Friday, November 28, 2014

Tech Talk Blog Hop - Spelling City Website and App for Differentiating Word Work

Today I'm joining up with my friend Tasia from Great Minds Teach Alike for the Tech Talk Blog Hop!

I now have 7 iPads and 10 Chromebooks in my classroom, and my students are so excited to get their hand on these devices.
I have lots to share with you in future blog posts, but today I'm going to tell you about a site that provides an easy way to differentiate word work for your students.

Some of you may be familiar with the website called Spelling City.
Did you also know that there is a related app under the same name?

This site has a free version and a paid version.
I have only used the free version.
You set up an account under your name and school.

Recently I set up two word work lists for two different groups in my class by accessing the site on my desktop computer.
You can see in the image below, and I labeled them with the date of the list, and the letters S and P.
One group primarily works with me on their word study, and another group works with a parapro so I labeled the lists with the beginning letters of our last names (S and P).

 It took me about 10 minutes to set up the two lists.

At small group station RTi time students used the iPads to click on the free app I had downloaded to the iPads.
I had to log into our school's network on the iPads so the students could access the Spelling City site.
I did not have to log into the Spelling City site each day - our lists popped up each day after using it the first day.

In the free version of this site students are provided many options for reviewing the word work lists.
There is an option for word and sentence unscramble.

There is an option for alphabetizing the words.
The students click on the word and move it into the right spot.

There is a game for choosing the missing letter.

The students can also do a spelling test on the words.
A voice states the word aloud and students spell it!

The students can even access this site at home by doing a search for their state and teacher's name.
My students were excited to look for the app and site on their iPods and tablets at  home.

Check out all the great tech ideas on Tasia's site - Great Minds Think Alike.
And stop back here for more tech tips!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Currently - November

Lucky for me the first day of November is on a weekend, so I have time to join up with 
Farley and this month's Currently.  Honestly, I am so swamped during the week that I rarely have time to compose a blog post.
Here goes......

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My beloved Packers have a bye week this week so I have the Cowboys/Cardinals on as background noise while I catch up with schoolwork and blogging.

My sweet dog has a birthday today!  I am so thankful that he has been with me for 12 years.  
I can't imagine a day without him!

This past week I heard about some changes that are coming to my team at school.
The news left me feeling down, and I'm hoping it all turns out okay.

I have been perplexed about what to wear for a coat since we're in that in that not warm/not cold weather.  
I'm heading out to TJ Maxx later to check things out.

OMG - wouldn't it be nice to have an extra hour every Sunday?
An extra hour = less stress.

My book club just finished reading The Alchemist, so I needed something lighter to read.
A friend gave me the Mindy Kaling book for my birthday, and it's just the fun read I needed.

Do you need an easy to implement spelling/grammar unit next week?
Check this out in my TpT store: