From Drab to Flocab {we rap in class}

I've been living in this black hole that is National Boards (I'm telling you, if I don't pass this, I will cry TEARS for YEARS).  

Also, I've been teaching.  And managing.  A lot of classroom management makes for one tired teacher.

One of my saving graces with my charming active and interactive group this year is my Flocabulary subscription.  I'll be honest... when my subscription was up, I really thought about whether it was going to be worthwhile for another year.  I'm usually a big fan of free online resources, but my students last year LOVED using Flocab for vocabulary.  I stuck mainly to using it only for our vocabulary instruction last year in 4th grade.  

So this fall when the time came, I did stop and think.  I tried it a couple times with my 3rd grade class to see if I had the same buy-in...and I did.  Then I spent a little while hopping around and discovered a lot of the videos matched my curriculum, so I forked over the cash yet again. 

WORTH IT.  My class LOVES it!  This year I branched out and we've been using videos for...

...Social Skills

...Digital Citizenship (hey this helps out with that required lesson for my district, yay!)

...Writing

...Reading

...Science (rocks & minerals is coming out soon and we are super psyched about it in 3rd grade)

...Math (multiplication facts, they love it)

So basically I just use it completely the opposite from last year.  Last year I used it strictly for vocabulary instruction, and this year I haven't used the vocabulary component but I've used everything else.  Isn't it weird how different classes require different instruction?  

We watch the same video MULTIPLE times.  I do this because once just isn't enough for students to really get the concept.  Particularly with content specific songs, I do a lot of teaching the content prior to showing the video.  The video is really helpful for reinforcing a topic or important words, as well as helping students to remember it.  

Here's one of our favorites for reading/writing this year:

This year I have even used the quizzes that go with the videos (some of them are pretty helpful if I'm teaching an entire unit).  

Flocabulary has a convenient little special happening right now.  If you sign up for a free 75 day trial (it's 15 more days than any other time of year...so this takes you to mid-late April depending on when you start, of course) and you can sign up your whole school for the trial.  That way you can check it out for FREE for a bit!  Last day for the trial is Feb. 29th, so you can even bookmark it and think about it until then if you want.  

We sing.  We dance.  Students feel like pretty hard core rappers.  It's hilarious for me.  So it's pretty good all around.

Disclosure: This has been written in partnership with Flocabulary; opinions, classroom uses, & money I paid for my own classroom subscription are my own.  

            

Follow RTL On 

Spotify (vs. Pandora) in the classroom

Happy holiday weekend!  Since I'm living in the happy land that is summer break, I'm breathing music during the day rather than flipping on the television.  It's amazing how much more I can get accomplished with music on instead of the tv!  

I love music in my classroom.  When I student taught, the front office of the school had classical or instrumental music playing all day everyday and it was so relaxing when you walked in every morning.  I loved it, and I want my classroom to feel that way as well.  I don't play music constantly, but I do try to have it on at different points during the day.  

Like many, I was first a cd person.  Then I went iTunes for a short while (I still stick to my iTunes for my workouts, but not for classroom use), then I went Pandora.  And I've switched again, to Spotify.  I know Spotify is all the rage right now, but it was less about being trendy and more about moving away from Pandora out of unnecessary frustration.  

Pandora frustrated me for a couple reasons... One, it loaded S-L-O-W on my school computer.  When it finally did load, I'd get about one good song before it had to buffer again.  I'd play it on my phone, which was a bit better but that brings me to Two, it stops to buffer all the time!  I don't know if it's me or my devices, but it drives me bonkers.  It also stops to see if I'm still listening, which is also inconvenient, because I am almost always still listening.  And Three, I feel like the same songs come on over and over on the stations I listen to.  I could find new stations, yes, but even then it was similar.  So I switched.  Although both services appear to be very similar, they do offer some differences that I prefer in the classroom.  Here are a few articles pointing out the main differences in services:

Pandora vs. Spotify vs. Beats: What's the difference?

Forbes

Spotify vs. Pandora

Diffen

Spotify vs. Pandora: Which is better?

Mashable

Spotify is more expensive monthly if you want ad free music (I only use the free version right now).  The pros of Spotify in the classroom are that I can play an entire album if I want to- so if I find an artist I like, I can find more of their music and play it.  Pandora would just switch to a new song next. This also helps with the censoring I like to do ahead of time just in case anything sneaks in there.

Spotify has WAY more music selection, which is especially nice because I like to play instrumental music and there are endless options available.  I especially like to play instrumental pop music while I'm working on my own, because then if someone comes in (student, admin, parent, teachers) I'm not thinking about what the lyrics might be.  (Does that stay on anyone else's mind?  Just mine?)

Here are a few of my Spotify favorite playlists:

Back to School Piano Playlist (by Piano Tribute Players)

Instrumental Pop

Any/All Classical stations

A few of my favorite artists:

Smooth Jazz All-Stars

Nazareno Aversa

The O'Neill Brothers

Piano Tribute Players

Vitamin String Quartet (on Pandora as well- I love them!)

String Tribute Players

Robbins Island Music Group

Recommended Albums:

Songs for the Classroom: Instrumental Music for Reading, Studying, Study Music for the Classroom (by Robbins Island Music Group)

Relaxed Reading 

(by Nature Sounds Artists)

Disney's Greatest (all Volumes)

(various artists)

There are WAY more options out there.  I'd love to hear what you or your teammates enjoy listening to during the school day!  

            

Follow RTL On 

Reading Logs | BiblioNasium Website

Do you do reading logs?

I did them for about two years and then found it to be terribly ineffective for both students and myself as the teacher.  Maybe it was the way I did them, maybe it was because I, myself, didn't see a lot of value in them, or maybe it just plain wasn't working.  I gave up.  My students kept reading.  Those that would have logged tons of minutes still read all the time.  Those that would have logged nothing, still read minimally.  Those that lied to me about it still lied to me about it.

When I did a weekly reading log, I felt like students felt like they had to lie on it in order to turn it in on time and get the "grade".  It was so frustrating.

So I have a love-hate with reading logs.

Then I moved schools and my new school does reading logs.  So I jumped back on the reading log train.  You know what?  I still don't like them.

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL.  How do I keep track of what they are reading while still keeping them motivated to read?

So in true Miss B fashion I set out to find some resources to back up my stance on reading logs, or completely discredit my idea that reading logs are ineffective.  I'm open to whatever.  Here's what I found...

The Effect of Mandatory Reading Logs on Children's Motivation to Read

Journal of  Education Research (Princeton University) 

Students without mandatory nightly reading actually enjoy reading more.  

My Journey with Reading Logs

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 2005

Reading logs ARE EFFECTIVE when combined with ORAL SHARING.  Also, more effective with college students than middle school or high school students.  Go figure.  But I like the oral sharing part, and I'm going to start implementing that in my classroom.

Writing Across the Curriculum: Designing Effective Reading Programs

Sacramento State

Reading program ideas and ways to keep it relevant.  Short and sweet but some good stuff here.

So basically, students don't get anything out of just writing down their minutes each week.  However, they DO get something out of sharing their reading experiences.  We already knew that...right??

In my push to get out of reading logs and into AUTHENTIC reading sharing (no book reports!), I discovered a new website to get students interacting with their reading.

BiblioNasium and why it's awesome

*all opinions are my own and no one is giving me anything because this website is free anyway.

BiblioNasium is a way for students to log minutes, create personal bookshelves, share recommendations, and talk about books... in a safe and school friendly environment.  I'd say the best website to compare it to is Shelfari.

Once your students all have profiles, they can choose an avatar and get started.  You can set up weekly challenges for them based on books read or minutes read (I go with minutes)- and they can log their minutes and see how close they are getting to the weekly goal.  When they log their minutes, they are also logging the book they are reading and how much is read.  At the end of the week or month, you can run a report that shows you all student reading for the selected time.  

That's... no paperwork!  Minutes are already added!  Goals are either met or not met and I can see it at a glance!  Waaahooooo!

Students then have the opportunity to write recommendations and recommend books to friends (other classmates).  These show up in your live newsfeed on the front page.  The newsfeed usually shows a post from BiblioNasium- it could be a book recommendation or an article about reading or just a picture and caption for reading fun.  There is typically a new BiblioNasium post every day or so.  It's not overkill.  You can choose to delete anything in your feed after you read it (yay!).  

When you log in, you see your news feed and this tool bar- 

When students log in they see their news feed and this tool bar-

Students can earn awards when they log in, make a recommendation, etc.  Depending on your settings, they can share recommendations (I keep it to my class only).  They can log their minutes and books, create their own bookshelf of books they have read or want to read, and interact with their classmates for reading purposes.  

A badge on the right will keep track of their books and minutes read since they started logging.

This means students are not just logging their reading, but they are interacting with it as well!  I love when students walk in the room saying things like "I recommended a book to you last night!".  

Sometimes I'll log in during class time just so we can see some of the book recommendations that our classmates have posted.  It's a great motivator.

I didn't discover this website until late in our first trimester, so I only made it an optional way of logging our reading.  Plus, my students still have to write a weekly response so the original reading log still gets sent home every day.  I hope to revamp this for next year to slowly wean the written reading log and migrate to this more applicable version.  Since it's optional this year, I still have a good chunk of kiddos who don't use it because their routine is still with the paper ones.  Hopefully next year we will be using it more in and out of the classroom.  

Teachers can sign up.  Parents can sign up.  Students can log in.  It's good stuff.  Check it out.

I can't just use BiblioNasium and pretend it isn't just an online reading log.  It is.  But it does jump start the authentic reading interaction that I'm looking for.  I'm hoping to do more to provide authentic conversations and oral sharing in my classroom regarding books (not in book report form!).  If you have ideas, I'd LOVE to hear them!  Let's start chatting...about books! 

            

Follow RTL On 

It's Digital Citizenship Week!

Caution!  A ton of free resources ahead!

I knew Digital Citizenship Week was this week.  Then I forgot.  So it's possible that I'll be celebrating it next week.  So if you missed it this week as well, perhaps you can join me in the procrastinator's version of Digital Citizenship Week.

Even though this may not be part of your school or district's curriculum (we are required to teach a digital safety class in our school), it's still super important for kids.  If you use any technology in your classroom, or require the students to do the same, then it's important to teach how to use the internet, apps, etc. safely.

The great part is there are a TON of wonderful, FREE resources available for teaching digital citizenship to students.  I've compiled a few resources to explore now or bookmark for later (possibly next week...or next year?!).


Brain Pop Jr. Video
Brain Pop Jr. offers a great short video on internet safety for primary students.  No log in required, so check it out!


Netsmartz Workshop
Brought to you by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, this website is a great resource for teachers, parents, law enforcement and students of all ages (including tweens and teens!).  It offers teaching resources for teachers, already made presentations, webinars, and even a digital ethics comic for middle-high schoolers.


Safe Kids 
Safe Kids offers an ongoing blog and a bunch of links to help support digital literacy and safety.  Topics range from family cell phone use to photo sharing to cyber bullying.


Connect Safely
The sister site to Safe Kids, Connect Safely offers numerous links and information regarding online safety.  Another bonus- they're behind the "One Good Thing" campaign to spread kindness.  But speaking of online safety, be sure students check with parents before uploading any videos- even if they are in support of kindness!  Safety first!


Common Sense Education
My personal favorite is the Common Sense Education website.  It has complete classroom lessons for K-12 students.  You can access entire printable curriculum for your grade level, or access their online ibooks if your students have immediate access to computers or tablets.  Link up with them on Edmodo or sign up for their enewsletters for updates.  Also, click on the posters below to download and print a poster for your classroom.

Google iKeepSafe

Google also offers digital online safety curriculum for teachers.  This website is chalk full of resources for teachers as well.  Lessons include video, lesson plans, and student handouts for each lesson.  There's also an educator section that includes both elementary and middle/high school information.  For elementary students, iKeepSafe also offers four videos and four full color books (in pdf and flash format) starring "Faux Paw's" (the techno cat's) adventures in online safety.

And as usual, I've been curating my Technology Pinterest board with all kinds of digital citizenship and technology resources.  Check it out for even more good ideas and happy links to digital safety goodness.  

            

Follow RTL On