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Thanksgiving at Fuller Meadow

"Why you don't want to eat me for Thanksgiving." 

Students at Fuller Meadow School have had turkeys on the brain.  When you walk down the hallways, you see turkeys that are in disguise, mathematical turkeys, poetic turkeys, and turkeys in tutus.  I had the opportunity to help some of these turkeys TALK.  In Kindergarten and 2nd Grade, students have been working on a very important project.  Students worked with their family on designing a turkey that you won't want to eat, then they wrote about the turkey in the first person. In 1st grade, students worked on alliteration as well as improving their writing skills as they told what their turkey would do if he came to visit the student's home.  

2nd Grade Project

Letter to 2nd Grade families about the Turkey Project.

To enhance the writing lesson and work on their speaking and presentation skills, we used the app 'Chatterpix' and 'iMovie' to make each turkey come to life.  To start, Kindergarten and 2nd grade students created their picture with their family and wrote a few sentences explaining why they shouldn't be 'eaten' for Thanksgiving.  In 1st grade, students made their turkeys at school.  Then, Mrs. Baker used Chatterpix to record the student's voice.  After the recording session, students reflected on the process.

Check out these Turkey Project videos

2nd Grade:

Mrs. Begin's 2nd Grade Class

Mrs. Kennedy's 2nd Grade Class

Mrs. Kennedy's Reader's Theater

Mrs. Kennedy's Class is Thankful for...

Mrs. Ochoa's 2nd Grade Class

Ms. Simonelli's 2nd Grade Class

Mrs. Vickerman's 2nd Grade Class

1st Grade:

Mrs. Anderson's Class Makes Butter

Mrs. Fuller's 1st Grade Class

Mrs. Fuller's Class gives a "Cranberry Challenge"

Mrs. Thomson's Kindergarten Class

Kindergarten

Mrs. Scharffenberg's 1st Grade Class

Mrs. Baker works in Scharffenberg's Class

Students reflected on the process of making their class video.

The Massachusetts Common Core Standards describe the integration of technology into lessons as "New technologies have broadened and expanded the role that speaking and listening play in acquiring and sharing knowledge and have tightened their link to other forms of communication. Digital texts confront students with the potential for continually updated content and dynamically changing combinations of words, graphics, images, hyperlinks, and embedded video and audio."

Common Core Standard for Grade K: SL. K.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.  Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

Common Core Standard for Grade 1: SL. 1.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.  Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

Common Core Standard for Grade 2:  SL. 2.5 for Language Arts states, " Students will Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings."

Hour of Code

The Hour of Code is coming - December 8-14

What is "Hour of Code"?

Hour of Code is an opportunity for every student to try computer science for one hour.

Computer Science for Elementary School

Watch this video for Hour of Code 2014

Get your students excited - give them a short intro

Most kids don’t know what computer science is. Here are some ideas:

* Explain it in a simple way that includes examples of applications that both boys and girls will care about (saving lives, helping people, connecting people, etc.).

* Try: "Think about things in your everyday life that use computer science: a cell phone, a microwave, a computer, a traffic light… all of these things needed a computer scientist to help build them.”

* Or: “Computer science is the art of blending human ideas and digital tools to increase our power. Computer scientists work in so many different areas: writing apps for phones, curing diseases, creating animated movies, working on social media, building robots that explore other planets and so much more."

Start your Hour of Code

How to teach one hour of code.

Direct students to the activity

* Write the tutorial link on a whiteboard. Find the link listed on the information for your selected tutorial under the number of participants. (Example: hourofcode.com/co)

* Tell students to visit the URL and start the tutorial.

When your students come across difficulties

• Tell students, “Ask 3 then me.” Ask 3 classmates, and if they don’t have the answer, then ask the teacher.
• Encourage students and offer positive reinforcement: “You’re doing great, so keep trying.”
• It’s okay to respond: “I don’t know. Let’s figure this out together.” If you can’t figure out a problem, use it as a good learning lesson for the class: “Technology doesn’t always work out the way we want. Together, we’re a community of learners.” And: “Learning to program is like learning a new language; you won’t be fluent right away.“

Sign up

http://studio.code.org/

Go to Lessons

http://bit.ly/1m0wE2V

There are 3 courses for coding.

Try Code.org’s exclusive new tutorial for the Hour of Code 2014, in beta - featuring Disney’s “Frozen” heroines Anna and Elsa! 

More on Coding:  Here are Code.org’s suggestions on teaching Hour of Code in your classroom. If you have a favorite tool, they likely will guide you in using it for this amazing week. Check out this list:

• Tynker
• Microsoft
• Code Academy
• Hopscotch
• Lightbot

Teachers attend Hour of Code Workshop

Teachers from the Tri-Town attended the Hour of Code Workshop at Phillips Academy in Andover on October 18. 

"Loopy" Course 2 Loops Puzzle

                    Teachers attend Hour of Code Tech Talk

Paula K. and I taught a workshop in our Tri-Town Tech Talk to introduce teachers to Hour of Code.  

Students help find resources

Students in 5th and 6th grades helped to find internet resources that link to the curriculum that they are learning in their classes.  They were taught how to do a "Safe Search" by using the "Advanced" settings on Google to search Basic sites.  Students were shown how to make their searching more productive by adding specific terms in the search engine.

In 5th Grade, students are learning about "Pre-Columbian Civilizations of the New World and European Exploration, Colonization, and Settlement to 1700."  (Social Studies Grade 5 Learning Standards)

http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/5th/homework/ss/ssunit3.htm

The 5th Grade Learning Standard 5:3 is addressed using this website.  "Explain why trade routes to Asia had been closed in the 15^th century and trace the voyages of at least four of the explorers listed below. Describe what each explorer sought when he began his journey, what he found, and how his discoveries changed the image of the world, especially the maps used by explorers. (H, G, E)

A. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa

B. John and Sebastian Cabot

C. Jacques Cartier

D. Samuel de Champlain

E. Christopher Columbus

F. Henry Hudson

G. Ferdinand Magellan

H. Juan Ponce de Leon

I. Amerigo Vespucci"

The Sixth Graders search for ELA websites to use in their class and during WIN.

The 6th grade Common Core Standards are reinforced on this website.  6.3 "Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution."

Math Classes became a little more fun today as we explored interactive websites to reinforce math concepts taught in math.

www.mathplay.com

Resources found on this blog

You will find many resources on this blog.  Check out the links above.  You will find resources for using interactive whiteboards such as Smartboard and Activinspire.  You will also find many resources for teachers and students as well as educational technology links.

Smartboard Resources
guest.portaportal.com/interactivewhiteboard

Activinspire Resources
guest.portaportal.com/interactivewhiteboard

Student Resources

Students will find links to many resources on this blog under the tab "Student Resources".  From school-based links to educational games, students will enjoy this link!

guest.portaportal.com/resourcesforstudents

       

Teacher Resources

There are many links found in this section.  From curriculum resources to developing websites, you'll enjoy the gems on this page.

Resources for Teachers 

guest.portaportal.com/resourcesforteachers

Tech Talks

The Tri-Town Technology Committee has been busy creating the new annual calendar for our Wednesday Tech Talks.  On this page, you will find a calendar of Tech Talk classes with links to resources for the classes that are offered. 

Resources for Tech Talks sponsored by the Tri-Town Technology Committee

guest.portaportal.com/techtalks

Edmodo in 6th Grade

The 6th Grade students and parents at Howe Manning are all using Edmodo to collaborate in their classrooms.

"Edmodo is an educational website that takes the ideas of a social network and refines them 
and makes it appropriate for a classroom. Using Edmodo, students and teachers can reach 
out to one another and connect by sharing ideas, problems, and helpful tips. A teacher can 
assign and grade work on Edmodo; students can get help from the entire class on Edmodo. 
It is a safe environment. There is no bullying or inappropriate content, because the teacher 
can see everything that is posted on Edmodo. Also parents can join the class to bring a level 
of transparency that is difficult to achieve without technology. All in all Edmodo is a great 
companion to just about any class." ~ Patrick Cauley

   Mrs. Pazdziorny and Mrs. Baker co-teach the Edmodo program to the 6th Grade students.

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Students have learned how to link documents and videos to their accounts.  Their first mission was to find a fun science experiment to show to their class.  Our favorite videos are made by "Steve Spangler Science".  We are all watching an experiment on chemical reactions as he made Elephant Toothpaste, and then students posted their reactions to each other on Edmodo.

In Mrs. Bentley's World Cultures class, 6th grade students used Edmodo to assist in their research for the "Five Themes of Geography".  Students used the Backpack feature to store their writing and maps.

Edmodo on the Road

Mrs. Baker had the opportunity to visit a classroom in Marlow, NH.  The principal, Walter Huston, asked Mrs. Baker to assist his 5/6th grade students and teacher in setting up Edmodo.  The students and teacher worked very hard to set up their accounts.  They absolutely love the program and are using it on a daily basis.  

To learn more about using Edmodo in your classes, check out this website:
http://edmodoteacherhub.wikispaces.com/file/view/Exec-Summary-Edmodo.pdf

http://www.csub.edu/~tfernandez_ulloa/Edmodo%20User%20guide.pdf

Math Calendar in Ms. Simonelli's 2nd Grade Class

In Middleton Elementary Schools, teachers are using Calendar Math in their math classes.  This is a great math program to support our Math In Focus curriculum.  It enriches daily math instruction, reinforces core concepts, and provides immediate differentiation in 10-15 minutes a day.

I had a chance to observe Ms. Simonelli and her 2nd grade students using the Math Calendar. She has the calendar projected on her Smartboard Interactive Whiteboard.  The students and Ms. Simonelli can move and interact with the numbers and the shapes to review math concepts.

September Math Calendar

Ms. Simonelli modeling a concept for her student

 Students work on different math concepts by moving the coins.  They also, complete math problems.

Students have several papers that they complete as they work through the day's concepts.  As a student works on the Smartboard, the rest of the class completes the math problems in this packet.

Samples of student work.  

Math Calendar is a great tool for differentiation.  During this lesson, a student struggled with his even numbers.  Ms. Simonelli had her class sing "The Even and Odd Numbers" song.  What a great chance to revisit this concept!