February started out with our second digital citizenship lesson of the year. During this lesson, we talked about being safe online, using the website traffic light to evaluate websites, and what to do if students end up places they shouldn't. For more information, you can click here for some family tips The students in Ms. Navolio's class learned how to use the app Kahoot. This app is a great way for teachers to gain information about what their kids understand in a game-like setting. The students really enjoyed using the app to review time and learn about Valentine's Day.
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The students in Ms. Navolio's class completed an activity based on the book, What Pet Should I Get by Dr. Seuss, an author they were learning about in their reading classes. In Seesaw, the students were able to collect data about what types of pets their students wanted. To do this the students walked in a circle, adding one tally at a time to the box of their choice on every iPad. They then had to count the number of tallies to create a bar graph as well as answer some comparison questions.
Ms. Tetens's class got a head start on one of their Open House projects. After reading the book Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. The students used the app Drawing Pad to draw what they thought their snowman would do at night. Later, the students added their sentences and recorded their description. QR codes were displayed in the hallway during Open House for the parents to use to listen to their student's story.
Ms. Tetens's class was also learning about text features in non-fiction text. They used PicCollageEDU to photograph examples from their weekly Scholastic News article and then label the picture. This were then sent to Seesaw for the teachers and families to view.
During Catholic Schools Week, both classes had to come up with a list of words that made them think about their school. These lists were then used to create a word cloud using the website wordart.com. These beautiful word clouds will be in Seesaw soon.
Common Sense Education, where our digital citizenship curriculum comes comes from posted an article on how to downsize, not eliminate the use of technology during the holidays. You can find the article here. During the last week before Christmas Break, the students were able to practice their coding skills using the app, Code Spark. The application uses block based coding to help move the characters, the Foos through a variety of problems. You can learn more about Code Spark here. This week was Hour of Code Week, a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. "The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts (hourofcode.org, 2018)." Why limit ourselves to a week? We will spend three weeks looking at coding! Last week the students watched a BrainPop Jr. Video that explained many of the vocabulary that is commonly heard when coding. The students worked on an "unplugged" activity to practice coding with a partner. This week the first graders were able to use Dash, coding him with the app Blockly. The students first learned about some of Dash's parts. We then talked about how Blockly uses block coding to make Dash move. We focused on the forward, backward, and turning commands. After they learned how to connect Dash, through bluetooth, to their iPads, the students were then given the task to see if they could code Dash around the piece of paper.
I can't believe that we are just about ready for Thanksgiving break. Time flies when you are having fun.
The first graders were introduced to XtraMath, an adaptive fact-fluency program where the students can practice their math facts on their own. The students are taking pre-tests that helps them understand what facts they have memorized and what facts they need to work on. XtraMath will then help them memorize the facts they needs some more practice on and continue to introduce them to new ones. All students start on addition facts but can then move on to subtraction, multiplication, and even division. Parents will receive letters that will allow them to log in see how their child is doing during Parent Teacher Conferences if they have not already. The students also learned how to use the app Drawing Pad to create drawings for a presentation for Older Friends Day. They all turned out adorable and everyone loved them. Some of the first graders had used Freckle in the past and some were introduced to it for the first time. Once the students have completed their pre-tests, Freckle has them work on Math, English/Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science at levels that are perfect for their individual level of learning. That way, they are always engaged and challenged, never facing material that is too difficult or easy for them. Students will have log-in information at parent teacher conferences so that they can practice both at school and at home. Please do not help them work on these problems, they need to figure them out on their own so that the program adapts to their needs. The last two weeks, the students have been using PicCollage EDU. Ms. Tetens's class used it to complete a graphic organizer about shades of meaning and the Ms. Navolo's class learned how to use the app to cut out their faces out of a photo and draw what they were going to be when they grew up. After reading the story Balloons over Broadway by Melissa Sweet the students drew their own Macy's Day Parade balloon that they app smashed into Seesaw and recorded why they thought their balloon should be in the parade. I hope you enjoy viewing them It's Digital Citizenship Week! This week, the students had their first of three digital citizenship lesson for the year, learning about their digital footprint. This time we focused on what types of information we should put on the internet, the difference between public verse private information. The students looked at two different characters and compared what types of information they left, determining which character would be easier to to find. The students did an awesome job at this. Personal Information (It's ok to share online) Hobbies Favorite things First Name/Nickname Private Information (Not ok to share online) Full name Address Phone number Age/Birthday School name/sports team Below you will find a family tips sheet about digital footprints.
The last few weeks, we have been reviewing how to use Seesaw with the students. While they had some exposer last year, they will be using more frequently this year. Seesaw has also come out with some great new features that we have been able to start using. We have practiced taking a photo, finding emojis, and using the drawing tools to rainbow write their spelling words.
Notices will also be going home to allow parents to connect to their child's journal to get a glimpse of what they are doing in school. Last week, the students practiced logging into their online accounts for math and reading. On my helpful links page, you will find videos on the features of those websites. An email will be going home later this week that contains information for how to access the sites at home as well.
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AuthorMs. Sowa is the technology coach for Pre-School through Third Grade Archives
February 2020
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