The first year that our 1:1 iPads were released, I taught primarily reading and writing. I love technology, but I was more than a little concerned about my students' writing skills declining. I had used a lot of technology in the past for research and creation in project based learning, but had also used journals and other hand written forms. While many other teachers fell in the trap of shiny reading and writing apps, I was determined to make sure that my lessons stayed consistent with what I knew were the essential lessons my students needed. We continued to integrate writing into  project based learning , but my writer's workshop and other mini-lessons went totally digital. Here are my tips after spending a few years implementing writing on 1:1 devices. Model, Model, Model I've always heavily modeled writing, but it became even more important when we were 1:1. The great thing about having the devices was that I could share my model digitally. At first, I t......

Math centers are a large component of guided math, but in order to differentiate and meet the needs of our students on a daily basis, creating and keeping up with math centers can be so time consuming.   So, how can you simplify math centers in order to make them realistically manageable?   Here’s my solution:   GO DIGITAL! Technically, what constitutes a math center?   Math centers provide opportunities for student to practice skills that have been previously taught.   That's it!   There are an abundance of printable math center available.   I love them, because I just love making things cute.   What I have noticed though, is that I can’t keep up with the demands of putting them together.   I have to print them, cut them out, laminate them (I don’t want to have to start the process over again), and then store them.   It’s all so time consuming, and I always feel that I’m behind.   I’ve discovered ......