Monday, October 10, 2016

My Favorite Web Tool - Padlet Is Collaborative, Flexible & Fun!


Oak Hills Elementary teachers are discovering the wonder that is Padlet!  Padlet (both the web app, Chromebook extension & iOS app) gives teachers and students an easy way to share their ideas in real time for free!  Teachers can quickly create a padlet and then share the URL with their class. (I also taught our teachers how to use the google URL shortener - goo.gl. This made it even easier for students to access the class padlet!)

Once I introduced Padlet to teachers, they were able to use it right away! 5th Grade teachers chose to use Padlet to brainstorm their classroom rules for the year!


Third and fourth grade teachers used Padlet as a summer share so each student could write about their summer! 


Mr. Hemann even had his students include a selfie with their summer highlight!



Padlet has unlimited uses! Students can summarize articles they read in Newsela or Newsela Elementary for their class! Students can read each other's summaries!

Newsela | Nonfiction Literacy and Current Events


Padlets can be used as an opening share as students arrive in the morning. Teachers can ask students to answer silly or serious questions to kick off their learning for the day.  Students can even video tape their response to share with the class! 

As I already mentioned in my earlier blog post, Digitally Diving In With Four Back To School Ideas, teachers can use Padlet to share photos and information with parents by sharing the URL.  Below is an example from Cindy Johnson's "Our First Two Days Together" Padlet that she shared with parents!


Even teachers can use Padlet! Third grade teacher, Melissa Lorenson created a padlet asking our staff to share our Labor Day weekend plans! It was a great opportunity to connect with each other!


Padlet is a great learning tool for students of all ages!  Just share the your padlet and see where it takes you and your students!