#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/