Linky Party

Dragonflies in First posted this a while ago, but it seems the party is still going :)

Hmmm....3 things I cannot live without (teaching wise):

1. Book Boxes
*Sounds silly, but true. When I taught older grades, I would see these in lower grades and wonder what they were (because they seemed to take up an awful lot of counter space!). Now that I'm in second, I wouldn't go without them! They're a great way for the kids to get organized and keep all their essentials - pencils, word study cards, BOOM cards, reading group books, WS journal, Response journal - together and in one place. How fast is it to get to reading group when all they need to do is grab it from the back counter and make their way to the reading table? We also switch for reading groups, so it's great when they travel from class to class (and it's killing me now b/c 4 of my "new" students who now come to me from another classroom are using gallon bags until I can get to Target and hopefully get some more!).

2. Pinterest: While this is something a friend introduced me to this past Fall, OMG - I have given up Facebook and playing games on the iPad/laptop for it! I used to search with Google Images, but this is a teacher's DREAM! I was not very smart and tried to categorize everything by subject....I think I'm up to 63 boards now? (or maybe it's 43)......differentiate and diversify! :)

3. SMART Table: I was blessed this year to have one of four in our school because I currently have the collaborative class. While I have an iPad at home I've been tempted to bring to school....well, imagine an iPad that is table sized and can fit up to 8 kids around it, doing different activities! Best of all, if I can't find a program already created for it, it is super easy to create one on your own (and you can embed SMART Notebook in it as well!).

4. My wiki pages: I LOVE Wikispaces! They are so awesome to educators, letting us have free accounts. I am up to maybe 5 or 6 wikis? (sad I lost count!). Again, like Pinterest, it's all about diversifying - Focus Walls, Grammar/Word Study, History/Science, Math, etc. I originally got into them b/c I could embed YouTube clips and not have to worry about scrolling down accidentally to inappropriate comments. Now, it's grown to include pics, other streaming videos, links, info, etc. Also equally wonderful that my kids/parents can look at it as well.

5. My Portaportal: Again, LOVE this! All your great links in one place AND my parents/students can access it from home and use it!

Okay, so I came up with five and my mind is still searching...LOL.....

What's your 3-5???