GeoGuessr + Google Searching = World Traveling Researchers!!

Oak Hills students LOVE the new online game GeoGuessr!!  It works great on an iPad and computer!!

This week students traveled the world with a new online game called GeoGuessr.  GeoGuessr uses Google Maps to give each player a random image from somewhere in the world.  Students are asked to look at the clues using the interactive tools in Google Maps and to make an educated guess on where the image was taken.  The students became investigators, gathering clues so they could make their best guess.  They could move up and down roads to try and find road signs, they zoomed in on cars to see which side of the road the driver was on, they noticed style of road signs (US or international), vegetation (palm trees vs. pine trees), and billboards.

To amp up the educational value to the game, I encouraged students to open a second tab in the browser so they could research the clues gathered in the pictures.  This may not be what the creator of GeoGuessr intended, but it made for a great research opportunity for students!  As a result of their ability to do additional research, student received HUGE scores because they were able to pinpoint locations on the map rather than make general guesses.  I like the fact that it gave students a great reason to research!

       

Just a few of our World Travelers!!

1st Graders Are Researching Authors And Finding Online Fun!!!

1st Graders love Jan Brett books!  As winter takes hold, her books are like a warm blanket and a hot cup of cocoa!

As we have been reading her books, we have been researching background information on the Jan Brett website!! (Each time we read from a new author, I have been making an effort to share author websites with our 1st graders because these websites often contain great background information.  We can read about each author's life, what inspires them and how they generate their ideas!)  The Jan Brett website is a wonderful resource.

There are many learning activities for kids to do on JanBrett.com. One activity gives students the opportunity to create Gingerbread Friends themed note cards.  Students can enter their own personal message, which gives them a chance to practice their word processing skills to send a message to friends and family.  (Their use of the shift key to capitalize is really coming along!!  We are still working on not overusing      the       space       bar  .    TEEHEE!! ;)   1st Graders worked hard to write their notecards and are excited to give them to friends and family.  (Also, for those of you who have been reading past blog posts...we downloaded their notecards so we could add them to their Google Drive!)

New Library Books!!....Gifts Of The Season Or Anytime!!

No matter what time of year, Oak Hills students love it when we display our new books!  Each year, after our October Scholastic Book Fair, we set to work preparing the books for our students.  There are so many steps to get these books ready for the shelves!!  Our wonderful clerk, Mrs. Eklund, dutifully barcodes and covers them, and generally works hard until finally they are ready!  

This week we put the books on display so that all of our students could see them before we begin checking them out.  They swarm around the books with enthusiasm, waiting for their turn to read their newest adventure!! 

Sharing With Our Lakeville Board of Education, Superintendent and Cabinet!

SHARING!  We are all taught to share our toys when we are little.  Now, sharing our work, our play and ourselves has a whole new meaning.

Since I began blogging, I have gained an understanding of why digital "sharing" is so important! (and a little bit addicting!) Although the Oxford Word of 2013 is "selfie", someone should name SHARING as the digital icon and concept of the decade!  Although sharing is not a new idea, it has taken on a whole new meaning with social media.  Now our greatest concern is that our students are "over sharing"!!  But as much negative press as digital sharing seems to get in the media - depicting students glued to their devices, heads down, posting images of everything, Vining, Snapchatting, Twittering...every thought making it's way to an audience...there truly is a decidedly up side that I have now tasted myself.

Sharing pushes us all to be more creative, more engaged and more diligent!  As a teacher, I have always known that publishing student work makes them "care" more about the outcome, but even I continue to be pleasantly surprised to see just how engaged students are when they know they may reach an audience beyond their own family.  The biggest "AHA!"moment for me has been that I am not immune to this same effect.  I get so excited to share the latest thing that I am doing with my students.  As I plan lessons for my students, I am always thinking about how excited I am to share with everyone!  And I take a great many more pictures than I used to!!

As for the very real concerns about student sharing, it gives us, educators and parents, a great opportunity to teach them from an early age to be thoughtful content creators...and hopefully future thoughtful social media users.

Last week, Mr. Labatte asked me to share my blog with the Lakeville Board of Education, Superintendent, Dr. Snyder and Cabinet.  It was fun!  I loved having an opportunity to show off what our Oak Hills students can do and to share their creativity and their good ole fashion hard work.  They have become digital natives right before my eyes and I am happy to share it with parents and readers!  Thank you to Mr. Labatte, the Board of Education, Superintendent and Cabinet for letting me SHARE!!!  (And thank you Mr. Skelly for sharing the image that you took with your iPad while I was presenting!!:)

                      

Book Talks with the Tellagami App

I have admitted to being more than a little addicted to finding new Web 2.0 sites and iPad Apps to use with students!  So when I read about the free iPad app Tellagami in Richard Byrne's blog Free Tech for Teachers, I was desperate to try it!!   I invited two of my 5th grade students to try it so I could use their videos as an example for book talks with all of my students.  They did a great job!

It was great getting a chance to try it with students!  I learned that it is better not to hold the mic of the iPad too close, but otherwise it went really well.  Look for more Tellagami's with students in a future blog post!

1st Graders Are Thankful For Our Thanksgiving Books And So Much More!!

Thanksgiving is on the way and our first graders are thankful for so many things.  I shared with students our library's wonderful Thanksgiving books.  We read several including one of my Thanksgiving favorites, Thanksgiving Cats, a whimsical rhyming story about farmer cats preparing for Thanksgiving.  It was written by Jean Marzollo, better known for her I Spy Books of Pictures and Riddles.  Students were thankful for Mrs. Marzollo's wonderful ability to rhyme!

After reading a few more Thanksgiving books, first graders wanted to share what they were thankful for this Thanksgiving season!!

To help them share, I thought of one of my new favorite websites, Padlet.com.  I am really thankful I found this one!!  I used this site to share last week's Mixed-Up Class projects.  What I love about Padlet is that every student can write on the same online "wall" simultaneously!  

This week I asked each student to write one or more things that they were thankful for on a Thanksgiving Padlet.  While they were writing, students were able to see and read what their classmates were writing.  They sparked ideas for each other and helped each other with spelling.  This also gave students an opportunity to practice their basic word processing and keyboarding skills - capitalizing (shift key), deleting, spacing and the return key.  Students didn't care so much about that, they just loved being able to share.  Check out our wall of thankfulness from all the 1st grade classes!

Created with Padlet

Great Graphic Resource For Teachers...

As a relative newcomer to Twitter, I am still discovering some of it's benefits and fun.  This weekend I read this tweet.

I LOVE finding new iPad and Web 2.0 resources to use with my students, so this graphic fed my addiction!!  It sparked ideas for future lessons, and validated others lessons I have already taught.  Thank you Twitter and Mark Garrison.

It reminds me of Kathy Schrock's Bloomin Apps and the Edutopia article by Diane Darrow.  I wrote about it in 2012 - Bloom's Taxonomy and iPad Apps