Spring into April- Four Free Poetry Apps

Hello Friends! It's Erin from The Elementary Darling, and my peachy friends and I are sharing our favorite new ideas to get you through the month of April!

Today I am here to share four of my favorite FREE poetry apps!

I teach first grade and I was searching for the perfect app for younger students to learn about poetry. Thankfully, I came across these wonderful apps from http://www.readwritethink.org/. They are available for ipad and android so they are perfect for any device. What I like about them is the fact that they are easy for the students to use and the app organizes the poem for the student!

1. Haiku

This app reminds the students to count the syllables, and provides a space for them to brainstorm words.

2. Acrostic Poems

This app provides the student with an example of  an acrostic poem. It then leads them through a brainstorming session, and gives hint words for the acrostic poem.

3. Theme Poem

The theme poem app provides the students with different shapes. The shapes include sports, school, and other kid friendly shapes. The students choose a shape and describe that shape.

4. Diamante 

This app also describes what a diamante poem is and takes the students through the steps to create a diamante poem. It even labels each line and what the student should include in the poem.

All of these apps allow you to save them to the ipad, which would make them easy to save to your computer and print or email! This way, if you only have one device , the students could use this as a center or with a partner! Another great resource for poetry apps is this post from Erintegration! 

Stay tuned for more ideas this month from the Peach! And if you try any of these fabulous FREE apps, let me know!

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!

What is GoNoodle and How Does It Work?

Happy Tuesday, Friends!

It's Theresa from True Life I'm a Teacher, and I'm here for Technology Tuesday!

A couple of years ago I kept hearing about this website called GoNoodle. I had no idea what it was other than it offered brain breaks. It wasn't until just last year (embarrassing, I know), did I actually sign up, and start using GoNoodle.

Before I started using GoNoodle, I searched YouTube for kid-appropriate brain breaks that my kids would love. I found 7 or 8 that my class just rotated through regularly. Nothing was wrong with them, except that sometimes YouTube wouldn't cooperate, and it just sort messed up the moment.

Enter...GoNoodle.

What IS GoNoodle?

"GoNoodle helps teachers and parents get kids moving with short interactive activities. Desk-side movement helps kids achieve more by keeping them engaged and motivated throughout the day." (Read more here).

GoNoodle provides many different options for short (or long - depending on the time you have available) movement breaks that get kids up and moving. Some are dances, some are songs, some simulate running, jumping, and some are calming breathing exercises.

How does it work?

GoNoodle is FREE! All you have to do is sign up. There is a paid version, GoNoodle Plus, that gets you access to even more brain breaks, which eventually I might try. For now, the free version has everything we need and more!

Sign up here or click the picture below!

If you're a non-teacher reading this, but have kids, you can still SIGN-UP! You'll be able to keep your kids having fun, and busy for hours! This is also a FANTASTIC resource for homeschoolers! 

I definitely recommend searching through GoNoodle, and watching as many of the brain breaks as you can to get a feel for what you and your class can do. Use the "Demo Class" though, so you're not actually growing your Champ under your new class. They'll be so sad if they miss their Champ growing.

To keep things easy, I name my class by the current school year. I'd never be able to keep up with anything else.

If you're school departmentalizes, or you're a specialist, you can name the class otherwise. For example, if I was the music teacher, I might name a class by grade, then teacher's last name (2nd Grade - Copeland). It'd make it easy to switch to whatever class I was seeing at the time.

How cute are these Champs? And the names? Hilarious. I choose the first Champ, just so we can get started on the very first day of school without ANY delays.

"Champs are the primary motivation system in GoNoodle. Every time you play an activity with your students, you help grow your Champ. When you grow a Champ completely, you get to choose a new one to grow." {For more info about Champs click here)

Your new class is now ready to go. The Champs are always giving some silly little saying or "fact" that the kids get a kick out of!

From here though, I'd recommend heading back to your demo class so that you can actually see some of brain breaks. To do that, just click on "Dashboard" > Demo Class.

Once you're within your Demo Class, you'll see a few different options at the top of the screen.

Once you've seen some brain breaks with your class, they'll definitely have favorites! You may also have some favorites of your own that you want to incorporate regularly throughout the day.

Do you already GoNoodle? I'd love to know what your favorite brain break is!

Are you planning on using GoNoodle for the first time this year? I'd love to know what you're most excited about! Sign up here!

Whether you already GoNoodle, or you're just signing up, I created a a list of rules my class follows as it pertains to brain breaks, as well as a list of some of our favorites! Grab them here or by clicking on either of the pictures below. Enjoy!

Periscope on the Peach!

What is Periscope?
     * Periscope is way to share and broadcast live videos from any where in the world.
     * It is LIKE snapchat  .... but videos!
     * It is linked with Twitter - search the app store for periscope and download!
         *If you do not have a Twitter account - you can sign up for periscope using your phone number
           (see here)

For the classroom -
You can create a separate periscope account and give out your user name to your parents. They can follow you and once you broadcast - chose to broadcast only to followers. **I have not done this** There may be some kinks to work out - practice before going live and don't show faces just to be sure!

Full Disclosure -
I learned about this app while I was in Vegas at the tpt conference. My reaction - another thing to keep track of.... BUT .... In the middle of one of my insomniac moments the other night I downloaded the app and started watching some videos. Now I am kind of addicted. (just a little)

Why I love it -
I have ALWAYS wished that I could visit other classrooms, see how teachers organize things, how they teach content.... this app allows me a glimpse into other classrooms and allows me to see live video of bloggers I have followed for years! I watched Missy Squirrels crochet today, watched Kindergarten Smorgasbord organize centers, and learned about grant writing tips from Jennifer at Rowdy in First Grade. (Talk about some personalized professional development!)

Here are a few graphics to guide you through the app.... There are still some things that I haven't figured out (who gets what colored hearts? I want blue hearts... all. the. time.) I'm not sure if there is a time limit to the broadcast.... And there is a little delay if you are switching from the front camera to the back camera...... AND you have to have some pretty strong internet reception. (trying to periscope inside walmart was a bust....) :)

 I put an x on the globe just because I don't use it at all. If you want to see what is out there - click away friends! 

Thanks for joining me! I hope this has helped! See you on periscope! :) 

Good Peachy morning to y'all.

It's Gary from

 

Today's Technology Tuesday comes to you from a staff development I attended this summer.  I'm going to share with you a program called ThingLink that I think you'll find interesting.

 

You have plans to choose from. The free one allows you to enter up to 100 students, so you could probably use this account for a few years, eh?

 

 

 When you sign up in the free account, you are allowed ONE group that you can enter up to 100 students to. There are two ways to do this, send students a code for them to sign up with their own email accounts, or 'register' each student yourself. If you register them, make sure you print out the page with logins and passwords. They are very funky and I didn't find a way to create unique codes.

 

It basically allows you to use any photo (from the web, from a computer upload) and attach 'tags' to it and then share with others. You can add sentences, other images, links, and videos. I'm sure you could also have your students record a report piece that you could then attach as well, but I haven't figured that one out yet.

 

 

Here's one I created for Paul Revere. You can click over the little colored dots to see what I've added. You have to upgrade to the paid account to get access to other than just some basic tag icons, but I think students would waste too much time trying to decide which icon to use than finishing their work.

 

 

Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

 

 



 

Think of all the fun you could have with this software. Book reports would no longer be boring, research could come alive, All About Me pages could be so much more interactive, and parents could see a lot more of what you do in the classroom.

Google Classroom {Technology Tuesday}

Hi, Friends! It's Terri Thornton from The Creative Apple blog.

I'm here with a Technology Tuesday post.

Is your system a Google system? A few years ago our entire system went Google. To be honest, I really didn't know what this meant. All I knew was that we were going to be accessing our email through gmail. Boy was I wrong! Fortunately, when my system went Google, they went all the way. As teachers, we get the advantage of all the Google Apps for Education perks. I'm not completely sure what this means (I'm going to a workshop this summer) but I do know that we get Google Classroom.

Have you heard of Google Classroom? It's an online classroom where students can access assignments and announcements from their teacher and classmates. As a teacher, you can assign assignments, post links for research, post videos, and pretty much any other materials your students will need to complete the assignment. The students can then login to the Classroom, complete their assignment, and turn it in. You can then return it with immediate feedback... all online!

Here are a few pictures of it in action! The kids are totally engaged!

If you don't have access to Google Classroom, you need to check with your school about either getting it or looking at some alternatives. I know some who don't have access have used Today's Meet. Go check it out!

Good Luck!