Vocabulary

Mrs. Boucher's Fifth Graders are reading the book Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms. 

"S. Horten as if his name isn't bad enough, now 10-year-old Stuart is forced to move far away from all his friends."  This book is full of some challenging vocabulary.
Watch an interview with author Lissa Evans.
 
Also, watch Mrs. Boucher's educreations to see how the students portrayed some of the vocabulary words.   The students had a lot of fun planning this project.

  

On Line Math League

 Early one morning I dropped in on the Online Math League Second Grade Group who had arrived before school for some math fun with Mrs. Sewall.  When I suggested the iPads and math, smiles were everywhere.  These students used the iPads to show their work in very creative ways.  It was enjoyable listening to their discussions as to how they worked through the problems.  I always learn a new way to solve a math problem when I work with students.

 

Try to solve a few of their problems:

 

1.  Clare loves stuffed animals.  She has 13 stuffed cats, 9 stuffed dogs, 18 stuffed teddy bears, and 11 other stuffed animals.  How many stuffed animals does she have in all?

 

2.  There are 22 students in Mrs. Turner's class.  13 of those students are girls.  How many are boys?

 

   

Stories on Line

Using picture books in the classroom is a lot of fun.  The enjoyment students show is priceless.

One of my favorite sites is StoryLine Online.  This is a FREE site!
You will find actors reading picture books aloud.  I have used this site for both whole class and small group work.  One of the popular books is The Polar Express read by Lou Diamond Phillips.

 

Another site is We Give Books.    This is a FREE site!

We Give Books is a new digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online. 

 

 

New Students

 

When I set up my classroom in the fall I always planned for a new student from day 1.  I kept an extra desk in my classroom that I added to my class seating arrangement.  This desk belonged to "Mr. Nobody".  Everyone loved to sit next to" Mr. Nobody".  Sometimes we even had a "Miss Nobody".  In that desk I would store all the materials I passed out to my class during the first month of school.  I was then prepared for a new student who may arrive during the course of the year without hunting around my room.  This saved me lots of time and made life just a little easier.

Mrs. Jordan has a new student coming to join her class next week.  Her class made this educreations to help introduce Steward School and Mrs. Jordan to her new student.  What a nice welcome this will be.

           

Fourth Grade Blog

The Fourth Grade at Proctor School has started a blog for their Teddy Bears.  Please visit their site to check out all the marvelous journeys their bears are having.  Be sure to leave them a comment.  Bears have feelings too!   http://proctorgrade4.blogspot.com/  

*Tech Tip:  How to insert google maps into your Blog.

Go to google maps

Enter your destination in the top search box.

Click on the link icon in the top left, next to the print icon.

Select either web address or HTML code.

The HTML code allows the image to be seen on your blog.

Go back to your blog draft and switch to HTML, found next to compose.

Paste in your HTML code wherever you would like the image to appear.

**Tricky Part.  I like my pictures centered on the page.

Align your widget to center

Enter the following code before and after your HTML

< div align="center">
Your widget code here...
</center>



     

Pine Glen Elementary School

I went on a Field Trip.

Mrs. DeFrank, our school librarian, and I went to visit Pine Glen Elementary School in Burlington.  Principal John Lyons, a former colleague of ours, gave us the grand tour.  We interacted with teachers and students in all grades as they warmly welcomed us into their classrooms.  We saw technology in use everywhere.

Kindergarten students were dancing to the Nutcracker as they prepared for a field trip.  (oh, so cute)

First Graders were working in centers.  Some were on iPads, while others were on the smartboard.  One class had an iPad menu for each day of the week with pictures of Apps for the day.

Third Graders were editing Fractured Fairy Tales on the iPads using Popplet, Drawing Pad and Book Creator.  I was so impressed I am going to recommend those Apps for our iPads.

Fifth Graders were researching using Discovery Streaming.

QR (quick response) codes were posted outside classrooms that allow anyone to scan them for access to class blogs.  I was inspired, so I made my own.

Both the Librarian and Technology Specialist took time from their busy schedules to share the amazing things happening at the warm and cozy Pine Glen Library and Technology Center.  We saw students using ipods to look up books, chrome books as search tools, parent volunteers checking out books, a lab with a green screen in place for videos, interactive white boards, a cart of iPads and smiling students dropping in for help.   

We left Pine Glen really inspired.  A special thank you to Mr. Lyons, Mrs. D'Elia and Mr. Callahan.  We had a wonderful visit.

     

Technology Showcase

We had our first Parent Technology Night this week.

It was a night of sharing all the work teachers and students have been doing to implement technology across all areas of the curriculum in our schools.

The Smartboard, iPads, and my new Apple TV (thanks to TESPTO) were on display. 

A Special Thank You to Billy, Harrison, Iris, Olivia, Ryan, Caleb, Alec, and Samantha, our student experts who shared their knowledge! You all made the night fun.

A Special Thank You to all the parents who also visited.
 

Haiku Deck was the chosen app to create a PowerPoint presentation.  It worked wonderfully.
 

     Haiku Deck is the best application for creating presentations on iPad  

Apple TV

An Apple For The Teacher...

An Apple TV that is! 

No, it's not really a big TV.  It's a little black box that connects my iPad and the students' iPads to the smartboard with an HDMI cable.  I am in love.  It does take a little getting use to because now you don't need to be standing at the front of the room.  At first, I found myself still wanting to walk to the front to write on the smartboard but I quickly adjusted my teaching.  Your iPad goes with you around the room and your work is still on display.  It was an inspiring moment. Students were still working while I could interact with anyone in the class at a moment's notice.  I could adjust the work as I checked in with students.  Some students got an extra hint while others got an extra problem.  This allows students to work at their own levels simultaneously.

This week Third and Fifth Graders worked on math in the library where I connected my new Apple TV.  The Third Graders have been working on Bar Modeling to show subtraction problems.
They worked in their Math in Focus workbooks and also showed their knowledge on the iPad.  The fun part was the sharing.  With Apple TV, students have the ability to display their work and share their thinking.



The Fifth Graders were working on adding and subtracting Fractions.  They worked the problem on their individual iPads and then they became the teacher when they shared their work.  It was exciting watching the students get excited about turning their iPads on to mirror their work and become the teachers.

**Tech Tip:  Connect the Apple TV with an HDMI cable to the projector.  For an older projector you will need an adapter.

For the new smartboards change to HDMI.  (this is the button next to the sound)

Make sure all the iPads are on the same wireless network.

Double tap the Home Button on the iPad. 

Slide the bottom dock until you see the AirPlay button. 

Select Apple TV and turn mirroring on. 

Presto!  Your iPad is on display.

Be sure to tell the students that they need to wait to be asked to share.