1st Graders Research Habitats & Create A Collaborative eBook!

First grade teacher, Mrs. Johnson, came to me for an idea to extend the learning for her MTSS group studying habitats. This group of six students had already gathered facts on a variety of habitats. Each student was allowed to pick their favorite habitat and gather a facts to share with the group. 

Each student was given a slide in a shared Google slideshow. I showed them how add bulleted text (the facts that they gathered from their research) and an image. Once they had finished editing their slide, I downloaded the entire slideshow in the .pdf format. I uploaded the pdf into the web app anyflip.com. Once it was in eBook format, it was easy for Mrs. Johnson to share with parents and the rest of the class.

Kindergarten Try Out Transportation Augmented Reality With The Quiver App!

Last week, Mrs. Remiger asked for me for suggestions for her kindergarten class studying transportation. After giving it some thought, I decided it would be a perfect time to give students an opportunity to try augmented reality. I downloaded a few of the free transportation coloring pages from the Quiver website. We gave students the option to color several different options. 

Students colored their pages and then we used the free Quiver app to view the vehicles. We had some difficulty with a few of the images, but several worked perfectly! Kindergarten students were able to see their transportation vehicle come to life with interactive options. One of their favorites was the truck with a horn and lights! This augmented reality lesson made for a fun finale to their transportation unit.

It Begins! 2018 March Madness Tournament of Books!

For the past four years, I have hosted a March Madness Tournament of Books for Oak Hills 3rd - 5th Graders. As March approached this year, I was worried that maybe our students would feel a less enthusiastic about it since we have done it several times before. With that in mine, I still pushed ahead, surveyed classes for their favorite books, created the huge bracket on the wall and produced the paper bracket for voting. Yesterday I began chatting with classes about it and I was greeted with applause by one class and a great deal of enthusiasm by the rest! That doesn't happen every day! So I am thrilled to say, here we go, 2018 March Madness Tournament of Books.  This year I am not including any past winners into the "Sweet 16". So that means the series Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter and Sisters are not included despite their continued popularity. I also made an exception for a nonfiction series and included the "Who Was" books. This series is one of the most read in our library collection.  After all of our 3rd - 5th Graders finish filling out their paper bracket, we will begin the voting using Google Forms. Stay tuned for the results!