Distracted Driving

*This post was written by Sixth Grade Guest Bloggers Ashley, Sydney, Chloe, and Phoebe. 

This humorous but factual educreations started out as an assignment at school.  We all read our own articles about distracted driving and its consequences from 2008-2011.  Soon after we came together as a group, shared the information we had gathered, and began the educreations project.  We each did our own slide and the final product stressed all the important aspects of distracted driving.  We wouldn't have been able to do this project without the iPads.

 

Guest Bloggers

     

Writing Like Dr. Seuss

Mrs. Martin's Kindergarten Class had a lot of fun writing like Dr. Seuss.  We used the CatCam app and took some zany pictures of the students.  Using the app Drawing Pad, the students first created their drawings on the iPad.  These were saved to the camera roll and then inserted into educreations where the students typed their name and rhyme.  The students' catcam pictures were added for a little extra fun. 

 

 

Click on the link below to enjoy some kindergarten writing.

       

Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!  

After participating in our QR hunt earlier this month, Miss Sideri's First Grade Class helped celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday by selecting their favorite Dr. Seuss book and recording their reasons why.

What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

Click below to hear the First Graders' Book Choices    

**Tech Tip:  The pictures were taken with the app CatCam.  This was a free app offered earlier this month.  The app allows you to take a picture and choose a Dr. Seuss scene. 

Rhyming Words

Rhyming With Dr. Seuss

 

Mrs. O'Brien's kindergarten class has been working on rhyming words and they put together an educreations project to share.  Be quick and click below to see their project.

            Here is a link to a PBS Kids site with rhyming activities.

Click on the picture above for thyming fun.

   

**Tech Tip:

1.  The students drew their pictures on paper.

2.  Using the iPad camera take a picture of each drawing.

3.  Open educreations and insert the picture.

4.  The students used the text tool to add their name and rhyming sentence in educreations.

5.  Using the camera take a picture of each student wearing a Dr. Seuss hat.

6.  In educreations insert the student's picture and then delete it using the X.

7.  While recording tap the back button and the picture will then appear.

 

 

We Give Books

Help We Give Books and LeapFrog give books to Steward School!

Please join members of the Steward School community in this exciting opportunity to earn books for our school library, for FREE! We Give Books and LeapFrog have partnered up to give you and your children the chance to support the important role that school libraries play in the lives of our children, by reading online during Read for My School. Together they are sharing 150,000 books with schools across the country.
      
Read for My School kicks off on March 19, 2013! Our school community will join readers across the nation to read online from We Give Books’ digital library. For each book read on behalf of our school, we will receive a printed LeapFrog book for our school library. 150,000 books will go fast, so register today at ReadForMySchool.org. Once the books are gone, we can keep reading for the chance to receive a visit from the We Give Books ReadMobile for our kids!
We Give Books is available all year, but this is our only chance to earn books directly for our school!

When you register please select Steward Primary School- Topsfield on the settings page.

• Go to the website: www.wegivebooks.org
• Click on Join We Give Books in the top right corner
• Enter your email and password
• Select a school to support during Read for My School
• Select MA
• Select Steward Primary School- Topsfield

Click on the picture to go to the FREE We Give Books website.

   

QR Codes

 The Library and Technology are having a Seussabration!

We are saying Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss all month.
During library period the students created many beautiful decorations for the library to help set the stage for this event.  They created truffula trees, mobiles of Dr. Seuss-like animals, rhyming words of ..at and ..op, and creative scenes on posters.  The library looks very seusstastic!

The Big Plan...
We asked each class to pair with another grade and join us in the library for a Dr. Seuss Scavenger QR Hunt.

Oh the Places They Go...
Posted around the library were 17 QR codes for the students to scan using the iPad QR reader.  We used the app Qrafter.  Working with a partner the students scanned the code which opened the link with the Dr. Seuss question.  Students hunted for the answers around the room in the form of books, posters, and charts.  The collaborative work was exciting to watch.  Excitement was high and the students were very focused!
There was even an answer QR code to scan when all the questions were solved.
Dr. Seuss would have had a lot of fun with this activity.



 

  Try a few of the Dr. Seuss codes on your own iPad or phone.    

 

 

**Tech tip: 

1. The QR codes were created in Google Drive as individual documents. 

2. Allow them to be shared with the link.

3. Take the link url and create a QR code in a free QR creator.   I used Kaywa.

4. Save each QR code as a word document.  Add a speech bubble for some fun.
5. Add a fun picture to go with your theme.

5. Post around the room.
6. Set the iPad QR reader to open on scan. (gear in the top right corner)
7. Watch the fun!

 

Biographies

Come for a visit to Madame Kelleher's Wax Museum, Topsfield location.

 

Fourth Graders have been reading biographies and they decided to open their own Wax Museum. 

 

If you have ever visited a wax museum you know just how real the figures are.  When I visited Madame Tussard's Was Museum in New York City it took a while to adjust to the fact that the famous people really weren't alive because they certainly looked like they were ready to visit and chat with me.  It would have been thrilling to talk with all the presidents. 
Wasn't it nice of President Obama to let me sit at his desk?

 

 

 

Mrs. Kelleher (aka Madame Kelleher) had her students dress up as a famous person and they wrote a detailed account of that person's life.  On the day of the show the students were frozen in place, remember it was a wax museum.  Guests picked up a flashlight and entered the darkened library.  The wax figures became animated when the light was shining on them.  It was so much fun watching these boys and girls share the facts about their famous person.  Each student made eye contact and stayed in character for their entire speech and when done they became frozen once again.

    Click on the link to enter Madame Kelleher's Wax Museum. Free Admisson Enjoy and come back often!      

Fairy Tale Writing

Once Upon A Time while visiting Mrs. Madden's class I shared the First Grade Elements of a Fairy Tale Project.  The Fifth Grade students were so inspired they wrote their very own Fairy Tales. 

When I told the First Graders about this they were so excited and proud of their work.

Now it's time to share the Fifth Grade Fairy Tales with the First Graders.
And They All Lived Happily Ever After.

 



 

Harrison~ The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/harrison-the-three-little-pigs-and-the-big-bad-wol/5872401/?ref=link

Sam~ The Magic Stone
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/sam-the-magic-stone/5870114/?ref=link

Victoria~ Alli's Adventure
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/victoria-alli-s-adventure/5871848/?ref=link

Wyatt~The Golem' Stone
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/wyatt-the-golem-s-stone/5871254/?ref=link

Samantha~ The Quest of Fire
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/samantha-the-quest-of-fire/5871138/?ref=link

Alec~The Three Little Cats

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/alec-the-three-little-cats/5619021/?ref=link

 

Tony~ Get Those Dragons

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/tony-get-those-dragons/5620340/?ref=link

 

Isabella~The Three Little Pigs and the Dragon

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/isabella-the-three-little-pigs-and-the-dragon/5615651/?ref=link

 

Rita~ The Three Steves and the Charged Creeper King

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/rita-three-steve/5612384/?ref=link

 

Eva~ The Fire Breathing Dragon

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/eva-the-fire-breathing-dragon/5610745/?ref=link

 

Olivia~ The Dead Sea Scroll

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/olivia-the-dead-sea-scroll/5608779/?ref=link

 

Charlie~ The Wizard's Apprentice

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/charlie-the-wizard-s-apprentice/5608471/?ref=link

 

Rebecca~The Magic Shoelaces

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/rebecca-magic-shoe-laces/5608208/?ref=link

Matthew~ the Three Little Squirrels and the Enchanted Tree
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/matthew-the-three-little-squirrels/5869425/?ref=link

Stanley~ The Big Bad Teacher and the Three Little Boys
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/stanley-the-big-bad-teacher/5870521/?ref=link

 

Maggie~ The Blue Sea

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/maggie-blue-sea/5608040/?ref=link

 

Alana~ The Three Stockings

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/alana-the-three-stockings/5607694/?ref=link

 

   

Socrative App

Taking a Test can be Fun!

During the month of March the Third Grade students study the properties of matter.  As they were nearing the completion of this science unit I created an assessment using the app Socrative.  This app allows teachers to create a quiz online in socrative teacher.  This may be done on either an iPad or a computer.  The set up was very easy.

On the big day each student had an iPad and signed into the quiz with a code I gave them for this test.  It was a fun way to assess students and it was a fun way to take a test.  The program scores the multiple choice test as the students are working and the teacher receives an excel spread sheet with the results.  Everyone did a great job and had fun.

Click on the app to learn more about socrative.

The final part of the test was a written open response question.  It was fun seeing students work so hard.  One student used the experiment we did together as his open response answer.

 

Kindergarten Writing

I AM...    Students in Mrs. Ragan's kindergarten class have been reading the book I AM America by Charles R. Smith, Jr.  During writing the boys and girls wrote sentences about themselves based on this picture book.  The sentences are simple yet very powerful.  

 

Using the apps drawing pad, photoinword, and educreations they created their very own I Am masterpieces.  These pieces make you stop and think, "What Am I?"

                                     

**Tech Tip:  The app photoinword is an app that allows you to add a photo in a word.   The photo can then be saved in the camera roll and used in other apps.

 

 

Adjectives Are Describing Words

As grade 3 students get ready for the English Language Arts MCAS test this month, teachers are finding ways to reinforce curriculum.  The Common Core Standards state:  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1a  Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.
Mrs. Corliss's Parts of Speech Detectives have been busy again.  The task was to write a sentence and include at least one adjective.  First they used the app drawing pad and created a picture to illustrate their sentence.  We then compiled these sentences into a class educreations project.

How many adjectives do you see in this picture?

Here is their educreations project about adjectives.    

Click on this link for a fun adjective game.