QR Codes in the Classroom

There has been so much talk about using QR codes in the classroom so I decided to share what I did last year with QR codes in my class.

A QR code is a quick response code that looks like a 2D bar code. I see them a lot in magazines, on products, and on business cards. These codes can also be used in the classroom. There are a few sites that make it easy to make your own QR codes. These are the ones I use.

Make Your Own Voice QR Code

Make Your Own url QR Code

I also downloaded a free QR Code reader for my iPad in the classroom. Each week for math I teach lessons throughout the week, review the skills on Thursday, and test on Friday. On my review day (Thursday) I had 3 groups rotations going during our math time. One group started on their review sheet for the week, one group met with me, and the other group used the ipads and the QR code sheets I created.

I created pages that allowed them to navigate to different websites to review what we had been learning in class. After they finished that they were allowed to play math games on the iPad. This is a sample of the QR code sheets I made. This one is for reviewing dividing fractions.



My kids loved using the QR codes and they started paying attention to QR codes everywhere. They were excited when they found another QR code somewhere. I can't tell you how many times the kids came in and shared where they saw another QR code.

I have also added the QR codes to my beginning of the year brochures so parents are able to easily access our class website and blog. I am super excited to use them with some new things next year! I want to allow the students to make their own QR codes for projects. I also plan to set up QR codes in the classroom this coming year for open house. Our school is planning a meet and greet day before school starts. I thought it would be neat to set up QR codes around the room so parents can scan them and get a tour of the classroom even if I have to step out.

Do you have ideas for using QR codes? I'd love to hear your ideas. I'm constantly reading things on Twitter and other places about teachers using AR codes.

I also wanted to share some of my Pinterest projects from this week. My room is red, black, and white (to match my Canon camera strap). So I made 2 projects I found on Pinterest this week. The first is a ribbon wreath for the classroom door. One side of my classroom door is our class Twitter door.



On the other side I plan to hang my new homemade ribbon wreath.



This was super easy to make. I got a foam wreath form, several rolls of ribbon, and straight pins from Michael's. I cut the ribbon into 4 inch pieces, rolled them into a circle, and pinned them on. Viola!

The other project I made was a pictures frame for my desk. I plan to use an Expo marker to write my reminders on this.

 

I hope you have a great weekend! And don't forget to post your ideas for using QR codes in the classroom.

One Extra Degree Giveaway

Want to win a document camera for your classroom? Hop on over and check out One Extra Degree! She's giving you the chance to win a Luna for your classroom.

Summer Week 3: Vistaprint Order Placed! Yippie!

I love Vistaprint! Every year I order color brochures for my students and parents (you can see these at the end of this post). I mail these out after class lists are posted for all to see. The brochures give them an idea of what to expect in my class.

I also ordered some business cards for several different things.

This first card is a birthday reward card. This is the first year I've ordered these but it will be something fun to give my students on their birthday. I'm sure they will love it.


Free Business Cards by Vistaprint

These are extra iPad time cards. I have a good job jar. Throughout the week the kids have several chances to earn tickets to go in the jar. I normally give tickets for good behavior, guessing the big word of the day, posting to the class blog, and several other reasons. At the end of the week I draw 4 tickets. The first 3 get their choice of a homework pass, lunch with a friend pass, or extra iPad time pass. The last ticket pulled is what we call the "lucky dog" because they get one of each pass.

Free Business Cards by Vistaprint

These are my new homework passes.

Free Business Cards by Vistaprint

Yes, the desk fairy comes in my 5th grade classroom. I have always given a ticket for the good job jar when the desk fairy comes but this coming year I'm giving these cards. I think it will be a little something different and keeps the room from looking like an episode of Hoarders.

Premium Business Cards by Vistaprint

Brochures by Vistaprint

Summer Week 2

This week I've been doing a little summer learning. Are you familiar with SimpleK12? They offer free webinars for teachers. Our school district got a mini grant and I was lucky enough to be able to sign up for the community. It is an amazing resource and I've already learned so much from them.

This week I took part in 2 webinars so I thought I'd share a few free resources I learned about.

The first one is an iPad app called ScreenChomp.

This is an interactive whiteboard app where students can record themselves. Or the teacher can record the screen and audio to explain how to do something. This app makes it easy to post these short videos to the web or to a student digital portfolio!

I also learned about a free game creation site called classtools.net. This is a site where you can create arcade style quiz games for your students to use to practice/study for a test. You can make your own questions to personalize! This site also has a great QR Code generator game and "Fakebook." You should check these out.

The last site I'm going to share with you is Voicethread.

Voicethread is online and an iPad app. This is a great way to create an ePorfolio. I haven't used this before but I've seen some information about it. I'd love to hear from you if you have used it successfully in your classroom.

I'm gearing up to present at the Madison County Board of Education Technology Conference next week. I'll be teaching about using Socrative and photography. Check back next week for info about the sessions I presented!

Thought I'd end this post with a card I made for myself. So fitting I think!

(In case you can't read it, it says: i'm nerdy and i know it.)

Summer Week 1

Since I have a lot of followers who are teachers I've decided to continue posting through the summer. I have been working on my teacher resource website so I thought I'd share it with you. This is one of my summer projects so it is a work in progress. I'm planning to add a lot of my links and others files that I use in my classroom. I learned about Google sites and knew this would be a perfect place for me to organize everything into categories. This will be a central location for me to add all the resources I use. Can't wait to see what you think.

STUDENTS: If any of you are still following the blog you can find some of the online games we play under the "Favorite Links" section of my website.

Mrs. White's Teaching Resources

Week 39- Final Week

Our final days are done and my students are now "young adults" and hopefully ready for middle school. We started a new tradition this year by having the kids do a final walk on the last day of school.



We played music over the intercom system and they walked the halls. All the other students were out in the hall cheering them on. I was amazed by the number of students, both boys and girls, that were crying. Many of them have been at MES since Kindergarten.



I gave them all a chance to hug their teachers for the last time.



I have done my very best with my students this year. I am going to miss these kids so much!

Week 38

It is so hard to believe this was our last full week of school. We have 2 more days until the end of the year. This school year has flown by and I'm going to really miss these kids when they are gone!



This week we had our 5th grade graduation. Once they finish 5th grade they head to middle school.



Everyone was all dressed up for the occasion.





After graduation we had to get out and have some fun!



We played a game of kickball against Mrs. Reasner's class. We lost by one point but I told the students if they weren't having fun they shouldn't be playing. Needless to say, we all had fun!






We also dissected frogs this week! This first picture cracks me up! Alyse doesn't look too pleased.



Timothy did his best "frog pose" for the camera. Can you see the resemblance?



Most of the kids couldn't wait to get their hands on the frogs and others weren't quite sure they wanted to participate. I didn't make anyone do it if they didn't want to.



I found a great app to help the kids follow the steps to dissect the frog. The app is called Frog Dissection. It just did the internal organs. Of course we also had to check out the tongue and take out the eyeballs.





We celebrated the end of the week with field day and our class party.



We played all kinds of games like tug of war, 3 legged race, relays, water pass, and lots more.


It was around 95F outside and the girls decided to pose for a picture so everyone could see how miserable it was!



Thankfully the Monrovia Fire Department showed up and helped to cool everyone down!



The remainder of the day was full of more fun and games.




STUDENTS: I can't believe this school year is coming to a close. I am so sad to see you all go to middle school, but I'm also proud of each of you. What are your plans for the summer? Are you planning to relax at home or take a vacation?