I require my students to post a comment to an article that they feel they “connected” with. This provides for student accountability and the kids are motivated by the fact that others can read about their opinions. (Teachers who subscribe to Tween Tribune moderate their own students’ comments to ensure the site is safe for all kids who read it.)
Work on Writing: My students love writing journal entries using Penzu, which is a free online journaling site. They each have their own personal journals, which save automatically. Sometimes I’ll post photos on our class website so they can add those in for entries about field trips, science experiments, and other classroom happenings.
Word Work: Each week I post our spelling lists (regular and modified) to Spelling City. We use the free version, which has plenty of engaging activities for the kids to practice their weekly words. My students take their weekly spelling tests online as well.
Listen to Reading: Our two favorite online storybook sites are Read to Me and Storyline Online . Both sites are free and have great children’s books read aloud by celebrities.
Read to Someone: When I read with my guided reading groups, we use Raz Kids on the iPads. While this site is not free, it has an amazing selection of high-interest leveled books. My guided reading lessons are split up into two days and I see each group twice a week for 20 minutes (except for my lowest group, who gets seen more frequently). Here’s what a typical week looks like: We preview the text and I introduce the skill/strategy in about 5-8 minutes. Then my students read silently at the table while filling out some sort of graphic organizer so I can track their thinking. This is when I do my individual conferencing and remediation. At twenty minutes, we stop and they go back to their other Daily 5 Centers. On the second day, they finish reading the book and we do most of our discussing and re-teaching (if needed).
If you would like to see some of my Daily 5 Centers in action, hop on over to my blog. Be sure to click on the Freebies tab where I have free guided and independent reading activities you may be able to use in your classroom.
After stopping by Kristin's blog check out all the other blogs linked up with Primary Possibilities and make sure to enter my 300+ Follower Giveaway!
