Groovy Grader

I was introduced to this app this summer when I was at the teacher store about to by an EZ Grader for $7.00. My friend said you know there is app for that! So of course I didn't buy it because this app is free! Groovy Grader is a very easy to use grader. All you have to do is type in the amount of questions and it tells you the grade for the number of questions the students missed. It's free and easy to use, its definitely for me!

Sign Up

Sign Up (very original name!) is an easy way for students, parents, and faculty to sign up for different activities you may need. There are four templates for generic sign up, pot luck, schedule a day, and appointment times. I used this app on Meet the Teacher day with the generic template and had my parents type in their name and email addresses. All I had to do at the end of the day was email the list to me and I could add them to my email contacts. The parents thought it was very cool and it was alot easier for me because I did not have sit and type all of them in. This app is free and can be used for a variety of things. Check it out!

Remind 101

Remind 101 is a free app that is awesome for teachers, coaches, or any group you need to send reminders to. The great thing about the app is that when you create an account it gives you directions to give your students or whoever to sign up and they cannont text you back. This app is useful on your phone because if you all of sudden remember that you forgot to remind the kids of something, you can send out a group message and those who signed up and are apart of your group recieve the message. It is good for when you do not want to look up a bunch of numbers to add to a text and they cannont respond to the message. It is geared toward quick reminders and it works so well. So go create an account for the new school year and get your parents to sign up!

    

Scoot Pad-Common Core

ScootPad is an app that is based on Common Core Standards to help your students improve their reading, math, spelling, vocabulary, and writing skills. The material is indiviualized for each student based on the content they need help in. Teachers and administrators can track the data of each student and as a class to see areas of strengths and weaknesses. Each student recieves a login and password. I used this app last year and the students really got familiar with the type of questions and set up of Common Core questioning. The students also enjoyed the app because there are some games that they play after they finish activities. I like it because they must type in answers and everything is not just multiple choice. 

iTranslate Voice

iTranlate Voice is a way to instantly speak another language voice to voice. This app is very easy to use. There are 36 languages to accommadate any culture of student you may have in your classroom. Once downloaded, all you do is click the record button for English and it will translate it into whatever language you choose or vice versa. I find this app very helpful for my Spanish speaking parents. I have had several parents to not speak English and this app is very quick and easy to pull out to help. We had registration at school this week and this app was used quite often. Check it out!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itranslate-voice/id522626820?mt=8 

Evernote

Evernote is pretty much a notebook, but a lot more organized and digital. I have not used this app yet in my classroom, but I wanted to share how I am going to use it this year. You can make folders with many notes and add pictures and videos. So what I am going to do is use this to for my Guided Reading notes when I meet with my groups. I am able to make a note for each student and continue to add to the note. I can record the student reading and refer back to it or show it to parents to report progress. I can take pictures of the books so that I always know what books we have read in our group and my notes are always there. I will date my notes and add to them throughout the year. I also think this is going to be great to show my reading coach especially if I have questions for her. This is a short tutorial, but there is much more you can do with the app. Let me know if you have used it and if so how? A teacher at my school started this late in the year last year and I am excited to have it instead of a big notebook with lots of papers!

Class Dojo-Classroom Management

     


Class Dojo is pretty awesome app (which is FREE) or it can be fully operated from your computer as well. With Class Dojo you do not need a fancy chart, sticks, tickets, and whatever else we have all used over and over. This behavior management system is kid appealing, easy to use, portable, and includes everything you need to keep tract of behavior for yourself and the parents. At the beginning of the school year, I explain Class Dojo to my parents and students. I enter all of the students names into the system and each of the students have been automatically chosen an Avatar beside their name. The students help me decide what they should be awarded for and what they should have consequences for. After we have decided this I show them what happens when they get so many points during a week and what happens if they are in the negative of points. Examples are change their avatar picture, sit with a friend, no shoes in class, read a book off the shelf, and many more for positive reinforcement. For negative consequeces students have time off recess or silent lunch or I like for them to walk laps around the playground so they are at least burning some energy off! At the end of the week you can print each students report and send it home to be signed for their behavior each week. You can show the students how the class is doing over all or as individuals in a pie graph with how many positives and how many negatives they have. This system works very well because you can take it with you anywhere in your room or outside of the room on your iPad or iPhone. I keep it pulled up on my board so that when the students hear a positive or negative bell all they have to do is look at the board to see if it was them or not. I do not even have to say anything just press a button if someone is off task. I have enjoyed using this app for the past two years! Enjoy!

Tutorial link: http://youtu.be/zDsaXR3Zq6k

website- www.classdojo.com