Digital Organization

I am always baffled by how a student’s desk can become disorganized so quickly and their folders a complete mess. Then we became a 1:1 classroom and began using Google Drive more frequently which lessened the mess in their desks, but increased the mess in their Drive. So towards the beginning the pilot we had our students create folders within their Drives to help sort all of the Docs, Presentations and other stuff that they were saving. We even had them create folders within their folders to further organize their work. For example a student would have a folder labeled “writing” and in this folder there was a folder for writing projects, word work, and reflections. In their math folder I had my students create a folder for each unit. In science I had them create folders for the different topics we studied like plants and space.

We then showed them how to move Docs that were shared with them into their folders and delete them from their shared with me folders. We had a really good system of making sure that their Drive was organized and all files were in a folder.

Then we got Hapara. Oh boy. This really messed with our system. We had to have our students put all of their folders that we created into a Hapara folder. (For more information about Hapara Dashboard visit this site). This was done so that we would have access to all of our student’s work without them having to share anything with us. We could also organize and keep tabs on their files. Now that everything was in a folder within a folder within a folder, the students became very confused. Our students continue to move things into folders and stay organized, but to find documents they now use the search bar. With the search bar the students no longer have to click on folder after folder to locate their work. They type in part of the title in the search bar and they can find everything with ease.

Another thing that we had our students do to become digitally organized was create bookmark tabs in their bookmark bar. We went through all of the websites that we use often and had the students add these site to their bookmark bar. Seems like a simple idea and I use the bookmark bar myself, but I never would have thought of having my students use this until Christi mentioned it. It is such a time saver!
Anyways, all this to say there are lots of little things that you can have your students do to personalize and organize their chromebooks and drives to make things faster, easier, and less messy.

Guided Math

This year I have been hearing more and more about the concept of guided math.  Basically, it is similar to guided reading in that students are broken into smaller math groups and given direct instruction in those small groups. They then work on independent activities that reinforce the lesson taught, or review material taught previously.  After hearing teachers from a school in the district present how they are doing guided math, I knew this was something that would greatly improve the math lessons in my classroom.  

The Chromebooks have been an integral part of implementing this program.  We have used them for students to create digital logs of their learning by taking pictures of the fractions they created, for students to watch and respond to videos on topics we have taught, with IXL to review skills, and to create documents that extend their learning by applying it to real-life scenarios.  When starting the 1:1 pilot, math was an area I thought would be a stretch for using the Chromebooks in my classroom.  Boy, was I wrong!  The resources available on the Chromebook give us the ability to greatly differentiate the activities students are doing in the classroom.  What I have loved is seeing all of the different activities going on in the classroom during math, and the high level of engagement students have for the activities they are participating in, whether digital, hands-on, or something in between!

Olympic Projects

The Olympics are one of my favorite events, both summer and winter.  Beyond that, it is an event that unites us around the world, and provides a unique learning opportunity that only comes around every 4 years for us educators (unless the summer Olympics are late!).  To celebrate this event, our classes worked with a partner to complete an Olympic Presentation on one country competing in the Winter Olympics.

In the project, students created a presentation containing facts about their country, a graph of the athletes participating in different events, a medal count graph, and mini-biographies on an Olympian.

The BEST part of this project was the enthusiasm my students had for it.  Every day, the students were bursting to share what they had seen in the Olympic broadcasts from the night before.  Some couldn't even wait until school! The weekend after the Opening Ceremonies I started receiving Edmodo messages telling me all they had seen already! On top of our school subjects, they learned so much about sportsmanship along the way - we had such candid discussions of how different athletes reacted to their wins and loses, and how those athletes handled things well or could have handled things better.  Without thinking about the academics of it, our students were writing reports, creating and comparing picture graphs, and studying countries around the world!

To end our project, students presented to the class.  We discussed this presentation skill - that we really shouldn't read right from our pages, and came up with the facts that would be most important to share.  We made a list to display and each group shared just key facts, elaborating when classmates had questions.  We were sad when the Olympics ended!

Seed Vocabulary QR Board

As we were growing our plants during the life science unit, we were reading about how plants grow and there were several vocabulary words that the students needed to understand to be able to fully comprehend how seeds grow. So instead of giving them a list of the words and asking them to define each,  I decided to provide them with an opportunity to engage in an inquiry project using multimedia resources.

I provided them with different resources about plants and seeds and asked them to find a vocabulary word that they didn’t know and wanted to learn more about. Once they had their word they had to create a definition for the word and find a picture that represented the word to provide further meaning for their classmates. Then they got to create a short video explaining the word and using it in context so that their peers would truly understand what they word means. After they created their document with the definition and their video we created QR codes. Then the students collaboratively designed and created a bulletin board.  They chose the pictures they wanted , where they wanted them, colored and decorated the board, and placed the vocabulary words where they needed to be.

     

Once our board was complete the students got to participate in a scavenger hunt to find the meanings of the different words. They were able to watch each other’s videos and learn from each other. They also got to teach another 3rd grade class how to use the tablets to scan the QR codes and were able to teach them more about seeds through their videos and definitions.

     

After we completed this activity we spent some time reflecting on how it went. Since this was their first time using the tablets to create videos and scan QR codes they had great advice on how to make it a more successful experience for the next time we would use them.

Coding the Classroom

Christi and I are thrilled (and a little terrified) about presenting at our district’s teaching and learning conference. Initially we called our presentation, “The Student Becomes the Teacher: Using QR Codes to Expand Learning Opportunities,” but then we came up with a much better name, “Coding the Classroom.”

For our presentation we created a website that informs teachers of what QR codes are, how to use them, and ideas for the classroom. Our goal is to inform teachers of how they can create a digital learning environment through the implementation of QR codes. Please visit our website to learn more.

QR Code Bulletin Boards

Making your classroom bulletin boards more interactive is easy with QR codes. I recently changed up three of my bulletin boards and added QR codes that link to activities, forms, websites, and student work. These QR boards are also great for students who finish work early and need something to do that is meaningful and connected to the current curriculum.

   Our current reading strategy focuses on visualizing. I found a few passages that helped students practice this skill. I made a QR code out of them and posted them on the board. There was also a great website that had a visualizing game for students to play that I made a code for. Finally I made a Google Form for students to use to reflect on what they visualized while they were reading. On my students' centers checklist I added "visit the Reading Board" as an activity.

   On my Writing Board, I posted the current theme vocabulary words with a QR code that links to a kid friendly dictionary definition. I then chose 3 of my students' essays to make a QR code for and posted them as "spotlights." The kids loved having their work in the spotlight and the other students enjoyed being able to read their peers work. And let's be honest, it is so much cooler being able to scan a code to read an essay than having the actual essay on the board.

   For my Math Board, I created QR codes of Google Forms that I made for our number corner curriculum. This month we have two graphs that the students analyze that I put into a form and I also made a form for the calendar pattern. The students fill out what they notice about the pieces and what the pattern is throughout the month. At the end of the month we look at the spreadsheet with all of their responses and have a meaningful conversation about it. I also included a QR code that links to a website that has challenge math problems for 3rd graders.

   Another bulletin board I am working on is a Book Review Board where students will post QR codes that link to a voice recording of their book reviews. For more information on this project click here.

Inquiry Based Astronomy Unit

For our current science unit on Astronomy, I decided to restructure how I was going to teach by focusing on inquiry and now that we are a 1:1 classroom, we had all of the tools and resources available to be able to do this effectively. My goal was to provide my students with more opportunities to explore and create.

As a team we decided on 4 main topics to focus this unit on: phases of the moon, stars and constellations, seasons, and planets. I created mini lessons on these four topics focusing on the basics that I wanted my students to learn. After I taught each lesson I allowed time for my students to generate lists of questions that they wanted to explore more about within each topic. They then decided who to work with, what they were going to do to learn more about their question, and what they were going to create to demonstrate what they learned. 

After the group or individual created a digital project, we made a QR code for it and added it to a bulletin board. My intention of creating the bulletin board was to allow my students a place to display their digital work and provide them with the opportunity to teach other students more about space. The projects ranged from a simple paragraph about the moon phases to a movie about 3 students’ journey to the moon. I also had students create poems, new casts, voice recordings, comic strips, and presentations. For Deerfield families and teachers, here are links to some of the projects that were created (make sure you are logged into your dps109 Google account to view the projects.)

• Going to Neptune Presentation
• Sun Poem & Collage
• Moon Movie

I then created a Google Form for students to fill out as they viewed the other students’ projects. This provided accountability and a chance to reflect on what they learned from the other students. I shared the responses with my students so that they could view what other students were learning from them and the comments and suggestions they had about the project.

The overall consensus from my class about this unit was, “Inquiry makes learning so much more fun!” They really enjoyed being able to explore topics that they were interested in and having the opportunity to become teachers. I even had students working on their projects during indoor recess and at home during their “free time.” We love inquiry!