Category Archives: 1st

Fall Facts

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The students in Ms. Long’s 1st grade class at Davis have been learning all about fall and the effect that the change of season has on plants, animals, and people. Today they used ChatterPix Kids to create video clips. I used search.creativecommons.org to locate royalty free pictures to use for this activity. I collected them into a folder and shared that folder with the iPads using the Send Anywhere app. After saving the folder of photos to the camera roll on the iPad, students were ready to get started in ChatterPix. We worked in groups of 6, so each student selected a picture and thought about how they wanted to describe that picture. They added a mouth to the photo, recorded their voice, decorated with facial features if the photo did not already have them, and then saved their finished video to the camera roll. Using Send Anywhere, I sent a sampling of the clips back to my computer and mashed them together into a video. Check it out!

Fall Facts from Karen Hues on Vimeo.

Skip Counting Caterpillar in Pixie App

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These 1st grade students have been working on skip counting, so today they created skip counting caterpillars in Pixie. They went to the Pixie app on the iPad and took a picture of themselves in the circle shape for the head of their caterpillar. Next they used the basic shapes in stickers and were able to select any color circles they wanted. Some chose all the same color, while others opted to make a pattern out of their caterpillar. Once all of the cirlces were in place, student selected all objects on the screen and glued them to the page (edit –> glue). Then they used the paint tool to draw 2 legs on each circle of their caterpillar and write the number on the caterpillar. Finally, they recorded their voice as they skip counted by 2’s. Check out these awesome examples!

Video Oct 20, 8 49 44 AM from Karen Hues on Vimeo.

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Repeating and Growing Patterns in Educreations

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The students had a lot of fun creating repeating and growing patterns and explaining their thought process using the voice recorder and pen tool in the Educreations app. Prior to the lesson, the classroom teacher made baskets for each team with a variety of manipulatives that they could use to make a pattern. She also created an Educreations account and signed into her account on the iPads so that her students could easily save and share their work.

After the students created a pattern at their desk, their teacher and I went around with the iPads and showed them how to record and draw in Educreations. After showing one student, I then asked that student to take the iPad and walk their neighbor through the steps of recording in this app. This way it was like having 2 additional instructors in the room and it was helping the students who were training their classmates to retain that information. As we got going, other students had an opportunity to teach their classmates and really seemed to love that responsibility.

In addition, their understanding of patterns grew because as they were recording, they would be writing on their pattern and notice a place where what they were saying and what the pattern showed were not matching up. They would stop the recording, update their pattern and then re-record. Some students created repeated patterns and others opted for growing patterns. They did an awesome job. Here are some of their recordings:

SCA Voting Using Blogs and Google Forms

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This year the SCA teacher reps at Springfield Park decided to move away from using QUIA and use a Google Form instead. Our only issue with the Google Form was that we could not insert images of the students running, so we decided to create an SCA Blog. On the blog, there is a tab for “Meet the Candidates” where the students can see a picture of the student running for office and their speech. Then they click on the “Cast Your Vote” tab and fill out the Google Form to vote for the candidates of their choice. The teacher was able to enable voting the day of the voting and then disable voting at the end of the day. By going to Form –> View Summary of Results, the teacher was able to easily see who the winners were for each office. Google Forms provide a nice pie graph to show the results. Now that the votes are in, they will use their SCA blog to post upcoming events (Spirit Days, after school PTA events, etc).

Will It Dissolve?

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Jan Locher, 1st grade teacher at Maybeury, was interested in learning more about Google Forms and using them with her students. In our planning session, we decided to create a Google Form for an upcoming lab that she had planned. Rather than experimenting whole group, the students navigated through 10 stations where they had a substance (solid or liquid) and a cup of water for mixing. Each pair of students had an iPad that they took with them from station to station. They began the lab by scanning the QR Code to launch the Google Form. Then they had to look at the materials at their station and predict if the substance would dissolve or not when mixed with water. Next they put a small amount of the substance into the water and gave it a stir. After observing the mixture and discussing it with their partners, the students marked what actually happened on their lab form.

When they completed all 10 stations, they submitted their form and Jan projected the spreadsheet on the Promethean Board so they could have a class discussion about the data that was collected.

Hot Chocolate Challenge – Keeping It Hot!

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The students in Mrs. Locher’s 1st grade class at Maybeury were posed with a problem. We have had freezing temperatures in Richmond lately and when we are outside drinking hot chocolate, the delicious drink is getting cold very quickly. The students were asked to design a container that would keep the hot chocolate hot for a longer period of time.

First the students needed to know how the hot chocolate would cool down when placed outside. They were provided with a plastic cup and 6 oz. of hot chocolate. The students took some initial measurements using the GoTemp with the laptops. They checked the hot chocolate every 10 min to see how the outside temperature was affecting their hot chocolate. They graphed their results using EasyChart on the iPads.

Here are their results:

Students analyzed the graph and realized that there was a big drop from the initial temperature to the reading after being out in the cold for 10 minutes.

Before the students could start designing a new and improved cup for their hot chocolate, they needed to do some research to see how creatures that are outside in the cold stay warm. They looked at Arctic Animals on PebbleGo, navigated through slides about how animals stay warm on the Promethean Board, listened to a fictional story “The Mitten”, and reviewed non-fiction texts to gather ideas on how animals stay warm. They recorded their result on a t-chart.

Students used the information they gathered from research to plan and design their new and improved cups. Here are some of the designs they came up with:

Cup stays warm in a nest of feathers like a bird

 

Covered in black to attract heat from the sun, like the back on a penguin

 

Cup wrapped in bubble wrap with a cardboard shield for protection from wind and other animals

After designing the cups, the students tested them using the same steps they followed for the initial test. They took the temperature, put them outside, and tested the temperature every 10 minutes. The results with the new and improved cup were much better!

Needs & Wants using PebbleGo! & Pixie

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The students in Mrs. Ellis’s 1st grade class at Maybeury enjoyed learning about needs and wants using PebbleGo! Prior to researching, the students completed a class KWL chart about what they already know about Needs and Wants and what they want to know. Afterwards, their videos demonstrated what they had learned from their research. After generating some questions, the students researched using PebbleGo! After researching with their partner, they opened the Pixie Template for needs and wants and sorted the images appropriately. Finally, they used the voice recorder in Pixie to explain why they sorted the images the way they did. Check out their finished video.

Needs vs. Wants from Karen Hues on Vimeo.

Maps Stations

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The students in Mrs. Collier’s first grade class at Maybeury Elementary participated in Maps Stations to gain a better understanding of maps and what items need to be included on a map.  The information gathered from these stations will help the students to design and build their own treasure maps as an engineering opportunity following research.

Take a look at the stations that the students participated in:
Station 1:  Students searched through a variety of non-fiction books about maps.

Station 2:  The students visited PBS Kids site about Arthur and his friends called “Go George Go.”  The students help George deliver ice cream from one place to another on the Elwood City Map.  They have to find the shortest route so that the ice cream will not melt.
Station 3:  The students scanned this QR code to access a Maps & Globes site that I created in iWeb for use on the iPads.
Station 4:  The students used a community map in Pixie to help the members of the community find all the different ways to get from one place to another.  After they identify all the possible paths, the students determine which path is the shortest distance.  Students can even use the voice recording feature in Pixie to give verbal directions using their cardinal direction vocabulary.  At Springfield Park, we had access to a Promethean Board, so the students completed this activity on board.

Station 5:  The students looked at a variety of maps to identify their similarities and differences.  The maps included an Interactive US Map, Henrico County map, Busch Gardens park map, Landform Map of the US, and a map of their school.
Check back soon to see the treasure maps that the students design and build!

Mystery Matter

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The students in Mrs. Waters first grade class at Springfield Park traveled to “The Cave” (their 21st Century Learning Lab) to experiment with matter. Students in Mrs. McGrath’s class at Glen Lea tried the same experiment. They were provided with 13 different substances and had to determine what the substance was by it’s properties. The students identified that state of matter (solid or liquid), conducted a test to determine if the matter dissolved or not, and then properly identified the color of the substance in order to determine the name of the mystery matter. Prior to testing, students had to make their prediction on the Mystery Matter Recording Sheet.

Students then used the iPad to scan this QR Code using the QR Code Reader App:

This QR Code quickly links the students to the Mystery Matter Website that I created in iWeb to use with this activity.

From here, I showed the students the video of salt dissolving (this is flash based & will not show on the iPad). Then the students clicked to go to the experiment. As they identified the mystery substance, they recorded it next to their prediction on the recording sheet. Check out some photos of the students experimenting.

Click Here for the lesson plan & supporting documents.

Reflecting on Engineering using Photobooth/Movie Camera

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The students in Mrs. Locher’s first grade class at Maybeury have been doing a variety of different Children’s Engineering activities in the classroom. Today we had the students partner up and choose their favorite season. Then they had to plan out how they were going to demonstrate that season using Play Dough. The students were given about 15-20 minutes to create a model of their favorite season out of Play Dough. Then the students rotated around to the different groups to leave feedback for their peers. They used Photobooth on the laptops and the movie camera feature on the iPads to record their reflections. In their reflection, they named the season they thought it was and explained which clues from the model helped them to figure it out. They also said something they liked about the model and then gave suggestions for ways that their peers could improve their model. After the students had rotated to all of the stations and provided feedback, they were able to come back to their original station and listen to what their peers had to say. Check out pictures of the students working and download the lesson plan.

SeasonPlayDoughEngineering.pages