Category Archives: Maybeury

Mali Videos

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The students in Ashley Marshall’s 3rd Grade class have been researching Mali and wanted to present what they had learned in a new way. They used their research material to write scripts for their group. Then they selected pictures from Britannica and Virtual Share to use as the backdrop for different scenes in their script. Ashley and I introduced the class to the green screen feature on PhotoBooth and they spent the following week recording each of their clips. The completed clips were then moved into their student folder so that the students could easily access them to create their finished product in iMovie.

For our next lesson, we used iMovie and the students pulled in all of their Photobooth clips and added transitions and titles. Once their videos were exported, the teacher put them on Vimeo so they wouldn’t take up so much space on her blog. Check out some of the final products!

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!

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

Pixie World Map

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Mrs. Dingas, 3rd grade teacher at Maybeury, was looking for a different way to assess her students understanding of the location of the continents and oceans of the world.  We started with a blank Pixie document and the students had to create a world map.  They used the paint bucket to drop blue paint for the ocean on the background.  Next, they went into the stickers to the Maps folder to find pictures of the 7 continents.  They brought each continent over to their Pixie document, and used the text tool to label the continents and oceans.  They also went into the Map Icons folders to find a compass rose to add to their map.  Students who finished early used the voice recorder to name the 7 continents and 5 oceans.  You could even have students use the line tool to add an equator and Prime Meridian to their map.  The students saved their map to their student folder in their classroom so that their teacher could go back and see assess their work.  What a great way to see what your students know!

From World Map

Light Stations

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The 5th Grade students in Ms. Lehman’s science class at Maybeury really enjoyed the fast paced light stations that they rotated to today. At one station, students visited some create web resources to find information about light in a Light CyberHunt. They then typed the answers they found on their Pages document.

In the next station, they were given a Pixie document with columns for transparent, translucent, and opaque materials. They had to search through the Pixie database for images that would be appropriate for each category.

The final station allowed the students to create a Comic Life from scratch. They selected one scientist who contributed something to the study of light and created a Comic Life page for them using a database of images that I found and dropped into their classroom folder. They also had to add appropriate text to their page.

National Symbols Pixie Slide Show

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The first grade students in Ms. Collier’s Class at Maybeury Elementary have been studying National Symbols.  To reinforce their understanding, the students added a definition and recorded their voice on each slide.  On the final slide, they had to match the word with the picture of the National Symbols.  Check out this work sample of several students slides:

National Symbols from Karen Hues on Vimeo.

VoiceThread

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One of my favorite Web 2.0 tools is VoiceThread!  I have used it in several classrooms to get the students communicating about the things they are learning in class.  The first step is to build avatars for your children so that their actual pictures are not out on the internet.  There are several great sites for creating your avatar, such as buildyourwildself.com, or you can have your students draw themselves in Pixie.  Then you can use these pictures to add identities on your page.  You only have to create the identities once and they will be on your account forever, or until you delete them.

From Build Your Wild Self Avatar

Next, the teacher uploads photos or videos to their VoiceThread project.  Once the images are uploaded, you are able to share the link with your students so that they can hop on the computer and make comments.  Comments can be typed or spoken.  Both commenting options allow you to have a virtual pen, so you can draw on the page while you are talking or typing your comment.  You can set their preferences so that all comments have to be approved by the teacher before they are posted.  This is a really great way to get your students talking with their peers, other schools, other students in Virginia, students in other states, and students in other countries!  The possibilities are endless.