Technology has proven to be a very useful tool to promote learning in my classroom over the years.  However, in the last year technology has become essential to education through the pandemic.  To continue learning while students are quarantined to their home, the school system has chosen to utilize G Suite.  The main applications that I have utilized are Slides, Docs, Drive, Classroom, Forms, Meet, and Jamboard.  I have also found Kami to be very helpful.  It allows individuals to annotate and work collaboratively on documents. 

A couple of extensions have proven useful in fourth grade.  Bitmoji has enabled me to personalize worksheets and assignments.  Mote has also proven useful in giving verbal feedback to students. 

A website that I have used in my classroom to review for tests is Kahoot!.  The students are highly engaged and get a bit competitive at times.  The website allows all students to participate, whether they are in the classroom or remote learning.

The school has paid subscriptions for Renaissance Learning, Moby Max, Mystery Science, and Freckle.  All of these programs have proven to engage students and reinforce learning.  Moby Max and Freckle are very similar in nature.  They are being used to reteach, reinforce, and enrich student learning.  

Although the school has a subscription to Mystery Science, in recent months I have also used the free subscription of Generation Genius to supplement the Science curriculum.  The lessons grab the students' attention and the materials provided are very user friendly.  Mystery Science is laid out well with a phenomenon to start each unit.  Each of the lessons in the unit connect back to the phenomenon, which is also referred to as the anchor.  Although the units seem to be lined out well, the worksheets and assessments require higher order thinking skills and hard to fully complete independent of the teacher.

While teaching remotely, I have also had the students using the website Epic!.  This website allows students to read a variety of books and take quizzes.  Some of the books are in Accelerated Reader which is a part of Renaissance Learning.  There is a read-aloud feature that helps the struggling reader.  

Another website that I really enjoy using is IXL.  This is on that has been purchased by my family so that my kids do not fall behind at home.  It is used to reinforce what they are learning at school and to fill in gaps.  Each day the kids do one math assignment and one reading assignment before they are able to play with technology.

Technology has truly become an integral part of my classroom and home this year.  The kids have not only kept up with their school work during this pandemic, but they are thriving.  


 

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