One of my very favorite parts of incorporating small groups in a Language Arts block using a Daily 5 framework is the variety if offers students. I have yet to meet a student that has not LOVED Daily 5. I think their absolute favorite rotation within Daily 5 is what we call the “Technology” rotation. You can incorporate “Listening” (which is what many teachers call this rotation), but if you call it “Technology” there are so many more fun things you can do with this rotation.

You don’t need many devices in your classroom to incorporate a rotation using technology. If you have only three iPads, chrome books, HP Streams, other laptops or desktops, you’ll be able to have your students work in buddies within their groups to use the devices. We always strive to have at least five or six devices so that all students can have their own, and many schools and districts are working toward this goal, if not already 1:1 in their classrooms.

This past week, I saw a classroom where students were using Seesaw while reading their leveled reading books. Students were sitting or laying on the carpet, holding the iPad to “record” the page they were reading as their voice was being recorded. The students were then able to play back their recording and hear themselves read and see the page from which they were reading.

Chromebooks or HP Streams are becoming more prevalent in our classrooms, with more chrome book carts arriving each year into our classrooms, as districts move toward a blended classroom model. Our students use these devices to do a variety of things during their “Technology” rotation:

• Newsela- for nonfiction or current events text
• Lexia- a reading program designed to enhance and scaffold reading skills for beginning, on-level, and advanced students
• Reading Counts quizzes (previously Scholastic, now owned by HMH)
• StarFall – helps emerging readers to teach reading and writing skills
• Web research- we do many research reports where students complete a report where they are responsible for obtaining some of their own research. It is vital that Internet safety is taught as well as how to find credible sources

One new way we are using technology is by practicing individual word work skills, or “Conventions” of English. Once a whole group lesson is taught on a specific skill, students use devices to practice the skill using resources that we’ve developed like the two shown below. This is a new product line we are developing for second through sixth graders to practice the individual literacy skills and standards.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think!

Carol