Holidays With Kerpoof and Pebble Go

The past few weeks the kindergarten students have been learning about different holidays celebrated in December.  We used the database, Pebble Go and read stories about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas.  After each learning experience, the students drew pictures of what they thought each holiday looked like using the online tool, Kerpoof.  We all had a lot of fun.
Happy Holidays!

Students drawing their Christmas pictures.

Pebble Go article

Science Labs

Second grade students have been writing science lab reports during writer's workshop.  I met with their teachers, Mrs. Siewert and Mrs. Woyahn to discuss ways to address their writing targets and some of the ISTE Standards for Students.  We decided to publish the student science lab reports into an online flip book.  I've just started using the website FlipSnack EDU this year and I love how easy it is to use.

Student's writer's notebook

After the students wrote a few experiments, they chose one they wanted to publish. With the teachers' help I came up with a template in Google Docs that I shared with all of them.  They each made a copy and started working.

                                           

Every good science lab has a labeled illustration.  This is where we got to use one of our favorite online tools, Kerpoof. Each student drew an illustration to go with their lab.  Kerpoof gives you the option of saving your picture as a JPEG.  The students were then able to upload their pictures to their Google Drive and insert it into their science lab.

Students then shared their lab with me and I uploaded them all to my FlipSnack EDU account.  Below are the links to each classroom's book.  Enjoy!

Mrs. Siewert's Class

Mrs. Woyahn's Class

Colonial America

5th graders are learning about the 13 Colonies in social studies. Their teacher, Mr. Suhr, wanted them to focus on one colony, learn all they could about it and then promote it to the rest of the class as the colony to move to from England.  Students used their textbooks and some online sites to research one of the colonies. Here is what they used to take notes.

Mr. Suhr wanted to expose the 5th graders to a different tool to show their learning.  We both thought that the online flyer site, Smore, would work great for this.  Mr. Suhr made an example and I showed the students the basics of how the site works.  They took off from there!

                                

After they were finished with their flyers, I created a Google site to house them.  Students each linked their flyer to the site.

Here's an example of one of their flyers.  This flyer is making me think about moving, especially since this weekend it's going to be bitterly cold in Wisconsin!

Learning About Password Protection from Netsmartz

It is never too early to start teaching kids how to be safe online.  Second graders are already using computers to play online games.  Many of these games require accounts with user names and passwords.  I love to use the site, Netsmartz Kids with our younger students.  Here is a second grade class learning about the importance of keeping their passwords private with the eBook, The Princess's Password..  

Afterwards we had a great discussion and also listened to The Password Rap.  That song gives great tips about creating a good password.  Later on we'll practice creating our own passwords.

Becoming Good Digital Citizens

An important part of my job is teaching the students at Magee to be good digital citizens.  I really like the online tool, Common Sense Media.  They have a great digital citizenship curriculum that has a scope and sequence and have recently added in online assessment tools.  Today with 5th graders we talked about what being a good digital citizen means, watched a video clip on Brain Pop about digital etiquette, and worked on adding our own thoughts to a Digital Citizen Pledge.

Here's the pledge we used from the Common Sense Media site.

Here are some 5th graders working in groups, talking about what they think they should add to our Digital Citizen Pledge.

After coming back together as a whole group and deciding as a class what to add to our class pledge, students filled out a Google Form I created to get their feedback.  I wanted to know if they found value in creating and signing a digital citizenship pledge and what part of the pledge had the most meaning to them.

I got some very thoughtful responses.  Here are a few:

"I think it is important because then you know what you should put online and what not to. It helps people to understand that you shouldn't put stuff online that you wouldn't want your parents, or teacher or anyone you might know in the future."

"Yes. I think this because then people can do it instead of learning the hard way. Also I think this because then everyone can learn together instead of only one person learning it at a time."

"The most meaningful part of the pledge is to treat people how you would want to be treated."

One of Our Favorite Online Tools, Kerpoof!

First graders were using Kerpoof this week.  They used it last year as kindergartners and when I told them what we were going to be doing, I got cheers!  Kerpoof is an online tool that allows students to be creative.  Kids can draw, make movies, and much more! First graders are going to be making class online books starting next week.  They will be illustrating their book with Kerpoof.  Stay tuned for more posts as we get started.

Students were told to experiment with the tools and many of them drew Fall pictures.  I saw some great pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns!

One of their favorite things to do is design the avatar to look just like them!  I have to admit that I like that part too!

  

Second Graders Use Follett Shelf

Here are some of our second graders accessing Follett Shelf for the first time.  Follett Shelf is a place to store ebooks that students and teachers can read online instantly or check out for access at a later date.  They are excited to now use it in their classroom during readers workshop or when they are doing research.  Students can also access Follett Shelf at home.  They just need their user name and password.

Our second grade teachers are also excited to use Follett Shelf during their shared reading time!

Using Grid View in Google Drive

Last fall students were given Google accounts for the first time. Some teachers jumped right in and had their kids use Google for writing, they used their accounts to sign up for Khan academy, and used the calendar to share assignments and events with their students. Some teachers started more slowly, which was OK. This year it doesn't seem new anymore. More teachers have been already having their students use their Google accounts. I loved what happened a couple of weeks ago. An upper elementary teacher has been trying to do more editing of student work online. He found a way to view all of the documents his students were working on at once. After having students share their work with him, he put all of the documents into a folder. While the students are working, he opens that folder and then switches the view to "grid".

While in grid view, he can see the student work as they are typing. He then clicks on a piece, calls a student over, and they have a conference. The best part of this story is that he then shared what he was doing with a few other teachers. Those teachers are now setting up their student work the same way. We learn so much from each other when we have time to collaborate!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Magee Information Station Blog! I hope to share the wonderful things we are doing at Magee to help our students become life-long learners and achieve their goals.