Mrs. Bulman and her first grade music students have been practicing for their upcoming Christmas program, but she wanted to offer them a way to practice after hours if they want to. Although she normally provides CDs with the practice music on them...she decided to take it to the next level this year. Mrs. Bulman learned how to rip each song from the practice CD, configure it in an editing program called Camtasia, and upload it to a YouTube playlist. Now, students can pull up the Christmas program playlist on YouTube using a phone, a tablet, or computer at home and practice away!
To make it easy for students to access, Mrs. Bulman created a QR code with a link to the playlist that she will send home with students today. What started as a "Could we...?" idea....ended in a successful, beneficial technology project. Way to go Mrs. Bulman! Need a little Christmas Cheer? Feel free to scan the QR code below and sing along.
Mrs. Hays' second grade students are using QR Codes to extend learning in the classroom. Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, these students are taking a deeper look at turkeys. Mrs. Hays has created a variety of QR Codes that link her students to videos, songs, and websites that will help them learn some very interesting facts about these birds. Using the QR Scan extension on their classroom Chromebooks, students are able to scan a code in seconds and the learning begins. QR Codes are easy to make....and a great tool for students to use because it saves time, offers technology independence, and increases student engagement.
Mrs. Wiginton's first graders recently learned how to create their own word search puzzles during a visit to the computer lab. These first graders used QR Codes to access the ABCya! website. www.abcya.com/make_a_word_search.htm Students then practiced their keyboarding skills by typing ten things they were thankful for. They were amazed as the Word Search Creator generated customized online word searches for them with the click of a button. Students had a great time searching for the things that were special to them...and practiced those mouse skills at the same time. Now that students know how to create these puzzles, they can use this website in a reading center or to study their spelling words each week. I admit I loved it when I saw one of the students type he was thankful for computers. :)
Highland Park's technology journey continued today (beyond the school walls) with an innovative idea from our principal, Mr. Pounders. Knowing that technology can make routine tasks more efficient, he began to connect procedures for student dismissal with his technology background...and a fabulous idea was born in a matter of minutes. Mr. Pounders wanted to verbally call out the names of car riders and...with technology.... change that to a written format teachers could read while lining up students inside for dismissal. Through the use of a Google Doc and voice recognition on his phone... it happened! He moved from car to car reading the names into his phone and Google changed that to text on a live document that could be viewed on a teacher Chromebook in the lunchroom. A collaborative Google Doc, a cell phone, and the desire to be more efficient changed the look of student pick-up today. It was effective because it saved time and man power. Way to go Mr. Pounders!
