ScribbleMaps in 5th Grade

ScribbleMaps

5th Grade Tech and Social Studies Project

The thing I like most about my job as a Technology teacher is doing cross-curricular projects.  I haven't gotten to much of these types of projects yet this year because we have spent a lot of time in both 5th and 6th grade talking about Digital Citizenship and for 5th grade especially, learning the ins and outs of their laptops.  This is the first year that 5th grade is 1:1 with their own MacBook Airs here at Postville and after we got the basics down we have been able to move into really using our computers to learn, as opposed to learning to use our computers.

For the first cross-curricular project in 5th grade this year, I connected with our 5th/6th grade Social Studies teacher to see what they were learning in 1st quarter and to figure out a way that I could take that topic and extend their learning in a techie/fun/creative project.  As it turns out, they were learning about Native American regions in the United States.  I thought this would be a great way to get some map and geography skills in as well as becoming experts on a particular Native American region from North America.

After doing some research online about different websites and apps we could use, I discovered ScribbleMaps.  It is a free tool (paid upgrade is available, but we didn't need it!).  I chose this because it allowed us to add text, pictures, and videos right to the map.  Here is the EXAMPLE that I created to show them.

Here are a few pictures of the kids working on their ScribbleMaps.

Before we started working on the maps, I created a folder in Google Classroom so they could all have access to the same documents to take collaborative notes.  In my classroom I have a range of student abilities from TAG students to Level 1 and 2 ESL students so the collaborative notes were very helpful to the students that needed some extra support. It really helped the ones that have a hard time finding information that is relevant in their online searches.

I am very excited to see their end results.  They will be turning them in tomorrow and I will have them each post it on their 5th Grade Blog.  Be sure to check back and see how they turned out.  They would love some comments and feedback as well.  I always comment on them, but it seems to mean so much more when it comes from someone else. 

Full STEAM Ahead! with 5th and 6th Graders!

On Friday this past week, I took an amazing group of 5th and 6th graders to Keystone AEA's Full STEAM Ahead workshop.  I could not have enjoyed the day with these students more!  They were so engaged in the learning in each of their sessions, it was so great to watch them try new things and meet new people all day!

Getting six 5th/6th graders to all look for a picture
at one time is like trying to herd cats! 

The students participated in four unique sessions during the day.  They were split up into different groups so not only were they trying things they have never done before, they were working with people they have never met before!  I know when adults are put in that type of situation, there is usually some whining involved, but these students jumped right in and I didn't hear any complaining.  They had some great conversations with other students from schools in our area.

One session was an engineering based experience.  The students were given the task of building the tallest tower they could out of only straws and masking tape.  The challenging part of this task was their tower had to support a tennis ball as well.  There were so many unique and innovative designs out there!  It was interesting listening to them discuss and problem solve their design! 

Beginning of Tower Challenge!

Another session explored the science behind sound.  Students discussed what they knew about sound and how it was made and represented visually.  Then, the fun began.  They were given the opportunity to make their own instruments.  First, they made a wind instrument out of straw.  By changing the amount and placement of the holes in their straws they discussed the change in pitch and volume of their creation.  They also were able to use a peg board and different weights of fishing line to make a string instrument.  They experimented with the tension on the lines, the different weights, and the length of the strings. 

My favorite session of the day was when the students were asked to create their own Weather Report using a DoInk Green Screen app on the iPad.  The students were asked to work in groups with new people and they were able to create some pretty awesome weather forecasting videos.  I have some 6th graders that already have plans to use this app to create their Ancient Egypt project and I can't wait to see how it turns out! 

The last session was a favorite of almost all the students! I knew they would enjoy it and I can't wait until next quarter when we really start to get into our programming and coding lessons so we can bring these awesome resources to our school for all the 5th/6th graders!  Using the Tickle App the students were able to do some programming within the animations of the app on the iPad, and of course, their favorite part, using their programming to control the various robots they had access to.  It was a fun session for the kids, and it was entertaining for me walking around during it because you always had to be alert or you could run into by many different types of robots as they cruised around the room and hallways.  This was perfect for the 6th grade students because it was a continuation of what they had worked on with the Hour of Code and www.code.org last year.  It was also a great introduction for the 5th graders as we will be starting those things soon with them.

It was a great day for the students and for me as well.  I want to thank the Keystone AEA for all the work they put into making a great day for so many students and teachers!  Here is a video I made to share with the teachers and students back at Postville to share what amazing things these students were able to do and will sharing with everyone soon.  We have already been planning the STEAM Night for our school and the students had some great ideas about what we could add to what has already been a successful event at our school the past few years.

Always Learning, Sharing Ideas, Can't Wait

I was lucky enough to be able to attend ITEC (Iowa Technology Education Connection) Conference for the second time.   Currently I'm in the middle of Day 2 of this amazing conference and as excited as I am to be here, I can't wait to get back to my Postville 5th and 6th graders to get them excited and going on all the new things I have learned.

  mrs.salinas.postville

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mrs.salinas.postville

At my most recent session, I finally got the push and time to set up a class Instagram account.  Follow us!

I have yet to use this as I am not at school to start adding the pictures, but I know that so many of my students are on Instagram, I can't wait for them to start following our feed so they can see themselves and their classmates doing great things! I also hope that I have some parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and family friends that will join in on the Instagram fun!

www.facebook.com/mrssalinaspostville

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Since the beginning of the school year, I have had a class Facebook page set up as well.  It started out pretty small, but over the course of the year as I have added more and more photos of students hard at work on projects, describing projects students are working on, and even linking to student-created assignments to their finished products can be shown publicly, outside of our classroom walls! I have had lots of success with Facebook so far, I am hoping to improve it, and to continue it with Instagram as well.




I spent the very first session in ITEC learning more about Copyright and to be a better digital role model for students.  6th graders recently developed presentations about Copyright Law, Consequences, and Examples which they shared with our 5th grade students.  After my very first session of ITEC, I knew I had to go back and tell them more.  6th grade focused on music, videos and illegal downloads, but I now see how we also need to address images and even projects they are assigned to do for classes.

In another session I learned some new and great ways to get kids blogs to be more public and have yet another outlet for parents to connect to what their students are doing in the classroom.  I originally thought that Blogger was too much for my 5th/6th graders, but after being shown some great ways they can share posts to Blogger just through email, it's just one more way to break down our classroom walls and get students to see the importance of their work outside of school.

ITEC was a success for me this year, and I am only part-way through the 2nd day.  I can't wait to see what else I learn from this conference and come back to share this with my students.  The best part of that is, then they will be able to share what they can do with their parents, and other teachers at our school and other schools.

New Year, New Adventure!

We are partially through our week of teacher meetings and classroom preparations!  Even though I have been in and out of my classroom working on things all summer, now it seems like it is a mad rush to get finishing touches put on everything and work out all those last minute details.  Rooms are being decorated and arranged, schedules are worked out, and classrooms are almost ready for students to step into in less than a week!

One thing that always seems to take more time that I anticipate when it comes to getting my classroom ready for the year is putting together my bulletin boards.  I have a few tweaks to make still, but I am excited about the one I spent part of my day on today!

Here it is, with my daughter in the middle (she will be starting Kindergarten next week).

My role is a little different this year again, now I am solely the Technology Teacher for 5th and 6th grade.  I have handed over the writing portion to a new teacher to our district and I can't wait to see how she is able to really push them and advance them in their writing since she is able to focus strictly on writing.

It is going to be an excited and interesting year, as always!  I can't wait to see what is in store for this year with our newest group of students!

Genius Hour with a Twist of Humanity

Today was the day my 5th and 6th graders have been IMpatiently waiting for since we came back to school the first week in January.  We started our second semester Genius Hour projects.  Well, we didn't actually start the projects yet, but we did start some brainstorming.  Some of them tried to start their projects already and I really had to rein them back in to remind them that first they needed to make a solid plan, give their Proposal Presentation, then they could get to work on the actual project.

For this being the first year that I have ever done Genius Hour, I really am impressed with how well my students did with it.  We had a few kinks to work out on their end as well as mine, but I feel like we are more ready than ever to get things rolling again.  Some of my students were already asking me about when we were starting Genius Hour again the SAME DAY we gave our Final Presentations back in December.  They already had ideas rolling around for what they thought they wanted to do before the ink had even dried on their rubrics from the first one!  Now, I didn't give them much to go off of except I told them we would indeed be doing a Genius Hour project for the 2nd semester and that it would be "slightly" different this time.  I loved that the suspense was killing them all over winter break!

So, what surprises did I spring on them today?  First, I said they had the option of working in a group of 2-3 students for the project.  That was almost enough to put them over the edge with excitement on its own.

After they took a minute or two to exchange glances around the classroom and give each other "the look" that meant they wanted to work together on this project, I hit them with change number two.  This was the big one!  I told them all I still wanted to make sure they picked a project they were passionate about, something they were interested in and cared about, BUT it had to be Service Learning based.  From there I got a bunch of blank stares....

I did anticipate having to explain what service learning is to most of them, and I think by the time I had explained it and given a few examples, they really did understand what I was asking of them.  I think. We work on Genius Hour one day each week.  It is always the day (usually Wednesday) that we get out early which makes our class periods just under an hour long.  That in itself doesn't sound like too much, but when I do this with two sections of 6th grade and two sections of 5th grade, it gets to be a longer "short" day than a regular day is.  

My biggest take-away from our day today was the fact that after they understood, my students really did get right down to business and started making plans.  Here are some of the project ideas we have floating around in our classes right now:

• Volunteer at the animal shelter.
• Make bracelets with charms to sell to raise money for Autism (student has a cousin who is autistic).
• Make blankets to donate to the children's hospital.
• Create a video game to help students learn multiplication facts.
• Have a bake sale to raise money for Ebola research.
• Spend one class period a week going to read books with the preschoolers.
• Help teach the first graders how to code. (We use code.org)
• Create our school's own "Play it Again Sports" type store to share sporting equipment or gear.
• Plant trees and other landscaping around our campus.
• Go to play cards and games with residents at the nursing home.
• Volunteer to play games with a small group of kindergarten students once a week at the after school program.
• Be a "Lunch Buddy" with a child from the Day Care.

Over the course of the day it seemed like their ideas just kept getting bigger and better.  I can't wait to see what they have come up with by the time their decision needs to be made next week on Wednesday.  I will for sure be coming back with more posts about where our Genius Hour with a twist of Humanity takes us over the course of the next couple of months.  It's sure to be a great one!

Playing Catch-Up.... Presentations, Coding, an Award, and more to come!

Where to begin??  It's been over a month since I have wrote a blog post, but that doesn't mean I don't have many blog-worthy things going on, it just means that I have been too busy and/or too tired to take the time to sit down and write!  I started this blog partially because I wanted a way to document things I have done with my classes that went well so I could modify and improve them to use again in the future, but now that I have started this, I also want to use it as a way to showcase some of the AMAZING things my students have accomplished.

Most recently, that includes seven of my 5th and 6th graders that were brave enough (or too scared to say no since the principal was asking them the question) to present various projects to our Board of Education at a meeting this past week.  I was SO PROUD of them for being able to do it, as a 10-12 year old I'm not sure that is something that I could have done! Not only that, I was blown away by how well they did!  They are my rockstars! A few of them shared the Genius Hour Projects and some others shared some Stop Motion movies they had created.  I will link up some of the projects/presentations in a different post.

Another proud teacher moment for me recently was when my classes were participating in the "Hour of Code".  Not only did almost 110 5th and 6th grade students spend one hour learning to code on December 12th, 2014, but our school was awarded with a $4,000 grant from @IowaStem and @Google to purchase any instructional technology we need for our students!  During that day we have some guests in our classroom from the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa Department of Education STEM offices as well as both of our school principals, our curriculum director, and our superintendent.  It was a busy and exciting day to say the least!  I would have to say that the "Hour of Code" did it's job in getting students excited about coding too.  In my 6th grade classes we have started working in www.code.org and the students are really loving it.  (That's a whole other post which will hopefully come soon!)