March

While I have lots of catching up to do on my blog. I couldn't wait to share these three lessons!

Making Vocabulary Meaningful
Last week I attended and presented at the edTech RVA conference. One of the ideas I took away from the conference was having students use features of Google Docs to develop their own definitions and illustrations of key vocabulary words.

Fortunately one of the teachers, who also went to edTech, was on board and today students in her class worked on deepening their understanding of key vocabulary words related to sound.

This student learned how to use the snapshot feature to include images from the science textbook

An example of a student's drawings to illustrate rarefaction and compression

There was rich discussion among students about the differences in terms and how some abstract words could be illustrated. The class regularly uses Google for work. They loved the research and drawing features that I taught them how to use today! 

Hard at work! 

Animal Collages
One class of third grade students used the app PicCollage to create collages that illustrated what they've learned about the terms omnivore, carnivore, physical adaptation, behavioral adaptation, mimicry, camouflage, and more. Students found examples of at least three key terms studied in science related to animals and took photos of them using the iPad. From the app PicCollage, students included caption of each picture. After completing their pictures, students uploaded them to Seesaw where they recorded more in depth information about how the features help their selected animal survive.

Students work best in different ways

Students share formatting features they discovered on PicCollage

A collage in progress

Students snapping photos

Community Helpers
Kindergartners have been learning about community helpers in class. During this activity, they had the opportunity to become a community helper. Using the app Seesaw, I took a picture of each student. They then went to work drawing uniforms and tools related to the community helper they would most like to be. Afterwards they included voice recording about how they would help the community in that occupation.

A student draws a fireman's hat on her head

Scientists help our communities! 

Choosing just the right pen to draw with