First Nations

I wanted to talk about how I use art in my Social and Language arts as well as art. I have included a few artists that you can refer to. To integrate my curriculum, one of the things I do is take a few Indigenous  artists from this region or Western Canada. We talk about the style but also the emotions that are portrayed through medium and message. Then the students write to the artist to express how the art made them feel. This brings in the Language Arts component. We also read biographies of these artists. This year, we will be looking at the art of Alex Janvier. He is a friend of my husband's family. We will explore his art, examples of...like the new Stadium in Edmonton, the Art Gallery of Canada as well as his introduction to art at Blue Quills residential school. When we are done the unit they will be writing to the artists. We have not yet received a response but perhaps this year. Below are some subject areas that may inspire you!

 Indigenous Art Link

Grade 5 Best Practices - Integrating Social, Art and Writing Through Culture

TQS - 5. A teacher develops and applies foundational knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit for the benefit of all students.

c) using the programs of study to provide opportunities for all students to develop a knowledge and understanding of, and respect for, the histories, cultures, languages, contributions, perspectives, experiences and contemporary contexts of First Nations, Métis and Inuit

3. A teacher applies a current and comprehensive repertoire of effective planning, instruction, and assessment practices to meet the learning needs of every student.

a. incorporate a range of instructional strategies, including the appropriate use(s) of digital technology, according to the context, content, desired outcomes and the learning needs of students

Using the upcoming TQS, I wanted to address the standards above and how I have and will continue to implement them in my daily practice.

This new school year has been a very big transition for all of us. Between the physical moving into a new physical space and the pedagogical moving of implementing a schoolwide Guided Reading program, I know that I have felt very overwhelmed and wonder how I will “cover it all” when it comes to the curriculum.

One of the ways that I have found that helps me cover our very broad curriculum is integration. I love to find connections not only between subject areas but also finding themes that I can use to weave the curriculum together. My students find a lot more meaning and they are more engaged when I have interdisciplinary projects.

Last year, I was able to fulfill a project that I had thought of many years ago. Grade 5 Social Studies is a very dense curriculum. We study the history of Canada from Pre-Colonialism all the way through to Confederation, to the influence of the Famous Five and NWMP to the influence of geography of the Canadian Regions on where and how people live and we also cover Indigenous groups across Canada and their impact on our history and culture.

It’s a lot of curriculum. And it can be very dry.

Last year, for Canadian Regions topic, I decided to integrate art into the lessons. We studied the geography, the resources and the people. We also looked at the Group of Seven and the artwork they created that is so representative of Canadian geography. Students were assigned a region and they had to find an image that represented their region. We created multiple rough drafts on paper. I gave constant feedback for improvement as they worked. Eventually, students moved to fabric markers and fabric squares that they used to depict their final pieces of art. Once those were completed, my mother (who is a wonderful seamstress) took the fabric art pieces and created a quilt.

This year, I wanted to teach another idea that I had been thinking of for many years as well. Again, Social and Art became the focus.

Grade 5 Social Topic 2 is titled “Histories and Stories of Ways of Life in Canada”. This topic focuses heavily on the history and culture of Indigenous groups across Canada. Using a research activity from Black Gold Regional Schools, I tweaked the project to have students research five groups across Canada. 

Students use the following website http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/index.html to research the group assigned to them. They collect information about the food, ceremonies and beliefs, tools, shelter, family structure and transportation. The five groups we are collecting research on are the Arctic People, the Northwest Coastal People, the Plains People, the Eastern Woodland Hunters and the Eastern Woodland Farmers. The latter two became the focus for the Art portion of this unit.

Using Norval Morrisseau as an inspiration, we read his biography and studied his paintings which are in the Eastern Woodland Style. These paintings have been called Spirit Paintings and X-Ray Paintings. They are a simple style with vibrant colours but there is purpose to everything within the picture. Circles can represent the heart, the mind, the soul of the animal or creature. Lines trailing from the creatures can represent the spirit.

Taking this understanding of the style, we are currently creating sketches of an animal that we feel connection to. Students will create rough copies until they have taken their art to a level that they are content with. Then we will begin to paint our creations. As we work on this portion of the project, I am also introducing a writing element to the project. Students will create their own origin legend for the creature they are painting.

When we are done this project, students will have crossed three different subject areas and multiple objectives will have been met. Because schedules can be a struggle, I do not feel the need to contain my Art or Writing or Social to a specific block during a week. Basically, my Literacy, Art and Social times are all up for grabs which allows me the time to spend on this project so students can create quality work that is meaningful to them.

The last piece in the puzzle that I need - the bulletin boards to be installed in my room so that we can display our work. 

 

Ms.McLeod's ECS blog

Jolly Phonics Video

This year I have incorporated the Jolly Phonics program to add actions to learn alphabet sounds.
We review each sound and action every day. The children love it, and seem to be remembering the letter sounds.

Fostering Effective Relationships

I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to build relationships with my new students since I am changing grades now. I am thankful that I have previously taught some of my new students and/or have a relationship with their families. I need to work harder to continue to grow these relationships and develop new relationships with the students that I do not have a connection with since we are nearing the end of October.

The teaching standard Fostering Effective Relationships I believe will be crucial to the success of this transition.

To help my students, I will be letting them know that they have been selected to be the role models for the red wing and the students in the red wing will be looking up to them as leaders.

The following are the main ideas from the link and a good reminder for all of us to keep our classrooms an environment with high expectations, respect and caring.

1) Communicate high behavioral and academic expectations for all students.
     -call on all students equitably
       The link reminds us that when we forget to recognize some students, it communicates a low                 level of confidence in their abilities and they may 'tune out.'
     - Increase latency periods when questioning students
     - give hints and clues to help students be successful
     - be positive and tell students they have the ability to do well
     - correct students in a constructive way
       The following quote from the article really stood out for me, "Students will recall how you made         them feel long after they have forgotten the consequence they earned as a result of their actions."
    -developing positive classroom pride
    - demonstrating caring
      This made me think of the building relationships spreadsheet we are filling out . Knowing their            interests outside of school is a great way to show we care about the child as an individual and not        just as a student.
     -preventing and reducing frustration and stress
      Suggestions for staff when we feel overwhelmed.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/105124/chapters/Developing_Positive_Teacher-Student_Relations.aspx


   

Setting up Expectations for the Beginning of the Year

Since it is the beginning of the year, and it is a new setting for all of us, it seems natural to talk about expectations and how we all set up our classrooms and expectations for the new school year.

One of the standards I believe addresses how we go about this is this teaching standard:

1 (a) acting consistently with fairness, respect and integrity;

Children from a very early age learn and can be taught what is fair and what is respectful. 

As teachers, children often come to us without a full understanding of these ideas, and over time, we try to impart and teach and model these ideals as much as possible.

One of the ways in which we do this all the time is setting up expectations. Expectations for how work is done in the classroom, how to treat friends, classmates and teachers; and how to address someone or ask a question when there are others to consider in the room. 

Routines are great for this and start the first day. This year our classroom started with a Sharing circle, what was expected in that circle, and positive interactions are always reinforced. Reminders were given to those that needed it, but the most important thing is to create a sense where everyone gets a chance to say their piece, even if it is just to say "pass" if they did not feel like sharing anything that day. 

Another way I try to continue this is using our Classroom Meeting. Every Wednesday at last block, we have our meeting where we can talk about decisions or announcements to make as a class from field trips to new rules or routines. We also open up our Bother box, to see if there has been anything going on during the week that has created problems for a student or other students. Students may anonymously write their issues on a piece of paper and put it into the box. When we read the papers we find out how those issues affect others and come up with a democratic solution about how to deal with them. The students enjoyed our first meeting and it fostered a sense that even though as teachers we can't always see and deal with all problems right away, that they will be listened to and treated with respect. This is also a great modelling behaviour to allow students to see fair ways to deal with problems.

Setting limits and rules is also important of course. This year we have been setting rules and boundaries as they have been modelled, rather than trying to make a list of rules in the first day or few days of school. This has allowed the students a little more opportunity to remember them as the first few days back from school seem like a blur to everyone, including teachers! 

We are all human beings and it is good to remind ourselves of that whenever we are dealing with students (and even adults) that make mistakes or make poor choices. 

This book is an excellent resource I have implemented in the classroom and recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it and has had to deal with many issues regarding expectations and behaviour in the classroom:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/105578/setting-limits-in-the-classroom-revised-by-robert-j-mackenzie-edd/

Dubé 4B’s Best (Developing) Practices – Indigenous Knowledge in the Classroom

Updated TQS: 5C – using the programs of study to provide opportunities for all students to develop a knowledge and understanding of, and respect for, the histories, cultures, languages, contributions, perspectives, experiences and contemporary contexts of First Nations, Métis and Inuit

A little bit about me... I have an Indigenous Studies minor and have participated in two Indigenous field schools. I have been taught by Indigenous professors all across Canada and the United States. This past summer I skipped out on my convocation (oops!) to attend an Indigenous Hawai’i Field School for three weeks with Dr. Renae Watchman (Mount Royal University professor who is a Stanford alumna) and Dr. Robert Innes (University of Saskatchewan professor). The field school focused on Aloha Aina activism. Two summers ago, I participated in a Treaty 7 Field School. The topics covered included: Plains peoples prior to European contact, the events leading to Treaty 7, representation of Indigenous peoples in museums and historic sites, and the impact of Treaty 7 on First Nations in what is now southern Alberta. My favourite part of both of my field schools was connecting with the land and learning from Indigenous peoples in different communities. 

I advocated for an Indigenous placement my entire post-secondary experience. My university assigns the school and mentor teacher for each teacher candidate so that there is no bias in our evaluations. There are multiple students at one school to create a cohort for weekly seminars. I finally had the placement I had been hoping for on Tsuut'ina First Nation for my last practicum. My cohort was the very first one to ever be placed on Tsuut'ina. :) Prior to my final practicum, I had two school placements in Calgary Board of Education schools (Glamorgan and Sunalta, respectively). My third-year practicum was also in a Calgary Board of Education school (Woodbine). These are all predominantly white communities in the southwest side of Calgary. I taught my Grade 3 students at Woodbine how Peruvian people weave in my third-year practicum, and then I also taught them how to Métis finger weave. This was the only opportunity that I was able to include some Indigenous knowledge before my final practicum, and that is why my practicum at Chiila Elementary School was so important to me. I am constantly trying to find ways to bring Indigenous knowledge and learning into my teaching practice. This is a lot more exciting now that I have my own classroom!

For our final practicum, my faculty hosts a capstone event where teacher candidates are required to research an area of curriculum or professional development in the form of an inquiry. For my capstone project, I really wanted to be vulnerable and study an area that I had little knowledge with… Indigenous languages! My practicum was four months long, so I had plenty of time to learn while teaching. A majority of the staff at Chiila Elementary School are non-Indigenous or from a different First Nation. I wanted to see what it would feel like to be able to use the language that my students practiced for 35 minutes every day in Tsuut'ina Gunaha (their cultural language class) in their homeroom as well. 

             My inquiry question was “What strategies are most effective when promoting language acquisition in Tsuut’ina culture?”

Here is a picture of me with my poster…

The video below is of me facilitating our morning calendar in Tsuut’ina. I would use Tsuut’ina for greetings (hello, good day, good bye, how are you?, etc.), basic commands (eyes of me, come here, stand up, sit down, line up, yes, no, etc.), good job, thank you, days of the week, and counting. I also learned a handful of the animal names, months of year, and colours. This helped me become a better educator in the classroom because I was fostering my students’ identity. I was creating a bridge between what they were learning in the cultural room to the homeroom classroom. They were not two separate learning experiences (the Indigenous and the Western), but one that was interconnected. 

In Grade 2, students study Saskatoon, Iqaluit, and Meteghan. I was responsible for Saskatoon, but did teach a little bit of the other two communities as well. I decided to include Indigenous languages with each of our communities. I am fortunate enough to have relationships with educators who are Cree, Mi’kmaq, and Inuit that helped me teach my students a couple basic words in their native tongue. My students really enjoyed this experience. A lot of Indigenous languages are near extinction, and they loved knowing that they were protecting other First Nations languages from extinction by knowing a couple of words. They also loved knowing that there were students out there who were learning their ancestors’ language as well. This exposure has inspired me to continue to learn ways that I can integrate Indigenous languages in my classroom.

I have only been teaching as a certified teacher for two weeks. I have so many wonderful ideas for my Grade 4’s this school year that I would love to share with all of you, but I still need more time in my classroom to implement my plans. This week, my students and I are going to have a conversation about how Indigenous peoples were resourceful after hunting bison. What was each part of the bison used for? How does this connect to the Waste and Our World unit? In Social Studies, I am really excited to have the opportunity to teach about the different regions. I learned on my Treaty 7 Field School that the hoodoos at Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park are sacred to the Blackfoot. I also learned about the importance of the mountain region to the Ĩyãħé Nakoda. I am excited to have Elders from different regions share their voices in my classroom as we study Alberta’s history and land regions. I am constantly looking for ways to embed Indigenous learning into the curriculum. I am teaching puberty for the first time this year and am thinking about bringing in an Elder to explain the sacredness behind moon time and why Indigenous women do not smudge or participate in ceremonies during this time. There is always a meaningfully way tie Indigenous knowledge into the curriculum. I feel blessed for the relationships that I have built while in university and am looking forward to building new ones while teaching here at Ashmont! 

I would love to hear some of the ways that you tie in Indigenous knowledge into your classroom! Thank you!

Virtual Math Summit

Now I realize it is the middle of the summer and many people are not even thinking of school.  However, I thought I would put this out there.  Next week, Christina Tondevold is hosting a virtual math summit, Building Math Minds, with what looks to be an amazing line up of speakers including, Marian Small, Dr. Nicki,  etc.

I have been following Christina on her blog and Facebook page (The Recovering Traditionalist) and she is full of practical math ideas.

Anyway, below is the link if you happen to want to tune in.

https://buildmathminds.com/vms18

Guided Math in 5B

Guided Math in 5B

I have been interested in Guided Math for a couple of years now but just this year was I able to attend a session in Vermilion with Dr. Nicki Newton. She is amazing and has so much information and the session was wonderful but also overwhelming. We ordered the books which I have read but I was really struggling to implement this in my classroom. I just couldn't wrap my head around no matter how hard I tried. 

After emailing Jackie, I was able to sign up for another session this time with  Christine Michalyshen who works out of Manitoba. She was able to give a bit more of a Canadian spin on guided math plus she works with remote communities with large Indigenous populations which helped me to see how beneficial this would be for our students at Ashmont. 

But still, after both of these sessions and lots of talking Jennine and Carol, I still could not wrap my head around how to implement. Do I spiral curriculum? Do I focus on one concept? How do I keep students accountable? How do I set up rotations? What about resources? What if the kids goof off and play around? What about assessment? What if I do it all wrong? And that internal discourse went on for about a week or two until I was able to go see Guided Math in action in Bonnyville. 

Jackie and I were able to watch a grade 6 class and a grade 5 class. Both teachers did Guided Math in very different yet similar ways. The grade 6 teacher had students in a small group working on algebra and the rest were in partners playing games around number sense. I loved the organization she had for the games and the students had a large variety. One thing that Jackie and I both noticed was the students who were playing the games, didn't really have accountability for what they were doing. We both spoke about that afterwards and said even a quick formative assessment like an exit ticket would be great. Something to show what they learned that day. I do have to add here that the teacher did a fun warm up with vocabulary that the kids loved! It's definitely something I will try out. 

The second class was a grade 5 class that was working on Area and Perimeter. The warm-up was a couple of area and perimeter problems that students solved in their notebooks and then a couple were able to share their answers. The teacher then broke students into groups where one group was doing an area and perimeter game using dice, another group was on Prodigy with an assigned task based on area and perimeter also. The third group was doing independent work and the last group was in a small group with the teacher. Everyone was working on the same concept which was area and perimeter. 

After debriefing with the one teacher and Jackie, I came back with such a better understanding and the biggest "A-ha" moment - There is NO right or wrong way to implement Guided Math. What you need is an understanding of where your students are at and where you want them to be. 

We had been toiling with fractions in 5B and I was feeling frustrated because it felt like I was teaching the same thing over and over again. Nothing was sticking with the students. After coming back from observing, I knew what I needed to do. Assess. 

I had to assess my students. And they moaned and complained because I refused to assist because I needed to see where they really were with understanding fractions. And then I grouped them based on that information. I have four groups. Two are very capable and can perform grade level or above. Two groups are just at or below grade level. 

 The next thing I did was to plan rotations. The number of rotations you can do are limitless but whatever you are doing, it must be meaningful and tied to the curriculum. I do four rotations. The overarching themes stay the same but the activities change within. 

Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Clifford Samson Faith Hannah Beth-Anne	Ethan Chante Andrez Rhea Heaton Charlize	Cade Kayden Katie Taesin Karissa	Aubrey Simone Danielle Doreen Dashaun Kimberly

Math with Teacher	Math with Technology	Math with a Friend	Math by Myself
	Math Playground (go to Google Classroom)	Math Game Is It Equivalent?	Independent work
Group 1 Group 4	Group 4 Group 3	Group 3 Group 2	Group 2 Group 1

So each group does one rotation for a regular period. I try to make sure that the group doing Independent Work has been with me for a session of small group teaching and then this reinforces the concept. The Math with Technology, I set up on Google Classroom. I find appropriate activities online that, again, reinforce the concepts I want them to be learning. 2Learn, NCTM Illumination, Math Playground and Prodigy all have good resources. I would LOVE to have Gizmos but it's so pricey that it's out of my budget (hint hint to the powers that be). 

Math with a Friend is one that I actually like planning for. I have a Vocabulary Kaboom game that the kids LOVE and then I use our K-5 Math Resources to find games that the again, reinforce the skill I want them to be learning. 

Vocabulary Kaboom!

So how is it working?

Well, a couple weeks ago, I was frustrated and worried that I wasn't going to send these grade 5's to grade 6 prepared and understanding fractions. Last week, we crushed Mixed and Improper Fractions. This week, we have knocked Equivalent Fractions out of the park. Next week.... We are going to do the Skittles Lab which will bring Decimals, Percents and Fractions all together. 

My students have jumped right into Guided Math with me. They love getting time in a small group with me. They love the game aspect of it. They love being able to work with each other. It is my favourite part of the day. And the students have told me they feel they like this way so much more! Heaton told me yesterday that he used to hate math but now he really loves it because he is able to really get the concepts and practice them. 

I'm also going to let you all in on a secret regarding Guided Math. While I spend time digging in my toolbox for resources that are meaningful, the amount of planning I do seems to have shrunk. Where before, I knew what to teach but then I had to reteach because kids were not getting it or there were other issues. Now I'm finding that I'm planning a four day stretch. Once I have the Math with Technology and Math with a Friend done, I really hone in and go after the small group instruction and independent work aspect. Because the focus is so precise with this, the amount of time I spend planning seems to be less and it's way more effective! 

If you are at all interested in coming by to see what is happening in 5B, please let me know and I'll gladly move things around to accomodate teachers! 

3D Pens and Printer in Math

3D Printing Tech in Math Centers

Today in our math Centers, we used our 3D pens to practice doing transformations. The kids used task cards to identify what transformation they  needed to complete, and then used the 3D pens to draw the shapes. It was a really low-prep activity, but the kids loved using the pens and were really engaged in practicing their translations, rotations and reflections. 

We have also been using our 3D printer to create math manipulatives. This week, we made fraction dice. I just found the design online and then downloaded it- it's amazing what you can find for free online! But students can also use a program called tinkercad to design their own prints. This is something we will work more on during some of the down-time near the end of the year. The design program makes use of many mathematical concepts, such as angles, measurement, 2D and 3D shapes, transformations of shapes, spatial reasoning and so much more! 

6A Best Practices--Using Technology in Math

3 h)  Teachers apply a variety of technologies to meet students' learning needs.

This year 6A has been exploring a variety of technologies, including the use of Ozobots.  Ozobots are mini robots that are coded using colour combinations.  These codes can be done using markers or using and iPad app.  Students are quite fascinated with them because they are able to follow the tracks they make using markers.  Even more exciting, the Ozobot can be coded to perform different actions like spinning and going backwards.

We use centers in 6A as a means of spiraling the curriculum.  Ozobots are a great way to explore angles in the math curriculum.  This past week, students were challenged to create a race track that had different requirements, among them the use of different types of angles.  At the end of the math block, the students would line up their tracks and race their Ozobots.

This task had a variety of purposes--

• to review types of angles
• to code using colour blocks with the Ozobot
• to work together as a groups to plan and execute the drawing of a race track that meets the criteria within the designated time limit
• to problem solve (inevitably the students will have to work out something...tech never goes according to plan)!

The students were actively engaged and when circulating it was great to hear the use of math vocabulary throughout the room.  Most groups worked well together, but one group struggled to communicate and discovered that as a result, their track and codes were not as effective as the other groups.  Also, in having a debrief after, we talked about how we could modify the assignment and what changes they would make.  For example, one group had not fulfilled all the requirements and they might get a time penalty or delayed start if that happened again.  In a couple weeks this challenge will resurface in center time
and we will implement the suggestions of the students.

1A Best Practices - Joyful Interventions

KSA: 3i) Teachers gather and use information about students’ learning needs and progress.

Back in October I attended the "Joyful Interventions" literacy summit in Calgary. After attending this summit, I was motivated to make some changes, and decided to start with my literacy block practices. Prior to attending this summit, I had my groups sorted by ability, and student's would filter through various EA led centers that were not necessarily tailored to my student's specific needs, but rather "busy work" centers that allowed me to conduct a guided reading lesson with a small group. Although the students were in fact doing literacy activities, they weren't necessarily designed to help them improve in the areas they were needing to work on.

Before I could implement "Joyful Interventions" in my classroom, I needed to collect data. I started off with re-assessing all of my students on their alphabet knowledge. According to the "program", a student has not yet mastered their alphabet until they can; name upper case and lower case letters, produce letter sounds, produce a word beginning with the letter/sound, and is able to find the letter in text. So I retested each student and recorded my data. (A fully coloured in circle shows mastery, half circles means they either have the name or sound mastered, but not both). Here's a sample of the data from back in November.

For the student's who had their alphabet mastered, I tested them on the fry's sight word lists (At the time, I only had 5 students out of 16 who had their alphabet fully mastered). Using this data, I made each student 5 flash cards. Each flash card had either an alphabet letter or a sight word printed on it that they had not yet mastered. I put each student's flash cards into a bag with their name on it, and filed them in their books bins. During literacy block, my students would filter through 3 different "joyful" centres that allowed them to practice the alphabet sounds/letters and/or sight words from their bags. The student's were split up in mixed ability groups, but were all doing the same activity, just with different alphabet letters or sight words. For a while, the 3 different centres I had going were; rainbow writing (printing alphabet letters or words repeatedly in the rainbow arches using different colours), wikki stick writing, and letter magnets. The EA running the centre would ask the students who were working on their alphabet to tell them the name of the letter, the sound the letter makes, to produce a word that starts with that letter, and to identify that letter in text. The students working on sight words would read the word to the EA, and have to produce a sentence containing that word. After two weeks of working on these words or sounds, I would retest all students and again, record the data. If that word or letter was mastered, they would move on to new flash cards. If not, they would repeat those words or letters for another two weeks.

With the exception of a few, most students master all 5 of their words or alphabet letters at the end of the 2 week period. The students are often eager to sit with me when it comes time to retest them, as they are often really excited to show off what they know. All but 2 of my students are now working on their sight words. I just recently changed the "Joyful" centres, and have the students; using playdoh to write their words or letters, playing "roll it, write it" with their words or letters, and writing sentences using their words or letters.

I've only implemented the "Joyful Interventions" program during my literacy block, but I am excited to explore it further next year as I've truly seen some great results.

1C Best Practices

l) the importance of engaging parents, purposefully and meaningfully, in all aspects of teaching and learning.

In my classroom I have recently started up a classroom Seesaw account. I've been looking for a way to interact with my families on a new platform and highlight things we are working on. As of right now, I have nine out of my fourteen families connected to their child's Seesaw. In previous years I've used a Weebly website that I maintained, but the upkeep was a lot on my end.

So what is Seesaw?
It is a student driven online portfolio, that puts the ownership on the students. Teachers can empower students to reflect, share, and collaborate. Students "show what they know" using photos, videos, drawings, PDFs, and links. The best part is students can upload straight from their google drive. Everything needs to be approved by the teacher before it is posted for their parents to see. 

At the beginning of this month we wrapped up our third workshop unit and uploaded one of our stories to our learning journals. The students then recorded their voice over their pictures. All my students were SO excited to hear themselves recorded reading their work out loud. The possibility for having students work on their fluency with the recording options are endless.

Along with the digital portfolio you also have the option to use the activities portion of the app that is easily accessible even by my grade one kiddos. I uploaded a quick digraph activity for one of my words their way groups, with written instructions and audio instructions. Each student completed it and saved it to their portfolio for me to review. It was a quick way for one of my groups to be working independently on the I-pads and know that they are on task, and doing something meaningful. 

Finally, there is an announcement section that gives you the option to their send out a quick private message, or a general announcement to everyone that is connected to the app. It was a super quick way to remind parents about goal setting, and swimming lessons. I also like the option to turn off the messaging and commenting feature if needed. 

I wish I would have started using this earlier in the year, and its exciting to see all the possibilities for this across the board in any grade. I will  be starting it up first thing in the beginning of next year, and continuing to experiment with integrating it more into my classroom practices.

(I've included a wonderful video at the end if you'd like to see how an amazing duo of teachers uses it with grade 1)

Video