Ten Frames and Chromebooks

I have found several great apps from Math Learning Centers but my favorite is the Number Frame App.  I have used this on my iPads and was so excited to find out they have a web based app also.  It works great on the Chromebooks. 

You can pick many different sized frames but the one I use the most is 10 frames. 

You can also pick several different kinds of counters. 

There are several different Ten Frame activities that work great with this Chromebooks App. 

Here are some of my favorites:  

Ten Frame Flash

Flash a ten frame card at the students for one second and then ask them to build it on their Chromebook.  I then say “Show Me” and the students turn their Chromebooks to show me what they saw.  I scan the students Chromebooks and assess, then show them the card again.  Sometimes they are surprised.  I have done this with 5 frames and even 10 frames to 20. 

Variation- Just flash a numeral and they have to build it on the ten frame. 

Ten Frame Flash Plus One

This is played similar to Ten Frame Flash but students build the number flashed plus one more. 

Make 10 Flash

Flash a ten frame card at the students and ask them to build what we need to make 10.  For instance, if we flashed a 6, the students would build 4 on their ten frame. 

Race to 10 (or 20)

In this activity students will need a partner.  You can use one Chromebook and each person picks a color or each student can have their own Chromebook.  Player 1 rolls a die and places that many counters on his or her own ten frame.  Then Player 2 rolls a die and places that many counters.  The first player to fill their 10 frame(s) is the winner.

Roll and Build

Students roll a dice and build that number on their ten frame. 

Roll, Build, and Compare

Students will need a partner.  Player 1 rolls a dice and builds the number on their Chromebook.  Player 2 rolls a dice and builds the number on their Chromebook.  Then students look at each players Chromebook and compare the ten frames.  Who has more and who has less?  You can use 6 sided dice or a ten sided dice. 

I will share some of the other great apps from Math LearningCenters in the near future.  Hope this gives you another way to incorporate technology in your classroom.  

QR Codes

       QR Codes were my next challenge after losing all my iPads.   I use QR Codes for my listening center which I call my Readbox.  (Yes the idea is similar to Redbox but for books not movies)

        Our “Readbox” has book cover icons with QR codes that students scan and then listen.  Most of the books are videos from YouTube,  but most of the YouTube videos are viewed through the website Safe Share TV.   

I was not sure how it was going to work with a web cam but I was fortunate and received Chrome books with a camera that could flip from front to back. I did some searching for a QR Scanner for Chrome books and found this QR Scanner.   It worked great.  My students quickly caught on to how it worked.  

   Many of the books and qr codes I have used were found from free resources on the web and Teachers Pay Teachers.   I am all about free.  I have also created a few on my own.  The kids just love our “Readbox”.  

'Til next time,

Mrs. Vander Wilt

Symbaloo

To continue my adventure, I needed my Chromebooks to fill areas of my day that I usually used iPads.  The first was my Reading Centers.  My iPads had several apps that covered many areas of Reading.  As I was looking through the Chromebook Apps I soon realized that it did not have many apps that would replace the wonderful apps that I had on my iPads. It was very disappointing. I also liked the icons that students just had to click or tap on to get to the app or website I wanted them to work on.  So I brainstormed ways that I could do the same on my Chromebook. Even though this tech is dated, a Symbaloo came to mind.  A Symbaloo is a start page that allows you to easily navigate the web and compile your favorite sites on a tile grid similar to icons on an iPad.

I started by signing up for a free account in the top right hand corner.  

I explored other teacher's Symbaloos by clicking the plus sign in the right hand corner of your screen. I was so excited.  I had found so many new websites that I had not seen before that would be perfect for Reading Centers. 

When searching other Symbaloos (webmixes) I put in a search criteria like:
Kindergarten

Reading

Phonics

You have the option to save those webmixes and use them as your own or you can copy some of their links and make your own.

To Create your own tile, click on an empty tile

Find the website you would like to add and copy the URL Address. 

Insert the URL here.  Then you can design the tile with a title, color, picture, etc.

To copy a tile from another webmix,

Find a tile to copy

Then click share button

 

Then click Stop Updates.  Then the little lock disappears and now you can copy a tile.

Right click on a tile

Then click Copy/Move

Then choose which webmix you would like it to copy to or move too. 

 Here is my completed Symbaloo.  I have a Reading Symbaloo and a Math Symbaloo.  It has worked very well.  It has been great for my kinders.  I placed it on my class website and made it my start page on the Chromebooks for each of my students.  

  

Chromebook Storage

First Thing I had to do was come up with a place to store my Chromebooks.  The school was supplying file racks but because of my “OCD” that was not going to work.  Cords everywhere.  AHH!!  

So a colleague of mine created these. 

I labeled each shelf with a number and also labeled the Chromebook with the same number.  The only thing I regret is not putting the number on the side where it is plugged in. I put them in the front in the middle of the Chromebook.   I will change that when the tags start coming off. 

I have attached the cords with zip ties making sure each shelf had a cord for charging. 

I do not have my students plug in their Chromebooks.  Little ones tend to push plugs in crooked and try to push the cords in to make them fit and sometimes hard.   Also I want to make sure they are not plugged in every day to help the battery last.  

I used these until the end of the year.  At the beginning of this year, the entire school went 1 to 1 so our old laptop carts went up for grabs.  This is what it looks like.  

Other teachers have used student mailboxes and storage carts to store their Chromebooks.  

I love my laptop cart.  It takes up a lot of space but I have storage on the top that has been super helpful.  Maybe this will be helpful if you have to come up with your own storage.  

Welcome to Tech Crazy

     Hello, I am Dina Vander Wilt.  I am a Kindergarten teacher, a mom, and technology nut.  I have been teaching 20 years.  I have amazing 4 children and a wonderful husband who puts up with my crazy.  For the past 5 years I have been teaching Technology for Teachers at Dakota Wesleyan University and surprise my 4^th child came along at 40 which made my life wonderfully busy.  Unfortunately, I am not Wonder Woman so I had to give up my wonderful college students and stick with my wonderful Kindergarten students and my beautiful babies.  Because I can no longer teach about something that I am completely passionate about. I am going to teach through this blog.  I hope I can spread my knowledge, experiences, and ideas to make my teacher friends lives a little easier. 

      Technology is important to our student’s future.  We need to expose them to as much technology as possible.  Even though technology changes so quickly, learning from old technology helps prepare them for the new technology.  Plus, we need to teach our students how to use technology in more creative ways and not just playing games and watching videos.   I am also a firm believer that we need to balance hands-on learning and technology.  We should not be spending the majority of our school day on electronic devices.  

     I have had iPads in my classroom for 4 years but just the last two have been 1 to 1.  In March 2017 the administration pulled my iPads and gave me a classroom set of Chromebooks.  This has been a struggle and I am up for the challenge, but for those of you who have iPads, you can understand my frustration.  Kindergarten and Chromebooks is much more challenging.  This blog will document my journey and maybe help someone else.  My philosophy is make it as easy and purposeful as possible.  Hope you enjoy!