Quality Literature Book for Kindergarten – First Grade

I recently came across a literature book titled Big Dog and Little Dog by Dave Pilkey! This book is every educators dream. It has Guided Reading Levels, Reading Recovery Levels, and even the Lexile Level listed! If you are not familiar with the author, you may know him for his award-winning and best selling books such Captain Underpants and Dog Man!

As an educator I was impressed with this quality literature book because it had five stories in one book and included follow up activities that are taught and reviewed in Kindergarten through First Grade. For instance, after reading a story the author provided prompts to help the child with story sequencing, reviewing and/or learning nouns and verbs, and “cloze assessments,” fill in the blank using a word bank. In addition, the author provided writing prompts! How creative and wonderful to be able to read a book with a young child and have pre-written activities to enhance the young scholars’ reading and comprehension skills!

I recently checked this book out at my public library and I hope you too will take time to check it out too!

I was not paid to endorse the literature/ideas listed

 

Have you tried SWAY?

My favorite Ed. websites

Click on the link below to check out my Smore Board Flyer and discover my favorite educational websites! Don’t forget to leave a comment with your favorite websites too! 

https://www.smore.com/peyxq 

My Favorite IPhone Apps

Hey Guys,

Today I want to share with you my favorite IPhone Apps…

If you are like me and HATE drinking water… much less the required amount needed per body weight then you need the app called Hidrate! It gives you notifications to keep sipping that water and they are actually funny ones that make you smile and want to skip to the kitchen for a glass of H2O!

The next app I love is “Translator” you can speak into it OR type your message and it will translate it from English to any other language or vice versa! I mean hello you might need to know if that purse is on sale in another country or maybe you have an ARD/504 meeting with a parent whose home language is not English! This app also lets you take a photograph of an image and it will translate words as well!!! I mean it cannot get any better than that!

I also love the IPhone App OneNote by Microsoft because you can carry a digital notebook instead of the old school spiral! In this application you can create your notebook by assigning it a color, giving it a title and even have it saved in a specific drive.

For me, I love this application because I have a work email, school email, and two home emails so this allows me to save my OneNote Notebook in its specific location drive! Also more and more students are moving away from note taking on paper and pen and using digital notetaking, so why not be apart of this new trend!

The next app is for children under the age of 6.  Many of you know I have a toddler and sometimes while we are in line at Target I need her preoccupied on my IPhone and not the cosmetic jewelry aisle that’s so close to self check-out.  The IPhone app is called “KidsDoodle”

KidsDoodle allows your child to use their index finger to write or illustrate and each time they lift up their finger a different shade of color appears and it even has an auto replay icon.  Which shows step-by-step how your child completed their finished masterpiece!

I also like this application because you can save their digital artwork in the gallery folder, hit the “x” icon to change the background color, erase unwanted marks, and even introduce them to the TEKS technology word of the icon “edit undo” and introduce them that the icon that looks like a paper airplane.  Let’s face it we are no longer teaching our children paper and pencil so why not use this application as a learning tool by showing them how to click on the paper airplane icon and introduce them how to send their artwork via text or email.

Also, I recommend KidsDoodle for children in Kindergarten or First Grade so they can have an alternative way of writing and seeing their Fry’s High Frequency Words!  Remember 300 words make up 75% of what we read and see!

And finally my favorite app is “Sephora” Aaaaaa-hhhhh, the angels were singing when this application came out because you can do a virtual selfie and try on different shades of foundation, lipstick color, and even those tempting false lashes! I love this application because I am notorious to run out of my foundation or my darling daughter has hidden my mascara and I can go to the Sephora application view my purchases and if it has a green icon it means the product is in-store to purchase! Even if you’re not a girly girl, I recommend this application because come on…we all have that once or twice yearly event in which we need a little make up adviser to help us look fierce for our elegant event!

Thanks for reading and until next time…Keep on learning and reaching for your goals!

I was not paid to endorse the applications listed

All Photos courtesy of Flicker.com

STEM Professional Development Book

I recently read a professional development book written by Patty Born Selly, titled “Teaching STEM Outdoors, activities for young children.”

This book brought so much to mind and to the very nature of the childlike innocence I felt as a child.  I remember getting a stick and making swirls in the dirt, getting sad when it was winter and worrying about the birds.  This book shows that students are using nature for mathematics, developing empathy, and understanding that even trees are a living thing!

Before I read this book I was confused on technology aspect and this book helped me understand that technology in the framework of STEM means, “Technology refers to more than just a digital technology.  It includes the knowledge and understanding of all tools or mechanisms any tool that humans use. For example, pencils, tape, even shoes are technology.”

Wow! What a relief it was to read that and then my mind began to relax on the aspect of technology in STEM.

I hope you’ll read the professional book by Selly, Patty has it had so much to offer and charts and resources to enhance your lesson ideas so your students can explore using nature to build upon their love of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

*I was not paid to endorse or advertise the professional development book*