But first, let me take a Selfie...

The following is a quick run-down of a beginning-of-the-year activity with 3-5 graders, but scaffolded down for grades 1-2.








To begin the year in what was formerly known as the STEM Lab (renamed this year as the #GeekLab), students created a Selfie project using iPads.  The apps:
-Google Drive (free)
-any free painting app
-Sketchbook Express (free)
-WordFoto (paid app)

To keep the teacher from being the source of information, students (Grades 3-5) grabbed headphones and followed an instructional video on their own device: https://goo.gl/QueRuw
This video was created by the teacher (with a little help from the Chainsmokers)

They are encouraged to work in groups, a partner, or just by themselves.  Rule: the teacher is here only to help clear-up any misunderstandings from the video.  But no help would be offered unless 2 things occurred:

1. The student must risk making a mess of things by trying to use their smart brain and solve the issue on their own.
2. Talk to their peers at their table (9 times out of 10, kids figure it out with each other)

The message to kids is clear, and they hear it every day:

"I hope things don't go perfectly for you today.  That's boring.  The fun is when you have to figure things out!  And boy, doesn't it feel good when you are able to solve the problem?"   

As a result, the Kindies love to excitedly cheer and shout out, "Teacher, Teacher, look....I have a problem!!!!" They have no idea how to solve the tech issue, but are just happy to have a problem.  The point is to set a positive mindset.  Model that solving problems is fun, not frustrating.  

        

When completed, all the "Selfies are printed in color and hung up (see examples above).  However, it is made clear that any spelling mistakes will not be printed..."google the word, you'll figure it out," is a commonly used phrase.  The colorful work covers the walls of the GeekLab.  The kids love coming in to see all the "geeks".  

Students roll through the Lab for 1-week/month as part of a specials rotation.  This project does not take the 4th and 5th graders a week.  So as kids finish the project, they move on to the Creative Challenge.  They are asked to think about the apps they have used.  Can they figure out how to create an image of them walking on the moon?  Swimming with a Great White?  Climbing the Pyramids?  This lends itself to design elements such as lighting and shadowing.  It is amazing what kids create.  Many classrooms took these projects back into the classroom and used them for creative writing projects. 

At the end of the week, Several students move beyond the Creative Challenge where they get a taste of green-screen technology using the Doink Green Screen app (not free + $30 for green screen materials on Amazon).  

The students do not ever receive a unit on digital citizenship.  Instead they receive instruction on digital citizenship EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR.  In this Selfie unit, students used an app where adds constantly pop up.  What a great opportunity to discuss the purpose of adds and how to handle them appropriately/responsibly as professional students.  They use images from the web: a perfect opportunity to learn about appropriate use and copyright.  GoogleDrive lends itself to a host of issues with the sharing of photos.  You could hear a pin-drop as shocking stories of past mistakes are told. Every unit has its own lessons on digital citizenship.  

From time-to-time a student will have an error in judgement.  THUS elementary school is the perfect environment to make those mistakes and learn about appropriate behavior so as to avoid dangerous decisions later in High School.

The Selfie project is a huge hit every year.  The students are always highly engaged.  The lab becomes a social place for students to design and create together.  Can't wait for next week!

K-5 Technology for Sept-Oct 2013

Image: Emily Haddon

CHVE Technology

What are students doing in technology?  Each month, come here to take a peek.  
The tools students use: CHVE Links.

TO DOWNLOAD THE BEST MATH FACT PRACTICE ON THE PLANET, CLICK HERE (free for CHVE students)


iPad app of the month: GoogleDrive: 

My new favorite feature is the camera access.  If a teacher wants to make a piece of paper accessible to students, the GoogleDrive app "scans" the document with the camera and automatically converts to PDF, ALL WITHIN THE DRIVE!!!  Huge time saver.  In seconds, teachers can give students/parents access to any document, text-book page, student work, etc.,  Huge applicational value for students as well...read about 4th grade below.

Other posts:

• Learn more about experiences with 5th Graders using a Chat Room.
• Learn more about why we should not shy away from doc sharing in Google Drive. 

Technology activities for Sept-Oct, 2013

Kindies

• Learning how to use a track pad by making their name on the refrigerator.  
• Use Starfall to develop phonetic awareness. 
• Listen to Robert Munsch at TumbleBooks (funniest children's books by Robert Munsch read by the author himself...other stories available, too)
• Explore ABCya and RedFish.

1st Grade

• 5-Frames: In an effort to support common-core math, students work on understanding base 10.  This is a simple site, but their job is to complete this site without ever counting.  When you hold 3 fingers up, you see a representation of 3 without needing to count.  K-1st students are not often solid in this concept.  Using concrete ways to develop this thinking is fundamental in understanding math. 
• Dance Mat:  Students learn how to position their hands for proper typing technique. The doc cam is used to model positioning.   Students close their eyes and see if they can find the 2 keys with the bumps.  Their job is to complete Stage 1. 
• Explore TumbleBooks.
• Education City: Students are learning how to do math activities involving number sense.  Then they check their progress on the class "score-board" giving them immediate feedback on how they did.  Anyone can have access to the scoreboard, but it is password protected so just let me know and I'll set you up!  I print out scores from specific activities and give them to their teacher (this month's print-out: Cash Only).  Students are also using EdCity to have math fact races using the ever-popular, Play Live feature.  Click here to gain access to Education City at home (there's a password after 4:30pm).  

2nd Grade

• With our new STEM program, students engineered ways to generate wind with Lego's.  They document their creations by taking photos through the Wixie app on the iPad's or through the Wixie web-app. Many had time to describe what caused their wind device to work through: oral recording, painting, or writing all embedded within Wixie.  Students by now should all know how to get into Wixie at home. If they have forgotten their password, feel free to let me know and I'll give you the details!
• Dance Mat Mondays:  Complete the first 2 stages.
• Education City: click here to gain access at home.  This month's goal: number sense.  The student works on several assigned activities dealing with this concept. Their work syncs with the scoreboard giving them immediate feedback on their performance.  I print out scores from specific activities and give them to their teacher (this month's print-out: Cash Only).  If a parent or teacher ever wants access to the scoreboard, please let Mr. Krulish know and he will give you directions.
• Make a Ten.  If you were to "flash" 7 fingers at your child, could they tell you right away that you were holding 7 fingers?  If not, they do not have a solid understanding of the base10 concept.  Practice with this site is great for building that understanding.
• AR: A subscription-based site that checks a student's reading comprehension and
  
  provides an immediate score.  Students were read the story, "Click Clack Moo, Cows that type" (Love this story, cracks me up).  They login to AR and take a quiz. This is not accessible at home.

3rd Grade

• The first 8-minutes of every class, students practice their typing skills with Dance Mat.
• Badge Project: Students are working on their first tech project: In their GoogleDrive, they write a few sentences about themselves...things that represent what makes them proud of who they are.  They learn a few tips and tricks about word-processing in Google Docs, insert their own drawing, make a huge mess of their formatting and fix it.   The message we constantly use here is, "Hopefully you will come across a problem that you can't solve.  That's when technology gets fun" 
• When they finish their writing, they use a web-app to build their badge.  This requires transferring .jpg files to and from their GoogleDrive, "sharing" them with me for a final check, print, color, and hang on the wall.  A video was made of this process so students can work at their own pace.  Come check our room out...looks amazing!!!

4th Grade 

• The first 8-minutes of every class, students practice their typing skills with Dance Mat.
• Programming with Lego's: With our new STEM program, in small groups, students
  
  build bird-robots using Lego's.  They document their creations by taking photos through the GoogleDrive app on the iPad's (this lends itself to a discussion on responsible web behaviors).  Then, they figure out how to use Lego's WeDo software to program their birds to perform a variety of tasks.  Finally, students will learn how to add an app to their GoogleDrive account to build a presentation that demonstrates what their Lego bird-robot can do.
• Badge Project: refer to "Badge Project" in 3rd Grade.

5th Grade

• The first 8-minutes of every class, students practice their typing skills with Dance Mat.
• Badge Project: refer to "Badge Project" in 3rd Grade.  Many 4th graders and most 5th graders worked on this independently or collaboratively.
• Graphing: To support the Science Fair, students learned how to use Spreadsheet in GoogleDrive to create graphs.  First, through document sharing and partners, they built a "Form" to "share" a survey to the class.  Students learned how data and graphs are automatically populated, then used this data to manually create their own graphs.  We tried to use my favorite web-based graph making site (a .gov site), but due to the government shut-down, we had to adjust the activity as the site was down.  

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