Keep it Interesting!

Prezi is another cool tool to present information in a entertaining way.

Poetry for 5th Graders - Prezi

Interactive and Visually Stimulating

eMaze is a great presentation tool, with many templates to choose from to help make material more interesting and exciting.

The Water Cycle

A Presentation for a Fourth Grade Class

My History, My State

The History of Utah (Tiki-Toki)

Links of Learning and Inspiration

Created with Padlet

The Mapping of a Mind

My Mind Map

Collaboration at it's Finest

Today's Meet

Today's Meet could be a great tool to use with parents for feedback, because answers can remain anonymous.  However, that is the downside of it as well, if not properly monitored it can become a gateway for hurtful feedback from parents or anyone with access.  

I posed the question: "Who was your favorite teacher in elementary school and why?"  You can look at others' responses and add your answer by following the link below.

CraigsRoom 

The Best Part of Elementary School

Answer Garden

I guessed that recess would be the most popular answer.  This is a great tool to gather information from students and parents and already have a visual ready to show the results to the students or parents.  I could use this in my classroom to vote for classroom rewards, simple quizzes, or opinions about favorite books.  Overall it is a great, simple tool.

Start the Year Off Right

Collaboration with Google Docs

Utah State Common Core: 5th Grade

Mr. Craig's 5th Grade Class

YouTube in the Classroom

There are so many resources on YouTube for educators, just make sure to watch all videos all the way through before using them in the classroom.  My favorites on my playlist is an anti-bullying campaign, and a motivational speech about education.

Newsletter

This is an example of a newsletter I would send home to my students' parents to inform them what would be happening the next month in my class.  This is just a small sample of what I would send, meaning in future newsletters I would update parents on each subject taught in my classroom.  Whereas this one goes over theater, creative writing, and reading comprehension.

My Newsletter

ThingLink: The States of Matter

ThingLink is a great way to present information in a clear and simple manner.  It is another great way to display links to further material about the subject. 

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Symbaloo: Utah's Environment

Utah State Core: Fourth Grade Science Standard 5
Standard 5 states: Students will understand the physical characteristics of Utah's wetlands, forests, and deserts and identify common organisms for each environment.  Each Symbaloo icon placed on my widget tie each objective and sub-objective to the core standard.  Objective 1 is to describe the physical characteristics of Utah's wetlands, forests, and deserts.  I found many links to pictures and information about each of these biomes.  Objective 2 - 4 discuss the common plants and animals in Utah environments, adaptations of these organisms, how to classify them, and their common behaviors.  There are links to learn more about each of these topics.

Using Symbaloo to place all these links together is a visually friendly way to compile learning materials for teachers and for students.

Education Zone: Pinterest is for Teachers

Uno Flip and Other Math Games

Theater games, science projects, classroom management techniques, fun ways to teach history, and so much more can be found on Pinterest!  Pinterest is a cornucopia of creativity and resources. Pictured on the left and below are a few of the ideas I found.  I also found printable board game templates, math games, many science experiments, and a fun way to teach history through making photos speak!  Whatever it may be that you want to teach, you can find new ideas on Pinterest.

Here's a link to my board Education Zone

Slime Baskets

Benefits of the Google Apps in Teaching

I have been using Google since I was in school.  I find it very user friendly, and it is convenient when collaborating with others.  Many of the apps are very beneficial to every educator no matter the grade, and to students alike.  The simplest of the tools is the web search, no wonder everyone says "just Google it!".  There is a lot of information at a person's fingerprints if they know how to look for correct information.  Using Google Scholar will limit the search to only scholarly papers. Others that are useful include, but are no limited to: YouTube, News, Earth, Drive (with all it's apps within), Calendar, and Translate.  There are many things that can be used in the elementary classroom to enhance the learning of the students which are all available with the Google apps.