Spark Student Motivation Saturday...Periscope

Hey y'all! I hope you are having the best Easter weekend! I've eaten way too many peeps! Oh well..

I am linking up with Head Over Heels For Teaching for her Saturday edition of "Spark Student Motivation". This summer we all jumped on a shiny new app, Periscope! Isn't it great??? Although I have a blog periscope account, I never scope on it. It's just so hard to turn the camera on me and hit RECORD! I know that I need to give it a few more tries. It's just not my thing!...I don't turn the camera around on me for my blog scope, but I scope my classroom ALL the time! The parents love getting a live look into our day. 

Do you want to give it a try??...

First, go to twitter and set up an account for your classroom.

Next, download the Periscope app. It's FREE!

Then, send home this parent note home. It explains what periscope is, how to get it, and permission slip to record the children. Just A Primary Girl has the parent permission freebie in her "Back to School Forms Bundle. You can access it by downloading the preview!

 

Last, press record. When recording, make sure you tap the lock so your followers will be the only ones viewing. If you don't press it, the whole world can see ya! 

Ideas to Periscope: 

*Student of the week/month

*Show and Tell

*Parent readers

*STEM activities

*Field Trips

*Playground

*Brain Breaks

*Birthdays

The ideas can go on..and on..and on..

I hope you enjoy Periscope as much as I do!

Five For Friday!

Happy Good Friday, friends!  I started this day by reflecting on God's love and thanking Him for sending His son to die on a cross for US!

We went back to school this week. The prior week was spring break. On Sunday night, I went to bed dreading the next day! I really did!! But Monday was soooo good! The kids were so calm and relaxed. They must have been ready to get back into a routine!

On Tuesday, this happened! Chance fell on the playground and fractured his ankle...on his growth plate! This is the first cast we've ever dealt with in our family. It's taking time to get used to it...all of us!

I turned in the last two rotation/specials calendars of this school year. There are only 39 days of school! That is hard  impossible to believe!! 

I hopped back on my treadmill! Oh it felt soooo good!! Have you ever heard of the Beach Body program? My friend, Whitney, is a beach body coach. If you want to join in on this healthy lifestyle I'm trying out, check out her blog here. 

We planned on ending our week with a day of Easter fun. I woke up, fixed coffee,  sat down to read and then I heard it..rain...lots of rain...

The kiddos arrived and walked into the room with baskets full of eggs. I couldn't just let them swap out eggs in the room. I had to get creative...I walked down the hall and passed the PE building. I noticed it was dark. That's it! "An egg hunt in the dark!".  I  threw hid eggs and called the kiddos in. They loved it! It sounds silly but it was FUN!

After the hunt, we spent the remainder of the day reading Easter books, making crafts, eating popcorn, and watching Peter Cottontail. Our rainy day was perfect!

 

Spark Student Motivation Saturday...Seesaw

I'm linking up with Head Over Heels For Teaching for her weekly Spark Student Motivation Saturdays. You've gotta check out her blog this week! I like LOVE the Read-A-Thon her class participated in!!

Oh y'all! Have you been using Seesaw in your classroom?? If you said yes, aren't ya loving it?? If you said no, what are you waiting for??  My kiddos are LOVING it! You will want to give it a try!

How do I access Seesaw?  Seesaw is a FREE app! 

1-Download the class app for your classroom. Print the code and display it.

2- Log each student in.

3-Download and print each student his/her own qr code. This code is for parents to view students work.

   Since each child has his/her own own code, parents can only see their own child's work. I love that!! A few of my kiddos wanted grandparents and aunts/uncles to have access to their accounts. All the family members needed was the qr code I sent home.

Seesaw can only be accessed on Chrome.  

A few activities my students participate in is typing spelling words, typing words in ABC order, writing spelling words, creating sentences, recording themselves read, drawing setting/characters to a story... 

It can be used for math too! Students can take photos of parallel items, congruent items, record themselves answering word problems using manipulatives, morning work...

The ideas can go on and on...

 Once a parent sees work, "seen by mom's name" is at the bottom of the activity.

Parents can like and add comments...There is a setting that allows students to like and comment on each other's work. My students called it "kid Facebook" when we first started.

 I've recently "attended" two webinars for Seesaw. Friends, if you are interested in Seesaw you MUST check out these webinars. They are soooo good!! In one webinar, I learned how to assign everyone an online book, you tube video to go along with it, and assign an assignment for them to complete. As I get better more experienced, I will come back and share!!

You must approve EVERYTHING! I like this aspect! It makes the site completely safe! You have to approve students assignments before parents view. You have to approve parents likes and comments before kids see them.. 

If you have any suggestions or favorite things you do in your classroom with Seesaw, please feel free to share! 

Five For Friday..Spring Break Style!

Our spring break is this week. It's been nice having down time! I enjoyed our staycation. 

My first grade hall celebrated Dr. Seuss last week. On Thursday, the first graders presented "The Grinch Stole The Rhyme". Oh my gosh, it was so stinkin' cute!! The stage was decorated with bright colors, the kiddos were dressed in Whoville clothes, and most of the teachers were Thing 1 and Thing 2. Of course, we had to have blue hair!

The first few days of spring break was spent like this! I was MISERABLE! Thank The Lord for antibiotics and Sudafed! 

WooHoo!! That's right.. NO homework.. NO lunches to pack.. and most importantly NO ALARM CLOCKS were set!! 

            

Once I felt better, we had to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather! Oh my! It's been soooooo nice lately!!  My kiddos enjoyed going to the park and feeding the ducks.

I ran across a few post on Instagram about Slant Box. How have I never heard of this before??? You WANT to go run to Lessons With Coffee's blog and sign up. The Slant Box is a monthly swap box for teachers. It doesn't matter if you're a blogger or a non blogger. Everyone will be matched up with a new friend! Registration ends soon! 

What is this cute calendar used for?? It's my new blog calendar. Hopefully It's going to keep me organized with blog posts and TPT. I just know it!...fingers crossed..

Don't forget to share your week and link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching.