Chromebooks at Howe Manning

With a generous grant provided by the Middleton Board of Trade, Howe Manning received 25 Acer 13in. Chromebooks.  Chromebooks are similar to laptops where students can access the internet and their Google Apps for Education account.

Our media specialist Ellen Reusch worked with students in grades 3-6 to access databases for research.  She has worked extremely hard creating a list of resources for students to use to assist them in their research.

Today students participated in a scavenger hunt for the database "Infobits".

Click on image above to access website

Infobits

Students investigated the Infobits database and had to find information about various topics.  They found the year that Van Gogh was born, different breeds of horses, the capitol of Vietnam, and many other facts.  They really enjoyed the search and found it extremely easy to use the website.

Scavenger Hunt for Infobits

Thank you Middleton Board of Trade

for our Chromebooks!

A Day of Google

I can't think of a better way to spend a day during my winter vacation than learning more about Google Apps for Education.

Early Thursday morning I headed 0.3 miles down the road to Manchester Essex Middle/High School for Google Winter Camp sponsored by MassCue.  Two of my Colleagues joined me for a day of Google.

Deb Pazdziorny, Dierdre Baker, and Eileen Mulligan

What a great day of learning.  I had an incredibly hard time choosing which classes to take.

Class 1:  Google Certifications
Learning what it takes to become a Google Certified Educator Levels 1 and 2.  Stay tuned for my progress!

Jonathan Schmid

Class 2:  Writers Workshop Reimagined with Google Docs
So many resources for getting kids involved in the writing process.  My favorite find is "InstaGrok" which makes a web of resources for many different topics.

Class 3:  Make and Take Google Templates
I always love taking classes from Jennifer Judkins!  She always makes learning fun!  In this class we learned how to use www.flippity.com to create Jeopardy games.

Jennifer Judkins

Class 4: Collaborative Video Editing in the Cloud

Back with Jonathan Schmid learning how to create a video using "WeVideo".  With this program/website, students (and teachers) can create a video with pictures, videos, and text.  You can add music and other features to make it engaging.

Below is the video I made for "Hour of Code".

What a great day to learn about the many benefits and possibilities of Google Apps for Education.  I am once again inspired!  I can't wait to share my new "tricks" with my students and staff! 
Thanks to all of the presenters, Steve Guditus and the staff at MERSD, and MassCue for putting on such a great show!  

Mixed Up Fairy Tales using Explain Everything

Mixed Up Fairy Tales

What are the Elements of a Fairy Tale?

Students in Mrs. Weeks' 3rd grade class studied the elements of Fairy Tales. To really understand these elements, they made "Mixed Up" fairy tales.  Students chose a character, setting and plot from three different stories.  Imagine what happens when three story elements are combined.

The first step was to brainstorm which elements they were going to use.  Then, students used a template to record the information and use it as a storyboard.  Lastly, students drew pictures for their story.  The iPads and app "Explain Everything" were used to create a picture book and presentation.  Students from the "Student Help Desk" in 6th grade assisted the 3rd grade students with their projects.

Click each link below to view the stories.

5 Little Pigs by Sofia

The 1 Little Dumb Dumb and the Two Little Nerds by Davis

The Four Little Pigs by Mark

4 Little Pigs and the Mother by Ava

Cinderella and the Basketball Team by Danica

3 Cats and the Dog by Oliver

3 Little Pigs by Langdon

Tortoise and the Hare by Dylan

The Three Little Bananas and the Big, Bad Monkey by Teagan

The Three Little Meercats and the Big, Bad Hammer by Carter

The Goose by Noelle

The Three Cats and the Dog by Frank

Massachusetts Common Core Standards for ELA

RL.3.2. Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

SL.3.5. Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details.

Access to new emails

This is a message for my coworkers in Middleton.

We have become a "Google Apps for Education" school!  (Que the applause!)

We have so much to learn, and this blog will be focused on the amazing tech integration and student learning that is happening in our schools with GAFE.

First, teachers need to access their new Gmail account.  Our email address will remain the same.

*  Go to gmail.com

*  Your username is your school email address.

*  Your <initial> password is the password that the students use to log in at school.  I gave it to teachers during FM staff meeting, and during Team Time at HM.  You can private message me or email me at school to get the initial password.

*  You will be prompted to change your password to one that you want.  Your password MUST be at least 8 letters and or characters.

Please do not use Outlook for email anymore.

Click the picture below for Google resources

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/28217935143607997/

Hour of Code 2015

Code.org was founded in 2013 with the mission to provide access to computer science coding and programming to students of all backgrounds. The Hour of Code was created as a worldwide event to encourage all students across the world to engage in just one hour of code - to help inspire and spread access to computer science programming.

Click the picture below watch a video on "Hour of Code"

 During the week of December 7-11, 2015, students in Middleton participated in the Hour of Code.

Click the picture below watch a video of our Middleton Students participate in the Hour of Code.

Global Read Aloud 2015

Global Read Aloud in Middleton, Massachusetts

Every student in Middleton public schools participated in the 2015 Global Read Aloud.  Teachers read the book aloud to their students and planned/implemented projects and activities that align with our reading and writing curriculum.  Students became connected to other students throughout the world using technology.  Programs like Padlet, Twitter and blogging helped students to write to others about their connections and predictions and share with classrooms around the world.  A virtual book club was created using Skype and Google Hangouts and allowed students to meet others in our country and Canada.  We even participated in “Mystery Skypes” where the classes asked yes or no questions using maps to determine where they were from; building great geography skills.

What is the Global Read Aloud?

"The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world.  Now with five years under our belt and more than 500,000 connections made in 60 different countries, we realize we are on to something larger than us so we look forward to continuing the global connections.

The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible.  Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be.  Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible.  The scope and depth of the project is up to you.  In the past we have used Twitter, Skype, Edmodo, our wiki, email, regular mail, Kidblog, and any other tools we can think of to make these connections.  Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year." (Source:  globalreadaloud.com and Pernille Ripp.)

Click HERE for video.

The Kindergarten students at Fuller Meadow School are reading six books by Amy Rosenthal. Watch this video:

The 1st-2nd grade students are reading The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes. Watch this video:

The 3rd-6th grade students are reading Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Watch this video:

Mystery Skype with Canada

This week, most of our 6th grade students are on a 3-day overnight field trip to Nature's Classroom in New Hampshire.  Those of us who stayed at school had an adventure all the way to Alberta, Canada.

No, we didn't actually go to Alberta, but we did the next best thing!  We had a Mystery Google Hangout with a class to discuss the Global Read Aloud book, Fish in a Tree.

In a Mystery Google Hangout/Skype students spend the first portion of the session trying to figure out where the other class is from.  Students must ask Yes or No questions similar to the game "20 questions".

At first, we begin with a map of the world, divide up each hemisphere and begin asking questions to get closer to the location.  After each question, the student will color (with an Expo marker) out the area that the other class is NOT in.  This helps them to narrow down the search.  Each class takes turns until both classes guess where the other class is from.

Click HERE for questions to use for finding out where in the WORLD they are located in.

Click HERE for questions to use for finding out where in the United States they are located in.

Once students have figured out where our new friends are from, they participated in a discussion about the book. There were some great text-to-self connections which made us realize how similar we all are.

After the session, our 6th graders made a digital project using the app "Chatterpix" to make a self portrait and tell what we're good at.  Then, they made a movie trailer using the app "iMovie" for another Global Read Aloud book for our Kindergarten students based on the book "Exclamation Mark".  It was certainly a fun day!