Questions Asked, Questions Answered with Quiz Maker

Mrs. Garren and Mrs. D'Elia collaborated with 3rd Grade Track 4 students to create quizzes to test their comprehension of non-fiction articles.  The students chose and read articles from Time for Kids on their ipads. They worked with partners do discuss facts they learned, questions they had and generated critical questions. Next they used the Quiz Maker app to create their very own quizzes for their peers to complete. The students all agreed that generating questions based on what they've read really helped demonstrate their comprehension of the article they read.

Chalktalk Conversations

Day 1 - Students were annotating a passage together. They were encouraged to use appropriate questions stems ("A question I have is" "I was wondering what/why this word" "Why did the author" when asking each other questions as well as appropriate speaking stems, ("I agree with" "I disagree with" "To add onto ...."). Posting these on the Smartboard in two columns helps the students move the conversation along as I walk around and facilitate. Here students were using Thesaurus.com and Dictionary.com to look up words they needed clarification on.

Day 2 - annotating a poem the next day in the same fashion Day 3 - students had seven questions on seven pieces of construction paper of varying HOTS. They needed to respond to each question on their own, while standing with their group and rotating around to each of the seven questions. Day 4 - students then rotated around with their group and read everyone's responses to each questions. They would then delve into a conversation about which responses were most correct and they recorded them on their device.*

* I have found when students are doing a informal writing such as this, writing in their notes on their device is particularly useful. They are able to edit, switch words around, spell check and type neatly and quickly. Many of my reluctant writers have SOARED to new heights with their writing by having a device as an option to type.

First/Fourth Grade: Digital Learning Share

My first grade students and Ms. Collins' fourth grade students shared how they use digital learning tools in their classrooms. To begin, the 1st grade students taught the 4th graders how they use linoit by posting information about themselves (name, age, favorite thing to do). 

Next, we practiced using linoit as a way to share our thoughts during our read aloud. The 1st graders have been reading Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy: Super Sleuth. 
Ms. Collins' 4th graders showed the 1st graders how to share their thoughts (connections, questions, inferences, etc.) during our read-aloud. They did a wonderful job!

Finally the 4th grade students shared their favorite digital learning tool to their 1st grade buddy. The fourth graders shared; story kit, Discovery Education: Board Builder, Aww white board, Big Universe, etc. We even had one 4th grade student present on the SMARTboard how she uses board builder. We are hoping to have more shared learning experiences for our First/Fourth grade buddies using technology! 

Google Docs for Peer Editing

Yesterday in class we were peer editing our perspective papers using a Google Doc..  I was inspired by Mr. B to try to create a Google form to help guide students with peer editing.  To help students better focus on their peer editing, I gave guiding questions which each partner needed to complete with each other's paper.  I created a classroom gmail account which allowed all students to use my Google form.   The best part is, I am able to look at their responses to see all of the suggestions, celebrations, and any particulars we were working on in our mini-lesson.  It was very easy for students to find the link on our weebly page and complete on their device or the classroom computers.  I found that students were more focused/ engaged and excited about completing the forms.

Pettey's Map Scavenger Hunters with QR Codes

Ms. Pettey and Mrs. D'Elia collaborated to create an activity where Ms. Pettey's 1st graders put their map skills to test using the iPads and QR codes.  They scanned QR codes using an app called Quick Scan which gave them questions to answer.  (Thank you, Mrs. Bouchard for showing us the cool web tool http://www.classtools.net/QR/ which allowed Mrs. D'Elia and Ms. Pettey to create the questions!) The students referenced different maps using links on our Student Links page to find the answers.  The students had a great time reading maps and map symbols, collaborating and being 21st Century learners!

Which version did you like better?

We have been reading lots of different versions of Cinderella in our classroom!   Today we read CinderElephant and then created a Padlet to share our thoughts about which version of the story we liked better.

Cinderella Padlet

QR Codes and Padlet Fun in Miss McCommons' 2nd grade class.

Today we used QR Codes and Padlet to start our track in day off on the right foot!! We had so much fun.  First we scanned a QR code to get us to our morning work! It showed up right on our devices so we could have the work right in front of us.  Then after we finished  our morning work we shared our track out adventures via Padlet.  Padlet is an amazing online collaboration tool that allows multiple users to post their thoughts to a collective online bulletin board.  This way we could all see the amazing things that each person did during track out!  WE LOVE BYOD!!

Click the link below to see our awesome padlet.
What did you do over trackout? Padlet