Delay & Posting Updates:
Again, I apologize for the delay. My original intent was to make weekly posts but it appears that every other week may be more realistic. Of course I will update as plans change and new opportunities announced.
Reflections on the first 3/4 of the year:
I am really excited to start up the last quarter of the school year. Both the kids and I have come so far since the beginning of this semester and year for that matter. It is amazing to watch the kids developing confidence, skill, and thinking like programmers in a global community. I am constantly finding new and exciting projects thanks to the school sponsored ISTE membership. I have to express my deep gratitude towards our fabulous Principal Sloan for finding funding and really making computer science a priority here at Leopold.
Current Projects:
Over the next two weeks will be continuing computer programming and our Yellowstone Research project for those classes available to meet the Yellowstone Park rangers. Younger students are exploring BookFlix or PebbleGo (an online child friendly encyclopedia). Students are continuing to progress through Code Studio for computer programming as well.
#Mystery Skype
Some 1-2nd grade classes will be participating in upcoming Mystery Skype sessions. Students will be using their knowledge of geography, history, and popular culture in order to guess the location of each other class first! Notices will be going out in the upcoming weeks and further for those classes able to participate (due to timing).
Project Preview: 3-5 Grade Final Projects
I am really excited to announce our upcoming projects for 3 - 5th graders starting the first week of May until the end of the year. Students will be given a choice between two self-directed projects: Project Sound and Project Design. These projects have been "gamified" to further promote student engagement. I am also attempting something new based off of the School in the Cloud and the Flipped Classroom movement with my own personal twist (what I like to call Online Learning Environments). All the instructions are based online on project specific website in teacher created videos and quests so that students may pause, rewind, view and work at their own paces to complete very intensive projects. By breaking them up into "quests" students will work in accessible chunks. They will also be learning such skills as time management and personal responsibility when progressing through at their own pace with all resources and instructions provided. I am hoping that these kinds of environments really allow me to spend my time with students more one on one to really enrich and personalize projects.
Project Sound: Create a Mini-Music Video
For this project students will go on a tech adventure to complete their own music video! Students will start by creating and recording beat in BeatLab. They will have the option to pick up a "side quest" and write their own rap or song to record over their beat. Students will be able to reserve studio time with the teacher after they have written and practiced their song in order to record in the lab's MakerSpace - Recording Studio
Again, I apologize for the delay. My original intent was to make weekly posts but it appears that every other week may be more realistic. Of course I will update as plans change and new opportunities announced.
Reflections on the first 3/4 of the year:
I am really excited to start up the last quarter of the school year. Both the kids and I have come so far since the beginning of this semester and year for that matter. It is amazing to watch the kids developing confidence, skill, and thinking like programmers in a global community. I am constantly finding new and exciting projects thanks to the school sponsored ISTE membership. I have to express my deep gratitude towards our fabulous Principal Sloan for finding funding and really making computer science a priority here at Leopold.
Current Projects:
Over the next two weeks will be continuing computer programming and our Yellowstone Research project for those classes available to meet the Yellowstone Park rangers. Younger students are exploring BookFlix or PebbleGo (an online child friendly encyclopedia). Students are continuing to progress through Code Studio for computer programming as well.
#Mystery Skype
Some 1-2nd grade classes will be participating in upcoming Mystery Skype sessions. Students will be using their knowledge of geography, history, and popular culture in order to guess the location of each other class first! Notices will be going out in the upcoming weeks and further for those classes able to participate (due to timing).
Project Preview: 3-5 Grade Final Projects
I am really excited to announce our upcoming projects for 3 - 5th graders starting the first week of May until the end of the year. Students will be given a choice between two self-directed projects: Project Sound and Project Design. These projects have been "gamified" to further promote student engagement. I am also attempting something new based off of the School in the Cloud and the Flipped Classroom movement with my own personal twist (what I like to call Online Learning Environments). All the instructions are based online on project specific website in teacher created videos and quests so that students may pause, rewind, view and work at their own paces to complete very intensive projects. By breaking them up into "quests" students will work in accessible chunks. They will also be learning such skills as time management and personal responsibility when progressing through at their own pace with all resources and instructions provided. I am hoping that these kinds of environments really allow me to spend my time with students more one on one to really enrich and personalize projects.
Project Sound: Create a Mini-Music Video
For this project students will go on a tech adventure to complete their own music video! Students will start by creating and recording beat in BeatLab. They will have the option to pick up a "side quest" and write their own rap or song to record over their beat. Students will be able to reserve studio time with the teacher after they have written and practiced their song in order to record in the lab's MakerSpace - Recording Studio
Students will then create an animated video of their name (and characters if desired) in Scratch thanks to Google's Made with Code.
Project Design: Put a Woman on the 20
This project is inspired by the Women on 20's movement. This movement is designed to replace Andrew Jackson on the 20 with that of a famous American woman leader as their are currently no women on modern American paper currency.
This particular group has held online voting and narrowed it down to four candidates: Eleanor Roosevelt, Wilma Mankiller, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks. Students will be researching all of these women. After they have researched they will decided which woman they feel should be on the twenty dollar bill. They will type a persuasive letter to President Obama including at least three facts about who they believe should be on the twenty.
After students have selected and written about their American heroine they will use Paint.NET, a more student friendly pared down Photoshop, in order to create their own twenties with their heroines on the bill!
Project Design: Put a Woman on the 20
This project is inspired by the Women on 20's movement. This movement is designed to replace Andrew Jackson on the 20 with that of a famous American woman leader as their are currently no women on modern American paper currency.
This particular group has held online voting and narrowed it down to four candidates: Eleanor Roosevelt, Wilma Mankiller, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks. Students will be researching all of these women. After they have researched they will decided which woman they feel should be on the twenty dollar bill. They will type a persuasive letter to President Obama including at least three facts about who they believe should be on the twenty.
After students have selected and written about their American heroine they will use Paint.NET, a more student friendly pared down Photoshop, in order to create their own twenties with their heroines on the bill!