Hi! My name is Bailee May. You may know me as TalkTechyToMe from Instagram or Teachers Pay Teachers. This is my second year of teaching, and I have been teaching in the third grade. I absolutely love integrating technology into the classroom, hence my Teachers Pay Teachers and Instagram name. If you are willing and wanting to integrate more technology into your classroom my biggest advice for you is DON’T BE AFRAID. Integrating technology may be intimidating and scary at first, but as soon as you try it I promise it will be a game changer in the classroom. I am here today guest posting on One Kreative Kindergarten’s blog to share with you a few technology tips you can try in your classroom.
Epic! – The Online Digital Library
This resource is free for educators, and it allows access to over 25,000 of the best books, learning videos, and so much more. This has been one of the biggest game changers in my classroom. Just think about it Epic! + any device = students reading more books. When students have access to this resource at their fingertips, they thrive on reading books. The books on Epic! come with reading levels. You can create folders with grade level appropriate books for your students. This helps eliminate students from reading books out of their reading level.
One of my favorite things about Epic! is that they have audio and read to me books for our struggling readers. The read to me books highlight the words as they are being read aloud that way students can follow along word for word. The audio books are read aloud books but on the website, which allows students to make mental pictures as they listen. I can go on and on about this amazing resource. I am not being sponsored for this post; I genuinely think this resource is amazing! If you haven’t used it yet, go try it! The website to this resource is www.getepic.com. Here are a few of my students actively engaged reading books on Epic!.
Prodigy – Curriculum-Aligned Math Game
This resource is free for educators and has content from all major math topics. This resource is for Grades 1-8 and it is a great tool to use to help prepare students for any state test. When creating assignments on Prodigy you can relate it to one or more specific standards, and there will be questions generated based on the standard(s) you picked. You can see each student’s progress for the standards on the assignment. I use this website as enrichment for my students, or when I have those early finishers on a math activity. There are many ways to use this resource in your classroom. I have many students who go home and play this game. I absolutely love how engaged and excited they get about math. The website to this resource is www.prodigygame.com. Here are a few pictures of my students playing Prodigy.
Plickers
These cards are perfect for almost anything. They can be used for quick checks, exit tickets, or in my classroom, as lunch count. I use Plickers every morning to take lunch count because it made it easier. My school has to have my lunch list in alphabetical order and by lunch choice. Plickers made the ABC order work with ease. All I had to do is assign each numbered card to a student, then I use the app to scan cards and instantly it tells me what each student chose.
I use them also for exit tickets. It is awesome is that each card is designed differently that way there are no students who are tempted to peek at their neighbor. In the picture below I shrunk the Plicker cards by 75% so that they would fit in the Target adhesive labels. These cards are a simple and easy tool to use in the classroom for whatever fits your class best. The website for this resource is www.plickers.com.
Since I use a lot of technology in the classroom, I have had to make strict rules for my students to follow that way we can use it appropriately and more often. Here is a set of rules that I put on my classroom Chromebook cart. These have been helpful and good reminders for my students. The rules can be found in my TpT store.
There are so many technology tools I use in the classroom, and these are a few of my favorites! If you want to learn more about the different tools I use in my classroom, be sure to follow me on Instagram. I currently do not have a blog, but I am working on creating one. Being a guest on Danielle’s blog has me really excited to create one. I hope you guys have learned something new to use in your classroom. Remember DO NOT BE AFRAID! You never know what technology tool may suit your classroom the best. Just go for it!
