Facebook Pinterest Twitter Bloglovin' Instagram Email Teachers Pay Teachers Image Map

Flocab free trial

A few weeks ago I blogged about one of my favorite ed-tech sites, Flocab. They are educational raps with accompanying videos. Most even have activities and quizzers. My kids LOVE when it's flocab time! A few of the videos are free, but a subscription is required to view most of them. From now until February 28th, you can sign up for a SCHOOL or DISTRICT wide free trial for 90 days! It's definitely worth a shot, especially with state testing coming up. They have a great test prep video (I blogged about here) and the videos can be sorted by standard so you can address the needs of your kids. 
Sign up for the school or district wide trial here.  If you miss out, don't worry! Teachers can get a 14 day free trial any time by clicking here

If you want to see my full post about flocab you can find it here

Happy Thursday!

Blogs by Grade & Sunday Scoop

Have you added your link to the Blogs by Grade link up?


If you haven't, you should check it out! It's a directory of teacher blogs, sorted by grade level. I love being able to see all the teachers that are at the same grade level as I am! I read blogs from all grade levels because I often find ideas I can adapt to work for my kiddos, but it's especially nice to see what others are doing with their fifthies.  I had a couple requests, so I just added High School Blogger today.

So, if you haven't, link on up!



Since it's Sunday, I'm linking up for my favorite fun Sunday linky party, The Sunday Scoop with the Teaching Trio.



Happy Sunday, friends- enjoy your week!

You Oughta Know

I'm super pumped to be linking up with Jasmine over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for the You Oughta Know blog hop! I love the premise of this blog hop- just share something that you think other teachers should know about. I chose to share my favorite website to help students study- cram.


Cram is a digital and mobile flashcard system to help students study. You can create your own flashcards, or choose ones that others have created and published as "public."


Seriously, it couldn't be easier to search for flashcards, and there are A TON of them available. As I'm writing this there are 96,734,555 flash card sets available to search through.  I did a quick search for "multiplication facts" and come up with 1,073 results.

That isn't to say they were all high quality, some were seriously below my students ability (think ones and twos tables) and some where just plain wrong (5 x 12 will never be 48), but I like the variety available.



I generally use the "create a flashcard the most in my classroom. When we have an upcoming test, I load important terms into Cram. If my students were older, I would ask them to create their own flashcards, but we are still learning to study in addition to learning the information.


In the "description" section I put in my last name in addition to the subject matter to make it easier for the students to find when they search. Once they find the flashcards, they have tons of choices for how to study.


The first way just to use them as traditional flashcards. See the card, check your answer on the back. You can cycle through them over and over again in the order you entered them or in alphabetical order. This isn't the most efficient way to study, in my opinion. Going over the ones you have learned already over and over again isn't the best use of time. 


The "memorize" tab is the one I find most useful. As you go through flashcards, you mark each one as right or wrong as you check your answer. Once you complete the first round, you go through the ones you got wrong again. After you complete that, you are back to going over the ones you got wrong again, and so on. This helps the kids focus on the information they are struggling with and not waste time on things they already know. 


There is also a "test" section, but I am not crazy about it. You have to match the front of the cards to the back of the cards, and it can be seriously confusing. I don't use this option very much. There is a game section, too, but I only let my student use that at home or if they have mastered the current flashcards. For really tough topics, there is also an option to add a hint for the answer. I love that! It gives one more chance to have the information come from the student.



Finally, the app. I love a good app! You can do everything you can do on the website, but on the go. This is where I use them in my own classroom- through our iPads. It's a great way to allow some independent studying. I sometimes use them as a station during classroom learning, as well. 

Best part of all, Cram is free to use. There is an upgrade option if you would like an ad-free experience with image enhanced flashcards, but I have not had a need for it. The ads do get annoying, but not enough that I feel the need to pay to get rid of them. 


Head on over to the rest of the blogs on the blog hop to check out some fun new ideas!


Snow days turn into snow weeks... Currently February

You guys, I'm going a bit crazy. I've had four snow days off in a row! We had a pretty crazy blizzard with over 30 inches of snow. In our congested city, that means huge snow piles everywhere, very limited parking, and entire lanes cut out of the street. Terrible! Now it's the weekend, and I am so ready to go back to school on Monday. Just one minor detail- there is another storm heading our way for tomorrow night, and it is going to drop another 10 - 12 inches on us. Nooooooo.....

With that, it's time to link up with Farley for Currently February!


Listening to my son's favorite cartoon, Peg + Cat. It happens to be my favorite, too! It's a great PBS cartoon about a girl and her cat and their mathematical adventures. They are seriously adorable and do a really great job teaching little ones about counting, shapes, and categories. 



Loving my new reading log conference from Blair Turner's paper shop. It's seriously useful! I won a couple of packs of sheets during a giveaway a few weeks ago. It looks like her shop is down for maintenance now, but when it opens back up you should definitely check it out. 


I'm thinking a lot about the upcoming week and my plans- or lack thereof. I am seriously ready to get back to school, but I am also making plans for our inevitable snow day tomorrow. I have a pre-planned personal day on Tuesday as well because my daycare provider will not be able to watch my son. Like it or not, it seems as though I am out of school until Wednesday. I'll be making an early morning trip in on Tuesday, though, to get things organized and printed- which is fun for no one! 

I am all about going back to school.... and so done with being trapped in the house... hence my wanting to go back! :)

I need to organize my office at home. It's kind of a mess! I chose to spend my time organizing my closets and storage on my days off, to the detriment of my office. I will be spending some time in there tonight getting stuff organized.  Sigh.

So, my pageant title would be... Queen Crazy Cat Lady! I seriously love cats, to a deep extent. Like, wear at least one shirt or accessory with cats on it each week. I'm not even ashamed of my cat lady status, either! :) My cat is my first son, and he is definitely part of our family.

Is anyone else out there NOT a football fan? I am so watching the puppy bowl today, but that's about it. It's hard for many people around here in Patriot Nation to understand. I don't want them to lose or anything, but I am just so disinterested in football. When I was younger, I used to go to superbowl parties just to eat snacks and talk to my friends. Now, I don't even bother with that! This buzzfeed article really summed me up well.

Off to try to get this house a little organized and cleaned up.... I hope you all are buried under less snow than we are!


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Jasper Roberts Consulting - Widget