Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Steward School! On the day before vacation we took out the green screen and used the app Green Screen by DoInk for some fun photos! Click on the video below and get ready to smile. Be on the lookout for hidden pictures.

Tech Tip:

Set up the green screen and take a class picture with students sitting down.

Have background pictures saved to you camera roll on your iPad.

Open the app Green Screen by DoInk. 

Lower level place the background image.

Middle Level place the class picture.

Pinch to size in the spot you want.

For fun app smash with a writing app. I use explaineverything.

Add the the top level for class name or date.
Pinch and place where you want the added detail.
Check out this google doc with picture directions.

Family Recipes From Mrs. Boucher's Class

Right before Thanksgiving Mrs. Boucher had the idea of collecting family recipes from her students. For homework, students were asked to bring in a copy of the recipe, as well as a picture.

Using google docs, students wrote the recipes and then copied them into the app Book Creator.

 This led to the creation of a class family recipe book.

You can also find these recipes on the students' kidblog pages. 

They would love it if you visited and left them a comment.

Click on the image below for the ibook version of their recipe book which is accessible on an iPad in either book creator or ibooks.

Click on the image below for the PDF version.

Tech Tip:

When opening the digital book on your device you will get this message.

Choose either Open in iBooks or Book Creator. 

Hour of Code Student Work

Here are a few examples of programs students created during the Hour of  Code. 

Beware!

 Up is not always Up

and

 Left is not always Left.

Enjoy!

Matt's Program

Tom S's. Program

Daniel's Program

Tom M.'s Program

Hour of Code

Do you want to watch students actively engaged in their own learning?

Do you want to see students solve complex problems based on what they learn from their failures?

Do you want to see students explore computer science?

The Answer~

Introduce the Hour of Code!

"During Computer Science Education Week, which runs from Dec. 7 to Dec. 13, more than 184,000 schools and programs worldwide will host Code.org’s “Hour of Code,” an initiative to show K-12 students that computer science can be fun."

The laptops, iPads, and computers were very busy this week as students at Steward School and Proctor School joined others around the world solving problems while working on the Hour of Code. 

Students in grades 2 and 3 began with the Classic Maze with "Angry Birds" chasing the Pig.

Students in grades 4 and 5 were given the option of "Minecraft", "Star Wars" or "Frozen".

MassTLC sent us this poster and pins for everyone!

The Challenge was to work to complete the program and then to go on and create your own game.

Daniel accepted the challenge. Click the picture below to play his game.

Here is a little picture collage of all that was happening this week~ 

View on Flipagram

The Northeast Region~Google Style

How do you take advantage of all the wonderful features found in google for education? As a teacher it is always the challenge to have students expand on their learning. Mrs. Murphy had her class work together to create one classroom slide presentation to showcase the northeast region of the United States. A group of 2 or 3 students were responsible for the information on one part of the final project. The project was initially shared and then students added their group's information.  Here is their final presentation on The Northeast Region. I look forward seeing what this innovative class thinks of for the next region they study.

When working together it takes a lot of cooperation and collaboration on everyone's part. Here is where google scores Big Time! These fourth grade students collaborated via google comments. Check the excerpt below from their shared work. Did you notice the time that Mrs. Murphy and these students were commenting? The ability of  working with Google for Education opens the learning beyond the school day. These students were invested and happily worked from home to complete their assignment.

We Visited Nebraska

Mrs. Gibbas' fourth grade students traveled over 1366 miles via skype to visit with Mrs. Hamilton's fourth grade class from Elkhorn Valley Schools in Tilden, Nebraska

Both classes played a game of Mystery Skype and asked yes or no questions to narrow down where in the world each class was located. The questions were thoughtful and used a lot of geography vocabulary.  Some of our questions: Is your state east of the Mississippi River? Does your state border the state of Nebraska?  Is your state north of Kansas? Are you located in the western region?
Both classes guessed the other location within one question of each other.

After our skype visit the students had time to ask and answer questions.

We found out that their mascot if the falcon.

Their school goes to grade 12.

There are only 1000 people in their town.
They had snow on Monday and Tuesday this week.
The live in the central time zone which is one hour behind us.

President Gerald Ford was born in Nebraska.

KoolAid was invented in Nebraska.

Chimney Rock is a landmark in the western part of the state.

  

Take a Trip With These Explorers

Mrs. Nicholson's Fifth Grade Class went on a journey together. During their unit on world explorers, they also explored the new territory of google slides. Working in small groups, students researched an explorer and then worked in google slides as a collaborative group to create a presentation to share with the class. Take a peek at these new discoveries.

Happy Thanksgiving

This week in our blogging class we introduced the website Padlet to the teachers in our class.  This website resembles a bulletin board  but it is hung on the internet wall. It is an easy and engaging way to gather and share knowledge. 

Mrs. Gibbas created a padlet for her students to answer the question... What are you thankful for?  Visit her padlet and be sure to leave a note.

Miss Reid and Mr. Kilham also used padlet and asked the question, What do you know about maps? Click on their name above and visit their class padlet.

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Grade 4 Teddy Bears

The Grade 4 students sent their teddy bears off on their journey discovering all parts of the United States and maybe even beyond. 

You can follow their adventures by checking out the Proctor Fourth Grade Teddy Bear Blog.

Teddy Bears are comfortable and tucked into their new homes waiting for the US Postal truck to arrive.

Using google sheets students will be tracking the bears' destinations.
 Click on the graph below to see their data.

New this year~ Introducing
 Techie Bear

Techie Bear even has his own blog. He wants to see outside your front door. Click on his picture above for directions on how to submit your own front door picture.

The form below is a new digital way for the grade 4 students to discover the USA. Use the scroll bar on the right to see the entire form. Thank you for your time.
Click HERE for the direct link to this form.

Personal Narrative with a Halloween Treat

Mrs. Madden's class took a twist to their personal narrative writing.  Students wrote stories about Halloween and then added their own creative touches.

After creating illustrations for the beginning, middle, and end of the story, students used the iPad to take pictures.

Mrs. Madden helped students edit and record their story in the app Book Creator.

Click on the personal narrative tales below. Be prepared to be entertained.

Steward School New Media Center

Over the summer the Steward School Library had a makeover. A lot of helpers (mostly Mrs. DeFrank, the librarian) moved all those books and shelves out of the library. There were boxes everywhere. Have you ever thought about how many books are in a library?
LOTS and LOTS! 

New Carpet was put in place and bookshelves were rearranged.
We even ended up with this lovely little corner.

Using a few of the extra lunchroom tables we created a new Media Center.
Can you spot the new laptop cart in the back?

Mrs. McCarthy's Second Graders came in to try out this new inviting space.

We talked about our next steps.  
Maybe some new curtains and plants would look nice in here.
Do you have any suggestions to help make this space even cozier?

Mrs. Ford's Friends Share Their Personal Narratives

Second Graders in Mrs. Ford's class have been working on writing personal narratives. Students brainstormed how to narrow their ideas down just like the "seed of a watermelon".

Mrs. Ford helps students edit their stories.

After creating a hard copy of their colorful illustrations, students used the iPad to take a picture of their picture. We even learned how to edit the photos.

Using the app Book Creator the final recording was completed.

Here are the digital versions of these hard working students' personal narratives.

Bar Models

Part II of Grade 4 Math Videos Mrs. Steinberg once again held an informational meeting for parents to explain bar modeling and how to help at home.

Watch the video below and draw the bars along with Mrs. Steinberg.
Here is another video to help explain how to solve problems using bar modeling.

Test Drive With Google Drive

Students in Mrs. Boucher's grade 5 class took a Test Drive with some of the features in google drive. First they logged into their google for education account and found the view only document in their Shared With Me Folder. They Made a Copy and then were able to edit the document as their own. We even made colored folders to help find documents even easier.

Proctor School will host an Open House soon and this document will be turned into a QR Code for visitors so they may learn more about us.

Happy Knowvember!

Scan this QR code to Know More about me!

Tech Tip:

There is a google extension that creates a QR code directly in google.

Animal Adaptations with a Digital Twist

Grade 4 students in Mrs. Lampe's class have been engrossed in the study of animal adaptations. Students took this knowledge and created an animal of their own, incorporating adaptations into this new species. After filling in a graphic organizer, students used the app ExplainEverything to bring this new animal to life.

Click on the projects below to learn more about these new creatures.

Tech Tip: Students saved their projects in their google for education account and then shared the document with their teachers. Google docs then gives the user a code to embed the projects on their blog.