Another awesome iPad tip!!!!

 

What have we been up to this week?

My Snowmen at Christmas Activity Pack (Bonus Craftivity) is just what I needed this week. My precious little ones have been bouncing off the walls with Christmas energy. The book, centers, and writing activities helped them gain some focus, while still having a blast. We worked with this book all week AND we're still not done with all the Christmas fun. Do you need something to help you survive until Christmas break? Grab a copy of this packet and have an almost stress free week. Don't have the book? That's okay. Included in my engaging packet is the link to read the book online. Click {here} to grab your copy.

How cute is this little guy?! Seriously adorable. We worked hard on writing a persuasive letter to Santa. The goal was to persuade Santa to let the Green Nosed Reindeer help out with Christmas. Their letters were so inventive! The writing paper comes from Whimsy Workshop Teaching. It is a freebie!!!

I saw a similar snowmen on IG. I knew the moment I saw it, I HAD to have my kiddos make it too. Oh how they loved making them. SOOOO much fun. Thanks Apples and ABCs .

My kiddos earned themselves a cookie decorating party. They had a blast!!!! I could not have done it all without the help of an awesome parent volunteer. She brought in all the materials to make marshmallow snowmen. LOVE!!! I think I'll be adding this to my list of classroom traditions. 

iPad Tip

I've signed up for an iPad professional development course. The first thing I learned was something so simple, yet something I never knew how to do. So I thought, "If I don't know about this, other teachers must not know. I have to tell them!" The tip is how to lock a student into one iPad Application. That's right, they can't secretly sneak out of the app you want them to use. How awesome!!!! Read below for step by step instructions on how to use this iPad feature. 

Go to the iPad settings. Click General and then click Accessibility.

Click Guided Access.

Turn Guided Access ON.  Then turn Accessibility Shortcut ON. Last, Click Set Passcode.

Enter whatever passcode you'd like. 

Now pick an App. Click the home button 3 times. Your screen will then look like the above picture. Click Start. Now your student can only access that App until you enter in a passcode. 

To end the lockout, click the home button 3 times. Enter your passcode. 

Your screen should now look like this. Click End. 

I hope you found this tip helpful! Leave some love in the comments section for me!

Introduction to Infuse Learning (for iPad use in the classroom)

Infuse Learning

Are you one of the lucky teachers with iPads for your students? If you are, have you heard of Infuse Learning? Let me tell you, it is a life changer! The website lets you differentiate your instruction immediately. Right when you are seeing the need for reteaching, or just a need for a quick review. You can see if your kiddos are mastering the content being taught RIGHT AWAY. How awesome is that? The best part, you are getting answers from EVERY student, not just the ones that are raising their hands. There is a downfall, you can't get to the website using internet explorer. You need Fire Fox or Google Chrome. Let's get started. Click {here} to get to the website. Oh, this website is FREE!!!!!!!!

I highly recommend watching the video to help you get started.

Once you are all registered, sign in and start creating a class (this is where the video comes in handy).

How do I use it in my room? I usually use it in small group. This lets me reinforce any missed concepts right then and there. I will usually ask a question and use the Draw Response Quick Assessment. The students will draw or write their answers and send it to me. I can then modify my small group lesson based on answers being given to me. I especially love this one because it allows my ESOL students to draw their answers. The kiddos can also send me any questions. I do also use the Open Ended Text Answer. This one lets the kids type their answers. It usually takes my kiddos longer to respond when typing. With limited time, I only use this a few times during a lesson. The kids do enjoy the switch up from writing to typing.

 

Want to have a formative or summative assessment that is NOT paper and pencil that you can easily put in the grade book? Well TA-DA!!! All you have to do is easily create a quiz online. It can be a multiple choice test, open ended, true/false, etc. This is such an awesome feature.

I hope you find this information useful in your room. Please leave a comment below to let me know how you are using it.