Eye on Topsfield Episode 1

Sixth grade students eagerly took on the task of creating the first episode of Eye on Topsfield. Students planned, wrote scripts, invited guests, rehearsed, and filmed this episode with the theme of Nutrition.
In this video you will meet Mr. Braden, director of food services for the Tri-Town Schools, Mrs. LeBlanc from Proctor School Kitchen, Mrs. Meehan, physical education teacher, and a few members of the Proctor Staff.

Special Thanks:
All the interviewers and interviewees.
Gabby who drew The Eye on Topsfield logo.
All filming was done by 6th grade students: Gabby, Katelyn, Tim, Alessandro, and Tea

Click on the video below to see Episode 1: Nutrition

Stay tuned for future episodes. If there is something special you would like to know more about let us know.  Leave a comment or send an email. Tech Tip: The news studio was created in explaineverything for the traveling sign and greenscreen by Doink. All clips were added in iMovie.

Favorite Recipes

Mrs. Elli's fifth grade students would like to share their favorite recipes. Be prepared to be hungry after looking at their recipe book. Bon Appetit!

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

Click on the image below for the video version. Listen to students introduce their recipe. Scroll through the images 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. 

Travel Through a Nonfiction Book

.Mrs. Corliss' third grade has been exploring nonfiction text features and the ways they help readers comprehend text. This project began as a google doc where students wrote their original scripts. One of the features that helped prepare them was including the picture in the document that was going to be their background in a greenscreen video. We also added a face to the image in google drawings so students could visualize their gestures as they rehearsed their lines.

Jump into a nonfiction book with Mrs. Corliss' third grade class.

Postcards From the Southwest

I love postcards! Over the years I have collected postcards from family, friends, and students. I have quite a collection. They help me dream of places near and far. Places I have traveled to and those I some day hope to visit. Earlier this year the fourth grades sent a teddy bear on a journey around the USA. Each classroom has a large collection on postcards hanging on a board. When I am in these rooms I often pause and look at all the places I have been.

Mrs. Lampe's Collection of postcards

My fascination with postcards and the study of the southwest region was a perfect match and led Mrs. Lampe's class to a Postcard Project. Click on the pictures below to enjoy these "Live" Postcards. Tech Tip: Practice, Practice, Practice is the key to a successful project. We used the camera on the iPad to film each clip in front of the green screen. Then using the app Green Screen by Doink we created each clip with the appropriate background and saved these to the camera roll. Using the app explain everything we compiled each video on the state page. Using google drive for our storage gives us get the embed code for this blog.

The Chromebooks Have Arrived!

Words cannot express the deep level of gratitude to TEF (Topsfield Educational Foundation) for their recent grant approval of 25 chromebooks plus a cart for storage to the students at Proctor School.

As Proctor School teachers and students are becoming familiar with all things google, the demand for devices that allows them to work in the cloud has increased more and more each week. This new set of 25 chromebooks will get a lot of use at Proctor School by our student 21st century experts.

Thank You TEF!

Mrs. Murphy's class helps unveil the new cart of chromebooks.

Tech Tips~

Some of the benefits of working with Google chromebook:
Log in to your account is very quick, 8 seconds to boot up.
Long battery life, 13 hours~ all day!
The chromebook is light and easy to transport.

Students can work collaboratively anywhere which improves the writing process.

Amazing Presentations can be made on any topic, anywhere.

Research can occur right within the document.

Nofiction Features Make the News!

Mrs. Jordan and her third grade students have recently completed a study on nonfiction features. Text features helps the reader make sense of their reading. The Common Core English Language Arts: Reading~ Informational Text Strand for Grades 1-5 states: Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text. 

After the study of text features was complete, students wrote their individual scripts for their text feature segment for the highly anticipated Team Jordan News greenscreen production.

News room image created in the app explain everything

Using the app explaineverything we first created the personalized set for Team Jordan News. The next step was to record each student's segment in front of the big green screen. 
The fun began when the video clips were placed in the GreenScreen by DoInk app. This app allows three layers of video and images. Bottom layer held the background image of the News Room, the text feature image was placed in the center layer, and the video segment was placed in the top layer. With a little adjusting, the images were lined up for the perfect final effect.
Click on the video below to see Nonfiction on the Team Jordan News.

Common Core Standards for Grade 3:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.5
Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7
Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur)

Google + Google Forms = Magic

Teachers are enjoying creating tests using google forms.

Students are enjoying taking tests using google forms.

Grade three students recently completed a unit of study on Matter. 

Together teachers and I worked on creating a digital form of this test. We loved using google forms. One test was created and shared with all the teachers. Very Easy!

This is a picture of the teacher view. Do you know the answer to the first question?
The plus sign on the right is how new questions are added.

A few classes took the test on the laptops and some used the iPads. The nicest part is it doesn't matter which device is used because forms works on all devices.

The MAGIC begins when teachers want to grade the tests!

Google Forms creates a spreadsheet with all the data.

With the Add-on Flubaroo, teachers click GRADE Assignment, select the answer sheet, and POOF all the work is done for them.

MAGIC!