February 23rd is Digital Learning Day! That’s this THURSDAY!!!!
Digital Learning Day is a time to try a new digital tool with your class or use an old digital tool in a new way. Check out this short video about DLD!!
The Elementary ITRTs worked together to create various Digital Breakouts. Use the following website to complete a Digital Breakout with your students. Get with me if you have any questions!
Students in Mrs. Reed’s class have been busy learning about Famous Americans and were having a hard time remembering the contributions of each American they were learning, and those they have learned over the past few years. To help them remember, we started by playing a Famous American’s Kahoot and then students accessed THIS graphic organizer. Once they made a copy for themselves, they were able to edit and create their own! They added pictures from Britannica and used PebbleGo for any additional research they needed. They now have a visual to keep their Famous Americans straight!
A small group of students in Ms. Crabtree’s class at Chamberlayne Elementary have been working on writing, and retelling nonfiction stories. Students started by drawing a random writing prompt out of a jar. After responding to the writing prompt, they identified the beginning, middle, and end of their response. Then, using Storybaordthat.com, students illustrated and added text to their comic strip. Once they were done, the students used the snipping tool to take a screenshot of their comic and uploaded their images to THIS padlet wall to share their stories!
Students in Mrs. Mock’s class have been studying animals and their habitats. Students were assigned an animal, and then were responsible for documenting their research from PebbleGo. Then, they worked in groups to create a mural of their habitat, including illustrations of their animals. Finally, they each created a video telling others about their animal. These murals are hanging outside of Mrs. Mock’s room and there are QR codes attached to each habitat showcases the student reports. Be sure to go check them out!
Wetlands
Wetlands
Polar
Oceans
Grasslands
The Desert
Mrs. Fournier’s class at Chamberlayne Elementary has been learning all about Greece. Mrs. Fournier wanted her boys and girls to share their knowledge of Greece with others, so they created a brochure using google slides. Using a template that I made, students edited the text and added pictures that were found in Britannica. Below is an example of one of these great brochures!
Identifying the main idea and supporting details can be tricky! However, the students in Ms. Boyd’s class at Highland Springs Elementary did so with ease! Students each read a book relating to animals to support their recent animal unit in science. Then, each student made a movie by recording themselves talking about their book using Dell Webcam, sharing facts about their animals including the main idea and supporting details. Finally, students used Google Slides to create a cover page that was used to link in their videos to our collaborative poster. Check out their final projects by clicking on the images below 🙂
Last Friday, the Tech Takeout team visited Seven Pines Elementary! The fifth grade teachers noticed that students needed some review with the fourth grade SOLs 4.7 and 4.8 (the solar system) with a connection to their fifth grade SOL 5.6 on oceans. Everyone was super pumped for a Science themed Tech Takeout, because who doesn’t love Science?? Mrs. Gross, the librarian was kind enough to let us use her awesome library to host the three classes and we worked with laptops and IPads that are housed in the fifth grade classrooms. Special thanks to Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Marazzo, and Mrs. Bottari for letting us borrow their fantastic fifth graders on Friday morning! #SevenPines is a great place to be!
In Miss Aquilina and Mrs. Robinson’s group, students used the PicCollage app (in freestyle mode) to create an inspiration collage. We pulled in photos from a Comemories site, added a selfie, and played with the background and stickers. Then, we saved the photos to the Camera Roll on the IPads and opened the ChatterKids app. We pulled the photo into ChatterKids, drew a mouth over our selfie’s mouth, and record some narration of the photos. Most fifth graders chose at least one ocean photo and one solar system photo, which was cool! It was so hilarious to see our selfies talking; everyone had a blast with this activity! Here’s Michael’s:
Students in Mr. Covais’ and Ms. Browne’s group focused on how the Earth’s tilt in relation to the sun create seasons. Using Google Slides, the students imported pictures of the sun and Earth. They duplicated the slides and they then selected a sticker to place on the Earth. After rotating the picture to demonstrate the tilt of the Earth they downloaded the slides to their desktop and imported them into Windows Movie Maker. Finally they copied and duplicated the slides to make the movie about a minute long. The students published the movie to share with classmates. Everyone did a great job!
Students in Mr. C’s and Mrs. Green’s group created 3D models of the solar system using Tinkercad. They used different resources to gather information about the relative size of each planet. Then they logged into Tinkercad using their HCPS Google information and started tinkering! They referenced their resources as they built to make sure that the sizes, colors, and order was correct. Take a look at this awesome example:
To celebrate Computer Science Week, the students in Mrs. Hues & Mrs. Taylor’s group used Scratch to code the movement of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. They were provided a template with the sprites, but they had to add the background image, code for each sprite, and voice recordings to explain their model. When students were finished, they shared their projects and uploaded them to this studio. Check out this great student example!
Thank you again to Mrs. Hall, Mrs Marazzo, Mrs. Bottari, Mrs. Gross, and Mrs. Mothershead for having us for an awesome TechTakeout at Seven Pines Elementary!
Monday was an exciting day at Echo Lake Elementary. Mrs. Vick, the librarian, invited several ITRTs to come help assist her with her first MakerSpace Day. Mrs. Vick has spent many hours prepping for her 4th graders to participate in these stations. Students are invited to the library at certain times each day to create, invent, and learn. Now that the students have been introduced to these activities they are ready to spend time really becoming Makers!
On Monday several ITRTs set up stations, every 4th grader at Echo Lake rotated through the library and spent time investigating six technology MakerSpace stations that Mrs. Vick will offer in her library.
Ms. Aquilina spent some time showing the students how to use the littleBits. littleBits are Color-coded electronic bits that snap together with magnets. Students can invent and create with these bits. Most sets come with a design challenge book that allows the students to follow step by step instructions to create small inventions like a hand massager, intruder alert and even a door bell.
Mrs. Taylor and Mr. Caratachea introduced the students to the app Stop Motion. Student got to experience what it is like to be an animator. This app allows you to take lots of pictures and play them on a loop as if they were actually moving in real time.
Mrs. Green and Ms. Franklin both spent time showing the students how to create using the program Scratch. Mrs. Green used the library laptops and Ms. Franklin used Scratch Jr iPad app on the library iPads. With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations – and share your creations with others in the online community. Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively – essential skills for life in the 21st century.
Mrs. Browne’s station was a huge hit with the 4th graders. She introduced the kids to the Osmos. An Osmo is a device that attaches to your iPad, with the help of several apps students are able to interact and play word games, number activities, tangram creations and even become a master artist! We can already tell that this activity is going to be a big hit in MakerSpace Stations.
Mrs. Robinson set up the Makey Makeys are her station. A Makey Makey is an invention kit for the 21st century. It turns everyday objects into touchpads and combines them with the internet. Makey Makey’s pair well with the program Scratch. Students were able to practice with these invention kits while practicing with Pac Man and even playing a playdough piano.
We are excited for Mrs. Vick to kick off her MakerSpace Stations this year and can’t wait to see all the exciting inventions and creations these awesome 4th graders will come up with.
