Kids in Story App. What Fun!!!

I really want to try this app with my students.  We all like to read about ourselves and tell our stories.  Here is a fun and not so intimidating way for kids to write, create, publish, and have a load of fun at the same time.  I can see it working from first to 6th grade effectively.

Padlet Success

Yesterday we tried something new.  I introduced the students to Padlet.com.  We created a community graphic organizer to keep track of what we are learning about wildfires.  Each student has the opportunity to contribute to the Padlet using their own iPad.  Below is a screen shot of our work so far.  The kids engaged well and enjoyed the new use of the iPad.  They will then use this info to write a paragraph or two about what they have learned about wildfires from multiple sources - news article, National Geographic, and the internet.  Big time Common Core goal for our 5th graders.

                                             The kids love to have their name "up in lights".

Wrapping Up the Colonial Region Project

Using the links as mentioned in the last post was very successful.  Kept the students from going all over the internet and spending useless time on sites that were somewhat related but not helpful in them creating their research.  We finished our posters today.  Below are a couple of pictures of the final projects.  I tried to upload a video but without success this evening.  It's too late to keep trying.  Maybe next time......

Making the Student's Research on the Web More Specific

I co-teach with the 5th grade teachers here at Free Orchards during the language arts block.  We are presently working on a project in which the students work in teams with the end result being a poster presentation of one of the original colonial regions.  Keeping in line with the CCSS they need to gather their information from multiple sources.  Now maybe all of you have thought of this before but I had researched a number of good web sites for the students to explore and I was thinking I really don't want to just give them a list of the sites that they have to type in.  We all hate typing in those long URLs, right?  So I took the list and posted it on our 5th grade blog.  The students then went to the blog and were able to just click on the links.  I thought that was pretty slick.  Certainly not rocket science but it meant that no one was going to worthless web sites or getting really side tracked with sites that were not grade/age or subject appropriate. Sometimes it is the little things that really make the difference.  If you want to check out the 5th grade blog and the kid friendly post here is the URL for the 5th grade blog: http://thewholearray.blogspot.com/

I Couldn't Believe My Ears

Music to a teacher's ears......We have been using the Newsela web site  since the first couple of weeks we were awarded the grant.  The kids enjoy the program and have become very independent  in using it.  Last week one of the girls raises her hand.  I go over to check out what the issue is.  She says, "Mrs. Haskell, can I do this at home? Sometimes I get bored at home and I like reading these articles."  Without trying to sound too giddy and enthusiastic, I said to Eyllin, "That is a GREAT idea.  You can just go to the web site and log on just like you do at school."  She wrote down her login and password to take home with her.  Now I just need to remember to ask how it's going at home.

I have imbedded a YouTube video above to walk you through a tutorial showing how you can mirror what is on your or your students ipads to your PC or Mac.  There have been a number of times since I started using the iPads in the classroom that I have wanted to quickly show what is on my iPad to the students. As we are all gathered around my "mini" trying to see, I think to myself, "this is less then optimal".  Mirroring would be especially helpful when trying to teach the students how to navigate on a specific web site or a computer skill that is new to them.  It beats trying to put the iPad under the Elmo.  The picture quality when the iPad is slipped under that Elmo leaves nothing to be desired.

I will be honest and let you know that I have only done this at home but it was very successful this evening and was excited enough with my success to post and share with the other HSD teachers that are on this technology adventure.  Hopefully it will help some of you out. It will also be a place where I can easily go back and review myself (especially after the summer break!).

Guidance to allow kids to post their work directly to your blog