Paperless Mission #1: Gather your Tools

This is the first post in the Go Paperless Challenge! If you're participating, be sure to link up at my initial post. (We'll have other linky's along the way to do some progress updates as well...)

There are a few tools that you'll need to prepare to Go Paperless! Here's what I'll be using:

Evernote

I've shared my love for Evernote in the past, but this is a tool that has so many features and so much potential. It can be accessed from any computer or mobile device, and it allows you to save notes, pictures, audio recordings, and more into cloud-based, password-protected notebooks. If you haven't signed up for an account yet, you should sign up at Evernote's website. Accounts are free, but there is a premium version available. As you're starting to go paperless, I would hold off on getting the premium account. I've had a free account for a few years, and I haven't ever maxed out my uploads, although I expect that to change as I start to use the service more. Still, at $45/year, the subscription service is a steal.

Dropbox

Dropbox is an online file hosting server. A basic (free) account will give you 2GB of storage, and there are ways you can expand your storage by connecting to your Facebook page, following @Dropbox on Twitter, etc. You can also earn 500MB for each friend you refer. If you use my link to sign up, you'll get the extra space as well. They have paid accounts available for up to 500 GB, but I haven't needed to use that...yet.

I use Dropbox to store all of the files that I would want easy access to. The beauty of Dropbox is that it allows you to access your files from any computer or mobile device, and for someone who switches between computers and mobile devices constantly, I appreciate how easily I can access my work.

GoodReader

This is one of the few services that you'd have to pay for as it's a paid iPad app ($4.99), but honestly, this is probably the best paid iPad app I've used. This app allows you to read and annotate pdfs, webpages, and other documents on your iPad. One of the best things about it, though, is that it integrates well with other sites like Google Drive and Dropbox. Even if you only have one iPad in your classroom or just an iPad for yourself, I would highly recommend this app.

Edmodo

If you're planning to have your students complete assignments digitally or turn in their work online to you, this is a great platform. You can create groups, calendars, assignments, and quizzes in a secure teacher-moderated environment. Did I mention that this service is free and works on any computer or mobile device? I'm an Edmodo-newbie, but my district is going to be switching over to using Edmodo, and I'm excited to be learning about it. I'll share all of the tips and tricks that I learn along the way. 

Your Mission

If you haven't signed up for or tried out any of these services, then this is a good place to start. I'll be writing tutorials over the next several days and weeks that use these tools as I begin to go paperless. 

Have you started to cut back on your paper clutter? What other tools are you using? Be sure to share in the comments section!

The Paperless Challenge Linky

Do any of these scenarios sound like you?

• You can't seem to find the curriculum document you know you've printed 1,000 times, so you print it again because that will be faster than finding it.
• You've broken more than 1 plastic rolling cart because of the number of papers, books, and materials you've hauled back and forth from school.
• You hate grading papers because it takes you 5x longer to handwrite comments than it would take you to type them, plus you start to feel like a broken record after a while.
• You panic every time you need to pull student work for RTI or parent-teacher conferences because it's in so many different places.
• You've had to scrap a lesson plan because the copy machine was out of paper and there was no hope of getting the materials together before needing to do the lesson.

If you can relate to any of these scenarios--and there's no judgment here, because they're my life story--then you should consider joining me for my new blog series about going paperless.

Whether you want to go a little more digital, and therefore use "less paper," or you want to go all the way toward having a virtually paperless classroom, then this series will hopefully have something for you.

My Story

I'm a fourth grade teacher in an International Baccalaureate school in suburban Atlanta. I've always loved teaching with technology, and my school is moving toward having 1:1 iPads in 4th and 5th grades. I've been really excited about using the iPads (I was part of the pilot for the district), but I know that I haven't been using them to their fullest potential. Take, for example, exhibit 1: my dining room table as I prepared to do report cards.

Or exhibit 2: my desk in my classroom.

Or exhibit 3: the pile of papers behind my desk...

I'm not proud. In fact, I hate it. I see it and just feel like I'm a complete mess. I'm a person who really likes to be organized, so it's especially troublesome for me that I can't get these things under control. 

Meanwhile, as one of the technology experts at my school, I'm preparing for to teach a class about some of our apps at a staff development day next week. The focus of my presentation will be two specific apps -- GoodReader and Evernote -- and the more I learn about these apps, the more I'm realizing their potential. Hence, my decision to go paperless. I don't think I'll be able to get rid of all paper use in my classroom (nor would I necessarily want to), but I'm planning a massive cutback, and I think I finally have the tools to get me started.

Join Me

Later today, I'll be posting a "getting started" tutorial with your first challenge in the Paperless Mission describing all of the tools you'll need to begin this process. You don't need to be teaching in a 1:1 setting to implement all of the strategies that I'm going to suggest--there will be options to make things work for you. In the meantime, what's your story? Share the reasons you want to "Go Paperless" in a blog post, and link up below. When you do, please include the Paperless Challenge image (below) and link back to this post. And let's use the rule of 3 -- reply to the two people who post before you and one person who posts after you to encourage each other in this paperless endeavor!

And be sure to check out
Mission #1: Gather Your Tools
Mission #2: Build Evernote Notebooks
Mission #3: Email Notes to Evernote
Mission #4: Create Checklists in Evernote
Mission #5: Organize Your Files in Dropbox
Mission #6: Setting Up GoodReader (iPad)

I look forward to hearing your stories and joining you on this paperless challenge!

The One and Only Ivan

I try to read the Newbery Award winner each year, and this morning, I finished reading Katherine Applegate's beautiful story, The One and Only Ivan.

I knew very little about the story going into it, but a few of my colleagues had been raving about it, so I had high expectations. The story did not disappoint. The One and Only Ivan tells the tale of a western lowland gorilla who lives in a shopping mall as part of a circus-themed display. While he's close friends with a stray dog named Bob who has made his way into the mall and an elephant who is also part of the circus act, his life is largely characterized by loneliness. He's never really had the chance to live among other gorillas, and he realizes that he and his elephant friend, Ruby, deserve a better life than what's available in the shopping mall. It's a touching tale of love and understanding and the sometimes misguided ways we express that.

While most of the events in the story are completely fictitious, there was a real Ivan who lived in the B & I Department Store in Tacoma, WA for nearly thirty years before eventually being relocated to the Atlanta Zoo. I live in Atlanta, so I've seen Ivan a couple times, but he passed away last fall. You can learn more about the real Ivan at Zoo Atlanta's website. They also have this amazing YouTube video of Ivan at the Zoo.


I would highly recommend this book to teachers and students, but I have to give a warning if you're considering this as a read-aloud. I cried off-and-on for the last third of the story and went in to full-on sobbing mode when I finished the book. It was so touching and beautiful! Even though I know what's coming, I doubt I could hold it together in front of my students in a read-aloud. I'll probably introduce this in a book talk, but the students will have to read it independently from there. I should also point out that it's a very quick read. I'm a slow reader, but I was able to finish this in 2-3 hours.

If you haven't yet read The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, you should definitely give it a read. I promise you won't regret it.

What children's books have you been reading lately? I'd love some recommendations for next reads in the comments!

Currently March

Really? It's March already??? February sure did go by quickly!

I'm linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for this month's Currently.

Listening - my daughter has moved beyond her Yo Gabba Gabba! phase, and she is now obsessed with Elmo. I don't let her watch much TV, but I have to say -- there's something pretty cool about her watching a show that I used to watch (and love) when I was a kid 30+ years ago.

Loving - my student teacher started role-reversal yesterday, which means that she is responsible for all of the teaching, planning, and grading for the next two weeks. I still have to oversee her work, but that is SO much easier than having to do it all myself. I'm sure I'll start to stress out about it towards the end once I process how little time I have left with my students, but for now, I'm happy for the break.

Thinking - my daughter turned 18 months old this week, and I'm blown away by all that she can do. Her vocabulary is growing out of control! Just in the last month, she's learned to say "Night-night, Mommy. I love you!" which gets me every time. She's also started to call her books by their titles when she wants me to read one to her. It's always an abbreviated title (e.g., "Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom!" is just "Boom Boom!" and "Moo, Baa, La La La" is just "La La La"), but it's very clear which one she's talking about. It's fascinating to watch her grow and learn.

Wanting - On Monday, every teacher in my building is getting a new iPad to prepare for our 1:1 roll-out. The following Monday, we're doing staff development on different iPad apps to use in the classroom. I'm teaching the class on the Evernote and GoodReader apps, so I've been doing lots of research and work for my presentation. As I've learned more and more about those two apps, I've decided that I'm ready to go paperless in my classroom. I have so many ideas about how to do it at the elementary level, and now that we're also adopting Edmodo as a school, I think I'll be able to pull it off. I'm going to be documenting everything about the process, and I plan to share lots about it in the coming weeks. I'm super excited about it!
Needing - My daughter is allergic to our dogs. She's had eczema and food allergies since birth, and while we've been able to keep that under control over the last year, I'm worried that she's developing asthma. She loves the dogs (and they love her), so I'd hate to get rid of them, but I can't keep up. They shed everywhere constantly, and I know that's aggravating her allergies. I either need a maid service to help me with the thorough cleaning once a week, or the doggies may need to go live with a relative. I feel like I'm constantly vacuuming, and it's exhausting.

Like: Awards - Not for me personally, but I like watching the Oscars every year, and I'm looking forward to watching more of the nominated films that I didn't get to see before the awards.
Love: Apps - I'm so amazed by all that an iPad can do. I'm over the moon about our 1:1 program.
Hate: Apathy - It infuriates me to no end when people don't care one way or another -- especially about important things that impact others.

So that's March! Be sure to link up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade, and if you're visiting me for the first time from her blog, welcome!!!

Phases of the Moon

For the last few weeks, I've been mentoring a fabulous student teacher. She has been gradually taking over more subject areas, and later this week, she'll be teaching everything. I really enjoy having the opportunity to work with student teachers because they bring a lot of enthusiasm to the classroom, and they often have really creative lessons. My current student teacher is no exception.

Recently, we studied the phases of the moon, and I was blown away by her visual model. Using black foam board, ping pong balls, Sharpies, and hot glue, she was able to create a really great interactive model to reinforce the concept.

To use this model, students would actually put their heads in the cut out part of the middle (and I wish I'd taken pictures of that before she took it home!). From there, they could turn their bodies (or rotate) to see the moon from different angles. When their heads weren't in the middle, however, they were able to recognize that half of the moon was always light -- the half facing the sun, and half of the moon was always dark as it faced away from the sun. It was a great way to see that the only things that are really changing are the location and perspective.

I'm not sure where/how she came up with this idea, but I will definitely be building my own version of this model to use in future years! The kids loved taking turns being the Earth in the middle of it.

Idioms aren't always a piece of cake...

I've developed a bit of a love-hate relationship with the Common Core. I LOVE that most states are using the same standards now because it makes finding high-quality teaching materials that much easier. I also LOVE that the standards are set up in a way that makes it easy to see how a skill is supposed to progress from one grade level to the next. I hate, however, that I feel like I'm constantly second-guessing myself. Is this text rigorous enough? Did this student compare and contrast these texts at the level that the CCSS expects? Have I taught this skill as thoroughly as I need to? The questions go on and on, and I know that time and experience will eventually answer those questions for me.

This last term, my school's pacing guide said that I was supposed to teach L5b. Recognize and explain the meanings of common idioms, adages, and proverbs. When I introduced my lesson, I was surprised by how many idioms my students already knew. Hands were raising left and right to share expressions they'd heard before, and I was thrilled by the amount of background knowledge they had. I thought for sure that this would be an easy topic. I gave them some activities from an idioms book I'd had for a while, including one where the students were supposed to think about what the idiom meant based on the context, and then they would match it to a another idiom that had a similar meaning.

To say that this activity was a disaster would be an understatement.

As I quickly realized, just because a student has heard an idiom used before doesn't mean he or she has the slightest clue what it means. That was mistake #1. And making the connections between idioms with a similar meaning is actually pretty challenging work -- especially if the meaning is unclear. So I quickly scrapped the lesson and went back to the drawing board. (Like how I inserted that idiom there?)

There are 100s of idioms, adages, and proverbs, and I knew I needed something more to not only teach students the meanings of the words but to see how they can also be used in context. When I couldn't find anything else that I really liked, I made something myself.

I wanted an easy weekly routine to teach idioms, adages, and proverbs. So this is what I came up with.

On Mondays, students are introduced to 10 idioms, adages, and proverbs that they'll study for the week. The idioms have a common theme like school and learning or cats so that I could organize the idioms better.

I created a phrase card with a QR code that has the meaning of each idiom we'll be studying, and I display these in the room where students can access them. They also have a page where they're able to write down the meaning and try to use it in a sentence. 

I put QR codes on these pages as well since I have 1:1 iPads in my classroom, but I also made a version of the page that doesn't have the QR codes on it.

Throughout the week, students work on completing the meanings and sentences, and they also try to look for examples of the phrase used in context. In addition, I've created a center activity that students can do to help them learn the meanings of the words. It's a matching game where students match the idiom to its correct meaning.

Finally, on Fridays, students take a quiz on the idioms where they match the idiom to its meaning, and then fill-in the blank in a sentence by choosing the appropriate idiom for the context.

So far, I've put together 6 weeks worth of idiom, adage, and proverb study, and it has been going really well. I feel like my students are learning more of these phrases, and it has definitely helped my English Language Learners who tend to struggle more with understanding idioms. The first 6 week unit is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, and I'm planning to add more units to cover an entire year of idiom study. It's been an easy routine to introduce and use with my students, so I'd like to keep it going throughout the year to expose them to more idioms, adages, and proverbs.

If you're interested in set #1, please click the image below to get to my TpT store. It's on sale for 20% off through Saturday.

So while my original idioms lesson was a failure, every cloud has a silver lining. I was able to put together this unit, and it's one that I'm very proud of. With over 60 pages of materials, you'll definitely get a lot of bang for your buck. And before I use any more idioms, I'm going to sign off.

Have a fabulous Wednesday!

February Currently

Hello Blog Friends! I have been MIA for nearly a month now, and I'm so frustrated because one of my goals for the year was to blog more consistently. But much like my weight loss goal, I am not giving up, and I'm getting right back into things. I'll just pretend that the past month didn't really happen. ;-)

So what's been keeping me from blogging lately? Lots. And to make this laundry list of activity more interesting, I've decided to link up with Farley for the February Currently.

I won't explain all of it, but here are some highlights.

Loving my break. Boy, do I need it! These last 6 weeks of school have been really crazy. I've said goodbye to two students who were moving overseas (one to Tanzania and another to Costa Rica), and those students were immediately replaced by new students. I got a student teacher (who is fabulous, btw), and I decided at the last minute to apply to a doctoral program at UGA. Meanwhile, I'm working on three different school committees -- including one about our report cards that I'm chairing -- and I'm preparing a professional learning session for my colleagues as we prepare to roll out 1:1 iPads throughout the building. I'm still working on my math endorsement, and I'm thinking about applying for a new job as a mentor teacher that is opening up in my school. So needless to say, January was eventful!

As for my pet peeve, I really get frustrated when people make all sorts of selfish and disrespectful comments. Case in point: the comment section of an article about Obama visiting Atlanta this Thursday. Apparently he is visiting some schools as a follow-up to the State of the Union speech, and one of those schools is the one that my 18-month-old attends. She goes to a public school in my district that hosts an awesome 0-3 program and a pre-K. Now regardless of your politics, it's a big deal when a sitting president comes to your school. This a huge opportunity for a fantastic school in my district to get the national spotlight, and I'm excited that my daughter gets to be a part of it. And I don't think I will read the comments for news articles anymore. I'll just stick to the comments of my happy place in the teacher blogosphere.

Backing up to the "needing," as I already mentioned, I'm leading a committee about our current report card system as it's something that's been a challenge for us lately. Personally, I have a hard time with the technology that we're using to input grades and produce report cards. It's really inefficient, and it's an example of technology interfering with a process rather than helping it -- and anyone who's ever read this blog knows I'm not a technophobe! We also do standards based report cards every 6 weeks, and the shift toward Common Core has made it a bit more complicated. So here are my questions for you:

How often do you send home report cards?
What information do you report? (e.g., letter grades, percentages, rubric scores)
Has your report card changed due to Common Core? If so, how?

I'd really love to hear what other schools are doing as I gather information for my committee. Any feedback in the comments would be greatly appreciated! And don't forget to link up with Farley on the Currently!


Happy Monday!