ArtBots

During a recent lesson, we were learning about vibration. We created ArtBots!! During a Professional Development session at NCCAT. I learned about using Artbots in the classroom. Students had to use the parts to assemble their ArtBot and make it move and create art.

The images and video below shows the Artbots in action. The students had a blast getting their ArtBots to work. The Bots have markers attached to the bottom that would draw as the ArtBot vibrations moved it across the paper. Some moved in circles while others moved diagonally or sideways.

Students had to record the steps and the materials needed to create the ArtBot and complete a self-assessment.

ArtBot Video

Students will use their art piece to work on a creative writing piece.



 

Learning About Butterflies, Pumpkins and Bats with Technology

Wow, it is hard to believe that it is already the end of October. Where did September go? Being busy learning about life cycle with technology has been at the top of our list in my classroom. We have been using chromebooks, ipads, QR codes, Discovery Education, Blendspace and nonfiction text to increase our knowledge. Students have worked really hard to use their technologically skills to research about the life cycles of butterflies, pumpkins and bats.

Students enjoy using chromebooks with Google Classroom with a Blendspace lesson. Using Blendspace has been a great way to add STEM activities. Here is a picture of students fully engaged in STEM learning.

Here you will see them working and sharing their excitement about seeing a butterfly coming out of its chrysalis. Seeing the butterflies in action taught the students more than just seeing an image in a text. 

Students would learn songs about the life cycle of a butterfly to learn each stage. Then they applied their new understanding to create an Appsmashing activity with Piccollage and Popplet with Chatterpix to tell about the life cycle stages.

Students loved using their new findings to create using ipads. We love using Appsmashing techniques to show what we learned.

Students also work with STEM in Technology Stations. This is a time that students can focus in on one area of content that we are working on. Students use technology to acquire new information that can then be applied in their writing. Students also record their new information in a class blog post.

Below you will see that students still love to use post-it notes to record their new learning. Here is a picture of their information on our classroom bat.

We discussed the new finding with a class discussion with their work buddy. Students learn from each other by sharing their new understanding as a class. We talk to our buddy and share out to class what their buddy learned. 

Come back soon and see more of how we use technology in our classroom.

Using Google Classroom

Using Google Classroom has become one of my favorite ways to use technology with my students. Google Classroom is a great way to share assignments with your students. My school is completely Google with email and Drive, so we are using Chromebooks that allow students to login with their Google accounts and begin learning.

I use Google Classroom with Blendspace and Thinglink. Depending on what we are currently working on in our curriculum. I mostly use it with Science and Social Studies. We are learning about Matter and Landforms. I can easily find lesson or even create lessons on Blendspace or Thinglink and add the assignments into Google Classroom.

Here is a Thinglink that I created on Plant Life Cycles. My students have really enjoyed getting to learn about Plants by using this awesome site. All you do is insert an image and you add tags on the picture that has videos, websites, articles, songs, books and more. Students work their way through each tag on the image and begin to learn. You insert a quiz or assign a journal or activity to complete the lesson.

Google Classroom

Blendspace

Thinglink

Would love to hear of ways that you use these with technology in your classroom. I highly recommend that you go and check these. We use them almost every day in my classroom.

Gettin' Techie

We have begun our new school year with a great start. I was lucky this summer to win 5 Chromebooks for my classroom to go along with my 12 ipads. My new group of students this year are learning how to use the ipads and the Chromebooks. We have been using many apps in our App-smashing activities.

This past week we used one of the Chromebook carts that we have at our school. You will see in the image below that my students are fully engaged in learning about plants. They are using a lesson that I created on Blendspace. 

Chromebooks

 

Blendspace is a great way to enhance learning with technology and Science. My students are guided through several activities, video segments or images that give them information about plants.

Students using Chromebooks

Students had to complete all activities in Blendspace then login to Discovery Education and create a board about the parts of plants. They may included images, video segments and text boxes.

The students really enjoyed getting to use the Chromebooks along with Blendspace to learn about Plants.

If you have never heard about Blendspace, then I recommend that you must try it out for yourself. Wishing you success this school year with your students.

5 Beliefs of Education

As being a part of my school systems Pinnacle Leadership, we were given the prompt to write a blog post about our 5 Beliefs in Education. This really made me think long and hard about what my beliefs are. I am very curious to know what other educators beliefs are as well. Please share your 5 beliefs as a comment below. Well here are my beliefs.

One: I feel that all children can learn. Each child will learn at their own level and speed.We are born learning as soon as we take our first breath. We learn how to eat, we learn how to roll over, we learn how to sit, crawl and walk are just a few of the ways we learn at the beginning of our lives.

Two: I feel that it is important to make a connection with your students. Students will feel valued and respected if this is achieved. Students will be made to feel a part of the group and belong.

Three: I feel that it is a responsibility for parents, educators and the community to help support the learning of a child. It is a united effort of all that come into contact with that child.

Four: Education is about enabling a student to learn by using a variety of methods to discovery of knowledge. This is obtained by using technology, explicit instruction, independent and cooperative learning. We are all lifelong learners by making ourselves be reflective thinkers.

Five: Learning is the primary goal of all students.Creating an environment that is conducive to learning for each individual. We should be challenge our students in their learning.

I would love to hear your beliefs of education. Leave a comment below.

In my classroom we are using technology is all areas of learning. We use ipads, computers, and smartboards with our instruction and independent/group work. Students love learning about a new app to create presentation on all content areas. This week we began using Pic Collage for retelling stories and grammar showing  what a noun is, an adjective, and verbs. Students have even worked with their 5th grade buddies and showed them how to use Pic Collage and Poplet.

Hope you find some ideas to use in your classroom.

Technology In Our Classroom

My classroom is very lucky to have ipads, smartboard and laptops for students to integrate technology into our everyday learning. I love technology and use it in all aspects of my life. It is also used in many ways in my instruction with my students. Every day lessons I teach, I use some type of technology. It may be the smartboard lesson. We use many ipad apps for all subject areas. We use laptops and desktop computers in centers.

Here is a list of some of our FAVORITE APPS to use!

 Here is one that students made!

We love Sock Puppets. We used this app to tell about Helen Keller. You know technology and its quirks. It will not allow me to post students video. But here is a look at the app.

Students are using ipads daily in centers. Here you can see then using one of our fun apps Word Ball.

They have to build words as fast as they can before the letter balls disappear. We have even used this app with our 5th grade buddies that come to our class on Wednesdays.

   

Students have a blast with Rocket Speller to practice working with words.

                                  

                       

 Big Cat stories are AWESOME!!

We use them in our Listening Center. Students listen to the story being read to them. Then they read it them self and complete the Listening Center Sheet with comprehension questions about the story.

QR Codes are used through out our learning. We used them with Math, Reading, Science and Social Studies. Students love to scan the code and see what it contains. It maybe just to check their answers. To watch a short video segment on Plants and complete a comprehension activity. It can guide them to an app or website to go to for the lesson. QR Codes are a great way to get student active in their learning. This is the app that we use for it.

Students in my classroom love using the ipads. We use the Showme app to display how to work out math problems during math block. Students can show their thinking on ipad and share with the class. 

During our geometry unit we use the GEOBOARD APP instead of  geoboards.

Students really enjoyed using this app instead of the old geoboard with the bands that snap and break. They really understood how shapes are created with the bands and how a rectangle and square have right angles.

I hope I have given you some ideas and apps that you would like to try in your classroom. We are always working with apps to find the best ones. All the apps here are FREE!!!! I love to use the free apps, that way my students can use them at home also. 

Please leave a comment below with any apps that you love to use in your room. I am very interested to hear what works for your students. Share any lessons or activities that you do with the apps or technology in your classroom.

Technology and Education

During my career as a teacher, I was chosen for our school districts Pinnacle (technology) program this past year. As being a pinnacle leader, we were given ipads to use in our classroom with our students. In my classroom I had 22 students with 6 ipads. Having the ipads opened up a new resource for my students to use in their learning and creativity.

Using apps with the ipads was a great way to meet the needs of my students. Students worked in groups, with a partner and alone on numerous apps and our classroom kidblog. The ipads were used every day by the students. Kidblog was a part of our morning work everyday. Using the ipads with STEM was very beneficial for my students to discover and share with each other.

In my room, our favorite app was Toontastic. My students had the most fun with this app. Students worked collaboratively in groups with a leader. The groups were assigned different tasks each time. My favorite activity was for them to create a script for a story layout about bullying. There is one of these videos displayed on a post here on my blog.

We also have lots of fun using QR codes. My students always enjoyed the excitement of what would be in the code. A video, a link, a picture or answer to a question.

My classroom loved using the ipads in their learning. Using technology is a major component of my teaching. We used our school computer labs to work on project based learning. Students research about a county they choose. Did a presentation and were evaluated by their peers. Students made a powerpoint Biography that was shared with the class. At the end of the school year, students had to CREATE a newspaper. We used Microsoft Publisher for this. They had to create the layout, theme or newspaper and complete a full page with head line, articles with photos and share with class. My students really got into this one. Most of the boys in my class did it on Minecraft.

I would love to hear about ways you integrated technology with your students and what apps, or programs you use. As I head tomorrow for my 2nd year of Pinnacle. I am excited to see what new resources we will have to use with our students this coming school year. Here is to a new year or endless opportunities to reach every student that enters our classrooms. Happy learning!!!!!!

School Year Coming to an End

This has been my first year teaching 3rd Grade. It has been a great learning experience. My school district adopted Common Core this year, along with Readers and Writers Workshop. SO being in a new grade level with all NEW curriculum has definitely kept me very busy this year.

I have an awesome group of 22 students. Nine of them I had last year in 2nd grade. WE have be lucky to have ipads in our classroom this year by my Pinnacle Induction (technology). Students really love being on the ipads and learning new things. WE were able to be apart of a Pinnacle Technology Showcase, where members of the school board, administrators, etc were invited to see what our students have been creating with technology, specially with the ipads.

Students are working with the ipads. They are so amazing at their ability to use technology and work collaboratively.

Students are showing the apps that they have used in our curriculum. My students favorite is TOONTASTIC!! They love creating the story boards and recording their voices.

Working using QR codes is an activity that we include in all subjects areas. On the display board I use QR codes for students to learn about the bones in their Human Body. I got this great idea from the internet. I wish I had the person's name so I can give them the credit. Thank you for this great activity. My students work with QR codes for reading comprehension, for self checking activities and for locating information in our STEM lessons.

This year has came by so quickly. This time of year is bitter sweet. I am ready for summer break but I will also miss seeing these adorable faces everyday. My journey in 3rd is also coming to an end. I'm lucky to be moving back to 2nd grade. I have taught 2nd for 6 years. I love this grade. So this involves moving my class room again. This time I will be in a totally different room than I was before. But I am so excited to be working with some fabulous ladies on the grade level. 

Using QR Codes In Education

Since I was lucky to being Pinnacle this year in my school system, I have ipads in my classroom. It has been fun getting to explore all the apps and find amazing things for my students to work on. The last 9 weeks I have become addicted to using QR CODES!!!! I think they are amazing! My students have worked with them in all subject areas.

Here you can see that during our Human Body Unit, students used the ipad to scan a QR code. Learn about a specific bone an then locate and label the bone on their skeleton. This was fun for them to learn about how the name of bone originated. The QR code gave them a description and location of the bone on the skeleton.

We have used QR codes in math, students work out math problem then scan the code to self check their work. In Guided Reading students would scan a comprehension QR code to answer a question with their partner.

If you do not have ipads, you can use a smart phone, ipod touch or any tablet that has a QR reader. You can go to a QR code maker website to create your QR code. In the code you can put a video link, document, instruction, question or answer. The list can go on and on!!! I highly recommend that you use QR CODES IN YOUR CLASSROOM!

Marble Roller Coasters

In our STEM lessons with forces and motion, students had to work together with materials to form a roller coaster. This took some engineering design and teamwork. The students had cardboard paper tubes of different sizes. The class was divided into two groups and they had to come up with a design and put it to action.

This group did a great job getting their marble through their roller coaster. The first day of working together didn't go so smooth, but day two was a success!

This was group 1 and in this picture we are missing a few of the members. But this group worked great together. They made a plan and put it to work. 

Students enjoyed getting to work on this project with only a few materials and some teamwork. It was fun to   see them in action. Science is a great way to have students working and learning in groups. Students got to experience what it would be like to design a roller coaster.