Facebook In Your Classroom?

About a month ago I got this idea to bring Facebook into my classroom.  Is that weird?

Actually . . . it's just the idea of Facebook status updates that I wanted to bring in.  I would have had this up sooner but the poster maker was out of paper at one point and then I got really busy with grades and all sorts of other deadlines!

Anyhow, I decided to create "classbook"!  I got so excited about the idea that I launched right into creating a logo for it before I realized that I wouldn't even need a logo for the format of the page I was setting out to create!

I know 1st graders are pretty young, and if any of my kids were actually on Facebook I'd probably think it was a bad idea.  However, I figured most of my kids would already know what Facebook was through either their parents or older siblings.  A quick survey before launching into the lesson proved I was right!

What I did was create a template that looks like a status update page so that I could make it into poster size for the hallway.  I took a picture of each student and let them smile, pose, or act goofy.  They were hilarious!

Next came the part I was a little worried about . . . would they be able to understand what a status update is?

I took a screen shot of my facebook page using some "safe" examples of status updates and projected it onto my mimio board.  On one status a friend posted a quote which I explained was just something the person read somewhere and liked so they decided to share it.  The next status was of a friend's thoughts regarding how the sound of a baby's giggle makes her smile.  The last status was a message a friend posted thanking her friends for all the birthday wishes on her facebook page.

Then I gave them a sentence strip cut to the width of the poster I had made with the school poster machine and set them loose to write their "classbook" status updates.  I was pleasantly surprised!

You would not believe how excited and into this "status update" thing my 1st grades are!  This is great considering my condition for updating statuses - you can only update your status if you are finished with all your work including your unfinished work!  I'm not sure about your kids, but a handful of mine have a hard time getting all their work done in time and begin to accumulate unfinished work.  This has turned into a great motivator for my kids since they all want to update their statuses.  I leave a stack of sentence strips trimmed to our poster size clipped with magnetic clips next to my door.  They are free to take one to change their statuses when they have satisfied my requirements.

I have had a lot of teachers stop by (including one of my APs) to tell me how they enjoy the classbook page.  We also notice how not only our class, but every other class passing by wants to stop and read the statuses . . . even if they are rushing off to lunch or specials!  When we came back from recess, a new mystery post appeared . . .

One student's status declared her Kindergarten the best teacher.  So what would any good Kindergarten teacher reading this about herself do?  Why she'd create a like, button of course!

It's so fun and gets the kids engaged in writing and expressing themselves!  AND it's a FREEBIE!

I'm posting the files here for you to download if you'd like to give it a try.  I went ahead and typed my students names in while it was still in a Publisher format, but I also have the PDF file available to preserve the font if you'd like to enter student names another way.  The font used was Franklin Gothic Medium.

I think this ongoing activity would be great for any grade level.  I actually originally thought it'd be great for 5th graders since some of them are actually already on Facebook, but my kids really love it.  I plan to keep it up all year and let them change their statuses as they choose.  My 2nd grade teacher friend shared the idea at a teacher leader meeting in our county and the Kindergarten teachers were the ones going wild over it.  Whatever your grade, give it a try . . . hope you and your kids enjoy!

Click here to snag the PDF version

Click here to snag the Publisher version

Next up: Vowels

The upcoming skill we are working on in my grade level is long and short vowels.  Have you hit this one already?  If you have, I've got something as a review for you.  If you haven't, I've got a great center for you!

Over the past few years I've been getting more and more twins or siblings split between my class and my friends' classes.  I think I've had siblings who have been twins or born within a year of each other for the past 3 or 4 years!  I thought that this would be the start of a cute center for vowels.

In my new center ("Safari Elementary: Long and Short Vowels) students are going to separate twins into 2 different classrooms based upon their names!  Mr. Long (rhino) is the teacher of the long vowel twins because "rhino" has long vowels.  I wanted to use a giraffe because of the long neck but thought it might confuse them because giraffe doesn't have a long vowel sound.  Mrs. Short (elephant) is the teacher  of the short vowels because "elephant" has short vowels!  After sorting the twins students will make class rosters for each classroom to turn in to you.  I've included extra animal cards without names so you can add your own names.  (Maybe names of students from the class.)  I've also included an extension to the activity for more a more precise formative assessment.

I hope you enjoy!  Click on the preview to snag it from TpT.

A Year of Assessments!

I don't know about you, but sometimes I find myself scouring my resources looking for a good assessment for some hard evidence of whether my students have learned what they needed to learn.  Sometimes I feel like I need to "Frankenstein" resources to get a good comprehensive assessment.  Well, guess what?!?!  The Lesson Plan Diva and I have been working hard and we have created a package of an entire year's worth of assessments for both Language Arts and Math!  We even took into consideration the amount of time it takes for teachers to grade, so we've made each assessment 10 questions long for easy grading!  You won't even need that handy EZ-Grader!  =)

That's right!  I'm offering 28 pages of Math assessment goodness!  For each of the 12 units there's a 10 question test and an "Exemplar" style problem solving question for students to think creatively and explain their thinking to show that they are "Experts" in the skill tested.  (Not sure about other schools, but our school is HUGE on Exemplars!  I think they're wonderful . . . not nearly as intimidating as they seem.)

Visit my TpT to pick up the Year Long Math Assessment packet covering 12 units of Math. The Diva and I have got your 1st grade assessments covered all year long.  ;-)

And click on the preview below to get The Lesson Plan Diva's Language Arts Test packet!

(BTW - If you don't know about Exemplars or have questions, let me know.  I'd love for you to maximize the Problem Solving portion of the assessments.)