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This is a great program that has many functions including flash cards, notes, quizzes, and much more.

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This resource is an interactive way to let children explore on their own on a safe content site where they can learn by descriptions and pictures about their five senses.

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This site goes into great detail and shares the power of stories about engaging students through digital

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This is a fun way to get all students engaged in the opening to a lesson, or a lesson review using technology.

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Join a game of kahoot here. Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn - any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!

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This app allows children to easily create their own stories using pictures and text.

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This program allows students of any age to create and share their own books.

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Storybird - Read, write, discover, and share the books you'll always remember.

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Become a better writer with Storybird's creativity tools. Online courses, challenges, and reader feedback will help you improve your writing.

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This an app that can be used to make short videos that consist of picture or videos. They can also include text or music.

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Bring Moments to Life! Create short video stories from your photos, set to music you love!

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This is a fun an unique way for kids to express themselves in the classroom. It allows them to create a collection of words that are meaningful to them and display them however they desire.

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This a program used for students to create their own portfolios. They are able to document ALL of their work on their devices.

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School & District -Subscriptions | Seesaw

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Seesaw is the best interactive learning platform for PreK-5. Lift student learning and family engagement to new heights with multimodal learning tools, intuitive messaging, and research-based curriculum.

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This source is a google tutorial which gives an overview on how to use Seesaw. Its a perfect video for beginners to watch in order to get the hang of how the app works.

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This is a source that briefly describes why teachers should use storytelling in the classroom and breaks it down the benefits of storytelling and how to become a storyteller in the classroom setting.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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This site describes the meaning and benefits of digital storytelling.

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Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling

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In addition, when digital stories are published online, students have the opportunity to share their work with their peers and gain valuable experience in critiquing their own and other students' work, which can promote gains in emotional intelligence and social learning.

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This source gives ideas on how to engage students in the classroom through stories and how powerful it can be.

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Brain Based Learning | Brain Based Experts

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Have you ever noticed that the student who has difficulty focusing and paying attention to most tasks in the classroom will sit and listen intently to a story? Stories, it seems, are special.

Cognitive Psychologist Daniel Willingham explains that stories are "psychologically privileged" and that there is indeed something special about them. He says, "Stories are easy to comprehend and easy to remember, and that's true not just because people pay close attention to stories; there is something inherent in the story format that makes them easy to understand and remember. Ron Nash, author of The Active Classroom, offers more insights into why stories are so powerful, "Storytelling engages our minds in a way that television simply cannot do." He goes on to explain that stories help to stimulate images in the minds of the listener. During a story, the listener interprets and expands upon those images as the story unfolds.

Teachers can engage students by telling them stories that connect to the content but they can also have students tell their own stories. Here are some ideas for classroom use:

Create a story that connects to the content to be mastered. For example, a fictional story about relationship between a river and a lake could help students to understand geography concepts.

Use stories as hooks or leads into a lesson to heighten student interest.

Ask students to take the content being learned and turn it into a story. For example, you could ask the students to create a story of a boy who struggled to learn his times tables. Students could also take selected vocabulary terms and use them in a story.

Ask students to bring in toys, props, or other important items to use as props as they tell stories. Objects such as photos, baseball cards, or special toys can tell entire stories.

You don't need to be a master storyteller to engage kids. There are numerous resources available to teachers on the internet and in curriculum guides that will provide examples and help you get started.

Sources:
Nash, R. (2008). The Active Classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
Willingham, D. (2010). Why Don't Students Like School? New York: Jossey-Bass

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The Power of Stories to Engage Students - Brain Based Learning | Brain Based Experts

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Have you ever noticed that the student who has difficulty focusing and paying attention to most tasks in the classroom will sit and listen intently to a story? Stories, it seems, are special. Cognitive Psychologist Daniel Willingham explains that stories are "psychologically privileged" and that there is indeed something special about them.

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This site explains how narrative structure helps students learn in the classr

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Ever since the letter K was a baby, she loved to make her signature sound: ka, ka, ka. K knew that the only other letters in the alphabet that could make her "ka" sound were the letter C (when he didn't sound like an S) and the letter Q. K enjoyed making her "ka" sound as often as possible in as many words as she could. Soon, however, K also learned that whenever she stood in front of the letter N at the beginning of a word, it was impossible to make her signature sound. At first, K was very sad about this, but after working with N and other letters to make fun words like knot, knob, kneel, and know-words that the other letters could only make with her help-K learned that staying silent sometimes was an important job for a letter, and that many of her alphabet friends also had to be silent from time to time. After a while, K was just as comfortable being silent as she was making her signature "ka" sound.
Scientists have long known that human beings are storytelling creatures. For centuries, we have told stories to transmit information, share histories, and teach important lessons. While stories often have a profound effect on us due to emotional content, recent research also shows that our brains are actually hard-wired to seek out a coherent narrative structure in the stories we hear and tell. This structure helps us absorb the information in a story, and connect it with our own experiences in the world.

Educators can create memorable learning experiences for their students by harnessing the power of storytelling in the classroom. A 2010 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed an intimate connection between the brain activity of speakers and listeners in conversation, demonstrating how the brain of an engaged listener "syncs up" with a speaker. By engaging students with compelling stories that impart important material, teachers reach students both emotionally and biochemically, increasing the potential for rich learning experiences.

Creating a compelling story with a coherent narrative structure requires attention to detail, descriptive language, and a beginning, middle, and end of some sort. Different kinds of stories produce different kinds of reactions: personal stories from the teacher's own experience can help create and solidify strong bonds between educator and student, while stories of pure fiction may stimulate imagination.

Spending a little extra time on storytelling during lesson planning and actual classroom time keeps the learning experience highly engaging, creative, and truly, dynamically human. A story-filled classroom also encourages students to relate their own stories (whether factual or fictional), which helps grow their critical thinking, memory, and vocabulary skills.

Scientific Learning products help learners develop thinking, memory, and vocabulary skills as well. Learn more >
Further reading:
Melanie C. Green. Storytelling in teaching. Association for Psychological Science. April 2004.
Related Reading: 5 Reasons Why Your Students Should Write Every Day The Question Formulation Technique: 6 Steps to Help Students Ask Better Questions

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Using Stories to Teach: How Narrative Structure Helps Students Learn

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Ever since the letter K was a baby, she loved to make her signature sound: ka, ka, ka. K knew that the only other letters in the alphabet that could make her "ka" sound were the letter C (when he didn't sound like an S) and the letter Q.

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This is a youtube tutorial which gives step by steps instructions on how to navigate this app. Its a great tool to use in the classroom for younger students who are just learning technology

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This is a pre-made quiz that students can take all on line  to test their knowledge about the five senses.

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This website gives an awesome example of a poster for students to hang up in their classrooms that explains what a digital citizen should abide by.

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Digital Citizenship Pledge Poster for Classrooms

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find a free K-12 Digital Citizenship curriculum, reviews

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This website discusses the three main ideas of what makes someone a good digital citizen.  Its a great resource to use in the classroom for younger students.

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Nine Elements is a source that I will be able to refer to when wanting to teach my students how to appropriately use technology in the classroom.

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Reggio Emilia is a hands-on approach to teaching that allows children to learn by making discoveries.

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This is a tutorial that I used as a source that explained the effectiveness of smart boards in the classroom.

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Technology For Early Childhood Education

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Parent Testimonials of Kids R Kids Castle Hills

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Technology is an unique and important aspect of the Kids R Kids Castle Hills experience. The SmartBoard is an interactive educational experience for the children. See for yourself!