Extending States and Capitals

Our third graders learned their states and capitals in Social Studies and I wanted to build upon this in the computer lab.  To help get the students excited about geography, they typed friendly letters to a particular state requesting maps, brochures, and postcards.  (What an easy way to blend Social Studies, Language Arts, and keyboarding!)

Their efforts have paid off and we are starting to receive informational packets back from many states.  Students use the maps, brochures, and postcards to give a short oral presentation about their state.

So far we've received mail from:

Alabama

Arkansas

Colorado

Idaho

Illinois

Mississippi

Montana

North Dakota

Oklahoma

South Carolina

Utah

Vermont

Wyoming

Makey Makey Manners

Second graders spend many weeks learning about good manners in Social Studies class.  They cover such areas as classroom manners, telephone etiquette, manners at a friend's house, etc.  At the end of their manners unit, students and parents attend the annual Manners Banquet held at a local restaurant.  This gives the students time to showcase their new manners.

We created interactive manner review boards using Makey Makeys.  Students recorded three good manners to use when in a particular situation.  Then they created display boards using pizza box lids and Makey Makeys.

This project was a great way to directly incorporate a Social Studies unit and coding.

Presidential Chatterpix

Fourth graders had so much fun creating a class video on the presidents.

Each student researched two consecutive presidents.  Besides the basic information such as years in office, party affiliation, vice president, students also found 'weird but true' facts.  This made the project very entertaining for the students.

Students used their research and created a chatterpix video featuring each of their presidents.

Once students exported and airdropped their video, I put all videos together into one iMovie.

Students had the best project results when they spoke loudly and slowly.  Be sure to separate the students so background noise is not recorded by accident.

Seasons iMovies

Our first graders created iMovies about the four seasons. 

Students watched a short BrainPop video about each season.  Then they illustrated each season using KidPix. 

Objectives of this long term iMovie project:
-learn how to import jpegs
-turn off Ken Burns effect
-add backgrounds with titles
-add transitions
-add music and trim end to match length of movie
-fade out music at end of movie

This project took several weeks.  (Students meet once per week for 55 minutes.)

Students loved watching each other's movies!

Foldify App

If you haven't used Foldify you are missing out on creative fun!

Our third graders researched different state symbols and then created three dimensional visual representations.  After completing a short research worksheet students used the ipads to find pictures of their state symbols.  (FREE research worksheet can be found here.)

Foldify makes creating three dimensional shapes easy.  Students choose a shape, drag and drop pictures, and print.  I printed on cardstock, but regular paper would be fine.

Earth Day

Earth Day is fast approaching and second grade created these wonderful posters for our hallway.  We used KidPix for the writing.  Students practiced writing "I can" and "I will" statements.

The students loved creating their handprint Earths.  After painting our planets the second grade teacher had the great idea of adding a little glitter to their projects.  She said, "Everything is better with glitter."  Although I disagree, she was correct in this case. 😀 

Career Day

Our entire lower school participated in Career Day.  Students came to school dressed as a particular career of interest.  We had doctors, builders, pilots, teachers, artists, and so many more.  Teachers even participated. 

We incorporated Career Day in the computer lab by having first graders write about their future careers.  We encouraged students to write and draw with detail. 

 


I love their imaginations.

King of Code

Check out this short video on how to incorporate coding into your everyday curriculum.

Dash Flash Mob

The holidays are a time I usually dread in the classroom.  The students are extra excited, and our schedules are often interrupted for parties, assemblies, holiday concerts and travel.  I needed to think of a project that would keep the students engaged during this crazy time of year. 

Dash and Xylo from Wonder Workshop would do the trick. 

Most of my students hadn't use the Xylo app yet so time was given for them to simply explore and create.   No rules, no directions, no limits.  After 15 minutes or so, I asked the students to compose Jingle Bells or Joy to the World.  Students added synchronized movements.

Like every famous musician, the students wanted to take their show on the road.   Our Dash robot flash mob visited our music teacher's classroom, Headmaster's office, and a senior class of digital design students. 

Our students were so proud of their creative coding.

One School-One Book

All of our students have required summer reading assignments, but never the teachers. But for the first time since I've been teaching in our school (18 years), our faculty had required summer reading and IT. WAS. WONDERFUL!

Our entire faculty was asked to read The Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff.  A young panhandler surviving on the streets meets a young business woman climbing the corporate ladder.  The young woman reaches out to help the young boy, and in return, he teaches her more than she could imagine.

An Invisible Thread shows how one person, Ms. Schroff, puts aside her individual wants, needs, and desires to focus her energy enriching the life of a young boy with no expectation for anything in return.  One small McDonald's meal turned into a lifelong friendship.

This is a story of grace, kindness, and compassionate. These are necessary when working with children in the classroom as well.

As the dust settles on the whirlwind first weeks of school we also need to realize that coworkers, support staff, substitutes, parents, coaches, and bus drivers also deserves our utmost grace, kindness, and compassionate,  We need to put aside our individual wants to focus on the larger picture; our students.

Thank you, Ms Schroff, for sharing your story and inspiring our faculty.

Animal Robots

We just completed our longterm robotics and coding project.  First, the students were introduced to various components (servo motors, LEDs, duo controllers, etc).  We learned how to code each component individually.

Students were asked to build an animal that incorporated movement, sound, and light into their project.  They used GarageBand to record facts about their animals and Snap! for coding.

Talking Devices

After reading Out of My Mind and Rules (both books feature non-verbal characters), the fourth graders were inspired to create their own talking devices.  Students used Makey-Makeys and Scratch to code and construct their communicators. 

Here are some students using their devices to answer questions.  

Students testing their coding

Makey Makeys and Scratch were used for coding and construction.

Students connecting to Scratch.

Congratulations, Class of 2016

One of the advantages of teaching in a PreK-Grade 12 school is having the privilege of attending our annual commencement ceremonies.

Girls wearing floor length white gowns.  Boys all in traditional black tuxedos.  Every faculty member wearing black graduation gowns and our college alma mater's hood.

A handful of this year's graduates were in my fourth grade class.  We shared so much- canoeing, bike rodeo, field day, humor, friendships, life lessons.

I couldn't be more proud of these students and am optimistic about their futures.  Each of them made an impact on my life.

Thank you parents for sharing your greatest gift with me- your children.

Pandas, Panda, Everywhere

Our first graders were very fortunate to travel to the National Zoo and visit Bei Bei.  Throughout the year, they have been studying pandas and learning some facts along the way.

Firstie wrote and illustrated a panda book during computer class, and it was presented to the National Zoo during their field trip.  Also, they created beautiful panda masterpieces in Art class.

We combined the two projects into a panda movie.  During this project, students learned how to voice over their images.

Check out their informational movie.

Kahoot!

This is an email I just sent a colleague. Thought I would share with all of you.

The last couple computer classes I've been using Kahoot! with the second graders to help them review for the Manners Banquet.

It is similar to Socrative but MUCH more fun.  You set it up like Socrative- type a question with multiple choice questions.

Instead of being an independent activity, it is like a game show format and everyone is going against each other.  When students log in with access code, they have to create a name.  I've been having the 2nd graders create nicknames instead of using their real names.  (Their nicknames have been their favorite food, their super hero name, their grandparents name, etc.) This makes it even more fun because you don't really know who you are playing against- identity is secret.

Questions and multiple choice answers appear on the smart board.  Great sound effects are built into the game and makes it very exciting.  

Students use their iPads to choose their answer.

The faster you answer the questions, the more points you receive.  However, the faster you answer with a wrong response, the more points are deducted.  So, it isn't always best to answer right away.  High reward, but high consequences.

Students do not need to download an app.  Have them go to Safari and type Kahoot.

This might be a great end of year activity.  Beware- it can be highly energetic and addictive!

There are close to 1million free Kahoot games already created and ready to use.  You can browse through and edit one to make it better fit your needs.  Why reinvent the wheel?

Our First Robotics Class

Today the 3rd graders started working with Lego WeDos. They had a wonderful time building dancing birds.  They learned basic programming and experimented with loops, timers, and adding sound effects.

PreK Students Write a Book

Our PreK students are slowly learning their first sight words.  I try to incorporate these sight words into typing activities in the computer lab.

This week we reviewed the sight words "I", "can", "see" and also reviewed numbers 1-20.

We assigned each PreK student a specific number 1-20.  Then, students each typed "I can see ## _______." After typing the beginning of their sentence, they practiced dragging/dropping pictures into their page.  Because we have less than 20 PreK students, the early finishers we able to type a second page.

We printed each child's page and combined them to make one class numbers book.  Now the students have their own book to peruse in their classroom reading loft.

Bot Building

The third graders had their first experience with building bots today.  This opened up great conversations about circuits, insulators/conductors, vibration, and friction.

We cut the head off toothbrushes, added batteries and vibrating motors, and off they went.  Spontaneously, the students created tracks from old cardboard.  They also used the chalk ledge to help give the bots direction.  We tried to have our bots vibrate through paint, but we concluded the paint was too thick.  Next time we will water down the paint and create bot masterpieces.

What a fun day!

Connecting with our Grads

What a wonderful morning spent with our new friends in North Carolina.  We connected via Google Hangout and took turns asking each other yes/no questions to try and determine our schools' locations.  This was a great way to reinforce our knowledge of states/capitals, national landmarks, and geography.

The best surprise was when the North Carolina students learned their teacher actually graduated from our school.  It's such a small world, and we are proud of our graduates.  Thank you for making a difference in the lives of the next generation.

Bicycle Safety

Our firsties created bicycle safety posters to hang throughout all hallways.  They've been learning the "rules of the road" during PE class.  Later this week the first graders will participate in the annual Bike Rodeo.  They will put their knowledge to the test as they navigate a variety of obstacles on their bicycles.