Kami in the Classroom

Our students at Highland Park have Kami fever!  Now that they know Kami will allow them to "show what they know"...students are using it for all subjects.  Since we have 1:1 Chromebooks in the classrooms, teachers are using Google Classroom to assign wonderful lessons to the students and students are using Kami to add their answers and show their work online.  Mrs. Hays' second graders recently used Kami to retell the beginning, middle, and end of their story.  Ms. Mansell's first graders used it to located places on a map.  Mrs. Wiginton's class thought Kami was perfect to highlight evidence in the text as they worked on reading comprehension.  Kami is a Google extension that is a great tool for our classrooms!

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