3rd Graders Get Crafty For The Holidays With Pic Collage!

Today is the last day before our winter break. Our OHE students, like most students around the nation, are excited about their upcoming winter break! Our teachers are always looking for fun activities for this day. Before going any further, I want to take just a moment for a big shout out for Hilary Moorlach, my Digital Learning Specialist colleague for this fabulous idea!

First, students found 9 images of Christmas backgrounds using Google images and saved them to their camera roll. They also image searched for "bark" and saved one image to their iPad camera roll. For students with a different family tradition, they found images of their choice. 

Once they found and downloaded the images, students took a "selfie" photo.

Once these steps were done, students opened the Pic Collage App, chose a "free style" collage, and added their newly saved images to their page.  From here, students used the cutout option to edit each picture with the circle template. 

Then they arranged the circles into a tree shape, added a background and voila...a Christmas tree with their image on top!  Great digital fun!

New Library Books - Gifts for the Season or Anytime!

I prepared this video for our OHE morning announcements back in December and forgot to share it on my blog! Better late than never! New books for the library are always welcome.

3rd Graders Research, Write and Share With MyOn & Thinglink!

Recently Mrs. McCollough came to me for digital suggestions to support a unit her students were studying on Ancient Egypt. In addition, she wanted to be able to address a 3rd grade writing standard W.3.2 - Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. (including an introduction/conclusion sentence, illustrations, supporting facts and the use of linking words) After mentally thumbing through the available digital options, I suggested she ask students to do their research using the MyOn eBook series on Ancient Egypt, and their writing on the web/iPad tool Thinglink. 

Students began their research with MyOn, where they found an excellent series on Ancient Egypt! Using eBooks for research is perfect for supporting the variety of reading levels in one class. As students gather their facts they can choose to have the book read to them or read it themselves.

As the students researched their topic, they wrote paragraphs on the facts they found. Mrs. McCollough had students handwrite their paragraphs rather than type them. Once they were done, we introduced the Thinglink web app. Students chose an image and added their paragraphs to create hot links for their facts. Along the way, student also learned a few valuable digital skills as well. One skill they learned was to press the Alt key before clicking on an image to pull up a window for cutting and pasting the picture's URL. 

Most of all, the skills that student discover as they create with a variety of digital tools helps them become confident digital natives. Thinglink gave students a chance to prove and share their learning in a unique and engaging way. 

Thankful for Digital Tools! Ideas To Inspire Digital Integration

3rd Graders Use Google Slides & FlipSnack.com To Make A Class eBook!

Recently one of our 3rd grade teachers, Mrs. McCollough, asked for my help giving students an opportunity to digitally share their learning about Planets. We decided to have students share their learning using the cooperative learning jigsaw approach. (This is when each student specializes by learning one topic to teach the class. Once everyone is done teaching, they all know the information about all of the topics.) We gave every student the responsibility of finding four - six facts about their assigned planet/moon/sun. Based on the size of the class, two students would get the same planet but would begin by working independently. Students used our newest paid digital tool, Scholastic's Trueflix eBooks, though any resource on the solar system could be used.

Once students were done with their research, they found the classmate with the same topic and shared their facts. I created a Google Slideshow and shared it with the students. I had already created a slide for each planet. Students worked in pairs to add their facts to their slide. They learned how to add images and give credit (with a URL) when using a photo. Once students were done, I downloaded the slideshow as a PDF, and uploaded the PDF to the FlipSnack website to create a class eBook. (I also use Anyflip.com to create ebooks. Both are free, but the embed code from Flipsnack works a little better with my blog.)

The final product made this project especially a fun collaboration for students. I really like this lesson because it blended individual and collaborative efforts of students. It provided an opportunity to learn about fair use, work in Google Slide and the solar system!

Here We Go...3D Printing Comes To OHE!

  

Thanks to our OHE PTO, the best PTO ever, I returned to school this year to a huge box from MakerBot. In the rush of the beginning of the school year, I pushed the huge box aside with the intent of opening it once everything calmed down. This week, our OHE STEM teacher, Leah Yoemans, and I finally opened that huge box and out came a shiny new 3-D printer - the MakerBot Replicator+

Our goal for this printer is simple. We would like each of our 5th grade students to have the opportunity to create a simple design & print it. Easy right? Before beginning with students, we needed to learn how to use it ourselves!  Leah and I sat down with our district's resident expert, Mike Heitzig, to soak up as much as we could about how to connect, design and create with our new 3-D printer. We learned about Thingiverse and Tinkercad. We learned a few "dos and don'ts" and "how tos". I came out of our session with my head spinning, realizing how ambitious this really is, but also how valuable.

Stay tuned for more on our 3-D printing project and wish us luck!

Hacking Library Redesign on a Budget!

Over the last few years, I've been trying to rethink our school media center in an attempt to update and create a more flexible space for our students. I've written about this a few times. As I have been rethinking, repurposing and redesigning, a major consideration was that I needed to do it on a skeleton budget. Redesigning on a tight budget has required a great deal of creativity! Although it feels like it has been a painfully slow process, little by little, I am starting to see the positive changes.

Before going any further, I have to say that making low budget changes does have it's advantages. As I change things, and because I don't invested too much money, if it turns out to be a flop, I can always put it back the way it was!

Thank You Shout Outs!  I have to thank several people for their help. My principal, Wade Labatte, is very supportive. Even though he may feel like it, he doesn't roll his eyes every time I come with a new idea. He listens and ask questions...cognitive coaching me, for those who know what that is :). He is supportive of my efforts. Our building custodial staff, brothers Mike and Tim Gallagher, have put in extra time and energy, doing the heavy work to help me realize my vision for the space. My library clerk, Jennifer Burkle, is so upbeat and even though my ideas mean more work for her, she makes a great library cheerleader! Finally, library volunteer Sheila, who's son has moved on to middle school, still comes to help us with our major book moving and shelving. Now that's dedication!

Last year, I made a few changes. I put out iPad stands to get students used to using the library catalog on an iPad rather than a desktop computer.  I also purchased a rug and put some cushions around the rug to create a kid friendly reading space. (Of all the changes to the space, this one has been a kid favorite!)

    

Then I began weeding! I weeded our fiction section several years ago when I genrified that section. Then last year, I weeded our picture book section. Only our nonfiction section remained unweeded. It was in desperate need of weeding with 20 year old books that had copyright dates that were much older. As most librarians know, weeding breathes new life into a library collection. It cuts away the books that students don't want so they can more easily find what they do want. As I weeded, Jennifer and Sheila moved the books to several wall shelving units that were largely empty since I got rid of our magazines. I always considered these wall units too tall for our elementary students, so we rearranged shelves to put display shelves on the top, since those shelves were too high for many of our students.

Next, Mike got rid of the huge tables that used to hold our desktop computers. These computers were largely used to host the Destiny Library Catalog for student use.  Students had already begun to use the iPads for this purpose, so they weren't in use.

Repurposing   Next, with the newly emptied stacks of shelves in the middle of the library, I asked Mike and Tim to move it along an outside wall freed up by the now removed tables. They also removed one of four sections of the stack to make it shorter.  This made it fit snuggly into the wall space. Throughout all of the rearranging, I was having a hard time with the idea of getting rid of these library stacks. They were custom made for our space when we opened the building 18 years ago, and I just couldn't bring myself to throw them away, or pay for expensive new shelving. So once the stack was against the wall, I turned up the shelves on the wall side to create a new back for shelving on the front, thus making it a little less obvious that it is double sided.  

Finally, I took the shelves completely out of a second stack of shelves and created high top seating with eight inexpensive chairs that I bought from Amazon. This change gave our library space a variety of seating at different heights, while also opening up more space in the center of our library. 

What's next? As money allows, we are planning to put our tables on lockable wheels, making them more flexible. If money were no object, I would replace our round tables with square tables on wheels. The shape may not seem like a big deal, but it makes the furniture move together and apart more easily. Round tables don't push together to create collaborative seating quite as well as square tables. I would also love to update the chairs around the tables, but that is more of a desire to have an updated look as our chairs function well.  

I have always thought of our OHE library as a beautiful inviting space. These changes just make it more flexible for staff and students.

Climbing The Uphill Learning Curve...Are We At The Top Yet?

Typically, I try to focus my blog on digital lessons that the Oak Hills Elementary community and my PLN (professional learning community) will find helpful. It's probably obvious, but I am a believer in sharing my learning and ideas. I am grateful and inspired by colleagues, both near and far, who are willing to share their ideas. And this professional inspiration propels me forward! So I try to share in the hopes that I can "pay it forward".

This school year, however, I've been struggling to act on this core belief of mine. Like many bloggers, I always feel a little guilt, a little naggling voice reminding me that I haven't been writing or sharing!  With the exception of a few tweets here and there, I have spent the first two months of the school year climbing a few big learning curves (new 3D printer - need I say more, redesigning the library and learning how to record & manage our daily news announcements) along with the regular every day challenges. Each one of these challenges would be manageable by themselves, but together make a high peak to climb!(to keep the analogy going) I know the payoff for my students and school will be great, but I am a bit winded by the climb!

Stay tuned for more details on how it's going!

A Little September & October Fun at OHE!

We had a wonderful Book Fair!

Our OHE Walk-A-Thon Was A Huge Success!

We celebrated our successful Walk-A-Thon with a few hilarious rounds of teacher Hungry Hungry Hippo! 

Launching A New Year Of Digital Devices,Tools & Learning!

In schools with digital devices, the first month of school is largely dedicated to getting everyone up and running with their devices and tools. Our district's first big influx of digital devices was delivered last school year in November, so this year was the first time I was supporting teachers and students who were ready to dive right in. I spent most of September and some of October helping our students get going. Reminding some and teaching others how to login and use Chromebooks, Google, Schoology, MyOn, SeeSaw, Typing.com and Newsela. It was such a whirlwind, I am probably forgetting a few! My calendar was packed, with a few teachers frustrated that there wasn't enough of me to go around!

Our 5th grade jumped into writing from the first week. With Mrs. Urban's class, I introduced writing and word processing basics right away with Google Docs. In addition to writing skills, we focused on spacing, word wrapping, centering. By jumping in right way, these students would be able to use these skills for their writing throughout the year.

Fourth Grade introduced students to Chromebooks using Schoology and MPCC (Minnesota Partnership for Collaborative Curriculum).  Mr. Hemann began with a map reading lesson. 

 

 

Third Grade students jumped right in with MyOn and Newsela!

In Kindergarten, we used the Draw A House app along with a beautiful book called Home by Carson Ellis. It is our "go to" lesson for teaching iPad basics, so typically our first iPad lesson.

I had a chance to share tips and guidelines:
1.  Always carry any device with two hands!
2. Swipe down on the screen (in the middle away from an actual app) to get a search option!  This way students aren't left trying to figure out which page their iPad app is on.  They can type in the first two letters to the search window to find their app!
3.  Five finger close.  Students can spread their hand out on the iPad glass and draw their fingers into the middle to close out of an app.  This is great for saving wear and tear on the home button on the iPad.  (It is also a great option if the home button is being a bit glitchy!)
4.  Never touch another student's iPad. If you want to help a fellow classmate, you need to point, not touch to help them find their way.
That was enough for our first day in kindergarten! Students read the book, learned about different homes, created their own home, and learned how to use their iPad successfully!  All in all a good day in kindergarten!

 

This was a great beginning to our digital year! With a running leap, our OHE students were positioned to use their digital tools for even greater learning.

Digital Tools For A New School Year!

Oak Hills Students Kick Off Their Digital Learning With Padlet!

We are ending our first fabulous week of school. This week can often be exhausting for students and teachers as everyone adjusts to their new school family, getting to know one another and setting expectations for the year. Whew!

This year at Oak Hills Elementary we have decided to focus on building relationships with each other and with our students. With this in mind, our teachers employ "Back to School" activities to create a "responsive classroom" designed to help their students come together, validate each student and prepare a positive learning environment. Though these are traditional "first week of school" activities that provide a vital springboard for student success, there is no reason that they have to be delivered in a traditional way! That is where I come in :)

Again this year, many of our teachers invited me in to help guide their first digital activity. We used my favorite digital tool, Padlet to give students their first digital experience of the school year, share the details of their summer, jump start student writing skills and have some fun! Padlet presents a wonderful opportunity to talk about writing for an audience! Students spend extra time to do their very best because they realize that it will be shared outside the classroom as well. 

Digitizing back to school activities can also provide students with an opportunity to revisit principles of digital citizenship, establish device expectations, practice logging in with new passwords and help student get acquainted and share their voice.

It is getting a chance to read what students have on their minds, their best memories of the summer that I really enjoy! 

We're Back! Another fabulous #firstdayofschool for the @oakhills194 family!

3rd Graders Create Cause & Effect Comic Strips With StoryboardThat.com

Recently 3rd grade teachers asked for my help as their students were focusing on identifying cause and effect relationships. Along with cause and effect, teachers wanted students to make the subsequent inferences about these cause and effect relationships. Third graders need to be able to recognize these relationships in their reading and in life! My challenge was to give students an opportunity to digitize this valuable lesson!

I found a solution in the web app StoryboardThat.com! Once teachers had introduced the topic, I introduced StoryboardThat.com. Students were asked to create their own cause and effect relationship and identify the inference in the form of a comic strip! 

Students learned how to add a backgrounds, add characters, speech bubbles and text boxes to their cause/effect comic strip! They were really quick at figuring out the "how tos" which made the lesson fun! StoryboardThat was the perfect web app to demonstrate cause and effect in pictures! 

4th Graders Use Glogster To Present Answers To Their Own Guiding Questions...

In April, our 4th grade teachers wanted to give students the opportunity to do research. Rather than decide for their students what they would research, traditionally it has been state reports, this year our 4th grade teachers wanted students to choose their own topic...to answer a guiding question based on their individual interests and passions. I applaud our 4th grade teachers, Mr. Hemann, Mrs. Osborn and Ms. Warfield for challenging themselves and their students to personalize their research. Having every student choose their own guiding question and research based on their own interest adds a level of complexity to their job as teachers. They wanted to encourage students to be curious and to learn that research isn't only something they do for school reports, but something they do for life! So our 4th grade teachers took a deep breath and plunged in. They asked for my help with selecting a digital tool for students to create a presentation. (They weren't quite ready to let each student choose their own digital tool. One step at a time 😉 ) Together we decided to try Glogster.

The first task was helping students turn their interests and passions into a guiding question. Many students knew what they wanted to research, but struggled to frame a question that would help them get to the answers they were seeking! I was amazed by the variety of their interests and depth of their curiosity!

Once students selected a topic and wrote a guiding question, they researched the answer. I was invited to show students how to use Glogster and support them as they created their Glogster to present their research findings. This gave me a chance to discuss online safety and copyright with students along the way. Students learned how to use Glogster by adding text features, speech bubbles, images and even embedding videos! These digital posters were visually engaging and gave students polished projects that they were proud to present to their class and families! Most importantly, students found answers to their own questions!