Using Evernote as a Reading Conference Notebook

In my classroom we use the Daily 5 and CAFE.  I have been looking at different ways to make my pensive (conference notebook) digital.  I mostly work from my iPad but I'd like to be able to access it from my computer too.  Evernote is the program I use for most note taking in my classroom.  I thought it would be a wonderful place to keep all my student data as well.  A few days ago I found a new Evernote app called Kustomnote.com.  By creating my own template for conferences, I can save my note directly into Evernote with the correct tags.  I can look students up by the strategy they are learning or by name.  Then I can even have it send me an email to remind me when to conference again next.

Here is my Kustomnote template that I use.

Enjoy!

Great Expectations

Last week I have the privialage to attend the Great Expecatations summer institiue. What I enjoyed most was the positive atmosphere and inspiration from the other teachers. My instructor, Sue, was one of the insipring teachers that you always wish the chance to work with. She had some wonderful ideas to share as well as the rest of the teachers in my class. I can't wait to go back into the classroom and be a positive voice.

A New Year: Starting Fresh

Now that we are in a new year, I've set many goals for myself and my class. The new year is a great time to look over what you have done and see what you can change. I also like to use it as a time to start fresh. When the students come back from break, we begin as if it's the first day of class. We go over all the class routines and discuss the rules. Of course this takes less time than at the beginning, but I find that it helps the students to come back focused.

This year through reflection I've decided that I need to work more on our word work/ spelling. I began using the Words Their Way program in my class this year for the first time and I really like it. I haven't been doing all of the routines it suggests though. I think the students would benefit from all the weekly routines that are included in Words Their Way. I've been looking for resources and I've included some that I've found below. What spelling program do you use? How do you like it?

Words Their Way Resources:

http://educationextras.com/wordstheirway.html
http://yung.wikispaces.com/Words+Their+Way

Writer's Notebooks

Our Daily 5 is now in full swing as well as our writer's workshop.  For both work on writing and during writer's workshop, we use writer's notebooks.  This week we spent time decorating and personalizing our writer's notebooks.  I think they turned out very cute!

The idea for the notebooks came from the Daily 5 website here.  The students really enjoyed making them just the way they wanted and they are taking better care of them too!