Knowledge (remember) – Page 6

Smithsonian Quests: Learning through discovery and collaboration

May 7, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3406 views

What it is:
Smithsonian Quests encourage students to explore learning through discovery and collaboration. As students learn, they can earn digital badges for their quests. Students can explore their own interest through a series of online activities while incorporating knowledge and skill-building in the online quests. The quests ask students to explore a topic of interest as part of a standards-based curriculum or as a student-driven after school activity. By signing up for Smithsonian Quests, you will receive an invitation to join a grade-level based group in the Smithsonian Quest Community. Students from kindergarten through adult learners can join Smithsonian Quest and collect badges.

How to integrate Smithsonian Quests into the classroom: Smithsonian Quests is a great program that connects transdisciplinary learning with digital badges. As your class works through the site, they will start to realize how they have been learning, exploring, connecting and acting. Students can unlock a badge by completing a set of quests that go with it. Some Quests are independent and others are collaborative. Quests get reviewed by a group of “specially selected experts” before badges are awarded. Badges include: oral historian, historical biographer, cool curator, cultural storyteller, portrait reader, community historian, symbols spotter, correspondent, dirt detective, art advocate, environ-scientist, culture keeper, eco-journalist, time traveler, H2O hero, conservation campaigner, invasions investigator and tree hugger. Quests include things like listening to audio, taking pictures, recording, etc. As you can see, there are quests for every interest!

When students sign up for quests, they get invited into a group (class group when the teacher sets up the account), can add friends, see the badges they have collected, and view friends who are online. Students also get an online journal where they can reflect on learning or update their status with the kind of learning they are doing.

I like that these quests can be done collaboratively (a whole class goal to earn the digital badges by learning?) and that they are largely discovery based learning. The quests really challenge students to dig deeper in learning and often lead to additional questions. Quests can also be completed individually by students. Students can explore areas that are high-interest for them. These Smithsonian Quests would be a fantastic end of the year project where students are driving their own learning but working toward a known goal. Spend the last week of school with a time for students to share their learning with others.

As we head into summer break in the United States, consider suggesting Smithsonian Quests to parents as a great summer-time learning opportunity.

Tips: Register for free and have a look around to see all of the cool opportunities for your classroom!

I’ve been nominated for a Bammy Award for Educational Blogger. I’d appreciate your vote to help spread the word about iLearn Technology. Vote here. Thank you for your continued support!!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Smithsonian Quests in your classroom.

Presefy: Go mobile with your presentations and give everyone a front row seat

April 22, 2013Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2698 views

What it is: Presefy is a new tool that lets you present with your mobile device wirelessly. The best part: those attending the presentation can view your presentations from their own web browsers (on a mobile device or a computer), and follow along using your unique “channel.” Upload pdf or ppt(x) files, at the moment those are the two supported file types.

How to integrate Presefy into the classroom: Presefy would obviously be wonderful to use when you are presenting at a conference or to a large group, but I also love the implications in the classroom and school setting. Have you ever been sitting in a conference or a session where your vantage point stinks? You go right ahead and check out because you can’t see what the speaker is referring to anyway. Imagine having the ability to follow along on your own device. Now you are more engaged than ever! The same is true for students, having something on a projector for all to see is great, but if you have a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) or a one-to-one setting, Presefy is a great way to share. Students can follow along on their own devices. Added benefit: now there doesn’t have to be a front of your classroom.

At Anastasis, we don’t have clear fronts of the classroom. This is intentional. We want to be able to share and discuss in a variety of ways and locations. Presefy lets us do just that by taking away the need for everyone to be facing one direction, with one presenter at the front. Instead, the teacher can present and be a part of the discussion and conversation in a way that is more organic. Students can follow along on their own devices. Everyone has a front row seat. Everyone can see clearly and be part of the presentation. SO much better!

With Presefy you can broadcast and run your presentation right from your mobile device. You even have access to see your notes and jump to any slide. Additional features are coming soon including the ability to poll your audience, ask questions, make notes, etc.

Tips: Right now, you are limited to having two presentations uploaded at a time. If you invite a friend to join Presefy, you will get to upload additional presentations.

I’ve been nominated for a Bammy Award for Educational Blogger. I’d appreciate your vote to help spread the word about iLearn Technology. Vote here. Thank you for your continued support!!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Presefy in your classroom.

The Answer Pad: BYOD Student Response System

April 16, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4621 views

What it is: The Answer Pad is a student response system…only better! What makes it better? The ability for use with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) classrooms and the ability to collect student responses outside of your typical, limited multiple choice answers that most student response systems are limited to. The Answer Pad is really made up of two parts. 1. The student response piece that lets students go interactive with outstanding drawing features. 2. The answer sheets that score and capture data from existing paper exams including full online reporting, the ability for students to show their work, and a variety of question types. The Answer Pad is available for the iPad, Android or from any web browser. Download the TAPit Free app for the iPad!

The free version of The Answer Pad is pretty robust for teachers and students. Premium features are available at a reasonable price that take it to the next level.

How to integrate The Answer Pad into the classroom: The Answer Pad is a really useful addition to the formative assessment puzzle. I LOVE that it doesn’t limit teachers to gathering low-level data in the format of multiple choice answer (although this feature is available for those times when you want to check for entry level understanding). The Answer Pad lets students draw and type out answers, making the feedback they give to you during a lesson that much more valuable. The fact that it isn’t limited to the basics is GREAT! Imagine a math lesson where students are able to actually show and demonstrate their understanding (not just their amazing guessing skills). The instantaneous feedback is wonderful for adjusting lessons and providing more individualized instruction based on what you are seeing.

In addition to collecting more valuable math feedback, The Answer Pad also gives you valuable feedback for any subject, a blank template lets students free write/draw their understanding. This might even be a great way for students to take notes during learning, you can give your students feedback on their note taking during a lesson. I am always amazed when I look at student notes, some of our students really don’t know what is important enough to write down and how to organize themselves best for later reference. Using the free draw in The Answer Pad would give you good insight into a student’s thinking process and help you to guide and direct them appropriately.

The reporting feature is also really helpful, being able to look not only at student answers, but also at the written work that led to the answer is SO valuable. This embedded feature makes Answer Pad more than just a self-grading platform, this is feedback and data that you can really use to drive instruction.

Tips: Premium features include: custom frameworks for scoring tests, ability to bundle assessments together for side-by-side comparison and reporting, advance functions for test scenarios, an additional drawing palette for the Go Interactive portion, support by phone, and access to black-line template library.

Thank you to @dkapuler for introducing me to The Answer Pad!

I’ve been nominated for a Bammy Award for Educational Blogger. I’d appreciate your vote to help spread the word about iLearn Technology. Vote here. Thank you for your continued support!!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Answer Pad in your classroom.

Atlantis Remixed: Inquiry based virtual world

April 15, 2013Kelly Tenkely1 Comment4791 views

What it is: Atlantis Remixed is a great interactive virtual world that supports students and teachers in conducting rich, inquiry-based explorations during which students learn standards related content and develop pro-social attitudes regarding environmental and social issues. More than just making learning fun, project Atlantis Remixed aims to help kids realize that they can make a real difference in the world. Atlantis Remixed is really a combination of education, entertainment/gaming and social action. The game environment has been designed to support students in social commitment and real-world action. Atlantis Remixed was created for children ages 9-16 to engage in transformational play in both online and offline learning activities. The storyline in the online activities inspires students toward social action.

Atlantis Remixed is a combination of a 3D multi-user virtual environment, learning quests and unit plans, a storyline (presented through an introductory video, novel and comic book), a global community of participants, and a narrative programming toolkit that kids can use to remix user-created stories. The storyline helps bridge the virtual, fictional, world of Atlantis with the real-world. Students can travel to virtual places to perform authentic activities (Quests), talk with other students from around the world, build virtual characters and professions, and demonstrate learning through multi-media portfolios. The platform is transdisciplinary including math, science and literacy. Students are sent on virtual social missions that reflect global ideals such as social responsibility, compassionate wisdom, creative expression, diversity affirmation, environmental awareness, healthy communities, and personal agency.

How to integrate Atlantis Remixed into the classroom: Atlantis Remixed has full units ready to use. Each unit is aligned to standards, inquiry based and meets multiple domains of learning. A single water-quality unit puts students in role of scientists hired by a national park, to come to the forest to help explain fish decline in the area. Students interact with virtual park rangers, loggers, fishermen and indigenous people and discover multiple perspectives. After decisions have been made, students can log back in and see the impact of their decisions. They can reflect on the consequences (and unintended consequences) of their decisions, and make changes as needed.

In addition to the virtual component, there is guided offline learning that can take place including discussions and in class activities. Teachers can modify curriculum to fit their own classroom needs.

Units include: Taiga- a water quality unit, Virtual Mesa Verde- a social studies unit, Plague World- a persuasive writing unit, Ander City- a statistics unit, Spacenik- a planetary science unit, Biological Indicators Mission, Rights & Responsibility Mission, Two Cells-One World Mission, and Diversity Mission. You can look at a snapshot of any of these missions to learn more about it.

Think about the added components you could layer on Atlantis Remixed Quests and missions. Are your students practicing writing business letters? Who could they write to in the virtual world or real world? Are your students learning how to use a new tech tool? What tie-in is there to the inquiry? How can you integrate other learning and customize the Atlantis Remixed environment to best fit your needs?

Tips: On the Educators Page, you can choose to login to the 2D gateway without logging into the 3D world.

I’ve been nominated for a Bammy Award for Educational Blogger. I’d appreciate your vote to help spread the word about iLearn Technology. Vote here. Thank you for your continued support!!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Atlantis Remixed in your classroom.

Soo Meta: Digital Storytelling Tool

April 10, 2013April 15, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2825 views

What it is: Soo Meta is an awesome new site that lets students build mixed media stories. Students can use this storytelling tool to collect, sort, edit and publish web content easily.

There are two options for login, with name/email/password or through Facebook. For students who don’t have their own email accounts, you can have them login using a temporary inbox like Tempinbox (just type in a word or words followed by @tempinbox.com and you are in business!).

After students have logged in, they will be asked to enter a title for their new story. Then, they can search for videos, pictures, sounds and text or copy and paste their links into a new story. Videos can be trimmed and edited, pictures resized and text edited.

Soo Meta is incredibly simple to use. Just search the web, choose content to remix and off you go! You can also simply drag and drop content from your computers desktop to create something new.

When finished, just publish the story and you can share it via link on Facebook or Twitter or you can embed the story like I did above. (I literally spent a grand total of 2 min creating this story!)

How to integrate Soo Meta into the classroom: Soo Meta is a fantastic online tool for digital storytelling. It makes the process incredibly easy and the possibilities are limited only to your student’s imagination.

With Soo Meta, students can compile research on any topic or subject and create their own digital “textbook” of the learning to share with other classmates or students around the world. I love that Soo Meta combines the research component with the creation piece. So often students want to skip right to creation…with Soo Meta the two are so interdependent, it would be impossible to do one without the other!

Teachers can use Soo Meta to create learning stories for their students. Pull together various videos, pictures and articles and mash them up for your students. Embed finished video stories on a classroom website or blog.

Older students can create interactive video stories for younger “buddy” students. They can solidify their own learning of history, math, science, geography, etc. by putting together learning opportunities for younger students.

The storytelling aspect of Soo Meta is fantastic! Students can do story re-tells, current event mashups, historical documentaries, political commentary, science discoveries, etc.

Tips: Don’t be discouraged if your students are too young to create their own Soo Meta stories, create your own mashups for them to enjoy!

I’ve been nominated for a Bammy Award for Educational Blogger. I’d appreciate your vote to help spread the word about iLearn Technology. Vote here. Thank you for your continued support!!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Soo Meta in your classroom.

Math Trail: Powered by GoogleMaps

April 2, 2013April 1, 2013Kelly Tenkely1 Comment8337 views

What it is: Math Trail is a neat way for students to explore virtual trails that lead to a variety of locations connected by a theme. Along the way, students put their math and geography skills to the test. The trail list currently has eight trails to choose from, with varying degrees of difficulty. Students can choose an Olympic trail, 7 Wonders, Towers, Rivers, Eminent Mathematicians, Famous Islands, Cricket or Ramanujan trails. To begin, students choose a trail and then click on the “start” button. A list of instructions pops up. In each trail, math questions are hidden around the map. Students zoom in within the map to the location suggested by the clue. There are little balloons located all over the map. If students struggle to find the location, they can click the “show location” button at the bottom. At the bottom of the page, there is a white box that holds clues. When students reach a location, they are given a math challenge to complete. At each location, students have the opportunity to earn a gold coin.

How to integrate Math Trail into the classroom: I like the integration of history, geography, social studies and math in this game. Students aren’t just going through a series of multiple choice math problems. Instead, students are set forth on a journey and asked to locate various places according to the clues given. This means that as their math skills are put to the test, they are exercising that geography muscle as well! I don’t know what it is about maps, but they are just fun to explore. The treasure hunt nature of Math Trail keeps it interesting. Students get math practice and geography practice along the way. This beats the practice set that is in the textbook!

I found some of the “low” and “medium” level questions to be challenging. Before playing with students, go through the trails to find the challenge that is most appropriate for your students. This could mean that you have students playing different trails. The low end seems to be 6th-7th grade math with the Medium being middle school and the High being high school.

These trails are great for exploring on their own, but you could have students go through a trail together using the interactive whiteboard. Give each student an opportunity help the class search for the location (the class can help or bring in a Google search for particularly difficult clues). Each student can work out the math problem on their own and then come to a consensus of which answer to play in the game.

Tips: I wish that Math Trail provided a cheat sheet of all of questions in the game so that teachers could choose a trail for their students at-a-glance. If anyone has done this, let us know where to find it!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Math Trail in your classroom.

Screenr: Instant Web-based Screencasts

April 1, 2013Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3725 views

What it is: Have you tried to type the following into Google: “school makes me”? If you haven’t, it is a sobering reminder of the state of education as perceived by students and society. I started Anastasis Academy to change this reality for students. My hope is that one day soon, the automatic suggestions that Google pulls are overwhelmingly positive. Last week, I asked students at Anastasis Academy to finish the statement “school makes me…” I didn’t prompt them or give them any additional details about how I would be using it. The answers that we got are in the video above. Pretty cool to see how even one year of freedom in learning leads to different perspectives. I can assure you, these are not the words most students would have used about school prior to coming to Anastasis Academy. In fact, in full disclosure, we have 2 students that are new to Anastasis. They started only a few months ago. They finished the statement with “bored” and “tired.” *sigh* This was a sad moment for me. I want more for these boys. Later in the day they both happened to be hanging with me in the office for a few minutes. One of the boys asked me why I had asked the question. I showed them what happens when you type the words into Google. “Oh, that is really depressing. So why did you ask us?” I told them that I cared about what they thought because if there was something we could do differently as a school, we would do it. Both boys asked if they could change their answers, “we were thinking school in general…this place isn’t really like that.” There were no GRAND statements of how much they loved it and we are changing their world…give it time!

To create the video above, I needed to screen capture my Google experience. I’ve long been a fan of Screenium but for some reason, it has decided to throw in the towel and is not interested in recording anything but audio. Frustrating. So, I set out to see if I could find an online screencast recorder that I could use. Jackpot! I found Screenr and it is my new go-to for screencasting.

Screener is a web-based screen recorder that makes it really easy to create and share screencasts. There is nothing to install or download (always a plus!), you can record on a Mac or PC, the video plays on all devices, and it is totally FREE! Just click the record button, capture your screen and voice (if you want) and then share the link or download the video to use in other programs. I downloaded my finished screencast so that I could make a little video in Keynote with our words.

How to integrate Screenr into the classroom: Screenr is a fantastically simple tool that allows teachers to create detailed screencast instructions in minutes. This free-to-use application can capture video of anything that is on your computer screen. Audio can be included (or not) for any screencast. The resulting video can be embedded on a webpage or blog, sent to students via email, or downloaded. Screencasting is a great way to teach students how to use e-Learning tools or how to complete any computer assignment. When I taught in the technology lab, there was never enough of me to go around. Screencasting made SUCH a difference in how I spent my time with students! Students could self direct learning, or remind themselves of that one step they forgot. Instead of waiting for me to be available, students could keep working and my time was spent working to help students make connections in learning instead of just on answering process questions.

Screenr would be useful for students who want to share something new they learned. Have a student who is JAZZED about coding? Let them show off that passion by creating tutorial videos for other students. Anything that is computer based and could use some explanation is perfect for Screenr. Because you can embed videos, you can share them on a class blog or website. If you tag your videos and posts, it will be easy for students to quickly search and find what they need as they work.

Screenr can be used for more than just tutorials. Remember this video? This is such a cool, creative use of a screencast. Students could similarly show off their learning through screencasts of various programs on their computer. Just takes a little inspiration and creative thinking!

Tips: There is a pro version of Screenr, I’ve found the free version to meet all of my needs for school/classroom use.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Screenr in your classroom.

Padlet: now with the ability to download and print!

March 27, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment10354 views

What it is: Wallwisher has long been one of my go-to cool tools. Recently, Wallwisher got a bit of a facelift as well as a new name: Padlet. Padlet is a fantastic little web application that provides a virtual bulletin board of sorts. Teachers can pose questions or ideas for students to answer or think about. Students are sent the unique wall URL and can leave virtual sticky notes answering the question. Students do not have to login to use Padlet, a simple double click allows them to add any thoughts they need to the wall. The platform is very simple to use but provides the opportunity for discussion and collaboration between students. In addition to a brand new look, Padlet will now let you print or download your walls. STINKING AWESOME! Now you can take all of your Padlet walls and save them as an image, PDF, Excel or CSV format. Just click the share/export button and you are in business! Another fun new feature is the ability to keep up with what has been posted to your digital wall using email notifications. You can sign up to get a daily update of all activity on the wall.

How to integrate Padlet into the classroom: Padlet can be used to create a flexible online space where students can create virtual posters, brainstorming boards, virtual project portfolios, and share learning with others. Students can work together on the same Padlet space for group projects.

Padlet offers an exceptional opportunity for students to brainstorm, collaborate, and group ideas. Students can use Padlet to brainstorm ideas for writing, explore lines of inquiry, collect research, for grouping ideas, and collaborating on group projects. Create a Padlet board for your students and ask them to group like ideas, sort, and expand on thoughts. This could be done for any historical event, literature, science concept, and even phonics. Students could practice spelling by typing out their spelling words along with a sentence or synonyms on sticky notes. Then, they can group words by spelling pattern or common phoneme blends. Create a Padlet of sticky notes with English words and sticky notes with a foreign language word on them. Students can work together to group words with their meanings. In math, create Padlet stickys with word problems on one color of sticky note and answers on another set of sticky notes. Students can work to create groups of problems and their solutions. Padlet can be used for whole class activities using an interactive whiteboard, the class can brainstorm together and collect ideas or use the grouping feature in an activity created by the teacher or students.

Students could even use Padlet to create “bucket lists.” They could create a bucket list of books they would like to read, places they would like to travel, imaginary literary places they would like to travel, things they want to learn about, etc.

Padlet boards are SO versatile. If you need a way for students/teachers/parents to collaborate digitally, Padlet is the place. Now that boards can be downloaded and printed…the possibilities for use are even greater!

Tips: See how others are using Padlet by visiting the new Padlet gallery. You are sure to pick up some new great ideas for use!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Padlet in your classroom.

This blog post brought to you in association with MyFactorySchweiz

An inquiry into sharing the planet: embodied energy awesomeness

March 18, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2620 views

You may think that when I’m not posting here regularly, it is because I’ve run out of cool new technology to share…or maybe I’m just being lazy…or tired of blogging. While I’ve had moments of the latter two, it really boils down to the 24 hours I have in a day. Sometimes I choose sleep!

This week, I’ve been pulling together our last inquiry block of the year at Anastasis. I can’t believe that we are down to counting weeks before we say goodbye for the summer.

Our last inquiry block is an inquiry into sharing the planet. For our 6th through 8th graders the focus is: “People can choose to take specific actions to help conserve Earth’s resources.” Each time I put together an inquiry guide for teachers, I am sure to offer plenty of more detailed questions that they can use to help guide the inquiry. Below are some of the questions I included.

What can people do to help conserve Earth’s resources?
What are other countries doing to help/hurt conservation?
How does United States demand impact Earth’s resources?
What country has the most impact on Earth’s resources/the least? Why do you think this is?
Is conservation a political issue?
What is ecological overshoot?
What is embodied energy?

I love helping teachers craft the opportunities for students to be curious, to dig into learning. During this planning, I found the following resources that are too good not to share!

What it is: Embodied Energy free ebook download. Created by a design firm, this ebook does a nice job explaining embodied energy.

How to use the Embodied Energy ebook in the classroom: This ebook is a well designed book that will introduce students to the energy that we don’t see in the objects around us. This pdf can be projected for a whole class, downloaded on individual student devices or, if you must, printed out. Use this ebook along with the Sustainability by Design TED talk playlist to spark student interest into embodied energy and how it can impact the decisions we make every day.

These introductory activities led me to the Energy Trumps project. This is a design project by the Agency of Design that looked at using design to help people better understand, and take-in-to-account, the way that we build, design and consume. I absolutely love the idea of students working together as a class to study a variety of materials. Each student could create one (or several) of their own embodied energy trading cards to help others understand the environmental impacts of materials. Students can research key environmental properties of materials including embodied energy, embodied carbon, embodied water, recycled content, extraction intensity and years of reserves. These can be used to compare materials at a glance. (If you purchase the cards created by Agency of Design, you get the added bonus of an augmented reality feature that brings the material properties to life to explore in 3D. Students can test out the different amounts of material they can get for one megajoule of energy.)

Take this a step further and ask students how they can use that information to help design a more sustainable future. How can they hack every day objects? How can they change the way that society builds, consumes, etc.?

How can the idea of embodied energy be communicated to a larger audience so that more of the picture is taken into account by the average consumer?

Any time I create a new inquiry block, I work to remember that we are in the business of apprenticing change makers. These students matter and WILL change the world. I love reminding students that age does not have to act as a restriction for world change.

Felix Finkbeiner is a student in Germany (similar in age to these Anastasis students) who is changing the world in HUGE ways. Felix’s Plant for the Planet initiative has started a movement of planting trees…millions of them! Read the an article about Felix here.

Felix has also addressed the United Nations with a speech to open the International Year of Forests which can be viewed here.

Students can use this embodied energy calculator to explore their own curiosities.

The Happy Planet Index is a fantastic way to discover the extent to which 151 countries across the globe live happy and sustainable lives based on their efficiency, how many long and happy lives each produces per unit of environmental input. Data can be viewed in map or table format.

I love the potential that a new inquiry block holds. We offer guidance and some starting places to spark interest, but where students find passion is always exciting to watch unfold. We truly are in the midst of genius in our students!

The other reason to love inquiry? The brilliant way that it allows room for transdisciplinary exploration, and touches each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. I mean really, how can you beat learning that looks like life?

Fluency Finder: App

March 4, 2013Kelly Tenkely1 Comment5292 views

Normally I post all of my app posts at my other blog, iPad Curriculum. Because iDevices are becoming SO common place as a technology in the classroom, I’m going to start posting them here as well. If you just want apps, head over to iPad Curriculum and you can search apps only! Just like iLearn Technology, you can search any app by Bloom’s Taxonomy level. All of the websites I share on iLearn Technology are completely FREE, the apps I review tend to be a mix of free and paid apps. At the bottom of each post, I share the cost of the app.

Fluency Finder

What it is: Fluency Finder is a fantastically handy app that I learned about from my friend @dkapuler. David was kind enough to offer Team Anastasis some download codes so that we could try the app out with our students. Any teacher who has ever done fluency tests knows that they can be a little bit of a pain. Folders and folders of passages to store, stop watch, scribbled notes on the page as they read, calculator, and keeping track of it all in an orderly fashion to refer back to later. I’m a huge fan of anything that can help minimize the paper I have to store and keep track of in my life. Fluency Finder takes care of all of this! Not only can you record results, you can also maintain records on a class full of students and share information. You can easily find and track fluency rates so that you have more time to help students strengthen reading skills and find books that are confidence-building and enjoyable.

How to integrate Fluency Finder app into the classroom:

Fluency Finder makes it simple to assess reading fluency in 1st-8th grade reading levels. To get started:

Add students to the app
Select an appropriate grade level passage for the student to read
Print the passage from the www.fluencyfinder.com website (students could also read from their own iDevice or computer if you want to save paper)
Begin assessment, start the app timer as the student begins reading
Student will read from printed passage as you follow on your iDevice marking any mistakes
Tap the (+) button when student makes a reading mistake
Tap the (-) button if the student self-corrects a mistake
End the timer when the student finishes
Tap the “finish assessment” button to instantly see results

Now instead of focusing so much on keeping track of the fluency and score, you can focus on what actually matters: listening for fluency, comprehension and expression.

Being a paperless school, we are LOVING this option for helping students choose books that are at a level that is “just right.” It gives us the opportunity to help students hunt down the perfect amount of challenge and really focus on a story they can love. We are all about encouraging an absolute love of reading!

Tips: Target Fluency Rates

First Grade: 60-70 wpm

Second Grade: 80-95 wpm

Third Grade: 100-120 wpm

Fourth Grade: 120-135 wpm

Fifth Grade: 130-145 wpm

Sixth Grade: 140-150 wpm

Seventh Grade: 150-160 wpm

Eighth Grade 160-175 wpm

Cost: $6.99 (iTunes link)

Compatible with: iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Fluency Finder in your classroom.