Service Learning - Teaching Seesaw to Ms. Mary Beth's Crew

Today we taught Ms. Mary Beth's crew how to sign in to Seesaw and add a post. We loved being the experts and sharing what we have learned.

We also went on a walk with the whole school during The Beat this morning. It was perfect weather. It would be great to have this weather again tomorrow for the Voyage.

Google Earth

One day last week we got out our iPads and used Google Earth and Barefoot World Atlas to find China and the Great Wall of China. We loved seeing so many places in China and learning so many facts about China. I loved how we all sat together on the carpet and helped each other work through the steps needed to locate China. Such teamwork!

Homework ~ Read a good book or two. Check out a Bedtime Math story.

Padlets

Another technological tool that we use in our classroom is called Padlet. On Padlet, I pose a question and students answer the question by adding a text box with their answer. Padlet can be used on a computer or an ipad. One example of a Padlet is below. More Padlets can be found on the Resources page of our crew blog.

Created with Padlet

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 7.2 Shapes

ShowMes

We will use technology in a variety of ways throughout the year. One way we are currently using it is with the ShowMe app on our iPads. This is a presentation app that allows students to record their voice while writing, drawing or sharing a picture. We use this to share our learning with each other. I also use it to assess what student know and can do. It is so valuable to me to be able to listen to a child explain his or her thinking while watching them write or draw. To help this process along, I give the students a Learning Target Checklist. As they create a ShowMe demonstrating that they know a topic, they can check off that target on their list. They can always go above and beyond and do ShowMes on topics that aren't on the list. Periodically throughout the year, I give them new checklists to use as we learn new things. Here are some of the things on our current checklist:

______ Reading: I can retell the story of a book that I have read.
______ Reading: I can recommend good books that I have read.
______ Writing: I can spell some sight words correctly: and, for, like, her, day, want, going, of, little, saw
______ Math: I can make tally marks for numbers.
______ Math: I can count by 2s.
______ Math: I can count by 5s.
______ Math: I can use a number grid to count.
______ Math: I can tell time to the hour.
______ Math: I can count a collection of pennies and nickels.

We add the ShowMes to our Kidblogs so you can visit those to see any ShowMes that your child has created so far. Below are a few samples for you to enjoy, too. (If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the ShowMes.)

Simeon shows us how to count a collection of nickels and pennies.

 Lexi shows us how to tell time to the half hour. (A skill that is coming up soon in first grade.)

Eizaiah shows us how to count using tally marks.

Gavin shows us how to count by 5s on a Hundreds Chart.

Taylor shows us how to count by 2s.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 3.1 Patterns

Important Dates
10/1 Student-Led Conferences
10/3 Boot Camp
10/20 No School for Students - Teacher Work Day
10/21 First Day back after Fall Break

Creating ShowMes to Share Our Learning

On Friday afternoon, we had a ShowMe creation time where we all worked on ShowMes at the same time. We spread ourselves out around the room and spoke very quietly into our ipads so that we could all record at the same time.

Mr. Doug had given us some of the crew's P.E. assessments that he wanted to go into the student's portfolios. Since we are using our blogs as our portfolios, we created some ShowMes to tell about our P.E. assessments. We also used that time to catch up on other ShowMes that we needed to have in our portfolios as well. The videos below will give you a peek at what it looked and sounded like while we were creating our ShowMes. (Remember that videos on this blog will not play on some mobile devices and you may have to go to a computer to view them. Also, if you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the two videos below.)

After a small group of students finished, they came and sat on the floor with me and we read a book about Mercy Watson while others finished their ShowMes. We still needed to be quiet so we squeezed together in the corner so that we could all hear and see the book.

To view all of these new ShowMes, please visit our Kidblogs page.

Crew News May 20, 2013

Graphing
On Friday one of our math activities was to create a graph of the number of letters in our first names. I decided to use this as an opportunity to reinforce my lesson that we are all always learning and that we can all figure things out. To do this, I decided to have us create the graph using the graphing feature of Haiku Deck. I told the crew that I did not know how to do this yet but that together we would figure it out. We began by gathering our data (number of letters in our first names) and then set out to figure out how to create a graph in Haiku Deck. We had to experiment with several of the buttons or features to figure out how they work. We had to start over at one point when we decided that our graph would work better with a different orientation. Lots of math was involved in our discussion because we had to find the minimum and maximum values of our data as well as how big the intervals would be. But we did figure it out. The only thing we couldn't do was add labels to each axis of our graph. (I think this is because this is presentation software and they try to limit the amount of text on a slide.)

At this point someone in the crew suggested that we put our graph picture on the camera roll of the iPad and then import it into ShowMe and add the labels there. This was a great idea but I showed them that Haiku Deck didn't have import to camera roll as an option. They all just looked at me wondering why I couldn't figure this out. They said again, just put it in the camera roll and I still didn't understand what they meant. Finally someone remembered that the language they were looking for was to take a screen shot. Brilliant. They were absolutely correct and were connecting our prior learning about taking screen shots to this lesson. We took a screen shot and it was instantly added to our camera roll. (This is when we lost our internet access so I went in later and added the labels to our graph. I used Skitch - which they know how to use, too - instead of ShowMe to add the labels because I wanted to show them how professional it can look with the labels typed instead of handwritten.) Below are pictures of the two graphs - with and without labels.

The best part of this whole lesson is that they saw that I was still learning and that we all worked together to figure out how to create the graph we wanted. I want them to become life-long learners who are willing to jump in and try to figure things out. This lesson was a great example of using all of our 4Cs - creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication. These are the lessons that make my day.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Practice telling time (and other recent math topics) to review for our test tomorrow.

Crew News May 7, 2013

A Lesson by Reese
Last week, Reese figured out how to make multiple page ShowMes. The crew was very excited to learn how she did this. So on Friday, Reese taught the crew how she figured it out. We decided to video tape it for future reference. Trey was our camera person since he had the best angle to see Reese and the screen from his desk. Below are the videos (there are two short videos that are less than one minute each - we had a bit of a technical issue with plugs and cords and had to stop and start again) and the ShowMe that Reese created that inspired all of this learning. Her voice is very soft so turn up the sound on your computer. If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the videos. Enjoy!

We are also very excited about this new learning because now we can "publish" the books we write to our blogs and read them aloud to our audience. Sophia was the first to try (others are now getting theirs up, too, but it will take a while to get all of them up). Below is Sophia's All About book. Be sure to continue to check our Kidblog page frequently to read/hear more books as they are added.
Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 9.4 Solving Problems Two Ways

Crew News April 18, 2013

Tech Skills
The first grade has paused our Expedition so that we can prepare for All School Meetings (both first grade crews host  this month) and Voyages. We do have days here and there that aren't filled with preparation for those things so we are taking some time to learn a few new tech skills. We started today with learning to take screen shots on the iPads. This will allow us to import photos of things we are working on and learning about into ShowMe or other tools so that we can share our learning. Be on the lookout for some new things in our Kidblog blog posts. We will resume our Expedition right after our Voyage. Below are some random screen shots of things we are doing on our iPads. These are just some examples of things you may see on our Kidblog posts in the future. We will import these photos into ShowMe and other new apps to use the audio feature to explain what you are looking at.

Using Base 10 blocks to add and subtract

Identifying fractions

Our Scholastic Storia e-reader bookshelf

Inside pages of one of our non-fiction e-books

Inside pages of a Ready Freddy e-book

Our Kidblog Page

Marble Math Jr. - a math game that requires problem solving

Hungry Fish - a way to practice basic math facts that also uses problem solving skills

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 8.7 Equal Parts

Crew News May 2, 2012

Pinterest

I thought I would share with you the link to my Pinterest page. I use my Pinterest account to keep track of the books that I use in various ways in class. I thought you might like to have access to some of these lists of books, particularly the lists of "Book Series for 1st Grade" and "Longer Read Alouds for 1st Grade". These might come in handy as you and your child are looking for books this summer at the library either for your child to read or for you to read aloud to your child. If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest, you simply click on the page you are interested in in order to see the whole page. Then you can click on particular books to see more detailed information. I have linked most books to the public library site to make it quick and easy for me to put the books we use on hold - often a second click is required to get to the library site. You can do this, too. Then the books will be pulled and ready for you to pick up on your next trip to the library. I love to do this to save time. To go to my Pinterest pages, you may either click on the picture above or click here. (Note: I did start using Pinterest for the typical reasons so you will also see other non-school related pages here of things I am interested in or love - like the color orange.)

Sight Words

Our new sight words for next week are: went, mother, just, too, when
 
Previous words include: as, if, my, be, all, like, she, has, how, put, don't, I'm, one, out, him, look, her, back, had, come, came, make, of, was, now, have, are, said, away, little, very, been, from, here, our, saw, what, your, who, after, with, there, they, because, where, could, before, two

These are great words to point out to your child when they are reading or to have them practice spelling at home, too. 

Ask your child to explain how we practice these words at school using the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check method.


Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Practice basic addition and subtraction facts.

Crew News May 1, 2012

Poetry Tag
We are playing Poetry Tag with some classes from around the country. Mrs. Frazier's class from Ohio started the game. This is the class that we Skyped earlier in the year. They chose a poem and put it in a Voice Thread and invited others to comment. They then "tagged" the next class and they added a poem. Today was our turn to add a poem. You can view the Voice Thread below to see our comments and our poem - it is the third poem. (If you get this by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the Voice Thread.)

 

Feedback for Me
Thanks so much for all of the responses to my survey asking for feedback for me. It truly helps me to know what it is that you value and what you think has been valuable for your child. I will use this feedback as I plan the rest of this year and begin to plan for next year. I will leave the survey open so if you still would like to add your input or if you think of something else to add you can do that. Thanks again.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 9.3 Number-Grid Puzzles

Crew News February 22, 2012

ShowMe App
We have been experimenting with a new app on our classroom iPads. It is called ShowMe. At first, I did not give the crew any directions for this app. I just let them play around with it to learn what it could do. I believe that this is the way that most of us learn how to use new apps and programs most successfully, too. Now that they have had some time to experiment. I have asked them to use the app to teach others a math concept or to explain how they solved a problem in math. I will post any new math ShowMe's to the students' blogs. So be sure to check in often. Below is a sample ShowMe from our experimentation period. It was created by Will. (If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the ShowMe.)

PS I am posting this sample today so that I can experiment with how to embed a ShowMe onto a blog.



Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 6.13 Unit 7 Family Letter

Library
We have library tomorrow.