January App of the Month will Link How to Steal A Dog

The best things in life are free and evernote is free!  This was proven as my students submitted their favorite app of the month and why.  Their #1 pick is evernote which is amazing to me for so many reasons but first let me tell you why they chose it.  


*a much faster way to connect with Mrs. Caplin than collecting our notebooks
*it is so much fun to do wonderopolois and evernote on my iPod I can go anywhere to do HW
*Mrs. Caplin can drop the directions into it and I can reread them if I don't remember
*it is a step towards more technology and less paper/pencil
*I like typing better than writing
*if I don't know how to spell a word it helps me with the spelling
*we can choose our own photos to support our thinking
*it's useful because my handwriting is messy and I don't have to worry about it
*I can work on evernote at home - all I need is my iPod (my book bag is lighter)


As a teacher, I first reflected on how evernote is an application that can be put on various platforms, mobile devices as well as computers and allows accessibility to notes anywhere.  There is no game element, no strong visuals, and no opportunity to win a prize at the end.  I found this amazing as I think about the wide variety of apps they could have chosen.  If I would have predicted what might have won, I would have chosen Tap Reef.  


I  already blogged about how I love evernote and we have just touched the surface on how to expand using it.  This week we are going to use it for our read aloud:  How to Steal A Dog which I am reading to support persuassive writing as well as point of view.  I can't imagine being able to read everyone's thoughts at the end of each day.  I use to maybe once a week collect 24 reader's notebooks and take them home, come in early or just stay after school to read their thinking.  Now all I need is my laptop :)  

On a literacy side note, let me tell you about this amazing book. My friend, Karen at Literate Lives told me about this book when it first came out.  Have you ever read a book and  fell in love with it and could not put it down?  The life lessons in this book are so important and through Barbara O'Connor's story, she does a beautiful job of helping the reader learn about homelessness which is topic that is not written about in many elementary books. One of my favorite lines in the book, "I guess bad times can make a person do bad things, huh?"


 Also I want to introduce my students to Barbara O'Connor who has written so many tremendous books for kids.


*Greetings from Nowhere (another HUGE favorite of mine)
*Small Adventures of Popeye and Elvis
*Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia