Technology and Learning

  I was in Mrs. Tonsfeldt's 3rd Grade classroom today helping her kiddos show their Explain Everything presentations.  They were SO SO great and did such a fantastic job!  They had to come up with a famous person or idea and write a timeline.  Each date had to represent something in his/her life and they created a presentation showing this.  Not only did it help them understand timelines, they had to record their voices into their presentation, include a graphic, and pick their favorite thing learned! Here is an example: LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS:)!  So great and the kids were AMAZING at it!  Their little minds surprise me more and more each day and their knowledge of technology is superb!! Happy Weekend all, Mrs. I:)

  A 9th grader came in yesterday and showed me this: You'll notice that the screen is TOTALLY shattered, the bottom is bent bad, and the home button is missing - GOOD GRIEF - what happened, right? When I asked him what happened, he said that he dropped it out of his bag getting off the bus.  I questioned him, "I don't think this is what happened, as this kind of breakage is pretty bad."  Casey, our tech guy, was also in here and he blurts out, "Are you sure after you dropped it that the bus didn't run it OVER?"  He said, "Well, maybe I dropped it off my bed stand also."  Which CLEARLY is NOT the case.  Just TELL ME THE TRUTH!!  We were DYING laughing;)!   On another note, a girl came in this morning and said that she does her homework on her iPad while she takes a bath.  However, last night she put her iPad on a stand next to the tub, and while she was getting out, she knocked it off INTO the bath water - end of iPad!  O...

  If you haven't seen any of the videos that Kid President (Robby Novak) has created you MUST!!!  His humor, loving smile and inspiring personality really hit home to kids and adults alike.  He came up with one that is SO appropriate for today, since it's Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday!  ENJOY:)!! Happy Monday, Mrs. I:)

  For Mrs. Gross's Independent Reading class, the students have to read three novels during the quarter and do a book review of each one.  In addition, she also has them create a "project" based on the book that they just read.  One of her students did a book review on the book Dark Places by Gillian Flynn - check out his iMovie trailer that he created - DIED LAUGHING - SO GREAT:)!! Some other students chose to go to the  Wordle site.  They had to create a word cloud and explain WHY they chose the words they did in their "cloud."  The more important words had to be larger than the others, and the students had to explain WHY that was the case.  Here are some examples: This one is for the novel White Fang by Jack London: This one is created after the novel 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult: Two more great ideas to use with ANY novel.  This class is taught to senior high students, but these projects could be incorporated into just about ...

Let's just say that day 2 was JUST as amazing as day 1!  I forgot to mention a quote that Mark Garrison shared in his session and I BELIEVE IT SO SO MUCH!! Whatever is it you do, know you can do better! - Rushton Hurley   Isn't that the truth! Now, we have AMAZING peeps here in Barnesville, but things can ALWAYS be done better and we are learning that each and every day - we ALL are! Session 1:  Reading Comprehension: Digging Deeper Using Digital Devices - Sara Speicher and Julie Walthour gave AMAZING ideas on websites and apps that help with reading comprehension!  Here are the things they talked about.  Many we have used, some were new - all great! * Thinglink – link hot spots to pictures – use with vocabulary – kids can create a channel and you can click through it * Newslea – read the article one time at the lowest level – take quiz – move up to the next Lexile level and read again – continue moving up to improve vocabulary *...

  I am SO SO SORRY that I am FINALLY getting to this so late!  However - the things I have to share are SO worth waiting for - even after a month:)!! Session 1 - The Breakfast Club : Darin Swenson and Luke Stordahl led 10 sessions that they called "The Breakfast Club."  They covered various topics throughout the summer to help teachers with their 1:1 initiative.  They met for two hours I believe, and challenged their teachers to come and learn as much as the could.  Donuts were a BIG HIT as we ALL know food helps:), and they included a 7th challenge with a book called  Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess.  I have hear NOTHING but great things about this book and they say it will "transform the way you teach."  I heard other speakers at TIES talk about it, so it's definitely one I"m checking out;).  These were some suggestions – find the right number of sessions for you, get input from staff, have free play day and let them t...