Fontenelle Forest

We had a wonderful time at Fontenelle Forest on our last field trip of the year.  We hiked on the muddy trails (sorry about the shoes!) and learned about natural resources from our guides.  One student even said "I think we hiked ten miles!"

Teachers Learn Too

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the NETA Conference.  I spent an amazing day with other teachers who are using technology in their classrooms.  I heard an inspirational keynote presentation by Dean Shareski about joy.  Dean reminded us to have fun with our students.  Sometimes, in the midst of assessments and keeping up with the curriculum, fun gets forgotten.  It was a great reminder to enjoy each day and laugh often!

The rest of the day was spent in back-to-back sessions with very little time for breaks!  I even ate my lunch in the hallway, standing in line for a presentation.  The sessions were packed with great ideas for using iPads and technology in the classroom.  I learned about virtual field trips that are available for elementary classrooms where  students are able to "visit" places around the world.  In one jam-packed session, the presenters told us about 50 apps to use in our classrooms!  Some I use already but many were new to me.  I came away with many pages of notes of things I want to learn more about and possibly use in the classroom.

Even better than the great ideas, however were the connections I made with other teachers.  Through discussions in the sessions and on Twitter throughout the day, I connected with many people who are on the same journey with technology.  I am excited to collaborate with new people and "old" friends as we move forward with technology in our second grade classroom.

States of Matter Video

Recently, we wrapped up our Science unit on States of Matter.  Our culminating activity was to make a class iMovie about the terms we learned in States of Matter.  Students worked with a partner to make a poster and write information about their term to share with the class.  I asked them to define the word and give some examples.  Here is our finished movie.  Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULWCC9IWvhE

Moving From Bored to Engaged

This week we tried some "new math" in our second grade classroom.  After getting started with the Front Row math website and app last week we were ready to start digging in and working independently.  I love this website!  It's an app and a website.  How wonderful in our one-iPad classroom.  In past lessons I would see the look of boredom on the faces of many of my students.  Some would even lay their heads down on the desks and almost fall asleep.  (It doesn't help that our Math block is after lunch.)  I promised them that after we got through the lesson they would "get" to do the Enrichment page.  My sweet students looked forward to this little challenge!

Today, however we moved from bored to engaged.  Instead of having everyone do the lesson together, I gave some of the students a Quick Check page.  They was a sample of the lesson we were about to learn.  If they already knew how to do the math, why did I need to teach it to them, right?!  After they showed me on the Quick Check that this lesson was old news for them, I set them loose in our technology station working on Front Row.  With this app/website they are learning at exactly the place where they need to be.  They are challenged and are learning new concepts instead of reviewing ones they already know.  The look on their faces was priceless!  As they worked, their eyes got wide, sometimes they looked to the ceiling as they thought about what to do and I may have heard a few sighs.  These are wonderful signs to this teacher that learning is taking place!  When it was time to wrap up Math for the day, my students on the computers were definitely sad.  Isn't it a great day when they are sad to end Math?  The best part is that it doesn't have to end.  They can go home and enjoy Math some more using Front Row.  Even more learning....one app at a time.

Third Grade Friends

This week, Mrs. Evon's third grade class joined us for some Math review.  They brought their iPads to our classroom and reviewed two-digit subtraction and telling time.  They introduced our class to the app Explain Everything.  Students demonstrated their math problem and then recorded themselves explaining how to solve it.  Then, using Notability our second-graders completed some telling time practice.  With a little extra time at the end they tried out the Stick Around app and made puzzles to review our States of Matter vocabulary.  As forty students were working in one classroom I was amazed at the engagement!  The voice levels were low and all heads were looking at the iPads.  Our third grade friends were gently guiding the second graders through the apps.  They were great teachers!  We are very grateful that they shared their knowledge and time with us.  Thank you Mrs. Evon and third grade friends!