Soft Technology

Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow the #BeLikeTheRenegade playlist for every adventure with Mrs May.

Click the image to download a PDF.

An easy way to get a Venn diagram template is to use the Feltboard app  ($2.99) - one of my faves! On your iPad, open Feltboard, choose the Venn diagram background, then click the camera to save this blank template to your iPad. This can now be added as a template in Seesaw or background in PicCollage EDU or other apps to help your students organize their thinking. Below are a couple of examples of using this Venn diagram in Seesaw activities to compare Jan Brett's versions of The Mitten and The Hat . The top one, created by Sally Bishop, has students use Seesaw labels to type in the similarities and differences. The bottom version uses emojis. Students tap the label tool and are then able to move the emojis around the diagram.

Activities in Seesaw are awesome for so many ways, but maybe my very favorite is the fact that they are so easily SHAREABLE! I love being able to create an activity, then share the link with others to use in their classrooms. Some awesome BPS TILT (Teachers Integrating & Learning Technology) teachers and I decided to start a database of activities, organized by grade level, to share all of these creations with other teachers. This spreadsheet has contributors from Seesaw users all over the Twitterverse, so it's sure to get filled with lots of awesome ideas. Visit bit.ly/ActivitiesGalore to check it out!

Click the image to download a PDF.

I absolutely love Ian Gilbert's Thunks. This book "The Compleat Thunks Book" is described as 'A collection of classic Thunks from a number of his books, as well as hundreds of new ones, all designed to make your brain hurt as you think, question, debate and argue your way to a better understanding of how to survive in a world gone dangerously bonkers.' To give you an idea of what a thunk looks like, here is a screenshot from the book: Thunks can be used as a great discussion tool in class. Sharing one on the board at the start of the day and encouraging children to talk and listen to each other's ideas can be a great way to settle children into a lesson. JUST BE AWARE, not all the Thunks would be appropriate for the classroom. You can also use apps like Seesaw to record and evidence children's thoughts and ideas about a Thunk. If I create a question like this: Within the explain and reflect option of Seesaw, pupils can add labels. These can be initial tho...

Guest post by friEdTechnology Associate & 3rd grade teacher,   Melissa Summerford , Tweet her at @SummerfordStars My name is Melissa Summerford and this is my fourteenth year in education. I am a 3rd-grade teacher at Bear Branch Elementary and I absolutely love my BBES Family. I realized I wanted to be a teacher while working as a paraprofessional in 2003.  I saw the impact teachers were making on students lives and I wanted to be apart of that club.  I was twenty-six years old and had three kids when I decided to go back to college. Six years later I became the first in my family to earn a college degree. I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Prairie View A&M in 2008.  After 10 years of teaching, I have decided to work on a master's degree from Lamar University.  I am majoring in Digital Learning and Leading.  I have learned that showcasing my learning is a way to grow and improve my craft of teaching.  My ePortfolio website is a place where I can ...