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.