Category Archives: Active Literacy

#nErDcampMI Post #1

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Katie

I just had the MOST FUN at #nErDcampMI a literacy and technology Edcamp hosted by friends from the Nerdy Book Club.  There’s a lot that I could write about in a reflection post but since so many people had questions … Continue reading →

Posted in 2.0 Tools, Active Literacy, Collaboration, iPad, My Reading Life, Professional Development, Technology | 4 Comments

Lessons From The Trenches of The Slice of Life Challenge

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Katie

It’s been a crazy month.  Crazy.  Why?  Because both I and my students have been participating in the Slice of Life Challenge dreamed up by the amazing ladies at Two Writing Teachers.  To sum it up: write everyday, comment on … Continue reading →

Posted in 2.0 Tools, Active Literacy, Collaboration, iPad, Slice of Life, Technology, Writer's Workshop | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Coming Out of Hibernation with #SHC13 Think Tank!

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Katie

Those of you that have had a baby will understand when I say that I’ve been in hibernation.  It’s not that I’ve been sleeping my days away, in fact I get less sleep now than I ever have.  My hibernation … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Collaboration, Conference Presentations, Inquiry, iPad, Professional Development, Reader's Workshop, Self Reflection, Strategy Instruction, Teacher as Readers, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Connecting Comprehension and Technology

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Katie

You may have noticed our lack of posts lately.  There are two good reasons for that.  1) Mini Literacyspark has been keeping Katie very busy.  2) We’ve been writing a book.  Whaaaaaat!?  Yes, it’s true.  We’ve strayed out of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Classroom Management, Conference Presentations, iPad, Professional Books, Professional Development, Reader's Workshop, Research Workshop, Strategy Instruction, Teacher as Readers, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Croak.it! So amazing I can’t imagine life without it!

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Kristin

Croak.it! Yay! I love you, Croak.it! You’re amazing! I heard about Croak.it a few months ago on #1stchat (a weekly conversation about 1st grade on Twitter every Sunday at 7:00 CST).  I believe the amazing Karen Lireman  tipped me off … Continue reading →

Posted in 2.0 Tools, Active Literacy, Apps for Education, Book Reviews, iPad, Reader's Workshop, Technology | 4 Comments

What’s on Your Flipboard?

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Katie

I’ve been using Flipboard on my iPad for some time.  I love the way that it lays out text from different websites.  This year we’ve loaded the free Flipboard app onto student devices and we’ll be starting the year with … Continue reading →

Posted in 2.0 Tools, Active Literacy, Apps for Education, iPad, Reader's Workshop | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

How do we effectively use technology?

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Kristin

In our classroom, first grade students use the iPad and Web 2.0 tools to build comprehension, expand audience and interact with the world!  Our goal has been to go beyond substitutional interactions with the device and seek tools that modify, … Continue reading →

Posted in 2.0 Tools, Active Literacy, Back To School, iPad, Technology, Videos | Leave a comment

A Midpoint Inquiry Check in 1st grade

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Kristin

As you may know from Katie’s posts, we are up to our elbows in inquiry circles across the school!  On Friday we will have our once-a-year, doors-wide-open inquiry celebration for grades PK-8.  Get ready… Currently, I have 10 inquiry circles … Continue reading →

Posted in 2.0 Tools, Active Literacy, Assessment, Collaboration, Inquiry, iPad, Technology | Leave a comment

Going Public With Learning

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Katie

This post is part of my series of posts that chronicle a two and half week inquiry project from start to finish.  Here are some other posts in this series. Explore More: Explaining what it is and the background of … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Collaboration, Inquiry, Research Workshop | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Focusing on Process (not just product)

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Katie

This post is part of my series of posts that chronicle a two and half week inquiry project from start to finish.  Here are some other posts in this series. Explore More: Explaining what it is and the background of … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Classroom Management, Collaboration, Inquiry, iPad, Research Workshop, Technology | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Collaboration!

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Katie

This post is part of my series on our two and half week inquiry for Explore More.  You can read other posts in the series here and here. I really wanted to write this post today to demonstrate that things … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Classroom Management, Collaboration, Inquiry, Research Workshop | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A Big Day for Big Learning! Active Agents in a Digital World!

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Kristin

What a great day in first grade! We had a big day of learning and saw exactly how our thinking matters in the larger community. Way to live a curious life first graders! Each Wednesday we follow Wonderopolis.org and engage in our … Continue reading →

Posted in 2.0 Tools, Active Literacy, Collaboration, Inquiry, iPad, Research Workshop, Technology | 3 Comments

Going Deeper with Questioning

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Katie

A few posts back I wrote about starting our Explore More projects.  Over the last few days Michelle and I have been guiding the students in coming up with a wide variety and range of questions to spark their interests. … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Collaboration, Inquiry, iPad, Research Workshop, Technology, visual literacy | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Poetry on the iPads, Part 2

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Kristin

I have been waiting all day to write this post!  We had another wonderful week writing poetry in first grade.  As I watched my students this week, nearly all children made attempts to compose on the iPad. The children who … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Collaboration, iPad, Poetry Friday, Technology, Writer's Workshop | 10 Comments

What’s Blogging Got To Do With It?

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Katie

Ok, bad title I know.  But the content is good.  At least I hope it is.  Today I gave my students a survey about blogging.  It’s the first year that I’ve done blogs from the beginning of the year and … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Classroom Management, Collaboration, iPad, Reader's Workshop, Self Reflection, Technology, Writer's Workshop | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Happy Digital Learning Day!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Kristin

As we celebrate our 1st Digital Learning Day in my classroom, I take a moment to reflect on how significantly technology has changed how I teach and how my students learn. Device preference aside, I am so grateful for all … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Book Reviews, Collaboration, iPad, Read Aloud Books, Technology, Videos | Leave a comment

My New Obsession: Pinterest

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Katie

Yes I’ve just drunk the Pinterest Koolaid.  It’s soooo good.  I’m going to use it to collect teaching resources both technology and non technology related.  Feel free to follow me. : )

Posted in 2.0 Tools, Active Literacy, Assessment, Interesting, iPad, Math, Professional Development, Read Aloud Books, Research Workshop, Strategy Instruction, Technology, Writer's Workshop | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

NCTE 2011 Recap: Donalyn Miller, Franki Sibberson, Sara Kajder & Teri Lesesne

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Kristin

If you’ve attended a national conference like NCTE, you know how tricky it is to plan your daily schedule to maximize your conference experience and see all the speakers on your “must see” list.  Especially at NCTE–many people I wanted … Continue reading →

Posted in 2.0 Tools, Active Literacy, Book Reviews, Inquiry, iPad, My Reading Life, Professional Books, Reader's Workshop, Research Workshop, Technology | 2 Comments

NCTE 2011 Recap: Seymour Simon, Linda Hoyt, Ann Marie Corgill & Ellin Keene

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Kristin

WOW!  The NCTE conference was terrific this year!  I’m still recovering from information overload.  My brain is literally full. Now that I’ve acquired all this new learning, it’ time to process it and actively use it… First, a big thank … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Book Reviews, Inquiry, Professional Books, Professional Development, Writer's Workshop | 4 Comments

Using Google Forms in 1st grade

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Kristin

We’ve got pets on the brain.  For the past few weeks we have been reading about pets.  We’ve written nonfiction text and poems about pets.  We’ve collected data on pets, taken informal surveys of favorite pets and graphed our results.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Active Literacy, Collaboration, Inquiry, iPad, Technology | 2 Comments