Map Skills
Second grade teachers have been working to incorporate social studies and science content into their reading centers. As a result, I've created a couple of webquest type activities that help students explore these concepts further and deepen their understanding. I worked with Mrs. Davidson's second graders on a map webquest where they looked at how a legend, compass rose, and title provide information for a map. Students used Google Earth to locate major geographical features in the United States such as the Appalachian Mountains and Great Lakes. Students compared the location of major mountain ranges and practiced labeling features on maps.
Story Retelling
First grade students have been working on retelling stories by identifying the beginning, middle, and end of books they have read during guided reading. I had the opportunity to work with Mrs. Ahladas' and Mrs. Dingman's classes helping them create digital retellings in Seesaw. This learning experience allowed the teachers to hear each student retell a story and share the work with families. Additionally, saving the work to Seesaw allows teachers, families, and students to revisit the work throughout the year to monitor student progress.
Passion Projects
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| A student working on her Pixie presentation |
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| Students working on their final products |
Digital Citizenship
Four of the five fifth grade classes have completed their three digital citizenship lessons with me where we've focused on Acceptable Use, Private Information, and Netiquette. Students should now be aware of the impact sharing information digital can have on themselves as well as their family and friends. I've emphasized the notion that information shared digitally is easily spread. Students have been encouraged to err on the side of caution when sharing digitally and to consider if they would like the information they're communicating shared publicly. We've also explore the importance of clarity in digital communication. Without the help of body language and voice it can be challenging to interpret the tone of a digital message. While our lessons are "finished" these are concepts that students need continual reminders of at both school and home.
Graphing
Kindergartners have been learning how to create tally charts and bar graphs to represent a set of data. To practice these skills independently, Mrs. Sinsabaugh and Mrs. Wagner's classes were given a series of winter images and a blank tally chart which they took a photo of in Seesaw. They then drew on top of the chart to create a visual representation of the data. After creating the tally chart, students then followed the same steps and created a bar graph. Using the information they recorded in the bar graph, they included an audio recording sharing information. A student sample can be found here.
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| A tally chart in progress |
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| A student constructs a bar graph |
Animals and Ecosystems
Mrs. Hanneman's third graders have been learning about animals and the ecosystems in which they live. To apply concepts such as habitat, community, population, and environment and practice their writing skills, students conducted a brief research project where they learned about the ecosystem of an animal and then wrote a paragraph sharing their learning. Students were required to include some of the key terms to deepen their understanding of these concepts. Additionally, they practice paraphrasing while taking notes and developing thoughtful endings to their paragraphs. Here is an example of student work.
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| Students typing their paragraphs as a caption in Seesaw |
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| Hard at work |
Geometry Scavenger Hunt
Mrs. Gillam's fourth graders applied what they've learned about geometry to the world around them by completing a geometric scavenger hunt. Students were given a list of terms studied in class to find examples of in their classroom and the courtyard. They created PicCollages that included photos of the terms with the example highlighted and a label. Here are two examples of completed student work Student Sample 1 and Student Sample 2 This was a great way for students to review the terms and make connections between the content learned in class and real world. Additionally, it was a formative assessment for the classroom teacher to determine what concepts students had a firm grasp on and which needed additional instruction.
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| Searching in the courtyard |
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| Drawing on a photo to identify a term |
Skip Counting
In younger grades, learning how to count is a basic skill that is essential to future math development. But how does a teacher have time to listen to 20 or more students count by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s? Seesaw provides a great platform for students to practice their counting skills that their teacher can review during planning or even while relaxing at home. First grade students took a photo of a hundreds chart and then used the drawing and record feature to demonstrate their ability to skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s. Here is a student sample. In addition to providing a formative assessment for students, sharing the work with families on Seesaw allows them to see how they might be able to provide additional support to their children. All work, even that with mistakes, was saved so that student progress can be monitored over time.
Digital Storytelling
Students in Ms. Hoggan's second grade class have been learning about the elements of fairy tales and crafting their own stories. I was fortunate enough to join them in class and teach them how to use the app Toontastic that they'll work with to tell their original tales. This learning opportunity was especially powerful to some of the reluctant writers in her class. They are excited about crafting a toon that will showcase their writing. Additionally, with the ability to create their own characters in the app, students are excited about putting themselves into their stories.
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| Creating original characters |
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| More original characters |
