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My kids have been doing some amazing things during our first full week of school! There are many blog posts coming to share what we've been up to, so stay tuned! One of my favorites from the week has occurred thanks to the dedicated work of the ladies behind the creation of LiveBinders! Here is how we are using these digital online 3-ring binders at Collazo Cove:
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- I asked permission from the creators of LiveBinders AND got written permission from parents for my students, who are 5th graders, to create their own accounts. After registering on the site, they have each created a private binder that will be used as their Digital Portfolio this year. They all set the same "Access Word" to keep the binders private, but this allows me to access them as well as parents. They each sent me the link to their Digital Portfolio Binder today through Edmodo. Nice!
- I have decided to create several independent exploration activities each week for whatever Science Unit we are studying at the time. These activities will be due by the end of the week, and accompany many hands-on inquiry labs we'll be doing. Since my kids are in a true 1:1 program, they can work on many of these activities in the evenings if they'd like. The LiveBinder format is perfect for organizing the sites, games, and activities into week-long chunks of cool and interactive learning! You can view this week"s Becoming Scientists Binder HERE.
- My favorite of all, are our Independent Reading Binders. My language arts program incorporates Reader's Workshop. One of the requirements for each independent book my kids read is to create or add to a LiveBinder that expands the joy of reading the book. I created a class account (all the kids know our class username and password) where the kids create the Binders for their books. When we found out last week that we could all (29 of us) be in there at once creating a unique Binder, I literally jumped up and down clapping! The kids thought I was crazy, but I know you 1:1 teachers out there understand the joy that comes with that! The kids learned how to search for kid-friendly websites that others might like to visit related to their book/topic of their book. They learned how to create a new tab for each fun activity they found to expand the book. Today they worked on getting a picture of the book cover on the front of the Binder, as well as add an introductory tab which will include their name and which tabs they are responsible for adding to the Binder. This will allow me to see who is adding tabs to the Binders so they can receive credit for their work. Now the best part! The kids will now be creating QR codes that will link back to the book's binder, They will print out and tape the QR codes into the backs of the books for other kids to find and explore! They are so excited and I'm speechless about how well this is going!! I've embedded our class shelf on our website, so you can check them out HERE without the QR codes! Enjoy! And remember, they are a work in progress, and may change often!!
So, here's a BIG SHOUTOUT to Tina and Barbara at @livebinders for the wonderful work they have done to give us such a fantastic educational tool!
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We are so amazed by great teachers like you and the incredibly creative ways that you come up with for using LiveBinders. It is so fun to hear about the excitement of the students as they build something together.
Thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing your all your wonderful ideas with others!
Thank you Barbara! We couldn't do it with as much fun and excitement without the wonderful Web 2.0 tools people like you and Tina are creating! Always a fan!!