Tammy Russell: ToonDoo & X-tra Math (and worditout)

My first project incorporated using worditout.com with poetry.  The students used familiar poems into a word picture.  They then found other students to use the key words from the poem as clues to guess the poem. This project was not completely successful because I could not figure out how to print the finished project. (Let me know if anyone has the answer to this.)  I had to print it out and use the copy machine to enlarge.  It was a small glitch, but still a glitch.   Then eventually realizing that this is the same as wordle.net.

My second idea was utilizing ToonDoo, also found on CoolTools.  I tried to use this site  a couple of months ago on the recommendation of a colleague but again, it required email addresses and creating accounts.  Eventually I looked a little further and discovered that I could create ONE account and log in on multiple computers.  The students have been creating characters and sequencing their short stories through pictures and character conversations and really love using this site.  Each story (cartoon) is more and more developed and I enjoyed watching them figure this out independently and collaboratively.  

I have also officially incorporated using X-TRAmath.org  on a daily basis.  Most of my students are also using this program at home (many on their devices!)  My students are setting goals and I am able to track how often they are using X-TRA math and how they are progressing.  At this point, I have chosen to stop using timed tests because this has been very successful.