Nonfiction Class Project: Sharks

After our character units, we moved into nonfiction during the month of November and continue to work on this unit.  Part of the Reader's Workshop unit included a class research project in which the class decided on a topic they were interested in.  From there, students discussed and came up with the subtopics to be researched.  My class was so interested in this project.  Their topic was sharks and they came up with some great ideas for subtopics.  

After researching and becoming experts on their subtopic, students added post-it notes of their learning to our class anchor chart so that we could share the information with one another.  They also completed the Post-it Note Organizer that I found from Sarah's blog.  Even though it was posted for a 1st grade class, it worked perfectly for our research project.  Lastly, students chose begged to use the green screen app to create a video of their learning.  Each partner chose the background picture for their recording and I recorded them sharing their expertise.  

Character Units Coming to an End

Students spent the month of October learning about characters in Reader's and Writer's Workshop. At the end of the unit in WW, students had to create a "Selfie" of the character they created to use in their Realistic Fiction stories.  Once their selfie was finished, students video-taped one another describing how this character fits into their stories.  We inserted these videos into Aurasma to create an augmented reality project.  Students' selfies were placed in the hallway to be viewed by their parents during conferences.

During Reader's Workshop students studied all about characters, including how to become the character and see the character's world through his/her eyes.  To wrap up this unit of study, students worked on an app-smashing project that included Chatterpix and Aurasma.  They had to first pick which character they were going to "become" and create a script of what this character would say.  Most students chose the main character while others chose minor characters within the text.  Students created the dialogue using Chatterpix (very user friendly for the kiddos) and imported this into Aurasma.  Their trigger image for this was the book cover.  This also serves as a great tool to use for students that have not read the text to get an insider's view of what the book will be about.  

Aurasma Again?!

The last project went so well, we decided to do another!! To finish up our character unit, students are selecting a text, picking a character, and deciding what their character will say. They will then use Chatterpixs to make the character come to life. Some students are even disguising their voices as their character!! So FUN!! :) They will use the book cover as their trigger image for the chatterpix to come to life. These will be placed on students' desks for showcase at parent conferences. Be sure to check out our class web page for some other cool projects and updates in our class. Bit.ly/cusmith 

Aurasma Making Its Appearance

Today my class worked on making character selfies to describe the internal and external characteristics for the character they are creating to use in their Realistic Fiction piece of writing.  We will then be using their selfies as the trigger for our first Augmented Reality project. Students will be talking about their character and what traits they have. They have also been planning how they will include the text evidence in their writing to prove these character traits. I can't wait to see the finished porducts and share these at parent conferences!! 

Math Night Success

I had a great turn out last week!  My parents were very interested in what I had to say.  Their concerns were very valid and (I think) I was able to answer all questions that they had.  We discussed why it is important to understand the "whys" of math, not just the steps involved in the process.  One question was, "What do you feel is the most important thing we need to work on at home to help them?"  In an attempt to not overwhelm them all, I tried to think of the top things that students seem to struggle with but will be the most beneficial for them in class and at home.  My answer, "Knowing their multiplication facts, and being able to understand place value."  We looked at the difference between knowing that the 3 in 374 is in the hundreds place to being able to say that the 3 represents 300.  So many times my students come to me thinking that a number like 374 is made of a 3, 7, and a 4 when really it is 300, 70, and 4.  I was quick to also remind parents that they can access our "Show Me" videos on the class webpage for more support at home and "how to's" on some concepts.

The second part of our hour together (AFTER scaring them with fractions), we looked at some projects the kids have been working on and Google Classroom! YES! Google Classroom! I love the sound of those words together! :) I showed them what to look for in their child's Google Drive and how the kids complete/turn in assignments through Classroom.  They were excited to see that we have been doing so much with technology and several even said their child has shown them some of these things at home.  This made my heart smile! :) I love when students take their learning home with them!

Parent Math Night

Today is a very important day for my classroom! I am holding a parent help session to show parents the "new" ways that math is being taught explored. So many times parents come to me and say, "I don't know how to help them! I'm lost!" So this session will be used to help clear this up. I'm providing parents with the strategies that we use (or what the students come up with) to help them help the kids at home. We will be doing some addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I'm also going to show parents how fractions investigated.  This is a HUGE part of our End of Grade test so I think it is important to have them aware of these strategies as well.

In addition to the math concepts we are/will be learning, I'm going to be showing parents what technology we have used and projects we have been working on in class. This includes the genius hour that we started today. My hope is to see the excitement in their eyes as I see in their children's eyes!

Techy Fourth Graders

We have been so busy this year implementing and creating things with our iPads!! The year started off with orientation night. I had all of my parents complete a survey on the iPads so that I could collect some great info from them before school even started.   We use Remind for HW updates and class news, we use class dojo for classroom management, and we have a classroom Twitter account. One of my class jobs this year is "Twitter Manager" and that student gets to tweet our learning for the day.

The students have had a blast creating ShowMe's during Math Small Groups that I've uploaded to the class website to help explain how to solve their current math equations.  They have also used Padlet on the iPads during RW to share their thinking and during Shared to complete their quick writes.

I have used Kahoot a couple of times to get a quick look at their understanding of some math concepts. I must say that if you haven't tried this site yet, you're missing out!! It is so much fun for the kids and super easy on us teachers!! :)

Students have been finishing up their IMovie about the moon phases and explaining how we have day and night. They also will be working on their book recommendation videos soon.

I've been so surprised at how quick they are learning to access their google drive account. It has been a plus to have chromebooks available to the students this year. We have been working on even more projects through the chromebooks!!

My Favorite Curation Tool

How do I organize all of this new fabulous "stuff" that I'm learning at pinnacle training this week?  We'll, for starters, choose which ones you like the best then decide what type of apps/websites they are. From there your can add these sites and tools to Flipboard and Pinterest. My favorite would be Pinterest!! I can spend hours just drooling over the recipes and the cutesy things I can add to my classroom. Flipboard is new to me but I do like that there are numerous sites right at my fingertips.  You must check these out. I think it would be worth your while!

Andragogy

And what??!!  Exactly what I thought! Andragogy, pronounced Andra-go-gee, is basically all about teaching adults.  It's not as confusing as it seems.  Andragogy is all about how adults learn which is VERY different from children.  As adults we need to know the what and why right off the bat!  "Why do I need to know this?" "How is this going to benefit me?" When teaching adults, the presenter must answer these questions quickly so the audience doesn't "check out" before getting the point across.

I had a great opportunity to hear Dr. Moore from North Gaston High School share her knowledge on this theory.  I was so engaged and could follow her very well.  The entire room was honed in on what she had to say.  It was evident she had androgogy down pat!