Friday, August 24, 2012

PlanbookEDU Winner and Favorite Tech Tools for ELL


Happy Friday!

What a fun surprise today when I opened up my email and found out I was one of the winners for the free year's subscription to PlanbookEDU via The Caffeinated Teacher's blog! Yay!! I can't wait to use PlanbookEDU again this year! :)

One of my favorite things about reading other educators' blogs is learning about new and exciting resources and tools available online. I really appreciate hearing about how the tool can be used with students and being able to see real-life examples.

So, I would like to share a few of my favorite tried and true tech tools for ELL, along with some examples of how I've used them. This is just a partial list....and it's constantly growing and changing as I continue to learn more about new developments in ed tech.

I'd love to hear your suggestions and ideas about other ways to use these tools, and about other 2.0 tools and resources you love!!

Ms. Vazquez's School Website and Teacher Links:



Thursday, August 23, 2012

Gearing up for back to school!

It's always hard to say goodbye to the summer (especially this summer -- I got married in July and have enjoyed spending August traveling with my hubby!)....but I find it only takes a good conversation with a colleague or the discovery of a new techie tool to get my mind back on track for the beginning of the school year.

This week, I did some planning with a colleague in preparation for the 3rd grade math class we co-teach.  It was a great time -- not only did we have some inspirational conversations, but we also discovered some new features of a tech tool we LOVE: PlanbookEDU.  This online lesson planning tool just keeps getting better and better, including the ability to add Common Core Standards to your plans,  share your Planbook with others, and attach electronic files to your plans.  Love it!

I am constantly telling other teachers about PlanbookEDU and how much it has streamlined my lesson planning, but I have been searching for a thorough and easy-to-follow tutorial to refer them to....until now!  Check out The Caffeinated Teacher's blog for a wonderful tutorial on PlanbookEDU.  You won't be disappointed!!  The Caffeinated Teacher (Raye) is also offering a give-away of a free year's subscription to PlanbookEDU -- I'm definitely hoping to win!

Hopefully your summer has included lots of fun, friends, family and relaxation!  What do you like to do to get into the back-to-school spirit?

Thanks for reading!