50 Nifty United States

Happy Election Day!!! I hope you all got out and voted today! 

We stood in line for almost 2 hours to cast our ballot.

As our home is anxiously awaiting election results I saw this comic and couldn't help but crack up! It has been tense watching the results begin to pour and I love the humor and needed a break from the seriousness of this election :)! Besides watching the news we are also stalking 270towin and Election Results (both supposedly bipartisan)! Anyways, I thought this would be a perfect time to blog about learning the 50 states in school. Below are a few of my favorite YouTube videos. 

A first grader at our school sang this at our school talent show last year and I was so impressed!

Did you learn this song when you were growing up? 

5th graders in VA learn the states and capitals and I thought this song was a good hook.

So I have told you how much I heart Chrome and Google Apps but haven't really elaborated on any so I thought tonight I could show you Simple States which is a great app for learning and quizzing the states. It isn't super colorful and it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles but it is definitely worth checking out...

I have tons of apps on the iPad to help students learn the states. Here are just a few!

Stack the States- I adore this app and my kids LOVE it too!

iLearn United States- very interactive the kids get really into this app.

US Map Games- You cannot do much without upgrading so this app isn't the best but you can play the puzzle level 1 for free.

This website has TONS of awesome links and all different levels of learning. Here is another fun US Map Quiz.

There are tons of interactive games, apps and websites! I have only highlighted a few. 

There are literally millions! 

What do YOU use in your classroom?

Overload + Ms. Jones 100 Follower Giveaway

I spent the day at a technology professional development which was presented by three lovely ladies from ISTE. From start to finish they modeled a true digital classroom through the use of a wikispace, Google Docs, collaborative learning and interactive/engaging teaching! It was amazing to see how engaged tech leaders were in the day. My brain is going in a million different directions and I am having a hard time pinpointing one idea to talk about and there were so many things that resonated with me.

One of the things that stuck with me most is the idea of personal learning networks (plns) and seeking/creating our own professional development in the digital age.  My new buddy Alex, over at The School Potato encouraged me to start this blog and I initially did it for "fun"! When I first started to post, began stalking following several blogs, getting RSS Feed in Google Reader, "liking" Facebook pages, following pages on Pinterest, etc. my pln was growing and growing but I hadn't really thought of in that way! Today they helped me to construct that thinking! Here is the video that they shared with us.

I have so many more reflections and ah*has from the day but I won't bore you with all that! I promised an awesome Web 2.0 tool last night and I won't let you down! Signupgenius is an amazing little timesaver. Have you ever had parents sign up to donate something to the class or for a conference at the beginning of the year and then you have to send a reminder or they forget to come or you have to copy the schedule for everyone. What about snacks for a party? What about classroom volunteers? How about those that didn't sign up and you try to send options and end up with duplicates? What types of things do you have parents "sign-up" for? Our school has TONS of things so this little bugger is going to be great! Signupgenius is a FREE site but it does require you to sign up for an account. The website is very easy to navigate and offers a little tutorial on the side. It is a simple click through and my friend Alex at The School Potato has already set up her account and a sign up on her own after I merely mentioned the site. I created two sign ups and already have people signed up (it's that easy)!!! For mentor meetings we would like our "old" teachers to present something they feel that would be beneficial to new teachers or that they are experts at so I created a sign-up for that! We have monthly mentor meetings and food makes any meeting better so I created a sign up for everyone to chip in throughout the year by bringing a snack or drink! Here is a screen shot (I cut it off as not to share their last names)! The best part of signupgenius... it sends you an email when someone signs up AND sends them a reminder two days before the event! 

I know this post is getting LONG and I still have so much to say but I am going to wrap up with a 100 Follower Giveaway over at Ms. Jones Junction (maybe the name had something to do it haha)! She is new to blogging and has already reached OVER 100 followers...CONGRATS!!! She has TONS of awesome giveaways including your choice of a $25 Silhouette Cameo Gift Card, or a $25 Silhouette Cameo Download Store Card, or a $25 Teachers Notebook Gift Certificate or a $25 Teacher's Pay Teacher's Gift Certificate, or a Scotch Laminator! Just click her button below to check out her bloc and enter the giveaway!!!

Do you believe in me?

I spent the day at a middle school leadership conference and the rest of the evening working on our new teacher school based orientation! In the past two weeks I have felt excited about getting the 2012-2013 year started but also overwhelmed, stressed and exhausted (school hasn't even started)! I know this isn't exactly technology but stick with me!

While preparing for the newbies we are trying to overwhelm them as little as possible and offer inspiration! As I was surfing YouTube.com, an amazing technology tool I found these some awesome videos that remind me WHY I am a teacher, WHY I love teaching and WHY I support new educators despite the never ending to-do list, the lack of pay and respect, the stress, the sleepless nights, etc. etc. etc. . This was one of my favorites but I also love What Teachers Make and The Story of Starfish.

So, YouTube isn't the most tech-savvy tool that I can show you today tonight (yawn) BUT I think it has a lot of value if used properly! How have YOU used YouTube in your classroom? I think this is also a reminder that technology doesn't always have to have bells and whistles or be extremely difficult to use.