#HourOfCode

I decided that I would introduce my class to the hour of code. Basically, as the video above mentions, the idea is to introduce as many students as possible to Coding during this week.  After reading a lot about it on Twitter, I realized that even though it doesn't specifically align with our outcomes, it does teach students a whole bunch of essential skills that they need to learn, such as problem solving, communicating, patterning, enhancing their understanding of technology and engaging them at a difficult time of year. Below are the sites that we used for our hour of code:

www.madewithcode.com/projects
www.crunchzilla.com/code-monster
scratch.mit.edu
studio.code.org/s/frozen/stage/1/puzzle/1
codecombat.com

You know that it is a worthwhile activity when students say things like "This is a dream come true" when you tell them what you are doing an hour of coding. 

Building Numbers and Looking for Patterns--Good Times in Math!

After working with Jackie a few years ago, my class has been doing this activity each year.  We are currently working on number concepts.  Our focus at the moment is prime and composite numbers as well as factors and multiples.  Yesterday we undertook building all the factors for numbers to 36.  In the past I have had groups do the whole chart independently, but this year, in the interest of time and organization, we did it as a class...much less chaotic. Students were assigned numbers to build (avoiding times table sheets) and were given the choice to work independently or in partners/small groups.  They were challenged to make sure they had all factor sets for each number.  

After building the numbers, we created a chart to observe patterns, etc. Students were given activities where they had to look for patterns, find prime numbers and recognize the number of factor sets.  They also asked to analyze how they can use numbers to find out factors of other numbers.  For example, how can you use the factors of 12 to find the factors of 24 or 36?

In the new year, we will continue to use the chart looking at ratios, etc.  It also becomes handy with fractions when we need multiples and factors to find common denominators, etc.

Christmas in 5A

5 A Christmas Activities

In 5A we are doing a variety of Christmas activities and art projects.  Our Art project is based off of this picture:

Ours are not as tall and since there was no description of how these were created I had to improvise.  We are almost done and they are looking good, so far!

When it came time to pick a take home gift for Christmas, I allowed the students to vote and they chose between two different crafts.  One is very simple and easy to create but the other has proven a problem and we might have to revise... any suggestions?

Anita shared a Google Presentations file with me which has the students creating a "What Christmas Means to Me" presentation.  The students have enjoyed sharing information about their Christmases and I look forward to getting more  authentic writing out of them.

Next week I found a Christmas Online Scavenger hunt that the students will complete during some of those periods of chaos around the concert schedule.  This has them look for facts about Christmas and works on their Internet search skills.

Race to Save Christmas

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByN_OLXLIuI2bWdubW9EYUpzOWs&usp=sharing

In grade one, we have been working on a Christmas game, where the kids solve riddles and math clues to try and save the North Pole from some bad elves that have invaded! The link above is to the folder with all the resources if you wanted to check it out. When they solve a clue, we tweet "santa" (I made an account @mr_clausHOHO), and Santa Tweets us back our next clue the following day. We track our progress on a map of the north pole. We have a digital and a paper copy. 

Here is an example of our Tweets from Santa

This project was just a fun way to spend December, while still working on math problems. The Twitter aspect made the kids really buy in! 

ThingLink

I am working with a program right now called ThingLink. It is an interactive poster. You can link pictures or words to different websites. I can see this being a great tool for research projects. :) 

Free membership and easy to use!!! :)   https://www.thinglink.com/ 

 

Exit Passes

I don't want to bombard the blog with a whole bunch of stuff, but I'm hoping someone will find the following useful. I created the following templates to use as exit tickets (in Google draw). Usually I try to choose a digital option as my exit passes, such as Today's Meet, Padlet, Socrative or Twitter, but it is always nice to have another option. Hence these printable exit pass templates. Feel free to use them! The PDF to print them is available below. 

  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByN_OLXLIuI2MkowcDFqNndMNHc/view?usp=sharing

Example Blog Post

Today, I am writing this blog post as an example of how teachers can share their amazing work with the rest of the staff! 

Below is the video about how to add posts to our blog

Gamification of Learning

This year, I started down the path of implementing elements of game-based learning into my classroom. After taking a course on technology this summer and reading the book "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal, I really began to see the benefit of engaging students in a non-traditional way. The trend of using elements of games (such as badges, levels, quests or missions, etc.) is referred to as gamification. The first big game we did this year was something I called the "Zombie Apocalypse: Math Edition". Students earned supplies to survive the zombie apocalypse, which they did by correctly answering math problems, or demonstrating mathematical thinking. I have embedded it below if anyone is interested in checking it out. 

This month, the game I created relates to science. Students will be using clues to track Santa through the solar system in a race to save Christmas. We are using a passport and badges to track their progress. The kids are really excited to get started, and I can't wait to see how quickly they learn all about sky science. I have add a link to the project and an example of my badges below. 

http://goo.gl/3Dq09j

New to this blogging thing...

Hello all…

Well this blogging experience may be new to many of you but I just want you all to know that this is new to me also.  I have tried a few times to create a blog for my own use and found it just didn’t work for me.  Mostly it was due to my lack of understanding of how the technology part of it worked… thankfully Jennine is around to help with that!!

So I think we need to consider our school blog as a way to reflect on what is working for us in our classrooms and to share those things with each other.   We could also ask for advice from each other regarding specific problems or concerns.

I know when I was teaching kindergarten last year, I thought no one else would be interested in things we were doing, but why not?  Even if it isn’t transferrable to other grades it can help to make us more of a community within the school.  Some of the comments that came up at staff meetings was how there seems to be a divide between staff and this could go a long way to bridging some of those gaps.  I know I certainly haven’t had time this year yet to get beyond my classroom or little section of hallway to see what is happening in other classrooms but I would love to hear from everyone here.  

This year has been a big adjustment for me and some days I feel like NOTHING is going well… J  BUT I also can say that I have loved incorporating Google Classroom into my class and using it to share work with my students.  It is shocking to me how I can create an assignment (or let’s be honest, adapt one of Jennine’s from last year) and see the students working immediately on it while I circulate and help individuals with their questions.  It allows for differentiation as some students can research more thoroughly or add extra facts and others can research at a level that works for them.  They definitely are more advanced on this working solo thing than kindergarteners! 

I hope you will all share your thoughts, successes, and concerns on our blog as the year progresses.  I know I would like to read them!  And if anyone would like to come see some of the Google Classroom work in progress feel free to chat with me about a time to come watch what’s going on in 5A!

Why should teachers blog?

Why should teachers blog??

As we push our students to be 21st century learners, it is important that educators develop and practice the skills that we encourage our students to learn. Why should teachers blog? Without a doubt, we could probably all come up with a few ways that blogging could be beneficial. However, we decided to turn to the online community and find some reasons that seasoned bloggers and educators posted and shared to answer the question.

We found several sources that outlined the reasons teachers should blog. You can click on the links to navigate to the original sources. 

According to Steve Wheeler , teachers should blog because 

1. It causes you to reflect
2. Blogging can Crystallize your thinking
3. Blogging opens up new audiences
4. It can create personal momentum
5. Blogging gives you valuable feedback
6. Blogging can be creative
7. It can raise your game!

In an article by George Couros, he discusses why teachers should have blogs. He discusses how writing a blog allows you to look back at old posts and gain a perspective on your journey, and see how you have worked to improve. Another key point that he makes is that there is "so much we can learn from one another. We need to continuously work to create the culture and environment where sharing is the norm and learning is transparent."

Dean Shareski, in an article for the Huffington Post, wrote, "Want to create better teachers? I know how. One word. Blogging." Other ideas from his article include:

• A blog allows teachers to share practices and work as a team to make improvements
• Blogging allows a natural transparency to emerge- It gives others a look into what goes on inside a classroom's walls. 

Finally, Bill Carozza shared a list of 5 reasons educators should blog

1. Writing requires reflection and greater understanding
2. Blogging begins the cycle of collaboration
3. Blogging allows the writer a chance to have a digital home
4. A blog can help brand the writer and build your platform (Not totally relevant to us!)
5. Blogging encourages students to do the same

In creating this blog, it is our goal that each teacher shares at least one thing a month that they are doing in their classroom by creating a post on this blog (or more if they are comfortable with it!). It doesn't have to be something big or take you a long time.  We can't wait to see what everyone is doing in their classrooms!! 

Below are two more articles about why and how teachers should blog. If you are interested take a read. 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/do-educators-need-blog-posts-tom-whitby

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByN_OLXLIuI2ZG5UZVNDczcxR1E/edit?usp=sharing