Oodles of Teaching Fun

Academic Word Finder Tool…Achieve the Core


         Achieve the Core has great resources for teachers. I am highlighting their Academic Word Finder tool. You will need an Achieve the Core account, but it is free. This tool takes any text and identifies 

 

     It is simple to use. You paste an text up to 20,000 words into the tool. Then select the grade level of the text.

   Then you will be prompted to add the title, author, and notes about the text. I only fill in the title and author.

       The site then produces the story with the words identified underlined. As well a  list of identified tier 2 or academic vocabulary words with part speech, meaning, example sentences and grade level. You are able to sort the list in below grade level, on grade level, and above grade level. You can also sort it in order of appearance, alphabetical, or grade level.

     The tool save your lists as well as allows you to print and email the lists. The Academic Word Finder is a great time saving tool. Check it out and let me know what you think or how you will use it in your classroom.

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Technology Thursday Answer Garden Site and App



             I am joining Teaching Trio for Technology Thursday with an awesome new site. I am currently at training as a Core Coach for Tennessee and one of my fellow coaches has shared an amazing new site with me. Answer Garden is a brain storming site/app.

             Creating a AnswerGarden is simple. It walks you through each step and it takes two minutes to set it up. My favorite feature is that you can decided whether to allow answers to be posted or if they need to be approved first.

 It is a lot like a Wordle, but multiple individuals can answer at one time to add to it and create your Answergarden. The answer can either be 20 or 40 characters. 

        I am looking forward to using this site during the next school year and I would love to hear how you plan on using it in your classroom. Be sure to head over to Teaching Trio to find more tips and ideas.

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Tech Thursday Twitter Chats



      I love anything tech related, so I am joining Teaching Trio for Technology Thursday. One of my favorite parts of Twitter is the daily chats for educators. They have chats almost hourly and they all have a specific topic or group. 
You can find a daily schedule of chats to join here. I usually join in on the TN chat and the ELA chat. To join in on the twitter chats I use Tweet Chat. 
Tweet Chat is easy to use and free. Find the hash tag of the chat you would like to be apart of and click go. 
      Once your at your chat, you’ll be able to see all the tweets with the same hash tag. You will also be able to retweet and tweet from this page. I’ve found many new ideas to use in my classroom from chats.
              Head over to Teaching Trio to find out about other awesome tech ideas and sites. If would like to follow me on Twitter click here! 
           
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Technology Thursday: Awesome Apps for Teachers



    I am joining Teaching Trio for Technology Thursday. I have had a wonderful time at TETA.  I’ve learned so much this week and I still have one more day.  I wanted to share a few apps that I was introduced to today! 
The first app is called AR Flashcards. They have a couple different  paid versions, but the Alphabet version is free! I found this awesome video that shows what this awesome app does! 
This new kind of technology is called augmented reality.  If you search the App Store you find various types of augmented reality apps. 
Another awesome augmented reality app works with the 2013 and 2014 Guinness World Record Books!  The Guinness World Record App is free, so you only need to pay for the book. 
        Lastly, I want to share Grade Cam with you. Using bubble sheets you can print yourself, Gradecam allows you to grade multiple choice assignments  By logging in on your desktop 
computer you can then transfer the scores to your grade book with the touch of a button! The app is free for up to ten question quizzes. You can upgrade for up to 100 question quizzes. I really love the reports that are available. I love data and this provides lots of data. 

iPad Screenshot 1
A view of the grading widow
 iPad Screenshot 2

The view of the awesome data that is provided. All kinds of reports are available. Check out the awesome resource here. 
I hope you find something you could use here today. Be sure to stop over at Teaching Trio to check out other technology ideas. 

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Technology Thursday: Excel Tips



   
I’m joining Teaching Trio for Technology Thursday. I have a few tips on how to use excel. I posted last week about different excel tips, you can find them here. 
Tip 1: How to edit the Excel tabs (color/name)
1. Right click on the sheet you want to rename. 
2. Then click rename the area will darken and you can type in the area.
3. Click away from area when you are finished typing. 
4. To change the color of the tab, right click on the tab. Then select tab color and finally choose the color you would like. 
Tip 2: How to print with grid-lines in Excel
1. Click on file and then click on print. 
2. Then click page setup
3. Click on the sheet header. 
4. Then check Gridlines and then okay
I hope these were helpful. If you are wondering how to do something in Excel, please comment below and I’ll be sure to do a tutorial on that subject. 
I’m also looking for bloggers to link up here. I’ll be sharing this next week when I present at the TETA conference. I would like to provide all these great teachers from across TN with awesome blogs to check out. 

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