September 15, 2016

Keyboarding in the Classroom



Check out this free keyboarding resource.
https://www.typing.com




April 27, 2016

Monster Project

This project is great fun for students. 


It goes well with teaching and learning about adjectives.
It also meets many writing standards. 

Example:
One student draws a monster and writes a description of their monster using many details. The description only is sent to another student. In this case, it was sent to another third grade student in a different building in our district. The second student redraws the monster by carefully reading the description and drawing what they are reading. The redraw is sent back to the first designer and paired up with the original drawing.    



After the student sees the redraw, it is a great extension activity to have him or her reflect and note what was done well and how the description could be changed to make it clearer for the student redrawing the monster.

Another extension activity could be to Skype to meet the other student and have a discussion about the project. What was learned? What went well? What should be changed?


Click here if you would like to view all the descriptions and monsters from one of our classrooms.

March 31, 2016

Wizard of Oz - Point Of View

The students read the book, Wizard of Oz. Each student selected one of the characters and changed their point of view from 3rd person to 1st person. The students wrote what the character was up to before Dorothy enters the story. After the students finished their writing, they recorded themselves speaking in the voice of that character. They illustrated the character and we put the final project into a keynote slide show.

Click the link below to view the final result!
https://goo.gl/At96Q4


March 22, 2016

1st Grade Virtual Museum of Influential People

Mrs. Richardson and Mrs. Burgess had their first grade students research influential people. 

Once they completed their research, they wrote a paper about their person.


Using the iPad app Morfo 
they brought their subjects to life!  
They saved their projects in Google Drive.

Students drew pictures and found images on the internet, which they used to design a frame to showcase these famous people. They also posted a QR code leading the way to view their creations.


Finally, the two classes hosted an Open House inviting parents to a self-guided tour of their museum.



March 21, 2016

Landform Project using Tellagami

Miss Dixon's second graders used the Tellagami app on their student iPads to show off what they learned about landforms.

What do you know about Dinosaurs?


These 1st graders used the iPad app 30 Hands to report what they learned while researching dinosaurs.


Mrs. Hochhalter and Miss Huff had 22 engaged students, practicing their researching and writing skills, using technology tools, and presenting what they know to the rest of the world!

Check it out at https://goo.gl/jRFv2u


March 11, 2016

Video Announcements

A New Way to Share Morning Announcements!




Instead of reading announcements over the intercom, try doing Video announcements. It's easier than you think! You will need an iPad and access Google Drive or another type of online storage. Videos are uploaded to Google Drive and a link is shared through a district messaging system. The teachers access the link each morning and the students watch the announcements in their classroom. The students love it!

**The students have used iMovie to edit this video. This isn't something we do with every video. This is just a bonus. When the teacher has time, the students will edit the announcements.


Book Commercials


Get your Students excited about Reading! A librarian at one of our schools has started having students make video book commercials. She has the students tell about a book they've read and shares the commercials with classes during library time. She also added them to the morning video announcements.

"It really works! These books get checked out!" Kari Kvigne, Bel Air Librarian


March 9, 2016

Heroes Come Alive in 2nd Grade!

ChatterPix Kids can be used to make artwork or images talk! This 2nd grade class did an art project with Heroes. They wrote the following about their Hero: Name, SuperPower and What they like about their Hero. They recorded their writing on the ChatterPix Kids app. QR codes were made and posted on their art work so students throughout the school could listen to their recording.

Click on the picture to hear the example.

Display in the hallway with the QR codes.


February 29, 2016

Highly engaged 3rd graders today!


3rd graders were learning about ballots and voting in Social Studies. The teacher decided to give them a real experience by creating their own "Vote for your Favorite SuperHero" ballot using Google Forms. Each student created their own form and each student voted on all ballots using links posted on their Google Classroom stream. The students will be able to get the results easily in graph and spreadsheet form. They will be presenting the results to their classmates next week. 

Ballot Sample Created by the Students
Graph showing results
Presenting the results to the Class