Sunday Scoop

I am linking up with Teaching Trio for Sunday Scoop! I started it on Sunday but didn't link up until today!

Have a wonderful week!

Animoto in the classroom

Last week, my students researched information about a continent. They had to find the highest mountain, the longest river and so on... I wanted to find a way for my students to create a video to represent what they had learned. I stumbled across and automatically fell in love with the website, Animoto!

Teachers... are you ready?! Animoto gives teachers a free 6 month subscription! All you have to do is fill out the teacher form.  Animoto generates a classroom code for your students and they just sign up using the code. 

Check out some of the videos my students created! They picked the theme of the video and the music. It is a very simple website to use! My third graders just added in their information and uploaded images! Here are two examples of South America videos.... they are not prefect but they had fun!

South America
South America


I contacted Animoto and told them we were having so much fun with their website.  The have given me an Animoto Pro Subscription to give away to a lucky follower!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Painting Tables with White Board Paint

Working at a 1:1 school, I realized my kiddos still needed a place to work out their problems. Trying to be a paperless or being more realistic, a paper lite classroom, my students needed a workspace that wasn't scratch paper. (That was driving me crazy... having scratch paper everywhere!)

One of my fellow teaching partners painted her tables with whiteboard and I decided to follow suit and create a tutorial!

Step 1: Ask permission! My tables were from circa 1972 and my wonderful principal was on board!

Step 2: Supplies needed:

• Rust-oleum Dry Erase paint (I used 3 boxes for 5 tables and my U-shaped table) 
• sand paper (60 or 80 grit) 
•  A dense foam roll and roller 
• paint tray 
• paint sticks
• painter's tape (I used the blue stuff) 
• painter's plastic (I painted the tables in my classroom and I didn't want any drips on my new carpet!)

Step 3:  I then sanded all the tabletops and then removed the dust with water and a lint free cloth.

Step 4: To prevent drips, I used the blue painter's tape around the edges of the tables.

Step 5: It is really important to do all the prep work before you mix the paint. You only have an one-hour window to paint once can A and can B are mixed.  Paint one thin coat on all the tables.

Step 6: I convinced my wonderful boyfriend that he wanted to help me paint my tables. We applied three thin coats on each table and used 2 boxes of the paint. We then came back the next day and used one more box and painted on two more coats.  You have to wait 3 days before you can use Expo markers on the tables.

Here are the tables in action!