Hour of Code

Hour of Code

Topsfield students had a great time coding this month.
Code.org lets~

Anyone, anywhere code with an Hour of Code. 

One-hour tutorials in over 45 languages. 

No experience needed.
Ages 4 to 104.
We called it Hours of Code.
Students explored many sites during Library classes and in their Classrooms.

Teachers and guests problem solved right along side of students.

Try some coding for yourself.
Remember to use problem-solving strategies to help.
Here are a few activities to explore.

Hour of Code K-2

Hours of Code 3+



Click below for a Recap of Students' Creativity, innovation, and coding skills.

October Happenings

October was filled with digital fun!

Kindergarten students listened to the story Go Away Big Green Monster and then created their own Big Green Monster. Using the app ChatterPix we brought these monsters to life.
Listen to these Little Monsters talk!


Grade 2 explored Google Slides.
Students added their own description of their Halloween Costume. They even found clip art to add to their slide.
Click below for their adjective filled writing.


Grade 3 students also explored Google Slides. Working collaboratively all the students added their name to a slide in live time. They had fun watching multiple names appear.
Click through Would You Rather? Where would you add your name?


Build a Jack O Lantern
This Google Slides introduced students to copy and paste to create their design. They then added a descriptive paragraph about their new friend.

MA Stem Week

MA Stem Week

October 22-26 is MA STEM Week, a new initiative sponsored by Governor Baker to spark student interest and knowledge. He is asking educators at all grade levels to participate by planning lessons, events, and activities focused on science, technology, engineering, and math throughout the week.
This may be anything from nature walks, problem-solving STEM activities, creating (legos, blocks, recycled materials) to more in-depth curriculum based projects.

I created a  MA STEM Week Choice Board with digital ideas.

Students have been exploring many creative and innovative projects this week.

Click below to see CS first projects Animate Your Name created by the Proctor School Help Desk.

Animal Habitats

Grade 2 explored Habitats in a new fun, engaging, creative way!

After spending time researching and note taking, students were tasked with sharing their knowledge.
A choice board allowed groups to select their own end product.
Students worked collaboratively in small groups to choice and design their project. Many different options were given and students were creative throughout the process .

Here is a short video of the Big Expo students put on for the school.


Click on Mrs. McCarthy's Class Projects below.

GreenScreen/iMovie

Google Slides

Book Creator

  Google Slides

Dioramas

For the BIG EXPO students showcased their digital work with QR codes.
Scan the codes below to see Mrs. Ragan's Class projects.

Scan the QR codes to Mrs. Ford class Projects.

Oh Canada!

Students in Mrs. Gibbas' Class have been researching and learning more about our neighbor to the north, Canada.

Today we had a Mystery visit with a grade 5 class 5 hours/345 miles away at Townsview School, New Brunswick, Canada.

Because of Technical Difficulties we had to use whiteboards to ask our questions,

Students were actively engaged and used problem solving strategies to guess where they were.

We also had technical difficulties as they had never done this before and had no sound.

Solutions:

Use whiteboards and head nods to communicate.

Use a phone to call and listen to audio while looking at the image on the screen.

We tracked our answers to help figure out their location.

Students are continuing their connection by using FlipGrid to ask and answer new questions.
Click on the link below to view their answers.

Nonfiction Text Features

Nonfiction books often fascinate students. They love learning new interesting facts and get excited to share them.
Text features help us to learn more from the text.
Mrs. Corliss' Class jumped right into their nonfiction books both literally and figuratively with the help of the app GreenScreen by Doink.

Click on the video below to learn more about nonfiction text features.

BioPoems

BioPoems
Students in Mrs. Surprise's Class have been busy studying and writing poetry this month.
After researching a famous person they took these new facts and wrote Bio Poems from the point of view of the person they researched.
Their artistic ability was evident as students drew a detailed picture to represent the famous profile.
Using the chatterpix app, students recorded these poems from the first person of the famous person.

Mrs. Surprise helps prepare chatterpix recording.

I have 30 seconds to fluently read my poem.

I took a picture and now I am ready to record my poem.

Click on the video below to hear all these famous people.

Tech Tips:
Use a template of a BioPoem to help students prepare their poem.
Having students practice reading fluently before the recording makes the final product better.
Students record on individual iPads and airdrop to the one iPad for the final compilation in iMovie.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to Everyone!

Students in Mrs. Ford's Class had some fun celebrating their mothers this week.
The task was to use FlipGrid to record all the ways Mom is special. The challenge was to get Mom to take a selfie at the end.

The next step was to take these lovely touching videos and add them to Book Creator to create a class Mother Memory book.
Click on the link below to find out how special these Moms are.

Happy Mother's Day

Click to read this book, made with Book Creator

https://read.bookcreator.com

Grade 3 students shared their reasons to FlipGrid about their special mothers as well.
When added to Book Creator you also have the ability to share as a video to Google Drive.
Click below to see Kailyn's Mother's Day Card.


Tech Tip:
In FlipGrid Admin page you have the ability to download individual videos. 
These were added to Google Drive.
On the iPad open Drive click the 3 dots and open in Book Creator.
Open Book Creator. Click the + find shared media to add.
Add background color, pictures and videos.

Grid Pals

First Graders in Mrs. Dunn's and Mrs. Pickul's Classes from Topsfield have been writing to the First Graders in Miss Klipfel's and Mrs. Higgins' Classes from Middleton.
The students have shared letters, cards and notes all throughout the year. These students are excited to meet one another in June for the first time.

These pen pals have now become FlipGrid #GridPals. This is a fun way for the students to connect with one another digitally.

Click on the FlipGrids below to see their video notes to one another.

Mystery Skype

We love Mystery Skype!
Team Gibbas had the fun experience of visiting another school using skype. Mystery skype is a problem solving activity played much like 20 questions.

Materials ready for our skype visit

Students ask questions that begin with the Big Idea first. Are you in North America? Is your state east of the Mississippi River? Then as we narrow it done we become more specific. Does your state border Canada?
We traveled 1,473 miles from Proctor Elementary School in Massachusetts. to Mize Elementary School in Kansas.

Everyone has a job to make help solve the mystery

Students are also planning on sharing their experience on the FlipGrid below. Check out their questions and reponses How can you use technology to foster collaboration, generate solutions and make informed decisions in order to successfully solve a problem?

I "Mustache" You a Question

As part of our Math in Focus Curriculum and the Common Core State Standards, students learned how to organize, represent and interpret data. After learning about picture graphs, Mrs. Ragan's Second graders put these skills to the test and created their own Google Form. We discussed what a good survey question looks like and what kind of data we wanted to collect. Our first step was to create a question to ask peers and the Steward School Community. Students came up with everything from favorite flavor ice cream, sport, places to visit and even if you were superintendent.

Students (with mustaches on) walked around the school and asked school members to answer their survey and help them collect data.

Once data was collected, students opened their Google Forms and instantly turned their data into pie charts. Afterwards, we analyzed and interpreted our information and added it to a shared google slides presentation.

Click below to see our work.

And the Survey Says...

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.MD.D.10
Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph.

Tech Tip;
After creating the google form have students go to settings and allow others to answer the form by unchecking restricted to students from your domain.
Create a QR code for access on the iPad without log in.
Create a shared google slides for all students to access and analyze their data.

Dr. Seuss World Read Aloud

I was fortunate enough to take part in a shared global read aloud of Dr. Seuss' book Oh, the Places You'll Go

To enjoy new friends from around the world and the pages from the story, click the video link below. Distance traveled from cover to last page:  1,187,708 km or 738,007.536 miles!!


SafeShare.tv - Flipgrid #WORLDReadAlouds: Oh, the Place...

Book Trailers

Reading in small Book Groups led Mrs. Kelleher's Class to the creation of iMovie Book Trailers.

Students were given a choice of  reading books as part of their class reading assignment and this then led to the formation of small reading groups. When the students had finished their books, each group was given the task of sharing their understanding of the main idea from the book.

After a discussion of the book and the main idea, the students first planned out the book trailers using a template for the layout. They then used the iMovie app and the Doink app on the iPads to create their photos and videos for inserting into iMovie.

Click below to view these Must Read Book Movie Trailers.

Light, Camera, Create!

Eating Fried Worms
Hatchet
Hatchet
Rules
Rules
Skinnybones
Trouble With Tuck

Tech Tip:

Have students plan out the layout and design of the iMovie trailers before they begin inserting in the app. Keeping a list of photos helps facilitate the process.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.1.A
Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.5
Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

Topsfield Meterologists Reporting Live

Students in Topsfield will be using their reporting and science skills to keep us up to date on the storm.

Graphing with Forms

Graphing has always been a great activity for collecting data. Students discussed what makes a good survey question as a class. Then Grade 3 students were introduced to Google Forms. Each student created their own google form with their individual survey questions. The next step was to add all the links to a shared google doc for easy student access in their Google Classroom. Students then responded to each others' survey questions. The magic of google forms is that a google sheet is then created with the click of a button. As students explored the different graphs, colors, sizes, etc. they created the type of graph that best showcased their data. Students then copied their graph and added it to a shared google slides also found in their Google Classroom.  But wait...the data was then analyzed and students wrote about what their graph data shows.
The results are below.

Click through the slides to see the graphs and analysis.

Click below for Mrs. Corliss' Class Data

Click below for Mrs. Jordan's Class Data 

Represent and interpret data.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.B.3
Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve one- and two-step "how many more" and "how many less" problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs. For example, draw a bar graph in which each square in the bar graph might represent 5 pets.

Tech Tip:
Using Google classroom is an easy way to provide all students with the necessary link to the shared documents.
It is best to pre-populate the shared Google Slide with students' names as they learn how to work in a shared document.
Another trick is for students to create their work on the slide number that corresponds to their number in class. (ABC)

The Day the Crayons Quit!

Over the past few weeks in Writer’s Workshop students in grade 2 have been working on opinion writing. They worked with an O.R.E.O. graphic organizer to make sure the reasons and opinions matched, and that strong feeling words were used to strengthen their opinion.

The FREE Chatterpix app was used to bring this project to life! 

Using ipads, students drew a personified picture of their crayon and recorded their voice reading their opinion why they are the best color. 

Check out our projects below!

Click on the video below to listen to Mrs. McCarthy's crayons as they try to persuade you.

Click on the video below to hear Mrs. Ford's Crayons Persuasive Arguments
Tech Tip: Have students use the $ app drawing pad or drawing box to create a digital crayon and include other drawing of things in their writing. The FREE app Chatterpix allows drawing to come to life. Remember there is a 30 second limit in this app.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Steward School had a grand celebration for Dr. Seuss Day!

Read Across the World

Join other readers Around the World by adding your favorite book on this shared FlipGrid. Please leave your town and state in the title. Click on the green + to begin recording your "shelfie" message.

Skype in the Classroom Author Visit

Students had a unique experience today skyping with Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver the authors of the Here's Hank series.

For 30 minutes these 2 authors shared the adventure they go on as they write these very funny books based a lot on Henry Winkler's experiences. They both inspired us to have the courage to try and to accept who we are.

 Selfie time:

Henry and Lin:

"There are so many ways to get your ideas out there -- tell it to your parents or teacher and have them write it down. Record it with a tape recorder. Act it out! You could SING your story!" - HW


Henry and Lin:

"A friend introduced us and when I heard Henry's personal story and his struggles, we knew we had to write a book with a character like him who was funny, resourceful and amazing." - LO

One more thing: Roald Dahl’s Imaginormous Challenge has returned for 2018. Today, the search for five golden ticket winners begins. Students across the U.S. ,aged five to 12, are invited to submit 100-word stories for the chance to win prizes related to creative storytelling. Entries will be open for three months until 1st May 2018.

One golden ticket winner will see their story idea transformed into a Minecraft world, in partnership with Minecraft Education. They will be flown to Seattle with their parent or guardian and work with a team of Minecraft builders and Youtube creator Stacyplays, transforming their story idea into a playable Minecraft experience for anyone in the world to download and play.

Another golden ticket winner will be flown to Los Angeles and get to work with actor, producer, director and author Henry Winkler and his writing partner, Lin Oliver, to transform their story idea into their very own published short story. To enter, students simply submit their 100-word story idea at imaginormouschallenge.com.

Google Expeditions

Google Expeditions came to Proctor School and every student had the opportunity to take part in a virtual trip to some place or explored some thing. Students were amazed with all the "cool" experiences. Classes were held in both the library and the lab and students had enough room to move around their objects and explore them in greater depth.
"Imagine visiting the bottom of the sea, Buckingham Palace or even the surface of Mars all in an afternoon. With Google Expeditions, teachers can take their classes on immersive virtual journeys to bring their lessons to life." 

The day started with a training for teachers so they could become comfortable with the lesson. Teachers "ooh" and "ahh" as new sights came into view.

Classes had a 30 minute scheduled time slot with teachers as their "tour guides". the Google Expeditions provides guiding instructions as well as leveled questions for the teacher.

The Help Desk Crew had a special additional experience with Google Cardboard.

Take a peek inside

Volcano in action Click on the FlipGrid Link below to hear the students' reactions and reflections to this wonderful experience.
Many teachers made direct connections to the  McGraw-Hill science program when they chose the expedition for their class.
Tech Tip: This program is offered FREE to schools. I encourage you to apply. Application

Mystery Skype to Alaska

Mystery Skype

"The global guessing game that gets kids learning about geography, culture, and the similarities and differences of how children live all over the world."

Fourth Graders in Mrs. Highgas's Class took a Mystery trip today via Skype to Mr. Daniels Class at K-Beach School from Soldotna, Alaska.

After a quick rock, paper, scissors game both schools took turns trying to figure out where the other school was located. We played by asking Yes or No questions to narrow down our answers. They guessed us first but we soon after discovered where they were located as well. We hope to connect again and learn more about them.

K-Beach School is 4,721 miles from Proctor School. 

It was a short trip via skype but it would have taken 14 hours by airplane

Guest Blogger Delaney:

"Today we got to mystery skype with a 5th grade class from Alaska. We all got to ask some great "below the iceberg" questions. From all the questions we asked one of the students in our class guessed where they were and got it right. Some of the things we did well was ask region questions, location questions, and border questions. The class school was K-Beach elementary. There are 400 students and their mascot is the caribou. When we skyped it was 12:35pm in Topsfield, MA but it was 8:35am in Alaska. Overall we had a great skype visit."

Midwest Virtual Tour

When you combine the wonder of student research and the magic of green screen you get an incredible digital product.

Mrs. Kelleher's class researched tourist spots in their research and study of the Midwest.
Click on the map markers to take a virtual tour with her students.

Mrs. Gibbas's Class studied the Southeast Region. Click on her map to see the tourist attractions her students researched.

Weather Reports

Grade Three Students have been exploring the world of weather. After researching and conducting a number of experiments the students became meteorologists.

The module culminates with the students assuming the role of a meteorologist. They research the difference between the weather and the climate in a city, organize it in a chart, and forecast the weather to their class.

Mrs. Burke's and Mrs. Corliss' Classes used the app FlipGrid to present their weather reports!
Click on the links below to see these young meteorologists.