Chromville Science

Student engagement continues to soar with technology inside of our classrooms.  With the help of an iPad and the Chromville Science app, these second graders were thrilled to see their plant diagrams grow right before their eyes.  This activity was a perfect fit for these students since they are learning about pollination.  Students have to choose appropriate elements (air, water, love, fertilizer, sunshine) from a menu to make the plant grow, so this adds a great formative assessment tool to this activity.  They love the fact that they can take snapshots of their projects within the app and add it to their Seesaw digital portfolios too.  Chromville is a wonderful augmented reality app that enables students to have fun while learning about science...and these smiles show it.  

Bee Observations and Skitch in 2nd Grade

Our second grade students are learning about plants and bees in a unit on pollination, Mrs. Hays' students decided to combine their research with an iPad app called Skitch.  The students used a QR code to visit a website with a variety of interesting bee images.  They examined each photo carefully...taking notes about what they noticed about the body, the head, the wings, and pollen.  Next, students chose their favorite photo and used the Skitch app to add featured facts about bees.  One student said, "This looks just like a picture you would see in a Science book!"   This is a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding and create a beautiful informational poster at the same time.  Skitch is an app they will use for many projects in the future. 

Seesaw Showcases Students' Success

Seesaw is a student -driven digital portfolio that empowers students to independently document what they are learning at school.  Our Highland Park students are learning they can use photos, videos, drawings, text notes, and links to show what they know.  The students love to take a picture of their reading passage and record their voice as they read it.  Students may use it to take a picture of science projects or make a video explaining center activities they do during station time.  The students log in with a classroom QR code, add their work samples to the iPad or Chromebook, and then drop it in their own personal Seesaw folder. Seesaw will enable students, teachers, and parents to reflect on student work throughout the year and see/hear improvements our children make along the way.  The possibilities are endless, and they are loving this new tech tool.  We can't wait to see their creative entries throughout the school year!

Learning the Keys... Preparing our students for success!

Learning the keys on the computer keyboard is a very important skill for our students to learn.  The fact that the letters are not in alphabetical order can be a stumbling block for the students when they are typing their spelling words or working on a Google project.  Our first graders have also been reviewing letter sounds in their classroom, so visiting a website called Alphabet Zoo in the computer lab has enabled them to work on both skills.  Alphabet Zoo gives the students a letter, reminds them of the sound it makes, asks them to type that letter repeatedly, and relates it to an animal name with that sound.  To help reinforce this, students also colored that particular letter on a keyboard diagram. Students carried these keyboards home in hopes that they would practice "typing" their spelling words, their name, or other sight words they are learning.  The more practice...the more familiar they will be with the keyboard, and that is definitely a life skill that will help them in the future.  

Red, White & Blue Day - Celebrating Our Champions

We have been learning a little bit about the Olympics each day at Highland Park.  We used math as we followed the medal count daily, we had a geography lesson as we studied Rio and other countries competing in various events, and we learned about some of the animals found in the rainforests of Brazil.  There were also some valuable character education lessons as we watched how Olympians pushed through adversity and encouraged teammates.  We saw a runner fall, but she got up and finished the race.  That is endurance.  We saw relay teams cheer their teammates on to the win, even when they were behind during the competition. That is persistence and a competitive spirit.  We decided a celebration of our Olympic champions would be the perfect ending to our Olympic study so we had Red, White & Blue Day.  We also saw this as the perfect opportunity to use some of our favorite new technology -the Do Ink app and our green screen.  Take a peek at the fun...

We love learning @ Highland Park

Famous Americans - Chatterpix QR Codes

Second-grade students decided to take their famous American reports to the next level.  After using their Chromebooks to research a variety of famous Americans including Betsy Ross, Rosa Parks, Jessie Owens and Abraham Lincoln, Mrs. Huguley's class wrote mini reports.  This was informative, but they wanted to add a twist of fun.  The students decided to draw portraits of their famous people...and make them talk with an iPad app called Chatterpix.  This took a lesson on point of view to a new level!  Each student took a picture of his/her illustration using the iPad, drew a mouth on it with their finger, and added his/her voice to create a "living" book report.  The students thought it would be a nice touch to create QR codes linked to each video and hang them beside their hand-drawn portraits so others could learn and enjoy these projects with a quick scan of the code.   This project took normal book reports and transformed them into a living museum that is both informative and engaging.  Good job students!

Want to see what the living book reports look like?  

Click on the links below... 

Betsy Ross Chatterpix

Abraham Lincoln Chatterpix

"Spotlight on Technology" Night

You are invited...

Bringing Characters to Life with Chatterpix

Mrs. Goins' second graders read the story of Bessie Coleman and discovered that she was the first African-American woman to become a pilot.  As the students read their weekly story, they collected facts about her and then created special projects using Chatterpix.  The students wrote a short summary, saved an image of her, and then used iPads to record their voices to create unique talking character projects.  This is a simple, but sensational project... and the kids loved making them!

Click here to see an example...

http://bit.ly/1q4ulyI

News-O-Matic

Mrs. McConnell's class has been learning about current events through a new website called News-O-Matic.  Each day, this site publishes articles written just for kids about the most recent news topics.  It keeps the students aware of current events, but they also love the cool stories this site includes on subjects that interest them like Minecraft and Pokemon.  In addition to the article, each story includes a related video, slideshow of photos, questions to check understanding, a drawing pad so they can illustrate what they have learned, and even a read-to-me button.  The kids love having the opportunity to choose which story they would like to read. While one might choose to learn about space...another may choose to learn about a famous basketball player.   News-O-Matic exposes them to non-fiction text and current news in an entertaining way that engages them and takes their learning deeper. 

 

Happy Numbers

Mrs. Wiginton's first graders recently tried out a math website named Happy Numbers and they loved it!  This is a great website that will allow them to practice their math skills, but leave the boredom of a worksheet behind.  Once these students learned how to sign-in...the adventure began!  Each student began with basic first-grade skills, but as they mastered each level, the next level was unlocked.  This is a great program because it allows the teacher to monitor student progress while providing an individualized learning pace for each one.  As you can see...the students were engaged and they left asking when they could "play" again.  I think I know how this website got its name. 

Happy Digital Learning Day!

Talking Presidents

President's Day has prompted some 2nd graders at Highland Park to do a little research.  Students used their Chromebooks to collect interesting information about the Father of our country, George Washington.  During their research time, these students came across some pretty interesting information.  Did you know that his dentures were made of bone and hippopotamous ivory?  They also learned that he did not actually live in the White House.  Students thought it would be exciting to take this project to the next level by using Vocaroo and a Google extension called Voice Recorder to record themselves reading their research. Since these webtools link their voice to a URL address, students were able to create a QR code and add a personal touch to a President's Day art project. Now HP has it's own hall of "talking" Presidents.  

QR Codes and Candy Store Math

Mrs. McConnell's second grade class has been working on a project to strengthen math skills in a real world scenario, and they are using technology to help them.  Each student's mission was to design a piece of candy, decide its price, and write a detailed description of it.  The students then took their written descriptions and created a video advertisement about their candy in an effort to persuade fellow students to buy it.  Each video was attached to a QR code so kids could quickly scan each one and watch the student created commercials easily.  The next phase of the project will consist of giving each student ninety-nine cents to purchase two pieces of their favorite candy.  They will use math skills to decide which two favorites they can purchase with the budget they have been given. This project not only incorporated many higher order thinking skills, but allowed them to learn lots of technology skills along the way.  The students loved this "sweet" project!

Click here to see how this interactive learning board works...

First Grade is Going Google...

Mrs. Lawler's first grade students are going Google!  This week, these Highland Park students learned how to sign in to their individual student accounts and create their own Google documents.  Knowing how to do this will enable these students to do great things in the classroom.   These first graders have been working on the writing process in class.  Last week, they were talking about good things to eat for breakfast. They brainstormed together, completed a graphic organizer, and then voted for their favorite.  Pancakes won the class vote, so this week they have been writing about pancakes in class.  Today, students were so excited because they were able to create a Google Doc and type their written work.   I couldn't help but smile when I noticed one little guy lean over to his friend and whisper, "I feel like an adult."  Knowing how to access their Google accounts will allow these students to track their progress and save their projects from year to year.