This post was originally posted on my classroom blog for parents. I thought you might enjoy looking at this artwork, too.
I love to walk the halls of our school. The artwork displayed there is incredible. We are so fortunate to have Ms. Pam as our Art teacher. Enjoy the photos below of some of the artwork around our school right now. If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the Haiku Deck.
If you would like to know more about Art at our school, please visit Ms. Pam's blog, Renaissance Art: The Practice and Ponders of an Art Teacher. If you would like detailed information about some of the projects shown here click on the Pages link at the top of her blog and then on the specific grade level you are interested in.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Learning and Collaborating
This post was originally posted on my classroom blog for parents. I thought it might be of interest to readers of this blog, too.
Graphing
On Friday one of our math activities was to create a graph of the number of letters in our first names. I decided to use this as an opportunity to reinforce my lesson that we are all always learning and that we can all figure things out. To do this, I decided to have us create the graph using the graphing feature of Haiku Deck. I told the crew that I did not know how to do this yet but that together we would figure it out. We began by gathering our data (number of letters in our first names) and then set out to figure out how to create a graph in Haiku Deck. We had to experiment with several of the buttons or features to figure out how they work. We had to start over at one point when we decided that our graph would work better with a different orientation. Lots of math was involved in our discussion because we had to find the minimum and maximum values of our data as well as how big the intervals would be. But we did figure it out. The only thing we couldn't do was add labels to each axis of our graph. (I think this is because this is presentation software and they try to limit the amount of text on a slide.)
At this point someone in the crew suggested that we put our graph picture on the camera roll of the iPad and then import it into ShowMe and add the labels there. This was a great idea but I showed them that Haiku Deck didn't have import to camera roll as an option. They all just looked at me wondering why I couldn't figure this out. They said again, just put it in the camera roll and I still didn't understand what they meant. Finally someone remembered that the language they were looking for was to take a screen shot. Brilliant. They were absolutely correct and were connecting our prior learning about taking screen shots to this lesson. We took a screen shot and it was instantly added to our camera roll. (This is when we lost our internet access so I went in later and added the labels to our graph. I used Skitch - which they know how to use, too - instead of ShowMe to add the labels because I wanted to show them how professional it can look with the labels typed instead of handwritten.) Below are pictures of the two graphs - with and without labels.
The best part of this whole lesson is that they saw that I was still learning and that we all worked together to figure out how to create the graph we wanted. I want them to become life-long learners who are willing to jump in and try to figure things out. This lesson was a great example of using all of our 4Cs - creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication. These are the lessons that make my day.
Graphing
On Friday one of our math activities was to create a graph of the number of letters in our first names. I decided to use this as an opportunity to reinforce my lesson that we are all always learning and that we can all figure things out. To do this, I decided to have us create the graph using the graphing feature of Haiku Deck. I told the crew that I did not know how to do this yet but that together we would figure it out. We began by gathering our data (number of letters in our first names) and then set out to figure out how to create a graph in Haiku Deck. We had to experiment with several of the buttons or features to figure out how they work. We had to start over at one point when we decided that our graph would work better with a different orientation. Lots of math was involved in our discussion because we had to find the minimum and maximum values of our data as well as how big the intervals would be. But we did figure it out. The only thing we couldn't do was add labels to each axis of our graph. (I think this is because this is presentation software and they try to limit the amount of text on a slide.)
At this point someone in the crew suggested that we put our graph picture on the camera roll of the iPad and then import it into ShowMe and add the labels there. This was a great idea but I showed them that Haiku Deck didn't have import to camera roll as an option. They all just looked at me wondering why I couldn't figure this out. They said again, just put it in the camera roll and I still didn't understand what they meant. Finally someone remembered that the language they were looking for was to take a screen shot. Brilliant. They were absolutely correct and were connecting our prior learning about taking screen shots to this lesson. We took a screen shot and it was instantly added to our camera roll. (This is when we lost our internet access so I went in later and added the labels to our graph. I used Skitch - which they know how to use, too - instead of ShowMe to add the labels because I wanted to show them how professional it can look with the labels typed instead of handwritten.) Below are pictures of the two graphs - with and without labels.
The best part of this whole lesson is that they saw that I was still learning and that we all worked together to figure out how to create the graph we wanted. I want them to become life-long learners who are willing to jump in and try to figure things out. This lesson was a great example of using all of our 4Cs - creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication. These are the lessons that make my day.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
A Lesson by Reese
The following post was originally posted on my classroom blog. I am cross-posting it here in case some of you might find it interesting, too.
A Lesson by Reese
Last week, Reese figured out how to make multiple page ShowMes. The crew was very excited to learn how she did this. So on Friday, Reese taught the crew how she figured it out. We decided to video tape it for future reference. Trey was our camera person since he had the best angle to see Reese and the screen from his desk. Below are the videos (there are two short videos that are less than one minute each - we had a bit of a technical issue with plugs and cords and had to stop and start again) and the ShowMe that Reese created that inspired all of this learning. Her voice is very soft so turn up the sound on your computer. If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the videos. Enjoy!
We are also very excited about this new learning because now we can "publish" the books we write to our blogs and read them aloud to our audience. Sophia was the first to try (others are now getting theirs up, too, but it will take a while to get all of them up). Below is Sophia's All About book. Be sure to continue to check our Kidblog page frequently to read/hear more books as they are added.
A Lesson by Reese
Last week, Reese figured out how to make multiple page ShowMes. The crew was very excited to learn how she did this. So on Friday, Reese taught the crew how she figured it out. We decided to video tape it for future reference. Trey was our camera person since he had the best angle to see Reese and the screen from his desk. Below are the videos (there are two short videos that are less than one minute each - we had a bit of a technical issue with plugs and cords and had to stop and start again) and the ShowMe that Reese created that inspired all of this learning. Her voice is very soft so turn up the sound on your computer. If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the videos. Enjoy!
We are also very excited about this new learning because now we can "publish" the books we write to our blogs and read them aloud to our audience. Sophia was the first to try (others are now getting theirs up, too, but it will take a while to get all of them up). Below is Sophia's All About book. Be sure to continue to check our Kidblog page frequently to read/hear more books as they are added.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Voyage
At my school, we take our students on Outward Bound type trips that we call Voyages. On these trips we might hike, camp, snow shoe, sled, rock climb and/or do team building activities. The trips start small in Kindergarten and build in challenge and length as the students reach 6th grade. In first grade, we go on one overnight trip in the fall and then take two one day trips in the winter and spring. Today my crew went on our last Voyage day of the year. We went hiking and rock climbing. This is my favorite trip of the year. You can get a taste of what our day was like in the Haiku Deck below. (If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the deck.)
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Worms, Bees and Haiku Deck
I have been wanting to write a blog post for my classroom blog that tells a little bit of the story of our most recent Expedition called Down to Earth. I also had heard good things about a new app called Haiku Deck and wanted to learn more about it. Yesterday I merged these two items on my "to do" list and came up with the Haiku Deck below. The app is very easy to use and I think the final product looks nice. I will be posting this Haiku Deck on my classroom blog next week after Spring Break to give the parents a view of how an Expedition works.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
More on the Joys of Expeditionary Learning
My previous post was about my student, Owen, and how Expeditionary Learning has engaged his interest, thinking, and motivation. This week Owen got his own worm farm in the mail (just like the one we have in class) and now he is even more excited.
He wrote a blog post tonight about his worm farm, My worm farm. This post shares some of his excitement.
He also made a short video in which he shows and explains how worms use their bristles. The video is embedded below and can also be found on Owen's blog.
He wrote a blog post tonight about his worm farm, My worm farm. This post shares some of his excitement.
He also made a short video in which he shows and explains how worms use their bristles. The video is embedded below and can also be found on Owen's blog.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The Joys of Expeditionary Learning
I teach at an Expeditionary Learning school. While we do try to follow much of the Expeditionary Learning philosophy, we are also part of a larger school district and sometimes make modifications to how we teach to fit district requirements.
This morning during our Morning Meeting one student, Owen, shared his Expeditionary Learning notebook during share time. What makes this special is that this is not a notebook that we created at school. He created this at home because he is so involved in our latest Expedition.
Our first Expedition was a comparison of families. We began by studying our own families and then branched out and studied and compared our families to families in China. Owen was enthralled with China. He spouted facts about China, made books, drawings and banners with Chinese characters - both in school and at home. His mom told me how fascinated he was with the Chinese culture.
Then we began our second Expedition about interdependence between plants and animals. Our first case study is about how worms and soil depend on each other. Owen is once again enthralled with our topic - worms. He has already completed many self-assigned projects on our new topic. The notebook he shared this morning was just one of those projects.
His mom and I talked again and she said that now she thinks that what is inspiring or motivating him is how Expeditionary Learning works. He is drawn right into the topic by our mystery piece, by generating our own questions, by building our background knowledge, by having discussions around our guiding questions, by reading expert texts and more. I think that she is right. Owen is a learner and Expeditionary Learning blends nicely with his personal style of learning - it tends to do that for most students.
This morning during our Morning Meeting one student, Owen, shared his Expeditionary Learning notebook during share time. What makes this special is that this is not a notebook that we created at school. He created this at home because he is so involved in our latest Expedition.
Our first Expedition was a comparison of families. We began by studying our own families and then branched out and studied and compared our families to families in China. Owen was enthralled with China. He spouted facts about China, made books, drawings and banners with Chinese characters - both in school and at home. His mom told me how fascinated he was with the Chinese culture.
Then we began our second Expedition about interdependence between plants and animals. Our first case study is about how worms and soil depend on each other. Owen is once again enthralled with our topic - worms. He has already completed many self-assigned projects on our new topic. The notebook he shared this morning was just one of those projects.
His mom and I talked again and she said that now she thinks that what is inspiring or motivating him is how Expeditionary Learning works. He is drawn right into the topic by our mystery piece, by generating our own questions, by building our background knowledge, by having discussions around our guiding questions, by reading expert texts and more. I think that she is right. Owen is a learner and Expeditionary Learning blends nicely with his personal style of learning - it tends to do that for most students.
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| Owen with his homemade Expeditionary Learning notebook. |
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| Owen's worm puppets and backdrop from his presentation on how worms move. |
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| Owen's notes on his learning about worms. |
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