I'm a beginning educator Blogger, moving from a Middle School Technology Teacher to a K-12 Technology Integrationist this year, sharing out what amazing things our K-12 students can do!
I learn something new everyday from my students, and I hope they all learn at least one new thing each day from me or from each other too!
During 2nd quarter, 1st graders have been learning about plants and their needs. As a part of this, the students all planted their own Lime Bean seeds. They made observations about their growing plants throughout the last few weeks all while having one plant being recorded on the iPad using the free version of the app LapseIt.
Next, students summarized what they learned about the needs of plants and we recorded them reading sections aloud about what they learned in front of a green screen.
The final product was put together using iMovie and then shared with the students and their families.
The High School Anatomy class has been learning about the heart recently and in preparation for their exam, they used the iPad app Anatomy 4D by Daqri, which is an Augmented Reality app which generates at 4D rendition of the human heart. Within this app, you can also select and de-select different parts of the heart to show, turn the blood flow off and on, and listen to the cardiac cycle while watching the heart as it pumps.
This 1 minute YouTube video gives you an idea of how the students were using the app.
Following some time to explore within the app, students were given the task of taking screen shots of the heart from multiple angles in order to show all parts of the heart. Then, students used the app Skitch to label the different parts of the heart. The students used their screenshots of the labeled heart in a Google Slides Presentation. They uploaded their screenshots into Google Slides and also described the location of the various parts and their function.
Here are examples of their completed Google Slides:
The Anatomy 4D app also has a human body element where students can examine the different systems within the body such as Circulatory, Skeletal, Muscular, Nervous, etc. We are looking forward to exploring that when they get to it in class!
The last two weeks, Mrs. Snitker's Kindergarten students have been working to create a digital A-Z book All About Animals. The students have learned about all the letters of the alphabet and were able to pick one or two letters and color an animal on the iPad using the app iLuv Drawing: Animals. Then, each student colored their letter of the Alphabet and we used the Green Screen app by DoInk to film them telling us what letter and animal they created.
Mrs. Vagts 6th Grade music classes at Postville have been working hard to create their own music videos to demonstrate their understanding of the mood and theme of popular songs they chose in small groups. They used the lyrics as well as the rhythm and beat of the song to create a music video that illustrates their understanding of the song. The music videos were created using the iPad app Video Star.
Students working on filming their music videos.
Each team worked as cast and crew of their own video.
2nd Graders in Mrs. Spain, Mrs. Lage, and Ms. Cioccio's classes have been studying about different types of habitats and what plants and animals live in each habitat. As a demonstration of their knowledge, the students worked at home to create their own model of one type of habitat or ecosystem that includes plants and animals that live in that habitat. Each student wrote a short script they read aloud about what habitat they created and the living things within that habitat. We used the iPads and the app Green Screen by DoInk to put each student "into" their own habitat as they described it. Each student's video was added to their class movie using iMovie. Each classes video is below.
Today I attended a workshop for teachers so I could learn more about using Common Sense Media to give students opportunities to learn about becoming positive digital citizens. We have been using resources from Common Sense Media all year in 5th and 6th grade, but after this training at Keystone AEA today we have many more resources to be able to expand this into lower grades and upper grades. We would also like to share the information with families and parents so they can support their children outside the walls of the school building. Common Sense Media has some amazing resources to share with Students, Teachers, and Families!
5th Graders worked very hard 3rd Quarter creating some videos to show what they know about Figurative Language. Go check out our 5th Grader's website to see what they created!
Also, I included the planning sheet they used as well as the grading rubric for the projects!
I have been talking about doing this for more than a year, so finally over winter break this year I got around to doing it. I set this goal for myself and just kept pushing it off now for months, but now it's complete and it feels great!
I took went through the thirteen online training modules to become a Level 1 Google Certified Educator. It really was a great experience. Many of the things they went over I was already familiar with, but I learned more than I expected to from the process. I considered myself pretty Google-savvy, but my eyes were opened to even more that Google can do. I highly recommend the course to anyone looking to implement more free and useful tools into their classroom instruction! You can sign up for the course here: Google Educator Training Courses Once your training is completed there is a $10 fee to take the final exam. It takes quite awhile to finish but you get your results almost immediately followed by an email with your certificate and badge.
Now my next goal is to tackle Level 2 in the near future!
