Miss Bee's Books

I don't like the word 'bully'.  It labels a kid as definitively bad and leaves no room for redemption.  I prefer to consider bullying behaviors.  Instead of the kid being bad, it's their behaviors educators and students need to look out for.  Behaviors can be identified and altered.  Behaviors can be addressed.  And the student isn't walking around school with a giant "B" on their chest for the rest of their education.  Another problem with using the label Bully is that some people may be behaving in hurtful ways, bu t struggle to own it because they don't see themselves as a Bully.  However, if we focus on the behaviors, instead of the concept of The Bully, then we have more room for self-reflection. Same goes for cyberbullying.  By teaching students about these behaviors they can identify when they are engaging in them.  Now that children are growing up with constant internet access, bullying behaviors can be found online too. ...

I recently got the chance to visit a local elementary school's Literacy Night.  Students rotated through a series of literacy-themed stations: a book tasting, the local library, 2 real-live children's authors (!), and Flipgrid book reviews.  Before this night, I had heard about Flipgrid, but hadn't seen it in action.  Students sat at computers and browsed book recommendations their peers had made using Flipgrid.  The effect was both charming and incredibly engaging.  Students were delighted to see videos made by their friends and to show their own video to their families.   https://www.pexels.com/photo/boy-watching-video-using-laptop-821948/ by Bruce Mars Flipgrid is accessible online at  flipgrid.com .  Flipgrid is free to use.  Educators need only sign-up, then provide their students with a Flip Code.  After entering the Flip Code, students can make a short video based on a prompt recorded by the teacher. Much like popul...

Universal Design for Learning argues for flexible learning environments to support a variety of learners. Students may have learning disabilities, be learning in a non-fluent language, or have a different learning style, but all will benefit from Universal Design. Snap&Read provides flexibility for web-reading and note-taking. Snap&Read is an assistive technology created by Don Johnston. Once purchased it can be installed as a Google Chrome Extension and used with any website or PDF opened in the browser. Many of its features are also available via the iPad app. Finally, 3.2 million Amazon Kindle books and the Bookshare library are compatible as well (2019). The Snap&Read product page provides video demos for many of its functions. An individual subscription to Snap&Read costs $4.99/month, though schools or districts can sign-up for $0.50-$2.00 per student annually. To subscribe go to https://learningtools.donjohnston.com/product/snap-read/ and select Prici...

https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=slj-reviews-kid-friendly-robots-dash-and-dot-test-drive There are countless ways to teach coding to children. Not just websites and apps, but hardware too.  Dash and Dot are two programmable robots created by Wonder Workshop to get elementary-aged children started with coding.  Using the scaffolded apps, users can create increasingly complex code to program the robots to make sounds, flash colored lights, move attachable arms, and navigate paths.  Of the two robots, only Dash is mobile.  The robots have been around for several years and have amassed a satisfying library of lessons available on blogs, the web,  Pinterest,  and Youtube.  In a brilliant marketing strategy, Wonder Workshop has curated much of this content on their own website and social media.  Wonder Workshop also hosts a  virtual competition  every year, which encourages long-term, iterative, and team-based problem solving.  ...