Using iPads to label nouns in our world

I don't remember exactly were I first saw this idea but I just loved it and have using it in my classroom every year.  This week we learned about nouns. I am always so impressed with my kids on their ability to find nouns (once of course we review and practice for awhile).

To get them practicing sounding out words and relating nouns to their own life we used the iPad to take pictures of our classroom and then labeled them with the nouns we saw in the pictures.

To do this the students used the app called Skitch.  It's easy to use and the kids can take the pictures right in the app and then just tap to type.  After about five minutes explaining and modeling using the Apple TV linked to my iPad my kids were ready to go and boy did they have fun!  They each had to label 3 nouns before they could take another picture and do it again.

Scrapbooking Shapes

My students just love using new apps and displaying their learning.  It always amazes me how just after a short demonstration on an app they can pick it up and go to town.  This week we have been reviewing 2-D shapes.  I was playing around with a few different apps and found one to scrapbook.  I loved the ease, creativity, and options it allowed so I want to find some way to have my students use it.  I thought that using it to document shapes in the world around them would be great, at it seems so did they.


To do this we used the app called ScrapPad.  It allows you to make scrap book pages right on the iPad with built in backgrounds and text features.  The camera is also built in so doesn't require switching between apps (always important when working with kindergarten students.).

The students choose a background and then decided what shape they were going to look for.  Then they just used the built in camera to take pictures of those shapes in our classroom.  Finally they used the text feature to label their shape collage.

Using data from Raz Kids to guide instruction

This year I have begun using the online program Raz-Kids.  This is an online, leveled library that is easily accessible on both computers and iPads (through the use of the app).  What I love about it is that I can assign each student their own reading level.  Since I have students with a great variety of abilities (including one student reading at about the end of a 2nd grade level in kindergarten) I can easily differentiate for each student.  Additionally, each book comes with the ability to have it read to the student by a fluent reader, have the student read it to themselves, and has a comprehension quiz that goes along with each book.  My students have fun these highly engaging and the parents love having the ability to use it at home.  Another nice feature is that since my students learn Spanish, there are also Spanish leveled books available.  It has been such a hit in my class that every classroom in the school now has access to it.  (You have to purchase a subscription to use it.  Each class of 36 students costs about $100 a year.)

Comprehension Quiz results organized by skill

Besides just the great benefit of being able to assign each child a reading level, my favorite feature of the site are the reports it generates.  When students take quizzes for each book they are asked a variety of comprehension questions.  Their answers are automatically calculated and organized based on the skill  assessed.  This makes it easy to see what comprehension skills a students is proficient at, as well as seeing which ones they need more support in. 

Grid I made to organize data and look for trends.

To help guide my instruction I created and complied a spread sheet with the comprehension skills and students.  I then went through the reports generated by Raz-Kids for each students and marked the score on my chart.  Finally, I went through and marked any score under a 70%.  By doing this I could compare scores, quickly see which scores a majority of students need help in and create my instruction around that.  Now, this is just one tool and not the end-all-be-all when it comes to their performance but it is a great support and aide. 

Reading Compression guide sheet that was sent home.  Notice how certain skills are highlighted based of the data for each student.    

As an extension to this I also created a comprehension skill guide to be sent home to parents.  I gave a general definition of the skill, questions to ask while reading with their child to promote the skill, and then any additional activities I could think of to help with that particular skill.  I wrote a letter to the parents to explain how to use it. Then using the data from Raz-Kids and other assessments, I marked on the skills which ones their child could use more practice with. 


I am hopeful that with additional help in targeted comprehension areas both at school and from home will help my students improve in the areas they were struggling with earlier.  I will check back in a couple of weeks using Raz-Kids and create another chart to compare and monitor progress.

Integrating Writing and Science

I am always looking for ways to encourage my students to write.  This past week we started learning about the different animal groups in science (mammals, reptilies...) so I figured that it would be a great time to incorporate writing into science by creating animal reports.  We are doing one like this for each animal group we study.

These reports were teacher guided with the students filling in blanks.  I chose to do it this way as a way to provide students with a model for writing reports and as a way to insure that students get the important information we learned about each animal group in another manner (not just classroom discussion or from videos).  My goal is that after using these reports to model writing students will be better prepared to choose their own animal and crate a short report after the unit.

Problem Solving Club

Having married and engineer and discussing with him how we both come from very gender segregated careers, I have developed a passion for trying to encourage girls to get involved in STEM fields.  For those who are not familiar with STEM, it stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  We all know that these are some of the most important fields when it comes to our current society in terms of innovation.  However, a large gender gap still exists in STEM fields. So I have decided that I am in a position that I can do something about it, even if it is a small something. 

As a teacher I have the responsibility to empower every student to pursue their dreams and this also means helping girls realize that they are just as competent as boys are.


Besides encouraging girls in my own classroom I have also started a "problem solving club" at my school to encourage both girls and boys in grades 3-5 to think critically, persevere, and create.  We meet twice a month and during our time students solve riddles and then construct something to accomplish a task.  Afterwards we meet as a large group and discuss what we have learned. 

Although students may not realize it they are solving engineering problems while also working on communication and cooperation skills.

The students have had a blast with this and I love watching them problem solve, make realizations, and articulate the lessons they have learned afterwards.  It also has been a great community building activity.

I try to give them a different challenge each time and last night when we met they had to build something that could launch a marshmallow.  We had a couple work but the best part was what they learned even when they didn't work.

Some of the things students commented they learned after doing this activity was:


- Sometimes simple designs are the best
- Don't spend your time making it look cool.  Focus on making it solve the task.
- Make sure you test your idea
- Sometimes things that look good in your mind don't always come out the way you thought they would.

WSRA Convention

I had a great time presenting at the WSRA convention today.  I love sharing ideas and teaching others about what I'm doing in my classroom as well as hearing about what others are doing in their classrooms.  I hope if you came to our session you learned and had fun.  If there is something that was presented at the session that you don't find here and would like please just email me.  Or if you have a question about QR codes or anything else I can help with, again please just email me.  Below you will find a link to our presentation as well as the direction cards.

presentation

Directions 

Email:  beth.baumann2011@gmail.com

Creating QR Codes

I'm really excited to be presenting at the WSRA convention of Friday.  It cute how even excited my students are that I'm going to "teach other teachers" about the QR codes that they have become so familiar with.  So if you are reading this because you were at our session, welcome!  I hope you enjoyed it and learned something.  In order to use QR codes in your classroom you are going to need to know how to make them.  I have created a few "how to" instructions about how to make a few different kinds of QR codes.  I hope it helps :-)

Click for instructions for how to make QR codes linked to:

- text

- voice

- website