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Choice Boards for Elementary Learners

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Empowering students to own their learning, allowing for student choice and voice, individualizing learning activities — all of these are important goals of specific learning activities. And they can all be accomplished through the use choice boards, especially in the elementary classroom.

What Is a Choice Board?

Because of the value that choice boards provide to student learning, TCEA has written about them previously in our blog. Here are some that offer what a choice board is and why we should be using them:

Elementary Choice Boards

Let’s take a look at some already-created, easy-to-use choice boards that are perfect for the elementary classroom.

  • Tic-Tac-Toe Choice board – A 3×3 grid with activities for math, reading, and coding, all done in Google Slides
  • All About Dinosaurs – Done in Seesaw
  • Choice Boards from Blue Valley Schools – This group of teachers has the most amazing collection of choice boards for grades kindergarten through grade five. Select your grade level and then you’ll see two week’s worth of boards, one for each day. They are available for general education, special education, and for ESL students (Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese). Each board includes reading, writing, math, science and social studies, well being and SEL, and specials. Everything you need is here!
  • Battlefield Primary School has posted what they call “digital learning day” choice boards. These are designed to be used for those students in grades PreK-2 who are learning at home. They also offer boards for speech, language, fine and gross motor skills, and social skills.
  • Variety of Boards – Here are choice boards for eight weeks for grades K-5. Below each board are the accompanying worksheets and handouts.
  • Choice Boards in the Library – Available for grades K-5 in Google Docs (so that you can change as needed)
  • Templates from Kasey Bell – The Google Guru Kasey Bell offers several different templates for elementary students, including a novel study. And she has another template available here.
  • Coding for Grades PreK-3 – “Learn and create code through stories, music, games, videos, and more.” The site also offers a 3-6 coding choice board.

Final Thoughts About Choice Boards

While it is easy to spend a lot of time of making the choice boards “cute,” that is not completely necessary. Focus in on ensuring that meaningful, learning-focused activities are included and that student choice is truly there. (In other words, don’t make all of the activities basically the same so that choice is negated.) Try to include different ways for student brains to think by including choices that involve creativity, writing, drawing, the fine arts, and more. And finally, once in a while, change the choice board up by having them pick a different number of activities to complete, having them pick activities that match a certain pattern, or activities that all tie together around a them.

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boom cards
ChromebooksGood TeachingiOS Tips and Tricks

Using Boom Cards in the Primary Classroom

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

Helping primary students take charge of their own learning can be difficult. But now there are Boom Cards. Boom Cards are self-checking digital task cards that provide immediate feedback to young students. Teachers have access to the data through Boom’s reports feature, giving them a powerful tool to use to make decisions about instruction.

Top Tips for Using Boom Cards in Your Early Childhood Classroom

So what’s the best way to use digital task cards in your kindergarten (or younger) class? Here are some strategies for incorporating digital learning with our young learners.

boom cardsAudio Alert

Listen to Boom Learning‘s (@BoomLearning) Della Larsen (@larsenclass) and Melissa Bucher (@iheart4th) (shown right) share at the 2019 TCEA Elementary Technology Conference on how to make instructional decisions based off data. They discuss Boom Cards and share stories from their classrooms.

Strategy #1: Morning Work

In my classroom, my students trickle in and I need some quality activities for them to complete while they wait for everyone to arrive and get settled. I put out a few Chromebooks and iPads in a work center. My kids can easily sign in and complete a deck independently before we start our day.

Strategy #2: An Extension of Reading Groups

One of the most challenging tasks for me when I started teaching was trying to figure out what the rest of my class should be doing while I was meeting with reading groups. My go-to answer? Boom Cards. Whether I am reviewing beginning sounds, reading and blending cvc words, or identifying letters, I can extend the lesson easily with Boom Cards. As soon as my kids are done with me, they head to the tech table and get a little extended practice. I can go back and see their work and check for understanding with the reports feature. It’s easy to determine if I need to move students to a different group, reteach a concept, or provide targeted intervention.

Haven’t seen Boom Cards? Check out this video to see them in action.

Strategy #3: Learning Centers

I give my kids 60 minutes of centers every day. I want them at the art center, the block area, and dramatic play. However, I also have a word work and math center. I don’t have to worry if my kids are actually completing the task I set for them. Boom keeps them accountable. I can feel confident because I can check the reports to see exactly what mistakes they might be making.

boom cards

Strategy #4: Whole Group Instruction

Do you have an interactive white board? Boom Cards work great for whole group instruction. I can have great discussions about math or numbers and begin to really understand student thinking as we work through a problem together. No white board? No problem. Just project the Boom Cards on the board and let the discussion begin.

Strategy #5: Homework

With Boom Cards, you can stop copying homework packets and actually sit down and eat your lunch during your lunch break. Parents can access Boom Cards from home. All they need is their child’s login information and some type of screen. Your kids can actually access decks on their parents’ phones. No more lost papers, or missing folders. I can then check their reports to keep them accountable for completing the work.

The applications for using Boom Cards in your classroom are limited only by your imagination. The Starter membership plan is free and includes one section with five students and five self-made decks. The Basic plan includes three sections with up to 50 students and five self-made decks for just $15/year. There are two other membership levels, Power and Ultimate, with the most expensive only costing $35/year. Give Boom Cards a try and see how they can work in your classroom.

This is a guest blog by Della Larsen. Della is a primary teacher with over 30 years of classroom experience. She is passionate about reaching every child regardless of their skills. She has spent boom cardsmuch of her time supporting teachers just starting on their digital journey. You can follow Della on Twitter @Larsenclass or feel free to reach out to Della with any questions at DellaLarsensclass@gmail.com.

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elementary technology
Content AreasGood TeachingGoogle Tips and Tricks

What I Learned at the Elementary Technology Conference

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

The Elementary Technology Conference is over for another year and it was an amazing learning event! More than 1,000 dedicated educators from 11 states and two foreign countries gathered in Galveston, TX to learn new teaching practices and tools. If you weren’t able to attend, here are a few tidbits that you can implement in your classroom this next year.

First Things First

First off, elementary educators are AWESOME! We had a GooseChase scavenger hunt going and the conference center echoed with the sounds of people doing the hokey pokey and laughing at each other. I saw educators trying to make the longest continuous paper chain out of a single sheet of construction paper. Participants created magnetic slime and programmed robots and mastered Google and learned about the new ELAR TEKS. And in between all of the learning, there was fun and friendship and fabulous food. Now, on to the great ideas shared there.

Bitmoji Mojo

If you haven’t tried using emojis with your students, you (and they) are really missing out. Toni Hylander and Owen Nesbitt from Birdville ISD offered some great ideas for how to find them, how to create them, and how to use them for learning in this handout. I especially liked their recommendation for using bitmojis as a welcome to the classroom at the start of school. You can find their cute ideas for that on slide 15. For more on using emojis with Google, check out Diana Benner’s presentation.

Maker for Primary Students

If you’re interested in design thinking and makerspace in the primary classroom, check out this great handout from Jessica Varela from The Lamplighter School. She had some great tips for getting started, including beginning with an “elevated” creation station. The first task her students were given was to create something that moves. She includes lots of other ideas for working with paper, wood, cardboard, coding, tinkering, and more.

Vocabulary Development with Paper Slide Videos

TCEA’s own Diana Benner had some powerful ideas for vocabulary development using paper slide videos. Paper slides is a low-tech way to incorporate video and creativity in your classroom as students slide “papers to create a movie.” Diana recommends students first think about the meaning of their assigned vocabulary word and come up with three things they want their audience to know about the word. Then, using one piece of paper per slide, they draw pictures (no words allowed!) that illustrate what they want them to know. They also add a paper slide that gives the word and may choose to add a credit slide. Next, they write the script of what they are going to say during the video and practice it. 

The Google-Minded Administrator

Tracy Willyard from Cedar Hill ISD shared how Google can make life easier for elementary administrators and help them save time. She shows how to streamline the work using Gmail, Forms, Docs, Sites, Classroom, and more. Ideas shared included meeting agenda, AUPs, PD programs, weekly updates, registration forms, master scheduling, inventory, lesson plan templates, and manuals/handbooks.

Affordable Augmented Reality

If you are just getting into AR, you will definitely want to see the resources provided by Amanda Smith from Lufkin ISD. She recommends you start by downloading four free apps: Google Expeditions, 3D Museum Viewer for MERGE Cube, Galactic Explorer/MERGE Cube, and AR Flashcards – Animal Alphabet. She also provides ideas for using augmented reality in the classroom and additional apps to provide to students.

More Resources

For other fabulous ideas and their accompanying handouts, check out this site to learn even more. And you can take a look at the Twitter hashtag #TCEA to find every more amazing ideas, even if you don’t have a Twitter account.

elementary technologyIf you weren’t able to join us this year, be sure to put next year’s conference on your schedule now. It will be held June 14-16, 2020 in Galveston again. You won’t want to miss it!

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classroom of children
Chromebooks

Chromebook Apps for Young Learners

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you a Chromebook user under the age of ten? While you may not be, quite a few students among the almost thirty million students in U.S. schools. Luckily, there are many Chrome add-ons which are age-appropriate for young learners. In this blog entry, we will explore a few common Chromebook apps.

Mathematics

  • ADDieMATH – Basic Fact Practice is made easy with this Chrome add-on featuring activities that provide students in grades 1-5 the opportunity to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
  • Math Quizzes – Per the website, this add-on “helps parents and kids to love math (and not only), by turning it through playing in a rescue mission for Earth, from an alien invasion. The kids win points, levels and prizes by solving quizzes, creating new quizzes and working inside a team.”
  • Monster Math – This app provides opportunities for students to learn addition, subtraction, and multiplication with animated cute monsters.

Language Arts

  •  Alphabet Tutor – Letter identification using the keyboard for the young. The goal of the designers is to assist students in learning the names of letters pressed, as well as to assess students’ ability to locate a specific letter on the keyboard.
  • Brainy Kids Puzzles– This add-on has fifty colorful jigsaw puzzles. These seek to promote spatial and word recognition skills.
  • Coloring Pages – Offers coloring pages for young learners. You can see a selection of what’s available online.
  • Into Words – Enables you to highlight texts on web pages or PDF documents. Into Words will read the text up for you in Danish, English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish and Norwegian. An additional forty languages with 98 voices can be used.
  • Read&Write for Google Chrome – This add-on offers a wide range of tools, including text-to-speech, text/picture dictionaries, speech-to-text, dictation, word prediction, and more. You can collect highlights from text in documents or the web, create and then listen to voice notes inside of Google Docs, and simplify/summarize text to remove ads.
  • Sight Words– Provides students with 315 Dolch sight word flashcards. Each word comes with audio. The goal is to use sight words with young learners to achieve balanced reading instruction.
  • Storybird – This add-on provides a creative digital story-building tool for readers, writers, and educators.

Utilities

Looking for some tools for your own use? Here are two lesser known ones you may find helpful.

  • 1-Click Timer – Interactive timer that has music playing while it counts down.
  •  Anyone Can View  – Use Alice Keeler’s extension to grant anyone with the link view access.

Chromebook Apps for the Young

These are only a few of the available Chrome add-ons available for young learners. Share in the comments what your favorite add-ons for young learners are.

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solution circles
Good Teaching

Resources from the Solution Circles: PreK-2

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

At the recent TCEA 2018 Convention & Exposition, attendees were able to take part in Solution Circles, small groups gathered around a table to share resources, questions, and answers on a given topic. There was no presenter; instead, each person taking part shared what he/she had to offer. Common problems were addressed and solutions were proposed.

Amazing resources were shared by those who participated, and it seems like a crime not to provide those ideas and solutions to others who were not able to attend this year’s convention. So I will be writing a series of blogs that offer tips and tools from each topic. For today, here are the ones from primary teachers in grades PreK-2.

What Works for PreK-2

Participants in this Solution Circle also reminded us that research shows that young students learn more when they work in pairs. That led to a great discussion about how best to set up learning centers/stations for paired work. Teaching these young students to share and then being able to know that each was doing his/her part was also discussed.

Be sure to check back for our next Solution Circles when we share resources on other topics!

 

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elementary
Online Tools and Apps

Sending URLs to Younger Students Easily

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Getting all of your primary students onto a website can be a pain sometimes. Even if you use a URL shortener, mistakes can and do happen as they type in the address. Here are a few solutions to quickly and easily get your kids onto the correct page.

Google Tone – Download this Chrome extension onto your computer and the computers that your students will be using. Then go to the website you want to send to your students. Make sure your microphone is on and then the extension will broadcast the URL to any nearby computers. It’s that simple. Obviously, if the room is too loud, Tone may not work as well.

Chirp – If you want to have students share URLs, photos, videos, and PDF documents from their tablet/phone to each other, you can use this free app that also works with sound. Chirp is available for both Android and iOS.

SymbalooEDU – With a free education account, Symbaloo will allow you to manage your bookmarks and share them with others. Add the URL of the website you want students to visit and its logo will appear on the Symbaloo screen making it easy for them to locate. One click and they’re there.

Lino – If your students will be working in a computer lab, create a free page with Lino on it and access it on all of the student computers. Then you can add URLs, photos, and files to the page and they will all appear on the students’ screens.

If you have other ways of getting URLs to your students, please share those in the Send Comments section below. I’d love to hear from you!

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