Happy February!

Tech Talk Tip of the Week

I always like to introduce my kids to new technologies. Each week (usually for Fun Friday) we will try a new tech activity and I will do my best to start sharing those with all of you!

Most recently, we used the app Balloon Stickies Plus as a vocabulary/word work activity during our lit block. The good news? It is f r e e and there is very little prep involved. The bad news? Well..now my kids expect everything to be THAT fun!!! And that's ok..I'll try my best. I am just feeling the pressure from my little love bugs. I took about ten minutes to explain to the class how to manage the app and save the pictures the created. They then worked with a partner to define our spelling words with a picture and a sentence. 

Needless to say the kids has a BLAST with it! No management issues, lots of collaboration, and their depth of knowledge grew with each idea, picture and LAUGH! What's great about this activity is that it can be used for any grade level or subject matter. Checking for understanding and holding the kids accountable is super easy by just looking through the iPads camera roll. Please let me know if and how you decide to use this in your own classroom! Have fun!!! 

Anyway, let me step off my tech nerd stool for a little bit. February has been very busy so far. It is one of my favorite months and thankfully the Groundhog did not see his shadow so spring is on the way!!! Well...that is wishful thinking! We celebrated Groundhog Day with a little inspiration from Cara Carroll. She is just so awesome and a great inspiration to a newbie teacher like myself! 

Here are some of my favorite Groundhogs Day books.

On Monday, we decorated our lockers with a Text to Self connection activity that I found on Cara's blog. They turned out SO cute. We talked about how we feel and what we do when we wake up. Check em' out below!

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 On Tuesday we discussed animal habitats and of course the Groundhog burrow. Students then unleashed their creativity by designed their very own burrows. I even had a "Mermaid Groundhog burrow" full of water and ocean creatures. Their ideas were so fun and it was great to see them all sharing and praising each others ideas. 

Target Purchase of the Week

 If you know me, then you know I LOVE Target..especially the one dollar section. What teacher doesn't? This month, we will use my all time favorite Target product...seasonal erasers! Man these things are SO cute. I use them as rewards for kiddos but my favorite is to use them as counters for math. Each month we get out a new set of erasers and the kids love it. It is nice to switch things up.

Here is my February collection! #nerdalert

As always, happy teaching!