Crazy for Christmastime!

We are crazy for Christmastime, Baby Time, & Birthday Time in the Schaab household!  I hope everyone enjoys their holiday break and that it includes a lot of resting and relaxation!   I will be on break from my blog until I return from maternity leave in February, however, I do have some fun posts that will post every so often... so enjoy!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Trick Shot Titus

Today, Meghan shared this video with me... and I'm truly amazed by how awesome this little kid is...

Santa Tracker

Did you know that Google has a Santa Tracker?  Now obviously, Santa isn't out and about yet, however, Google's awesome Santa Tracker comes complete with a cool holiday village that similar to an Advent Calendar you can explore something new about The North Pole on a daily basis.  This would be fun to share with your students now, then possibly post on your website for them to track Santa on the big day.   I hope you and your students enjoy it as much as I do!  Click here to visit the Santa Tracker now!

Coaching Check Ins

As you may or may not know, today (& really all week) I'm holding "Coaching Conference Check Ins" where I've been interviewing teachers who signed up to meet with me.   I know it's a crazy week it being pre holidays, holiday sing, etc. but I wanted to reach out to everyone to at least provide me with input, even if you don't have time to conference face to face with me.  You can fill out the little interview online (click here) or on paper (I guess research shows I'd get more back on paper than online - but who knows).   It's completely optional but would help me gauge if I'm being a supportive coach or not.    

I will be putting the questions in your mailbox after school today if you'd prefer the paper copy, or you can fill out form online (click here).  Or if you'd like, check my schedule (click here) to see if we have a common time we can chat!   If you could get it back to my by Friday, I'd greatly appreciate it.  

Thanks in advance for your participation!   I've THOROUGHLY enjoyed my day today of meeting with teachers and discussing professionals goals as well as teaching in general.  I look forward to following up with you and chatting with you about your responses if you are unable to meet with me face to face!

Santa Fun with Google

While you’re counting down for Santa’s departure around the world, look no further than the +Google Maps Pegman for a skydive headfirst into 6 cities. Santa Maps Dive is built for Chrome using WebGL and a location detection API, so you can say you went “Skydiving in Chrome” when your friends asked what you did for the holidays.   This would look beyond awesome on a SMART Board too!   When I tried it, I learned it was a lot easier to skydive and gather gifts with the keyboard arrows instead of the mouse.   Good luck!

Head to g.co/santamapsdive to sharpen your skydiving skills.

You know I love a good Sesame Street Parody...

As you may know, I love a good Sesame Street's Parody.   Here's a another  great one for you!

Legend speaks of a dessert unimaginably sweet and delicious, and when it was destroyed all that remained was the dessert's powerful recipe. It remained in the hands of a monster named Gobble for a long time, but when it disappeared, all cookies on Monster Earth disappeared along with it. It is up to Cookie Monster to use his memory and remember the recipe in order to bake the cookies in the fires of Mount Crumb.

Connected Classroom Hangout: Danny the Champion the World with Lucy Dahl

Today, Mrs. Filipiak's 3rd grade classroom had a very unique opportunity.   Before Thanksgiving, they were sent copies of the book, Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.  Over Thanksgiving Break the third grade students read the book and when they returned, submitted questions in preparation for today's Connected Classroom Hangout with Lucy Dahl, Roald Dahl's daughter, and with Elizabeth Findley who works with Matilda, the Musical, on Broadway.  It was a BEYOND amazing experience for the students who personally got to interact with both Lucy in Los Angeles and Elizabeth in New York.   Lucy had some amazing information to share about her father and the kids and adults involved learned a lot!    Some students even were able to make some very unique and interesting connections with Roald Dahl.  As a big surprise at the end, the students received the book, Matilda, as a thanks for participating gift.  They were beyond thrilled.   Check out the video of the entire experience in the YouTube Video below.  Thank you to +Matilda The Musical Broadway and +Connor Swenson for such an amazing opportunity!   

Room 312's Survival Handbook

Currently, Mr. Mulvihill's 5th grade class is in the middle of their rotation of using the Chromebooks as well as just finished reading the novel, My Side of the Mountain.   Mr. Mulvihill has traditionally read this novel with his 5th grade class and has had the students keep track of different plants and animals that are used as a means of survival, while reading the novel.   This year, with the Chromebooks at Room 312's fingertips, they were were able to take this survival study a bit further.  In collaborating with myself, the Instructional Technology Coach, and Ms. Diekman, we were able to come up with an awesome project ot take their findings a step further.  Ms. Diekman, our wonderful Library Information Specialist, worked with Room 312 showing them how to research and take notes on the different survival items that were in the novel they read. After completing the research with Ms. D, then I went into his classroom to teach the kids how to use Google Sites.  As a class, collaborating on research and collaborating on creating a website, you can see how their hard work has transformed into a wonderful working website.  Please click here to view the website.

This project was a great way to meet many of our National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) while deepening the student's understanding of how different plants and animals can be used for survival.   In addition to meeting the NETS standards for students, this activity also met a variety of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 4–5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.7 Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.

Mr. Mulvihill's class did an amazing job on this assignment, and their website looks amazing!   I hope you enjoy reading their hard work and seeing an excellent sample of success from our 5th graders!   If you think this is an activity that you'd like to try in your classroom, please let me know!

Attachments appearing a little differently in your Gmail?

Did you notice something a little bit different in your email today?   You can now view Gmail attachments and save files directly to Google Drive without ever leaving Gmail. The next time you open an email with attachments, you’ll see new previews of the files at the bottom of the email. When you click on one of those previews, a full-screen view of the image or document will appear. You can now also save your attachments directly to Drive simply by clicking the Drive button that appears when you hover over the preview.

When you click on one of those previews, a full-screen view of the image or document will appear. You can read, search for a particular phrase, and even browse through multiple attachments right in Gmail.

You can now also save your attachments directly to Drive simply by clicking the Drive button that appears when you hover over the preview. Of course, if you prefer to download the attachment to your computer, you can—just click the arrow button.

For more information, click here to read the Official Google Blog.

Holiday Fun on ABCYa!

It's the most wonderful time... of the year... 

Good thing I'm typing and not singing!    I wanted to share some of the fun games that ABCYa! has for winter holidays that would be great stations for students, or even better on the SMARTBoard.  Click on the title to be taken to the game.

100 SNOWBALLS - WINTER FUN FOR KIDS

Children love to play in the snow! 100 Snowballs is an interactive activity that gives children the opportunity to have fun by clicking and dragging snowballs around a winter scene. Children can create anything they imagine as long as it only uses 100 snowballs! This activity works well in the classroom on an interactive whiteboard.

Recommended for Grades: K,1,2,3,4,5

BALL ORNAMENTS PUZZLE

Ball Ornaments Puzzle is a fun winter holiday activity. Kids must find as many ornaments as possible by locating matches to the example ornaments shown. The game is over when all 150 ornaments have been found or when the time has run out. Points are awarded by how quickly ornaments are found.

Recommended for Grades: 4,5

SUGAR, SUGAR - CHRISTMAS

The Christmas edition of Sugar, Sugar is a challenging logic puzzle with a physics twist and a holiday theme. Each level of the game is a puzzle that requires planning and strategy. The goal is to draw lines with your mouse to get sugar into the cups. You must fill each cup until the number reads zero. Kids and adults will enjoy it!

Recommended for Grades: 4,5

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS - MATH FACT FUN

It's time to put up the Christmas lights! But wait! Before you can put up the Christmas lights, you must correctly answer as many math problems as you can in one minute. You can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication or division facts. The more math problems you solve correctly, the more lights you will be given to decorate your house!

Recommended for Grades: 1,2,3,4,5

MAKE A SNOWMAN

Fun for all ages! Children click and drag different shapes to make a snowman. Kindergarten to second grade students learn and practice valuable mouse manipulation techniques. Have Fun!

Recommended for Grades: K,1,2,3,4,5

CHRISTMAS TREE FUN

Christmas Tree Fun is a holiday activity for children. The activity guides children through a series of steps to decorate a Christmas Tree, put a surprise in a gift box, and then finally place the tree in a wintery scene. Children can design and place several trees in their scene along with different surprises and gift boxes. Finally, they can visit their scene and try to remember what they put in each box!

Recommended for Grades: K,1,2,3

MAKE A GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Make a Gingerbread House is a holiday computer activity for early elementary age children. Kids learn and practice valuable mouse manipulation techniques while clicking and dragging. Students will also exercise visual spatial skills while positioning the different pieces. Projects can also be saved and printed.

Recommended for Grades: K,1,2,3

HANUKKAH CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ABCya's Hanukkah Crossword Puzzle is a fun and interactive way for kids to test their knowledge of Hanukkah vocabulary words and facts.  The crossword puzzle can be played on the computer or by printing on paper.  The interactive version of the puzzle includes a hint feature, fun animations, and an intuitive interface to making navigating the clues and answers simple.

Recommended for Grades: 3,4,5

Class Dojo Attendance

Last February, I blogged and introduced you to Class Dojo.   Click here to see the original post.  I know that we have a few teachers at Roosevelt who love using Class Dojo with their students and parents.  Now, Class Dojo is offering a new feature!   They now also have a fun way to take attendance!  

ClassDojo Attendance lets you:

• Easily and quickly take attendance
• Spot trends with beautiful, simple attendance data
• Help students be on time by tracking “lates”
• Take attendance from your laptop, iPad, iPhone or Android device

What is ClassDojo?

ClassDojo is a classroom tool that helps teachers improve behavior in their classrooms quickly and easily. It also captures and generates data on behavior that teachers can share with parents and administrators.  Better learning behaviors, smoother lessons and hassle-free data - and its free! 

Do either of these wound like something you'd like to try in your classroom?  Let me know and I'd be happy to help you set it up!

Interactive Advent Calendars

The season of Advent is always filled with eagerness and expectancy. Build some of that anticipation into your school day by allowing students to unlock a new secret on the advent calendar each day.  Use these advent calendars with the whole class on an interactive whiteboard or projector, or set them up as a quick center activity that students can visit.  Use the advent calendars that reveal a story to practice looking for foreshadowing clues, using context clues to guess what will happen next, or as story starters for students own stories.  The Christmas around the world advent calendars are wonderful for teaching students some of the history of Christmas and the way that other cultures celebrate the familiar holiday.

Tips: Each of these advent calendars has some fun goodies and hidden surprises, find the one that best fits your classroom needs.

French Carols Calendar

Click on a new present each day to hear French School Children sing a new Christmas Carol.

Advent Calendar Games

This advent calendar has fun little games and activities to play each day.  The games and activities are quick and easy to complete, building mouse and keyboard skills.  This advent calendar would be a good one for the classroom computers as a center activity.

Christmas Around the World

This is a fun way for students to test their knowledge and learn about the ways that Christmas is celebrated all around the world.  As an extension, plot the places around the world that they are learning about on a world map.  

Bach Advent Calendar

Each day your students can listen to a story about Bach or music

The National Museum of Liverpool

The National Museum of Liverpool has an advent calendar that reveals a piece of art from the museum each day.

The Dirt Dirt

The Dirt Dirt advent calendar is purely fun, each day click on a number and an animation will be added to the tree.

Polar Express Advent Calendar

Today is my 200th post!   It's hard to believe that a year ago I started this goal of blogging daily (on work days, that is) as a way to continue to share resources with staff.   I hope that you have found this blog to be a valuable resource.  If there is something that you'd like to see more of, or a certain topic you'd like me to cover, please let me know!  I hope you enjoy the Wordle above showing what my blog feed's most popular words are... and that STUDENT LEARNING is used the most!

Speaking of student learning, Mike Johnson, ITC at Field, had a great picture on his blog today about Transforming Education.  Please enjoy the picture below and the powerful words below.

Another Awesome Parody from Sesame Street

Just thought I'd share this awesome Hunger Games Parody in anticipation of the Big Catching Fire opening this weekend. 

Online Self Paced Google Courses!

Google recently announced that they are offering free self-paced online courses for learning about the Internet and Google Tools. These are a great way to learn on your own and at your own pace about some of the tech tools available to you and our students.
You can take a self paced course in:

• Internet 101
• Google Apps for Education Overview
• Gmail for Educators
• Google Drive for Educators
• Chrome and Chromebooks for Education

The instruction, formative, and summative assessment pieces are an interesting approach - plus you get a certificate suitable for framing - who wouldn't want that!

To check out more, click here. 

Power Up Your Teaching and Learning

My fabulous friend and amazing Curriculum Specialist friend, Meghan Keefer, shared an awesome resource with me that I had to pass on to the blog world.  Power Up WHAT WORKS is a fantastic resource for teachers that provides free evidence-based resources to elevate your professional learning.  Power UP WHAT WORKS is a free, comprehensive guide to technology-enhances teaching and learning in English Language Arts and Math to help struggling students meet the Common Core State Standards.  This site is packed full of resources that you can use for your own professional development or for really using powerful instructional strategies.  For example, if if I click on "English Language Arts" I get a variety of Instructional Strategy guides like you see in the picture below.  They include information about relevant Common Core State Standards, evidence-based practices, and ways to differentiate instruction with technology. The Guides provide value to teachers, as well as PD leaders, teacher educators, and administrators.  I'd love to help you use this in your practice, and I'm sure Meghan would too!   Let us know if you'd like to explore this together to POWER UP your instructional strategies!  If you are interested as well, they do have a blog that you can follow to keep up with their new resources.  Check it out by clicking here.

Hour of Code

We live in a world surrounded by technology. But only a tiny fraction of students learn how computers work, or how to create software technology. Computer Science provides a foundation for virtually any career and all our students can benefit from learning the basics. 

This year, for Computer Science Education Week, a massive campaign called the Hour of Code is introducing 10 million students to try one hour of introductory computer science.

Watch the video below to find out more or check out the Hour of Code website by clicking here.  Are you interested in your class participating?   Let me know and I'd be happy to help set it up for you!

iPads in Primary

As you may or may not know, in Kindergarten through Second Grade, our classrooms have 1 iPad for every 4 students in their classrooms.   Each teacher is implementing these iPads in a way that best fits the needs of their classrooms, so it will not be the same in each classroom.  However, one of the questions that our primary teachers have been asked is what apps are on the iPads and where can we download them?   As of today, we now have these apps in a location for parents to see what apps are on the iPads and a link for you to download them.  Please take a moment to check out the new iPad Apps site and if you'd like, link it to your site!  If you have any questions, please let me know!

https://sites.google.com/a/d64.org/ro-ipad-apps/home

Check out the new RO iPad App Site

Are you a 21st Century Teacher?

Or at least, on your way to being a 21st century teacher?  

How can I help you achieve any of these in your classroom?   Please let me know!

Students of Today

Check out this TED talk from a 12 year old app developer - who taught himself to create apps!   He is in amazing individual who shows how innovative kids are today.  Enjoy!

Thanks to Terri Bresnahan for sharing this video at our BATC meeting!

Happy Veteran's Day

http://www.va.gov/kids/k-5/index.asp?intSiteID=2

Happy Veteran's Day!   If you need some resources, check out the website by the VA above or click here. 

Have a great weekend!

Thanks to Google Helpouts for the fun graphic.  

District 64 Storytown Harcourt Resources

As I mentioned at staff meeting on Wednesday, the other elementary coaches and I try to download as much material from the PCOBE Storytown Resources website as we could, and now we're sharing it on ELA website on the District Portal.  If you'd like easier access, please click here or use the Teacher Resources Link on the right side of my blog.   If you have other resources to add to this page, just let me know!

Check out the new Google Maps

Google has been working on updating their maps.  Check out the video above to see how they've improved their Maps product.   Google Maps would awesome for teaching kids about certain places, or if your students have their own Google accounts, they can create their own maps!   Of course, Google Maps is also awesome for finding your way somewhere.   Enjoy the updates!

My Math: Customizing Presentations & Creating Assignments

I hope that everyone enjoyed their staff development meeting today!   Today the other Elementary Instructional Technology Coaches and I presented about Customising Presentations and Creating Assignments.   If you attended one or our presentations, I hope you learned something useful!  Below is our presentation, just in case you'd like it as a reference.

Children's Media Use in America

Do you think this sound about right?  I know in my household it does!

What happen to the black bar on top of my google?

You may have noticed today that the black navigation bar that normally is at the top of your gmail, docs, etc. has gone away.   Don't worry - there's still a quick and easy shortcut way for you to navigate around Google.  You will notice a little grid icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen.  If you click on it, you will have a variety of apps to choose from, like mail, drive, calendar, sites, etc.   To watch a 30 second video on how the new navigation panel works, click below.  If you have any questions - feel free to ask.   I hope you enjoy the new layout - I know that it may take some getting used to - but hopefully in a month you'll forget all about the black bar!!!  If you are feeling adventurous you'd like to customize how apps appear in your new control panel, click here to install the app launcher customizer and follow the directions it gives you.

 

Virtual Field Trip: Myths and Misconceptions with Zoo Atlanta

Today, Mrs. Kulnig's class participated in a Virtual Field Trip to the Atlanta Zoo called Myths and Misconceptions.    

It’s that time of year when everything seems a bit spooky! Are your fears of spiders, snakes and other creepy-crawlies based on facts or fiction? Cozy up to some of Zoo Atlanta’s “creepiest” creatures to find out how you might be giving some of the world’s most important animals a bad rap.  

On the Virtual Field Trip today, we met Quincy the Eurasian eagle owl, Maize the corn snake and Georgette the Tarantula.    Our Roosevelt 4th graders did an awesome job asking questions and participating in the Virtual Field Trip.   I'm hoping that we'll be able to have a lot of classes participates in these Virtual Field Trips this school year.    If you'd like to see the field trip, watch the video above!

Up close and personal with Georgette, the tarantula at Zoo Atlanta.

"Hanging Out" with Quincy the Owl.

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone has a safe (and dry) Halloween!   Click here or on the spooky family below for a fun Halloween video greeting!

A Spooky Halloween Family!

If you are interested in a free Storybots account for educators, click here to read my previous post about Storybots and how you can use it in your classroom for free!   Or you can access their You Tube Channel by clicking here.

Parody: A Great Video

I don't know if you are a fan of Showtime's hit show, Homeland, with Claire Danes, however, this parody is hysterical by Sesame Street.  My educational connection is below...

If you were going to teach your students about what a parody is, Sesame Street's You Tube Channel has a variety of parodies using their kid friendly and well recognized characters.    If you need help accessing You Tube in your classroom, please let Allison or myself know and we'll get you set up!

Have you ever wondered about using KidBlog?

Many teachers use Kidblog to blog with their students.  Do you know how easy it can be?  

What is Kidblog?

Kidblog is built by teachers, for teachers, so students can get the most out of the writing process. Our mission is to empower teachers to embrace the benefits of the coming digital revolution in education. As students become creators - not just consumers - of information, we recognize the crucial role of teachers as discussion moderators and content curators in the classroom. With Kidblog, teachers monitor and control all activity within their classroom blogging community.  

Kidblog is designed for K-12 teachers who want to provide each student with an individual blog. Students publish posts and participate in academic discussions within a secure classroom blogging community. Teachers maintain complete control over student blogs and user accounts. 

Use Kidblog to:

• create classroom discussions

• learn digital citizenship

• practicing writing skills

• create an e-portfolio

• reflect on learning

• formatively assess writing

 - from Kidblog

Kidblog is also a safe way for students to share information with you, each other, or the world!  As the teacher you can set up the privacy settings however you wish as well as have control about the comments and posts in your classroom.  On Google +, I read about a 2nd grade teacher who was sharing her student's Arctic Habitat's with the world.   Click here to see her student's work - along with how she uses the blog on a daily basis to get students writing about a topic.   Click here to see her student's entries and awesome work.   Feel free to comment on their reports as well!  Imagine how cool it would be to be getting comments on your published work from people around the country - or the world!

The Water Cycle

I came across this awesome representation of the water cycle from the Google Science Fair.   Since I used to teach weather - and know it's a part of various grade level curriculums, I couldn't resist posting it.

Dogs are Great Examples of Coaches

At my conference this week, Jim Knight used a lot of videos to illustrate different points.  This was a great example of patient coaching... 

The Pandas Have Been Named!

I'm currently in Kansas at the Instructional Coaching Institute with Jim Knight - learning many tools to be a better instructional coach.  I can't wait to share these on the blog when I return!  However, I didn't want to let the excitement sneak by that the Atlanta Zoo pandas have been named!  I know people enjoyed the panda cam last week - which you can check up on the blog - however - here is what Amercia voted to name the pandas!

Enjoy!

Marzano's Kid Friendly Scale

I thought this was a great resource to share - and would make a great poster in your classroom!  :)   For printables, click here.   Thanks, Pinterest, for another great resource!

Movie Shorts and Reading Strategies

Some days I really love pinterest.   Today I found an awesome resource from a blog called, Technology Up to Speed.  A fifth grade teacher compiled a list of various movie shorts that are appropriate for kids in helping teaching reading strategies.

This first google doc link is to a list of animated shorts. She has included the youtube links and what reading strategies with which she believes they work the best. 

The second google doc link is to a list of graphic organizers to use with each short.  They are not specific to the short and can be used for any resource.  There is one graphic organizer for each reading strategy.  

This is a valuable resource that would also be great to use with the SMART Board!   If you need help using You Tube, just ask Allison or myself!

The Life Cycle of a Pumpkin

I know many classrooms are studying fall and some classes are even heading to the pumpkin patch!  Check out this video of the life cycle of a pumpkin!

How the human body works...

Check out this stop-motion animation with cut paper showing how the human body works by Kelli Anderson for Tinybop’s Human Body App.   So amazing!

Panda Cam

Breaking News

Do you want to see some super cute baby pandas?   Check out Zoo Atlanta's Panda Cam, currently streaming video of their two baby pandas that were born on Monday, July 15th.   This link will show you their journey from their mom's pregnancy with the pandas, to them being born and their development.  Click here to see a slideshow of their development - this is so cool.   In keeping with the Chinese tradition followed with the naming of the three previous cubs born at Zoo Atlanta, the twins will be named when they are 100 days old.   That traditional ceremony will be happening shortly - and if you want you and/or your students can actually take part in the voting!  Let me know if you are interested and as soon as the link is published, I'll let you know!

Check out what the proposed names mean:

1. Mei Lun and Mei Hua
(Pronounced May Loon and May Hwaa)
In English, the names mean Lun Lun's twin cubs born in the USA.

2. Mei Lun and Mei Huan
(Pronounced May Loon and May Hwaan)
These names stem from an ancient Chinese idiom, "Mei Lun Mei Huan," which was used to describe constructed buildings that are tall and magnificent. It has come to mean something indescribably beautiful and magnificent.

3. Tian Lun and Tian Le
(Pronounced Tee-an loon and Tee-an luh)
These names come from the Chinese idiom, "Tian Lun Zhi Le," which means the joy of family life or family happiness. In this context, the cubs' names would mean, "Lun Lun and her twin cubs are enjoying heavenly gifted family happiness," according to the staff at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

4. Lan Tian and Bi Shui
(Pronounced Lan tee-an and Bee Shway)
The names, meaning blue sky and clear water, are derived from another the Chinese idiom, "Lan Tian Bi Shui," which is used to describe beautiful scenery.

5. Da Lan and Xiao Lan
(Pronounced Dah Lan and Sheow Lan)
The literal meaning of these names is bigger one ("Cub B") and smaller one ("Cub A") of the Atlanta-born twins. 

Class Timers

Are you looking for some fun alternatives for a classroom timer in your class?   Here's a great resource that will work on your SMART Boards or any classroom computers to time your students for transitions, Rocket Math, etc.

Check out the link here.

Have an awesome weekend!

Awesome Workshop Opportunity!

Last year I attended the workshop below (from the staff bulletin last week) on Formative Assessment. This was an amazing day spent reflecting on how we assess our students and use powerful instructional strategies in our teaching.    Please read the blurb below from Lori -as I would HIGHLY recommend going.   I do have the Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning book in my office if you'd like to sneak a peak - just let me know!   I hope you consider attending this awesome experience!!!  

Upcoming Professional Development Opportunity - Limited Space!

Formative Assessment: What is it? How can it make a difference?

In 2009, John Hattie wrote his groundbreaking book, Visible Learning. This book is a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses related to student achievement. In other words, Mr. Hattie reviewed all of the research related to different instructional strategies and then ranked the strategies in order of their impact on student learning. WOW!

Hattie’s research supports the work of other leaders in the field of education, including Marzano, Silver, Chappuis, Wiliam, and Knight. According to Hattie and others… One of the most powerful instructional strategies we can implement in the classroom is FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT.

Formative assessment is one of several high-impact instructional strategies that have a significant positive effect on student learning. “The achievement gains realized by students whose teachers rely on formative assessment can range from 15 to 25 percentile points or two to four grade equivalents” (Black & Wiliam,1998). “Certain formative assessment practices greatly increase the achievement of low-performing students, in some cases to the point of approaching that of high-achieving students” (Chappuis, 2009).

Do you want to get started using formative assessment in your classroom? Are you looking for simple, easy-to-implement strategies that you can start using ASAP?

The Department for Student Learning is proud to host an upcoming workshop for District 64 teachers called “The Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning.” This full-day workshop will teach you about seven formative assessment strategies that can powerfully impact student achievement. These strategies maximize the power of your lessons and are appropriate for any teacher in any content area. All participants will receive a copy of Jan Chappuis’ book Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning.

The workshop will be held on Friday, October 25 from 8:30 a.m. - 3:15 p.m. at Jefferson (Plimpton). Space is limited so sign up soon via the link below if you are interested in participating. Registrations are due by Monday, October 21. Please do not secure a substitute for this workshop until your registration is confirmed by the Department for Student Learning.

*Registration Link: Formative Assessment Workshop

*If you are unable to attend on this date but are interested in this workshop, please send Lori Hinton an email. If there are enough interested people, we may be able to offer this workshop again at a later date.

The Poetry Foundation

Are you looking for a engaging way to incorporate poetry into your lessons?   The Poetry Foundation, which is located in Chicago, has an amazing website that is packed full of resources.   The one that especially caught my eye at the CAWP conference was that you can actually have authors read their poems to you!  When you go to their website, click on the "Poems & Poets".  You can browse by poems, poets, or season poems.   When you are browsing, you can search for poems that include audio and that are good for children.  How great to include a poem in a "bouquet" of texts you use in your close reading instruction, and then have the author read the poem to your students.   Be sure to check it out!

Reading Rewards

Are you looking for a more engaging way to hold your students accountable for their reading at home or at school?   I learned about a site called Reading Rewards at the conference I was at last Friday.   The best thing about this is free website has a lot to off teachers, parents, and librarians.  As a group administrator, you will be able to create and manage reading groups, set up reading incentives for your readers, and even log reading time yourself.

Creating a free account is quick and easy.  Once you create your account, your next step is to create a group for your classroom, and add your students as members.  Once you do that you'll be easily able to track students' reading progress, sharing reading lists, and even set up some customized reading rewards for them.  Talk about a great reading incentive!

Do you want more information specifically for teachers?  Click here for their teacher page or just ask me for help!

A little math humor to start your day...

For more, check out Spiked Math. 

Welcome to 82nd & Fifth: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

On Friday, I attended the Chicago Area Writing Project's (CAWP) Fall Conference.  I had the pleasure of listening to Carol Jago, literacy expert, discussing how to inspire our practice as teachers of literacy, even with the Common Core. She had a variety of amazing lessons, including "bouquets" of text to present lessons.  One of the ways she presented us with text was through an amazing video project through the Metropolitan Museum of Art called, Welcome to 82nd & Fifth.  

82nd & Fifth is the Met's address in New York City. It is also the intersection of art and ideas. We've invited 100 curators from across the Museum to talk about 100 works of art that changed the way they see the world, and eleven Museum photographers to interpret their vision: one work, one curator, two minutes at a time.

82nd & Fifth is a year-long series of 100 episodes. Throughout 2013, new releases will appear every Wednesday.

These short videos show how these curators view the pieces of art in the museum - two minutes of deep details about each piece of work is a great way to model how we want our students talking about reading.  These videos are great examples of digging deeper - a great way to engage students in conversation and a great way to model how we want kids thinking about what they read.   I encourage you to check it out!  

Roosevelt Recording Studio

As you may or may not know, last year Roosevelt School received a PTO grant for a Recording Studio to go along with our "green screen" wall in Room 310.  So far we've had a some classrooms take advantage of it to film commercials, record weather reports, readers theatre, and newscasts just to name a few things!    As a reminder - the Roosevelt Recording Studio is available for everyone to use!  In addition to the green screen we have a digital video camera, a tripod, a microphone, two digital cameras, and a computer for editing.   This is a great way for students to interact with material - so if you're interested in planning a fun project - please let me know!   Let's take learning to the next level!

Why is Ed Tech Important?

Today I read a great article on Edudemic about why ed tech is so important.  I thought the info graph below really had some great points.   We are always looking for ways to improve student learning - how can technology get us there?  I'd love to hear your comments!  Please feel free to comment below. 

What’s it like to visit Sesame Street all around the globe?

Today on Google+ I stumbled across an awesome resource from Google Maps.

You can follow Global Grover and visit several of Sesame Workshop’s co-productions through the faces, voices and stories of children from those countries all within Google Earth.

Start exploring at http://goo.gl/iARPu2

What do you want kids to do with technology?

Some food for thought...

Google Like a Boss

This weekend, I spent some time on Pinterest.  In addition to some yummy recipes, I came across this helpful "Google Like a Boss" post, which seems like it would be very helpful for both teachers and students.   Enjoy!

Just for Fun

I love Jimmy Fallon as I think he's pretty hysterical.   Here's a new kid friendly video from him...

 

Podcasting and Fluency

Check out this week's post from Bits & Bytes:

This year, more teachers across grade levels are implementing The Daily Five in their Reading blocks. The Daily Five is a structure that helps students develop the daily habits of reading, writing, and working independently that will lead to a lifetime of literacy independence.   When implementing the Daily Five structure students can choose between the following literacy activities:

• Read to Self
• Work on Writing 
• Word Work
• Listening to Reading
• Read to Someone

Currently, many teachers are working on building up these routines in their classrooms and getting in the groove of these activities while the teacher works with small groups or conferences with individual students. I've been lucky enough to plan some lessons with teachers to help infuse technology in the Daily Five.   I've been training classrooms and working with individual students on Podcasting as a part of the "Listening to Reading" component.   How this activity works is a student goes to the "Listening to Reading" Center where there are headphones with a microphone and a laptop that has the program Garage Band.  Students then record themselves reading a passage or poem selected by their teacher.  Once they record themselves reading, they then can listen to their recording and make notes on the page of what they've read.   Students then save their Podcast, then fill out a self evaluation about their reading.   By making this a regular part of the reading block, students will be able to go back and listen to themselves read and track improvement over time.  Teachers can also go and listen to what the student records and have the ability to conference with their students with their Oral Reading Fluency progress.   Students can then set their own goals for improvement.   Technology is changing how students learn in this activity as it is giving them the opportunity to go back and hear themselves read.   We used to accomplish this task with whisper phones or PVC pipes where they could read to themselves but offered little opportunity for reflection.  Everyone benefits from this use of technology!

A student records herself reading a poem. 

Here a student listens to their recording of himself reading a poem.

If you'd like to implement this in your classroom, just ask!    

"If we teach today's students the way we taught them yesterday, we rob them of tomorrow." John Dewey

"In the 20th century, we taught our kids what to what to learn. We lined their desks up in rows and put the teacher at the front of the classroom. But in today's world, many teachers are questioning the status quo by meeting young people where they are. They're using 21st century tools to help prepare kids for a 21st century world."

The first 30 seconds of PBS's documentary New Learners of the 21st Century offers a perfect thesis on 21st century learners. The program is worth viewing if you are a teacher or a parent of a student. The 60 minute documentary can be viewed here. Watch the first 4 minutes below.

This post is courtesy of Mike Johnson, ITC at Field.   Thanks so much for sharing this awesome resource!

Storybots

I know that I've posted about the Storybots website in the past, however, they have a lot of FREE videos that are on You Tube for you to access with your students!   Storybots, whose main goal is to make learning fun for kids, is related to JibJab, another fun video site to send ecards.    To learn more about the company, click here.

To check out some of the videos, see below.  Or please visit their You Tube page (which is not blocked at school) and you can check it out for yourself!  They are cute, short, very informative, and lastly FUN!

If you like what you see, you may be interested in joining their Educator Network. To request a code to join the Educator Network please fill out the form here.  By joining their educator network you can access all of their other videos on their website, Storybots.    The YouTube videos are free no matter what.  

Enjoy!

Bones in Your Body
Science

 



When You Breathe (Lungs)
Health




Seasons

Goals & LoTi Survey

As you recall, a few weeks ago at our staff meeting, we took the Levels of Teaching Intervention (LoTi) survey.   I know that it being the beginning of the year, and parent night being on a lot of teacher's mind, it was a stressful survey, especially with all of the log in issues and it being 4:00 p.m.   That aside, this survey was meant to help give you some areas to improve on in your teaching.  I know I have a few goal areas to work on in my coaching as well!  These could be used in an evaluation setting, or in an informal setting, working with me, as your coach.  


Now that we're a solid month into school, and hopefully in the "routine" of things, I was hoping that you would consider goal setting with me in one of the areas of the LoTi survey.   Just as a background,

• the LoTi® Digital-Age Survey is based on Moersch’s LoTi® Framework (1994)—is an empirically-validated tool that creates a personalized digital-age professional development profile for participants aligned to the NETS for Teachers (NETS-T). Since its inception in 1994, the LoTi® Framework has been used as the basis for (1) statewide technology use surveys, (2) LoTi’s®Digital-Age School improvement model, and (3) a classroom walkthrough tool impacting thousands of schools nationally.  For more information, click here. 

I would love to set up a meeting (or series of meetings) with you to help you set a goal based on your results.   No worries if you didn't print it out the first time we did it, I can always log back in with you and we can read them (and maybe translate some of the language to be more teacher friendly), and then come up with a goal area to work on.   In the spring we'll be taking this survey again, and I'd love it if the growth that's occurring in the building would translate to the survey!    I consider myself a life long learner, who is always looking for ways to improve.  This LoTi survey has given me a lot to think about - and I'm hoping that it can do the same for you!

If this has sparked some curiosity with you, and your forgot how to log in, just click here to be taken to the log in information!