Time Troubles

One of my greatest challenges each day is Literacy Centers. During this time, we have 3 centers in our room, 2 of which are teacher-led and 1 which is independent. My greatest struggle is making the independent center a productive learning time, fun and engaging for the students involved, and totally independent (so that I can actually work with my own teacher-led center.) This has been quite the challenge with first grade kiddos. I've noticed that even when the centers are engaging and fun, students tend to not manage their time well, and I am consistently having to remind them to stay on task, give them reminders of how much time is left, and to explain if they don't finish now they'll have to finish at Quiet Time (never fun because it's their only true "free time" in the day.) So, I went looking for a way to help them manage their time. I used to have a Time Timer in my classroom, but it kept blowing through batteries and then broke. It's also super expensive to replace. So, I wondered if there was a simpler alternative. I found this app simply called "Classroom Timer," and it seems to be the perfect solution! I've been playing around with it and I'm excited to try it on Monday! I'll explain it more in details, using the pictures below.

One of the benefits is that the timer can be set for up to a hour, or even a few seconds. Students (even first graders) can even set it themselves. Once you've picked the amount of time you want, you simply press the play button (bottom left.)

Then, once the timer is set, it provides a visual of how much time is left. I don't know about you, but when I tell my kids "half" their time is gone, or they have 5 or 10 minutes left, this doesn't really mean much. Their brains have a hard time understanding amounts of time, so this red visual of time elapsed and what's left is actually super helpful!

Once their time is up, the timer is blank and begins to shake. It also sounds an alarm. The alarm is as loud as the volume setting on the iPad, and can even be silent if the iPad is on mute.

After the timer shakes and alarm goes off, this screen appears. It's a little dramatic, but an engaging way of letting students know that their time is up!

On the off (crazy beautiful) chance your students finish early, you can stop the timer and this screen will appear, congratulating them on their efficient work, and use of time! (As a said note, it is also possible to pause the timer (thinking fire drills, etc.) and recent, which is another benefit of this app, rather than a physical timer.)

Finally, I have been describing the free version, because I'm a cheap teacher and I want to test this out for a week before I invest (I realize it's not that expensive, but oh I could spend so much money on apps!) But, if you feel inclined to buy the full version, go for it! It only costs $1.99 and allows you to change the background, show time passed and remaining (numerically), and doesn't have any annoying pop-up adds. If I discover this app does work well for my students and is a helpful support, I will definitely make this purchase!