Mystery Tweeting!

Today, one of the first grade teachers in my building was super brave and used Twitter in the classroom. Of course we had to do a lot of technology checking before she embarked on this journey but everything went off without a hitch.

This opportunity came about from me responding to a teacher reaching out for a global connection. Within a week, the teachers were emailing back and forth with a plan. They created private Twitter accounts. They decided  to start it off as a Mystery tweeting. Can you believe it?!? First graders researching, using maps, and learning all about geography through Twitter. So often Social Studies and Science are the subjects that get cut or recieve less time. What better way to mix it with technology.

The kids sat patiently waiting for the first tweet to come through and it did! I think we were more excited than the kids. It's always hard to capture the greatness of a lesson, activity, or experience in words.

It was amazing to see how technology allows us to reach out to anyone anywhere. Both classes were able to guess the states that they live in. We will move on to cities next. I will keep you updated  as they learn more about each other's location and grow into true "Illinois-Texas Twitter" friends.

Common Core Assessment Workbooks

One of the teachers in my building came across a free giveaway!  Of course we love free, but even better when it focuses on Common Core State Standards and Assessment. The resource comes in the format of Common Core Assessment Workbooks. What I really liked about the resource is that it included and assessment for each standard of Math and ELA. There was also a variety of assessment types. Some of the assessment were actually for the teacher to complete. For example, there was an assessment for CCSS RL.K.1 which focuses on students actively engaging in group reading actives with purpose and understanding. So as the teacher works with a group of students she can quickly complete this performance task sheet that is simple to use and keep anecdotal notes on. The assessment are easy to follow. I chose to review the Kindergarten assessments and they are very student friendly. Many assessments "say" CCSS but I feel that this assessment is very usable and both teacher and student friendly. Check it out! This resource is definitely worth taking the time to review. As a member of my district's math development team and ELA development team, it has been interesting looking at the assessments and assessment verbiage of the workbook.