Bookpedia: My Classroom Library Catalog

How many times have you seen an awesome book sale, but then wondered to yourself, "Which Magic Treehouse book was it again that I only have one of?" Or, "Which Dr. Seuss book did I loan to my fellow teacher and never got back?"

I searched for the best computer programs for cataloging a personal/classroom library, and after trying bunch of them, Bookpedia was the best option for me. It helps guide my book purchases so my library isn't lopsided in terms of number of titles and reading levels, and has a checkout system for me to track who I've loaned books to. 

The interface is very similar to iTunes, so it feels very familiar and intuitive to use, and I love that I can add my own categories for sorting books. 

There were a few things I had to figure out on my own though, to make the program more tailored to a classroom setting.  After purchasing an downloading the software, here's a step-by-step guide to setting up your Bookpedia for your classroom library.

You can use the camera in your computer/iPad/iPhone to scan a book's ISBN barcode, and Bookpedia will then run the ISBN number through several online databases to pull up the book's title, author, publisher, number of pages, genre, and a picture of the book's cover, automatically filling in the entry fields for you in Bookpedia. Scanning your books makes the process of cataloging your library go so much faster. Which brings me to my first piece of advice:

STEP 1: Connect your Bookpedia to the AMAZON DATABASE

Bookpedia's default online database for pulling book titles, authors, etc. is something called Doghouse. You do not want to use this database as I found it will have few (if any) of the books you own.  When a book is not found online after you've scanned it, you must manually enter each piece of information about the book (which would take forever when multiplied by the total number of books you own). 

By connecting to Amazon's database of books, you'll make the process of inputting your book entries faster and more accurate.  This link explains the process for connecting to the Amazon book database. 

http://bruji.com/help/bookpedia/adding/adding.html#amazon

You have to set up an Amazon Web Service (AWS) key, and then follow the directions for entering those numbers into your Bookpedia settings. It takes a little bit of time, but once you're finished, you'll be glad you did, because it will make all the difference in how easy it is to enter books into your Bookpedia catalog. 

STEP 2: ADD CUSTOM FIELDS

I don't know about you, but I have multiple copies of the same title for many of my books (whether they're guided reading sets or just a part of my regular library). Bookpedia does not have a default field for recording how many of each book you have. You could simply add multiple entries for each book (so you would see the same title, say, three times in three separate listings, if you had three copies), but I didn't want to add that much visual "clutter" to the interface. You can add a Quantity field by going to Preferences. 

These are the custom fields I've added to my Bookpedia:

--QUANTITY--

--GUIDED READING LEVEL--

--LEXILE--

--DRA--

--GRADE EQUIVALENT LEVEL--

This is a screenshot of the information I've input for the book Dixie. 

I downloaded the (free!) Scholastic Book Wizard app to find the reading levels for all of my books.  Every once in awhile I'll search for a book that I can't find within the app, but for the most part it's pretty good about having the titles I'm looking for.  

STEP 3: MAKE A PLAN

Depending on how many books you own, it will take a big chunk of hours to enter them all. But make sure you start in one section of your room and move methodically through your collection.  Otherwise, you'll be pulling your hair out trying to figure out whether a.) you've already scanned this book, or b.) this is simply another copy of the book you scanned already. I'm going to start putting a tiny stamp on the inside of the cover of books I've input, so I don't run into this problem again. 

STEP 4: KEEP IT UP

As you add to your book collection (Hello, Scholastic points!) make sure you continue to scan new books into your database. 

Teacher's Guide to Organizing Your Computer Files, Part 1

I am fastidious about keeping my computer files organized.  EVERYTHING must go in a folder, and most of my folders have more folders within folders.  Ask me for anything I may have on my computer, and I can find it in seconds.  The packet I made for Back to School Night two years ago?  Check.  The unit on money I bought on TPT last spring?  Check.  Those Halloween-themed writing prompts?  Check.  

I have teacher friends whose computer desktops are filled with random files and TPT products that have yet to find a digital home.  

Every teacher needs the following digital folders in her computer to organize the hundreds (thousands?) of teacher resource files we all have floating around on our hard drives:

RECOMMENDED TEACHER FOLDER #1: Lesson Plans by Season (True, nearly all the files in these folders are not formal lesson plans, but in fact either printables, center activities, or templates for art projects, but I've always just titled my folders "Lesson Plans" because it covers everything I may use in a lesson for that topic.)

Within that folder (Lesson Plans by Season), I have a subfolder for each holiday I have resources for.  When titling folders by month, I always put the number of the month first, so that the folders will be in order from January to December (otherwise the folders would default to alphabetical order - and seeing April listed first, and then August and December would just throw me into an OCD tailspin).  Since Easter is always in a different month, that's the only folder that isn't placed in sequential order of the year's holidays.  Same goes for the 100th Day of School.  

Does it matter if the Valentine's Day worksheets/resources are for math, spelling, writing, etc?  Unless you literally have dozens of files relating to Valentine's Day, the answer is NO.  If it is a Valentine's Day-themed resource, it can all just go together in the Valentine's Day folder. And as long as your files themselves are labeled appropriately (which may be a whole other blog post), you should be able to find what you need within that one folder.  

RECOMMENDED TEACHER FOLDER #2: Lesson Plans by Subject
This folder is going to have a LOT of subfolders.  Every subject you teach (which, for us self-contained elementary classrooms, is all of the subjects) needs its own folder within the "Lesson Plans by Subject" folder. 

Each of these subject folders should in turn have a number of subfolders within them as well.  For example, my Phonics folder: 

My Phonics folder contains subfolders for all the phonics rules we learn in first grade:

• Beginning consonant sounds
• Ending consonant sounds
• Long vowels 
• Short vowels
• R-Controlled Vowels
• Variant Vowels
• Digraphs
• Dipthongs
• Inflectional Endings

And within those folders, then another series of subfolders, as you can see in the screen shot of my Short Vowels folder above, which includes Short A, Short E, Short I, Short O, and Short U. 

More to come on ways to keep those computer desktops clear of your TPT resources!

Assessing Sight Word Fluency

Your iPad is your best friend when it comes to testing for students' sight word fluency!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  

I do my best to formally assess each student on his/her sight word recall (using the Pre-Primer and Primer Dolch word lists) once a month, beginning with the first week of school.  I assess students again on these same words around the end of September, and then a third time around Halloween.  Historically by this point, all students but one or two will be able to demonstrate mastery with 100% accuracy in this area. Because these two lists are words that should have been learned and mastered in kindergarten, many students will show me that they know all the words during my first or second assessment.  (Whew!  I love it when this happens, because this means more of my time can be spent with small groups instead of assessing one-on-one.)  As soon as a student is able to recite an entire word list with 100% accuracy, I snip the corner off that student's assessment sheet so I can easily see that they do not need to be assessed in that area again. 

Which brings me to my Fluency Assessment Binder: 

I use a set of Avery binder dividers, numbered 1-31.  These, I'm sure, were intended to be used for each day of the month, however they work perfectly in my Fluency Assessment Binder (or any other binder requiring a tab for each student).  Students are assigned a number at the beginning of the year, and I file students' reading assessment data in this binder under their numbered tab.  This allows me to re-use the same dividers year after year (those suckers were expensive), and I don't need to spend the time meticulously printing beautiful and neat labels with each student's name on each tab.  EASY PEASY, right?  

Full-disclosure: if you have a class of students that numbers more than 31, as I did last year, you will not have a tab for each student.  I think Avery makes tabs that go up to higher numbers, but a trip to Staples to investigate at the start of the year just didn't happen.  And then I decided there were just too many other things to worry about than making sure the last four students at the end of the alphabet had an individual tab in my assessment binder.  So, if you find yourself in the same position as me last year, do what I did: paper clip the groups of papers for students numbered 31 through 35, and stick them at the end of the binder with no tab at all.  Surprisingly, this hackneyed system of separating papers worked just fine.  Now this year I'm back to a class of only 26 students, and all is well again with the world.  

I copied enough sheets of the Sight Word Fluency Checklists to place one behind each student's number tab in my binder.  There are three columns, for each possible assessment date during the first trimester.  (As I mentioned before, some students will not need to be assessed more than once, if they can read all words during the first assessment.)  If, after three assessments however, a student has still not mastered his sight words, simply make a second copy of the Sight Word Fluency Checklist, and place it in your Fluency Assessment Binder in front of the first copy.  Continue to do this, assessing about once a month, until the student is able to show mastery of all required words.  

Here's where the iPad comes in!  (Side note: You can do all of this with a lap top computer, or even in front of a desktop computer.  I just like the flexibility of the iPad, which allows you to find a quiet spot anywhere.)  I believe that all iPads can now download for free the apps for Pages, Numbers, and (the app I use during Fluency Assessments) Keynote.  Keynote is just Apple's version of PowerPoint, and while it took me a minute or two to get the hang of it, it is actually pretty simple to use.  

I used the Keynote app to create a slideshow of the Dolch Sight Words Pre-Primer list (and later, additional slideshows for each subsequent Dolch List).  Simply type one word on each slide, (making sure to use the same word order that you have on your checklist).  If you are creating your own checklist, do NOT list the words in alphabetical order.  Students need to see these words in a random order, out of context, and still be able to read them correctly.  

Find a quiet place for you and your student to sit, and then set the slideshow to run, with a three-second delay between transitions to the new slide (sight word).   All you need is your iPad, (either propped up where the student can see, or in the student's lap), and a clipboard, pencil, and that student's Fluency Checklist.  Once the slide show begins to play, the student only has a few seconds to answer before the slide show moves on to the next slide/word.  Everything is automated through the iPad, and therefore everyone gets a completely fair and objective assessment.  Each student is guaranteed to receive the same amount of time per word as everyone else.  (Plus, I've found there are fewer comments from the students such as, "Slow down, you're going too fast!" or, "Go back, I missed one!")  The only thing your student needs to do is say the words aloud as he/she is able to read them, and your only job is to either place a check mark next to a word to show that it was read correctly, or leave the box blank, to indicate that no response was given.  I will write in the box whatever word (or beginning sound) the child does say, however, as these extra notes can often help me guide instruction in reading groups.  

And that's it!

New Year, New Hobbies!

As I've written in a previous post, I've taken up the piano!  But I've also recently rekindled an old hobby of mine as well: art!  Except this time, instead of using traditional paper and pencil, I've been using the Paper by 53 app on my iPad, and the corresponding Pencil stylus . . . so I guess I'm still using Paper and Pencil!  Painting on the iPad has taken a little practice, but I'm starting to get the hang of it! I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to just sit and draw or paint for an hour or so. 

My favorite part of this app is the watercolor feature.  I love that when you hold the stylus (or your finger) on the screen, the color will pool in a very realistic way, creating a fine, slightly darker ring of color along the edges.   For the painting of the trees above, I used the watercolor feature, as well as the marker, colored pencil, and pen.  

I want to brainstorm ideas on how I might utilize something like this in the classroom during our art lessons.  I can't afford to buy my kiddos $60 styluses (they'd have to use their fingers),  but I think it would be fun to see the kinds of things my students could create with something like this.  

And I just realized what the best part would be of using this in the classroom: zero clean up!  No paint brushes to clean, no water cups to dump out, no stained shirts, no spills!  Don't get me wrong, I know there is a definite need for the tactile messiness of hands-on art projects.  But this would be a cool addition to all of that too, don't you think?  Hmm, but then I'll have to use a fortune's worth of color cartridges to print their work . . . Sounds like a possible Donors Choose proposal?  Something to think about . . .

What do you think?  Have any of you other blog readers used their iPads for art in the classroom?  I'd love to hear your comments!

Using my iPhone in the Classroom

I keep my iPhone within arms reach at all times at school.  (Is there an apostrophe in arms?  Probably. I'll have to look that up later.)  No, not because I plan on checking my texts or waiting for a phone call.  I use my iPhone for all kinds of things in the classroom.  For example:

Class Dojo
I'm written about Class Dojo before as an amazing classroom management tool.  And it really is.  But sometimes I want to give someone a point when I'm walking around the classroom, or in the middle of a lesson, and to walk across the room to get to my computer would disrupt the moment.  So I pull my phone out of my pocket, and boom, it's done.  That glorious little ding will ring out, and 27 little bodies snap to attention in hopes that they too, will get their own ding.

Dictionary
"Miss Bergstrom, how do you spell porcupine?"  Uhhhh, hold on kiddo, let me double check.I'm a pretty good speller, but some words just aren't always in the forefront of my brain.  How often does one spell the word porcupine?  Or karaoke?  Or corduroy?  Sometimes I start to second guess myself, and need to verify that I'm telling the kids the right spelling.  (Worst case scenario: that writing assignment goes home with the misspelled word, kid tells parents that's how I told him to spell it, and I look like an idiot.)

Timer
I use my phone timer everyday to keep track of my center rotations.  I am terrible at keeping track of time.  I've forgotten to set my timer on occasion, and when that happens, I'll usually continue reading with the same guided reading group until one student finally says, "Isn't it time to move to the next center yet?"  Oops.  I get on a roll with the kids and loose track of time!  My God-given talents just don't happen to include an accurate internal clock.  Luckily, I have my phone nearby to keep me on track.

Music
Music can be used for all kinds if things in the classroom.  Either to go along with lessons, to calm them down, or pure bribery, music is a valuable tool.  For example, I'll occasionally tell my kids that I'll play music while they work, if they promise to stay quiet(ish).  I have a Spotify account (one of the best Christmas presents my brother ever gave me), and I use it in the classroom all the time.  All genres of music are at my fingertips, at all times:Kids are doing busy work?  Play Disney's Whistle While You WorkChristmas season?  Let's search for Christmas carols.
Teaching a religion lesson and need a certain song to supplement the message?  Got it.
Need to settle them down after recess?  Mozart
Any time of year, and need to bribe the kids?  Frozen soundtrack.
Introducing a new phonics sound?  Teach it with a song.

Camera
All teachers need a camera in their classroom.  I'll write a post soon on all about ways teachers can use a camera in the classroom.

Common Core Standards
I have the Common Core Mastery Connect app on my phone so I can look up standards easily.  It just makes it quick and easy, especially for those times that I'm writing the standard and objective on the board for an impromptu lesson.

Weather
Obviously, I can't check the weather forecast for an absolutely definitive answer on whether or not it's going to be raining at exactly 10:20 in the morning.  But for the times when I'm asked, "Miss Bergstrom, are we going to have indoor recess today?"  I can at least check the weather to get an idea for whether or not we'll be on a rainy day schedule, and give me a little help on how to answer the kids (in addition to allowing me to mentally prepare for what might feel like a very long day).  It's also helpful when we're in the middle of our weather unit, and the kids are writing weather journals.  

Missal
Since this is a Catholic school, we attend mass as a school on occasion.  In these cases, I like to look up the mass readings ahead of time, to teach the message to the kids before we go to mass.  It's much easier looking up the readings on my Missal App instead of at my computer.  

I love the Phonto iPad app!

One of my new favorite iPad apps is a (free!) photo-editing app called Phonto.  It lets you write text over photos, in a bunch of different colors and fonts.  This app will also let you put a background color behind the words (like I did in white), and rotate the words (like I did on the second photo, along the left-hand side).  I had some fun practicing Phonto's options by writing labels all over some pictures of my classroom.  

I'm still looking for a good photo collage app though... I've tried a few but haven't liked any of them that much so far.  I just downloaded Pic Collage, but I'm not in love with it.  It's difficult to zoom/resize the images once you put them in the squares.  But don't worry, followers!  You'll be the first to hear when I find the one that works for me!

Class Dojo

I love Class Dojo!  It's the best way I've found to communicate with parents about the behavior of their kids at school.

 All you need to do is sign up for an account at www.classdojo.com, and enter all your students' names (and their parents' email addresses).  Each day, you login to the website and assign your students positive and/or negative points in categories you choose yourself.  And at the end of the day (or week, depending on what settings you choose), voila!  Every parent will receive, via email, a detailed report of their child's behavior.  Done and done.  There's even an iPad app, so you can use your phone to assign points instead of needing to be close to your computer.  It's brilliant. 

Can I Get A Word: Using "Word Girl" Videos to Teach Vocabulary

Part 2 of my earlier post on how I use Netflix to coax good behavior (and vocabulary lessons) out of my students:

I make my kiddos take notes while they watch Word Girl.  The beginning of each episode introduces two words that will be featured in that show's plot line.  I write those words on the board before pressing play, so that the kids can both see and hear each word.  Students then have to write those in their writing journal or on a sheet of paper, and keep track of the number of times they're mentioned in that episode using tally marks.  I have a few students who still don't "get" tallying, so this is great practice for them!  

After we're done watching the 15 minute episode, the kids have to tell me what the definition of each word is.  Word Girl does an amazing job of giving the kids context clues that lead them to the correct definition on their own.  The kiddos then write a definition of each word on their papers, and draw a picture for each.  Depending on time, I'll occasionally have the kids write sentences using each word as well. 

I have a pocket chart where I put the words we've learned so far, and for review I'll randomly choose a name from my stick jar every once in awhile to ask students what they mean.  So far, here are a few of the words we've learned as a class:

• devour
• confused
• persevere
• soar
• destroy
• flabbergasted

My students love learning new words!  (Or maybe they just love watching cartoons, and have been cleverly playing me in order to watch more cartoons . . . well, either way, they're learning, so does it really matter?)

Bribing my kids with Netflix

When I was earning my teaching credential, I would have told you that my classroom management was based on positive reinforcement and intrinsic rewards.  It was an idealistic, politically-correct point of view that I still believe, but sometimes you need more than praise to keep a class in check - because there will always be those students for whom misbehavior is its own reward!  So what do you do when you have students who would rather follow their own directions instead of yours?  You bribe them with a reward that's more appealing than crawling on the floor and untying classmates' shoes during your math lesson. And that reward's name is Netflix.

I initially signed up for Netflix so I could binge watch TV during my Christmas break.  But I happily discovered that there are some really great educational cartoons under the "Kids" section.  My students' favorite is "Word Girl," a PBS Kids cartoon.  Each episode features at least two great vocabulary words that are used over and over in a context that makes them easy to understand and remember. 

So now, instead of giving the kids table points like I was doing previously, the entire class works to earn points as a whole.  Each tally mark on the white board stands for one minute of a Word Girl video.  Anytime the kids start getting too rambunctious, I tell them that I'd reeeeallly like to give them more Word Girl minutes, but I can't until everyone starts listening and doing a better job of following directions. They snap right to attention!  At the end of the day (or the beginning of the following day), I set a timer on my phone for however many minutes the kids have earned, and play an episode until the timer goes off. The best is when the kids are left hanging, and can't finish the episode, because then they're that much more eager to earn more minutes so they can finish watching!

But how do I justify showing videos in class? you may ask, even if only for ten-fifteen minutes a day?  My next post will be on how I structure my vocabulary lessons around the Word Girl videos, so that even my kids' reward time is instructional.