Grade 1 is Going Digital with Formative Assessment

 Ms. Phelan has been using the Three Ring app in her first grade math class as a formative assessment tool. Threering.com is a great web tool and ipad app that allows teachers to collect and organize student work in a digital format.

During math workshop Ms. Phelan meets with individual students and small groups to facilitate learning. Using the Three Ring app on the ipad she captures evidence of learning in multiple formats. She takes pictures of student work, captures video and audio clips, and also takes digital notes on student progress. After collecting formative data on the ipad, the information is automatically uploaded to her threering.com account. From her computer she can organize, edit, and tag the content she collected and use the information to make instructional decisions. At the end of the math lesson, Ms. Phelan displays her threering.com feed on the smartboard so that students can reflect on their learning by viewing and discussing video clips and images together.  Using the ipad and an app such as Three Ring as a formative assessment tool is a great example of effective technology integration. Check it out! It's free!

Investigating Arrays with Educreations

Mrs. Leonard's grade 4 students have been using the Educreations app and Edmodo to communicate mathematical concepts and articulate their learning. During their study of arrays, the class set out on an "array hunt". Using the iPad, students took photographs of different objects in and around the school that represent arrays. They had to defend whether or not their photo was in fact an array. This led the class to discover what attributes defined an array, fostering a deeper understanding of this mathematical concept. Next, students had to figure out how many objects were represented in the array and defended their reasoning by combining their oral explanation with digital annotations. They posted their work to their 4th grade Edmodo group.  Check out the examples below to see how these young mathematicians use academic vocabulary and apply mathematics to real world situations.

This project is laying foundational math skills for CCSS NBT.B.5, NBT.B.6, MD.A.3. and engages students in the CCSS math practices MP3, MP4, MP6, MP7.

Want to learn more about using Educreations in the classroom? Check out this blog post by Matt Gomez (@mattBgomez) , Educreations 101 Video: Quick Intro to Basis of This App.

Kindergarten iPad Photography- A Guest Post by Mrs. Sweet

The Letter A

The Letter G

Ms. Gleason's Kindergarten class has teamed up with Mrs. Sweet's Art Enrichment period to photograph found letters of the alphabet. Students have a letter written on the back of each hand so they can identify letter shapes with found letters. Students can then "frame" their found letters with iPads and photograph them. Back in the classroom, students dialogue and share letters they have found.

Technology Integration in the Primary Grades

The students and teachers at the RSD6 elementary schools have been doing some exciting things with technology. Over the past few months of the 2012-2013 school year, teachers have been upgrading their classroom websites to improve school/home communication and utilizing Google Docs to collaborate with colleagues.

The students have been engaging in a variety of digital-age learning experiences. Here are a few examples of how the primary teachers are promoting creativity, communication, and collaboration in the classroom.

Mrs. Maiolo's second graders have been using the Fotobabble app to publish poetry and practice reading fluency.



 Each of the kindergartners in Miss Gleason's class created a Voki to publish their writing pieces about their favorite season.


First graders in Mrs. Williamson's class have been working with the Puppet Pals app on the ipad to demonstrate their learning in Reader's and Writer's Workshop.


Students in Mrs. Carpenter's second grade class illustrated their understanding of 'doubling' using the free online tool, Kerpoof.

After each student designed his or her human self, Kindergardeners in Mrs. Brady's class went wild using BuiLD YouR WiLD SeLF.  

Kindergarden and First Grade students read the book, Little Cloud by Eric Carle in Art Class from a YouTube video. They dialogued about seeing various shapes in clouds and painted their own clouds with white paint on blue paper.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGrGjkPiCmc

Studucate

STUDUCATE...A night when students educate parents by sharing how they use technology to enhance their own learning.

Students taking ownership for their own learning is one of the most important aspects of 21st Century Learning. When that occurs pride, leadership, self-confidence and true understanding swell to the surface. In this technological age of learning those who truly grasp the benefits of these times realizes that it really isn’t about the technology at all. What really matters is how and why it is utilized. Providing students with opportunities to communicate, collaborate, use creativity and critical thinking not only engage students on a higher level of learning, but will help to build a strong foundation for their future. On March 1, 2012, the students of Warren School participated in a very special event that held them to a highly unique standard. We called this event Studucate. Studucate was a night when students educated parents by sharing how they use technology to enhance their own learning. Students were highly motivated to take on this challenge. 70 of our 89 students of Warren School, K-6, presented at Studucate. Students owned the night. Throughout the evening, parents and friends rotated from class to class as groups of students in each grade presented 10-minute lessons to those in attendance. Those not in attendance for each presentation--the classroom teacher. Teachers let the students truly embrace the experience. It would be difficult for teachers not to intervene when their students came across technical difficulties or lesson mishaps in the midst of presenting to a room full of adults.

Each presentation was equipped with a support system. This support came in the form of the senior students in the school, the sixth grade. As hosts, the sixth graders introduced the presenters and provided guidance as necessary. These eleven and twelve year olds were wonderful at providing the assurance that help was there if needed, but allowed time for groups to take the initiative to problem solve issues that arose. Student presenters were placed in the position to trust in themselves and their partners to work through the lesson together. The outcome....mission accomplished.

The following day students were given time to explain what they felt about Studucate. Their reactions were priceless, not to mention extremely insightful. They expressed the importance of teamwork, communicating thoughts clearly, and being able to work through problems that presented themselves during their lessons. For many, the experience made them realize that they have the ability to take on challenges, step out of their comfort zone, and accomplish something that leaves a feeling of pride difficult to match. These expressions were informally captured on an iPad and merged with footage of Studucate to create a 13 minute iMovie video that was e-blasted out to parents and friends. The VoiceThread created the night of Studucate was included as well.The following day students were given time to explain what they felt about Studucate. Their reactions were priceless, not to mention extremely insightful. They expressed the importance of teamwork, communicating thoughts clearly, and being able to work through problems that presented themselves during their lessons. For many, the experience made them realize that they have the ability to take on challenges, step out of their comfort zone, and accomplish something that leaves a feeling of pride difficult to match. These expressions were informally captured on an iPad and merged with footage of Studucate to create a 13 minute iMovie video that was e-blasted out to parents and friends. The VoiceThread created the night ofStuducate was included as well.

"It felt like you were in charge and your teachers didn't help. It wasn't the teachers telling you how to use a program, it was you teaching the parents."

"If you work together, you can get things done. We were a great team together."

Forever Grateful Veteran Interview Project

Each year, the 5th grade at Warren School, CT, hosts a Veteran’s Luncheon.
Each year, connecting students with our veterans makes the event special.
This year, however...it was extra special. We are very proud of this project.

Forever Grateful...Veteran Interview Project

Grade: 5th (15 students)
Teachers: 5th grade teacher, Beth Ulrichsen and Educational Technologist, Alisa Wright
Time Span: Began in early October--Completed Mid November (*including an unexpected week off due to power outages)
Time Requirements: ½ hour/day....*1 week prior to luncheon required more time

• Met in computer lab
• Student Collaboration (teams of 3)
1. Created interview questions to be included in class question list
2. Completed tasks--addressing envelopes, writing invitations, researching history of wars/military
3. Conducted interview
• Project: Interviewed 11 community veterans to create a digital story full of history, reflections and words of wisdom.

• Members of each team
1. Digital camera photographer for still photos
2. Flip camera photographer for video
3. Interviewer (used Audacity to record audio)
• Individually
1. Created a full version video about a veteran using video, stills, audio in Windows Movie Maker
• 
• 
  
  
  b.created a short 2 minute video using stills and portion of audio using PhotoStory

• Culmination: Created a combined video in Windows Movie Maker using the PhotoStory videos of each veteran. This combined video was 16.5 minutes long and was shown during the annual Veteran’s Luncheon. Extremely well received.
  
  
  
  Technology/Programs Used:
  • Flip Camera
  • Digital Camera
  • Audacity
  • Windows Movie Maker

  *Be sure to save all pictures and videos to computer prior to creating video.

  • PhotoStory3
  
  Helpful Hints:
  • Save all photos, videos, audio to same folder
  • Make a copy of original audio prior to editing to ensure safe keeping
  • Upload final project to youtube to easily share
  
  
  

Taking Technology Into the Garden

How Ya Peelin’?
Taking Technology Into the Garden at Warren


Kindergarten, First and Second Graders have a special flair for demonstrating feelings. After being introduced to a specific color of our garden, pairs of students chose a vegetable to portray a facial expression of emotion. After discussing with their partner a particular emotion they wanted to work with, happy, sad, frustrated, surprised, and scared were some of the emotions they created on their vegetable using black-eyed peas and toothpicks. Students then wrote a list poem explaining how one feels when expressing that emotion.

Once faces and poems were completed, Blabberize, a free online program, turned those veggie faces and poems into an animated, talking, feeling video. Mrs. Powell, our music teacher, helped each class prepare a song about feelings. Students enjoyed choosing the transitions to use between Blabberized videos and digital photos to complete this project using Windows Movie Maker.

While the movie was being processed, Mrs. Brown read, How Are You Peeling?, by Saxton Freymann to eager listeners and viewers. They were surprised to see that the veggie faces they created were as ‘emotionally charged’ as what the book portrayed. After viewing the movie, teachers were already expressing other ways they were ready to use Blabberize and Windows Movie Maker with their classes. So….I guess we’re peelin’ pretty good about how technology was integrated into our academic day!

If you’re happy and you know it, click this link…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqsyHfLXoKQ