Happy Halloween 2016

Every time I  take out the big Green Screen everyone gets so excited. You can hear all the speculations as to what will be happening. The first discussion is all about, "Who is wearing green?" The students giggle and laugh about the fact that wearing green will turn them into a floating head.
Well, I have been thinking about floating heads and how to use this concept in a green screen project.

I set up multiple green screens in the library and invited every grade 1, 2, and 3 class in for a quick recording. I used a poem that I always used in my classroom, The Spook Book by an unknown author as the basis of the video. Each class practiced their line and we then did a quick recording. All the green screen clips were finally added to iMove where the captions and music were added.

Using the app Green Screen by DoInk we created a spooktacular Halloween video. Enjoy the video below. All the floating heads are adorable and not too scary!

Meet the Members of the HelpDesk

 We having been using google classroom for all our assignments and here is today's work.

The HelpDesk today explored the FREE site RECAP. 

Students explain their thinking on video.

This site gives students the opportunity to record them self as they answer the assigned question.

Why are you excited about HelpDesk?

MASSCUE 2016

I had the pleasure of attending my first  MASSCUE conference this October. We traveled to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA which was another first for me. Many of the sessions were held in the luxury boxes with spectacular views of the field. This 2 day experience provided me with so many new learning opportunities that I am excited to share with students and teachers.

Some of my MASSCUE highlights:
Meeting Karen Miller (again) from DoInk Green Screen. She always inspires me.
Playing with the Animating and Drawing App from DoInk in action
Learning about EDTV from Plymouth Schools
Coding with Swift Playground
Chatting with Matt from Apple who has come Steward School for a regional meeting in the past
Seeing the PBS Media Learning capabilities and extensions
Discovering Ways to personalize chromebooks
Learning how to integrate Google forms with Google maps
Meeting many, many vendors
Using many of the new interactive display boards
Exploring prodigygame.com for math
Visiting the BrainPop booth
Seeing new ideas from Scholastic
Chatting with Jeff from Read and Write
Meeting Jim from CDW where we received our chromebooks last year

Received numerous swag!

What a great time!

Meet The Help Desk

I am thrilled to announce that Proctor School has its first Student Help Desk!

After applying digitally to become a member of the HelpDesk we had our first meeting this week.
Click here to see the application. Help Desk Application
This dedicated group of fifth and sixth grade students are eager to learn and share technology skills with the Proctor School Community.

The goal of this group is to provide practical, time saving tips for students and teachers as they become experts in google applications and our iPad foundational apps. We also will be exploring creative ways to integrate the iPad to help engage and motivate users as they share concepts taught in class.
Congratulations to the 2016-2017 HelpDesk Members!

Life is Good

The Tri Town Schools and Communities are all reading the book Life is Good by Bert and John Jacobs. How to Live with Purpose and Enjoy the Ride is the major theme of this enjoyable and thought provoking book. To see all that is happening follow the TriTown Reads on twitter @TriTownReads

The month of October is dedicated to CREATIVITY.

Here is your challenge:

Let's all...

Here is a squiggle. Click to download a copy.

What do you see?

Either digitally or with paper and coloring tools create something with this squiggle.
Add a short caption.

Send your digital creations or photos of your drawing to Paula Klipfel  pklipfel@topsfieldps.org

At the end of the month I will create a digital art gallery of all the submissions.

Have Fun!

All About Me in First Grade

It is a wonderful experience when students make new friends and learn about each other.  Mrs. Gouzie's First Grade Class has been working on a social studies unit "all About Me". They have been talking about how they are all special and different. Their first task was to bring in a bag with 5 small items that are important to them.

Drawing a self portrait was next.
Check out the colorful display outside their room.

During the writing block students wrote a short script about them-self.
Using the app Chatterpix students then recorded their descriptive work telling All About Me.


Click on the iMovie below to visit with Mrs. Gouzie's First Grade Stars.

Hi I am...

Global Read Aloud 2016

Global Read Aloud officially begins Oct. 3, 2016.
Both Steward School and Proctor School will be participating in this event again this year.
There are over 890,000 students participating from all over the globe. The premise of this global project is to have students read one book and make connections, often with the aid of technology.

With a BIG thank you to a grant from our parent organization, TESPTO, students in kindergarten, grade 1 and grade 2 will be reading books illustrated by Lauren Castillo.
Grade 3-6 students will be reading PAX by Sara Pennypacker.