Techie Thursday: Too Noisy Pro - An App for the Classroom

Dear friends, I know I've been gone for awhile. The new school year and family demands are taking up much of my time.  But I've missed you all.  So I have a short and sweet post for you today.  Today I want to tell you about my NEWEST favorite app for the classroom.

If you have an iPad (or even your own iPhone) for your classroom, than you MUST get the app called Too Noisy.  Remember the Yacker Trackers from back in the day? It can cost anywhere from $79.99 and up depending on the make and model you get. It was designed to allow you to set a noise limit within your classroom.  Students start to get too loud and the tracker would change from green to red.  It was a great idea! But the price tag on this device always prevented me from ever
getting one. When funds are tight in the classroom, let's be honest - no one has money for that. So I never got one....until this week.

But my "yacker tracker" is on my iPad.  In the form called "Too Noisy Pro".  There is a free version of this app, which allows you to have limited controls or a paid version which gives you multiple features. I'll admit....I splurged! I paid the $2.99 right away to have all the wonderful control goodness it came with. 

What does it do?  Well, it allows me to set different settings on my iPad for sound levels.  I can set it at silent work, group work or class work. It even allows me to adjust the sensitivity levels until it is just right.  You can adjust "dampening" levels too to account for regular background noise.  One you have your level set, you can then decided on a theme.  They have six fun themes to decide on. Right now, I'm rocking the "winter" theme. 

The best part about this app, is the star feature in my opinion.  You can set it up that your students are awarded stars for going so long without setting the alarm off.  They can earn up to ten stars.  If they get too loud, a star can be taken away (if you choose that setting).  Finally, you get to choose the alarm sound.  This is the sound that students will hear if they set the alarm off. If they get too loud, the screen will pretend to shatter.

At first, I thought my students would constantly try to set the alarm off to hear the sound and watch the screen shatter. But within a matter of minutes of me beginning to use this app, my students were quietly working and if needed, reminding their fellow classmates to "shhhhhh".  They saw the screen shatter once but that was the only time.  Another neat feature is my ability to pause the noise tracker. This allows me to make announcements if I need to.





In order to provide a positive reinforcement for them doing so well, I give them $20 in class cash for every star they earn.  They LOVE it!  It has become a competition with themselves to see if they can earn all ten stars and keep it there.

Seriously, I have spent worse money on some no good worthless apps. This app, my friends, is NOT one of them.  Go. Buy it now. You won't be sorry.

P.S. My colleague has the free version. Despite it not having as many options, he loves it too!

Totem Pole Art

Native American studies in one of my favorite units to teach in 5th grade. Instead of just reading the five lessons in the book and taking the test, we take our time learning about the different regions and the Indians who made their homes there.  I assign groups to complete a Native American Region Banner Project and we watch fabulous videos on UnitedStreaming for each region.

However, one of my favorite parts of this unit is when my students create their part of the classroom Totem Pole!  During the unit study, totem poles are briefly touched upon and many students (if not all!) have heard of them before.  As an introduction to the art project, I show the following video just to give them a little bit more of a background on them.  However, there are dozens of great videos to choose from on YouTube.

After we watch the video, I direct my students to the following website, Native American Totems and Their Meanings, in which they read about animals and their meanings. They get to read through all the different animals and choose which one they best think represents who they are. 

Afterwards, we talk about the basic designs of totem poles and how eyes, noses, mouths, etc aren't traditional in what we think of but how certain shapes are used.  In years past, I would print out different sheets from this website that showed sample mouths, eyes, etc. This year since we have 1:1 iPads, I provided them the link and they were able to check them out.  

I provided each students a piece of brown construction paper and the only directions they were given was to create their totem animal using the brightly colored paper I had by creating a collage.  Drawing was not allowed but the shapes had to be made with cutting out pieces from paper.

After each student created their totem animal, I stacked them together to create a totem pole. :-)  Students get a kick out of seeing our classroom totem pole. 

What type of activities do you do for Native Americans?

Classroom Tour 2013-2014

Wow, I know I'm a bit late to the game but figured I'd post pictures of my 2013-2014 5th grade classroom.  My favorite time of the year is when we are able to get into our classrooms to begin working on set-up.  Usually I'm all ready to go a week prior to the first week of school. However, my new position (in addition to being the 5th grade teacher) of Director of Technology had me extremely busy getting our iPads ready for the school.  So I was working up until the day before school started to make sure my classroom was ready for my kiddos.  But I must say, this is probably the best it's every looked. :-)

When you walk into my classroom, the first thing you will see is my desk.  This year, all teachers were required to have their desk at the front of the classroom because we now have short-throw LCD projectors that needed to hook up to our desktops. I decided that since my desk was going to be in the front and a focal point to paint it.  So I primed it up and painted it with chalkboard paint.  I then used liquid chalk to draw on my design.  The lion was actually replicated from Scrappin Doodles Little Lions.  I love him!

 Above my desk are Spanish Posters for Numbers and Colors.  All of our students take Spanish as a foreign language and while I'm not required to have those resources up, the students like them when they need to know something.

I also have all of my photos from all the classes I've taught in years past. As well as personal pictures of my wedding, husband, and daughters.  The closet is where I hoard store all of my teaching resources.

Next to the closet door on the right side is our calendar and classroom rules.  I absolutely LOVE my calendar this year. I got it from Really Good Stuff and it comes preprinted. It also came with a bunch of stickers so I could mark birthdays, holidays, etc.  Love, love, love it!

If we continue to go left around my classroom, you will see all our windows and built in shelving. This is where I store all the classroom community supplies, games, manipulatives and other things. 

 All the classrooms at my school are required to have a prayer table.  This is ours.  Above them are the Ten Commandment posters I made. 

 Here is a view of the classroom looking back at my desk area. (Calendar wasn't there yet, so it's missing.)

 Another view.

These are our morning work folders. You can read what is in these here.

 This is my classroom library. It contains over 2,700 books - all owned by me.  This year I am completely overhauling the organization of it with the help of my classroom librarians. 

 The other side of the library. And a view of my awesome USA rug I got from Big Lots.

 I also received ten stability balls, so I have three of them in the classroom library for the students to use. 

 My genre posters that I created.

My book theme posters and special paper for penpals, etc.

On the other side of the bookshelves is a small couch and my computer which manages the check-out system for our class library.

Next you can see the puppet theater that I refinished to use as our classroom bank and to film "news shows" during the school year.

I also have another six stability balls around our back table. 

Our stability ball rules. :-)

 A poster on our classroom culture - you can see more about that here.

And a brief students survey activity they did the first week. 

 My writer's workshop board. Students move their dot down as they complete each section. This allows me to know where they are in their writing at all times.

My Author Purpose posters and art closet.

 Our homework board and art drying rack.  The black pocket holder is where I display our schedule for the day.

 This is where students can find a majority of their supplies and paper. 

Here are the students' privacy folders and some other things.

Not that best photo as this was taken during set-up but on the right side is the door into the classroom.  Also, that white cart holds the laptops for the school.  Those are used primarily on Tuesday and Thursday during formal technology class. All classes 3-8 have 1:1 iPads in addition to that. 

 Here are a bunch of random shots of my classroom. I made that penent banner. I love it!

 This was from Back to School night. The folders contain all the paperwork I was handing out to the parents. The students also wrote a letter to their parents and I provided apples for them.

A note from a student to their Mom and Dad. :-)



And that is my classroom tour.  Hope you liked it!  Share a link below so I can check out your classroom!

A majority of my classroom resources can be found in my TpT store for you to get. 

I Am Poems

Ahhh....Back to School. The time of year when the walls are bare waiting to be filled with student work.  The supplies are fresh and the students and teachers are energized ready to learn and teach.  Quite frankly, it is my absolute favorite time of the school year.  I always look forward to getting to know who my students are and what makes them tick.  One way I learn about them is through my yearly project of I Am Poems.

I didn't create the poem itself but was given a copy of it many many years ago during my first year of teaching.  And each year, I look forward to having the students complete it.  Plus it always makes for a fabulous first project to hang up each year.

First, I always give my students a sample poem I wrote so they understand how the poem is written.  We talk about the overall theme of my poem, which is about me being a teacher.  As a class, we brainstorm different themes they could write about.  They always come up with a ton....being a friend, students, son/daughter, baseball player, volleyball player, etc. The list goes on and on.  I always try to make them focus perhaps on a hobby that is important to them.

Download the Poem Outline and Sample here. 

Once the students have identified the "theme" of their poem, they complete their rough draft.  This also allows me to catch a glimpse of their overall writing.  Once editing is done, I have my students type up their poem with the title "I Am Poem".  However, I don't have them put their name on it.

While students are working on their poems, I take a profile picture of each child.  I print the picture out in black and white on 8.5x11 sheets of paper and carefully cut out their profiles.  I then trace the profiles onto black construction paper and cut those out.  Their shadows are then glued onto white construction paper.  In years past, I've actually had the students do all the cutting and tracing.  By 5th grade, I think they are pretty good at it. I used to have the students sit in a chair and use my overhead projector light to cast their shadow behind them onto paper which I would trace. But more often than not the students would move and it was difficult.

Once the poems are typed, I print them out and we attach them to the bottom of each profile.  The students love to guess who wrote the poem and look at all the profiles.  Many times it's quite easy to figure out who is who by just looking at the shadows! This is one of the first projects I hang up in the hallway in time for Back To School Night.  The parents LOVE coming and trying to find their child's work.  I also snap pictures for their Artsonia portfolio so parents can purchase items if they wish with their child's shadow on them. 

What Back to School project do you do every year? Share below!