Famous American Research

My students just completed research on American heroes. In addition to books, students used their iPads to do the research, mainly on World Book Online, BrainPop Jr., and Reading A-Z books in their iBooks library. To teach others about they learned, each student created a Keynote presentation on their iPad. I am impressed with how smoothly this went on the iPad. The Keynote app is very kid-friendly and easy to use. We also tried out a new app I learned about at METC called Chatterpix Kids. Kids imported a picture of their famous American, drew a mouth, and the recorded themselves telling a few important facts about the person. They were a lot of fun to create and to watch. Students could even embed the Chatterpix video into their Keynote. They iPad made this entire process, smooth, flexible, and very engaging.

Engineering Challenge

This year our district science fair will be called STEM Fest, and it will feature projects in science, math, technology and engineering. As part of an initiative to get more students interested in engineering, our district STEM facilitator is encouraging each classroom to take part in an engineering challenge. The second grade challenge is called Puff Cars, and we completed this challenge last Friday.

First of all, we began by reading a picture book called Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty. She is one of my new favorite authors. I love this book! It is about a little girl named Rosie who always wants to create and build things, but her uncle laughs at her invention and she decides not to create anymore. Then her great, great aunt Rose (who is based on Rosie the Riveter) convinces her that her inventions are not supposed to work the first time, and she gives it another go.

The students loved this text and the creative illustrations by David Roberts. After we read it, we had a great discussion about what it means to be an engineer, as well as how engineers and makers don't usually get it right the first time, and have to keep redesigning to make things work just right. We also had a little history lesson about Rosie the Riveter and girl power during World War 2.  (This author and illustrator also created Iggy Peck, Architect, which is equally fabulous.)

Then we dove into our task. The goal was to make a car that would move by blowing air across it. Students worked in groups of 4-5, and got these supplies:

• 4 Lifesavers
• 3 non-bendable drinking straws
• 2 paperclips
• 1 piece of paper
• scissors
• tape

Groups first discussed and drew out their plans, and then they let me know when they were ready for their supplies. It was very exciting to hear their conversations and see how different groups approached this task. Students made cars, tested them out, redesigned them, and tested them again.  One student in each group served as a photographer, using their iPad to take pictures and video of their progress.

All of this creative engineering took a long time- much longer than I had anticipated. That was OK though, as you just can't rush the creative process. Finally, every group had a puff car they were happy with. We tested to see how far each car could go. Each group selected its best blower, and we measured the distance of each car. All of the cars did great, but the Blazer car (by the red table) went the farthest. It will be the car that we will display at STEM Fest, although we will include pictures of all of the cars.

Trying to make a drawing a reality.

A test drive

Here are the five puff cars designed by the Bartin Bunch:

This was an excellent activity. All of the students were engaged and doing great thinking. We all agreed that we would like to participate in more engineering activities in the future. 

Class Meeting

It has been awhile since I have blogged, but it is one of my new year's resolutions to do better.

Today we had a very productive class meeting. It is also one of my resolutions to have more class meetings. They are a great way to problem solve and build community in our classroom. We have a protocol that we follow, which I learned from Mike Holdinghaus (our former social studies facilitator) years ago. This is our procedure and our expectations:

We first make a list of all of the things we have done and learned this week. Then we go through and use a code with dots to mark the things that we liked, the things that help us learn the most, and the things that could have gone better. Here is our list from this (short) week:

We decided to problem solve around indoor recess, especially since we will probably have more indoor recess in the coming weeks. We discussed the biggest concerns (voice level, sharing and cleaning up, and iPad use), and then the students came up with this list of expectations. They wanted them posted in the classroom for everyone to see.

Our teacher assistants and the students reported that indoor recess went amazingly well today. I love when students are involved in decision making in the classroom.

Composting Projects

Our second grade students have been learning all about earth science for the past month or so. We have learned a lot about soil, rocks, decomposers, and natural resources. As part of this science unit, students learned a lot about composting. Keysor already has a great composting program in the cafeteria (thanks to last year's second-grade leaders). This year we gave our students the job to teach a group who doesn't know about composting. They could choose younger students (mainly kindergartners, since they have not been composting in the cafeteria yet), parents, or the Kirkwood community. They had to then create a project to teach this group something about composting.

We gave students a list of possible products, such as posters, brochures, a learning activity, a books, etc, and we also told them they could come up with their own ideas. Because our class has iPads, students had many choices in how to create a project.  Many kids chose to use their iPads to do some more research on composting, while others created something using their iPads. Some kids chose not to use their iPads at all.

Several groups of students chose to create books about composting. One group created their book completely in Notability- the text and illustrations. One students typed her text on her iPad, but then she printed it to draw the illustrations by hand. Another group created their book completely by hand on paper, but they used a dictionary app to help them edit their spelling. Even though they all chose different ways to create their books, through the technique of scanning, we were able to share all of their books with their classmates through iBooks. Every student in the class could have their own copy of the book, without having to print them. The student authors were very excited to share their books digitally (as was I for figuring this out).

I am very impressed with their final products. Here are some of them:

Our First Days of iPad Learning

Last week, we got our iPad Minis. We are the only second grade class at Keysor with iPads, because I am on the district's Technology Leadership Group (TLG). We are going to learn how to use the iPads in our classroom, and share the information with other teachers and students in the district.

Of course, my students have been very excited to get their iPads and get started using them. On the first day, we learned how to use some basic features and took a picture of ourselves to set as the background. We also went over all of the expectations and talked about the importance of being technology leaders. Students signed the iPad agreement, which their parents have or will also sign.

Since all of that went very well, I decided to be brave, and we ventured outside with our iPads on a natural resources scavenger hunt. Normally, we would have done this with clipboards and paper, but I thought that taking pictures might be even better. The students were very responsible, and they all did a great job taking pictures of evidence of natural resources in our school yard.

The following day, we used an app called Notability. First we went through a quick totorial, demonstrating all of the great things this app can do. I think it is a great app for second graders. They then import pictures, type, annotate, and record their voice in this app.  Then we uploaded the pictures we took the day before to make a natural resources collage. Students could move photos around to group them in different ways, and they could choose to type or write to label their pictures.

The biggest excitement came when I showed them the Airplay button on the iPad. Students got to take turns mirroring their collage onto the ActivBoard (using Apple TV). This got everyone very interested, and everyone wanted to do their best work.

It's going to be a wonderful learning adventure with our iPads this year!

Airplay! One student displays her natural resources collage and explains it to the class.

Helping each other as we install our first apps

Choosing "Just-Right" Books

Our main focus in reading workshop so far has been choosing books that are "just right." Last week we had a lesson in which we compared shoes to books. I brought in several different kinds of shoes, and we talked about the purpose of each. Students discussed that each type of shoe has a purpose, and it wouldn't work well to wear hiking shoes to a fancy occasion or to wear flip flops to go running.

In addition, we talked about shoes fitting just right. When I wore Mr. Bartin's shoe around the classroom, it was too big and floppy, and I almost fell. When I tried to put on a shoe that belongs to my four-year-old daughter, I couldn't even get it on my foot. Shoes that don't fit right are uncomfortable, unsafe, and can really ruin your day.

Books are the same way. We have to think about our purpose for reading. Do I just want to pick a book that I will enjoy, or am I trying to learn something specific?

Is the book the right fit? If I don't know the words, or I can't understand what I am reading, it's not a good fit. At the same time, if the book is too easy, it's not going to help me become a better reader.

To help us remember how to choose good books, we use a method called IPICK. This is what it stands for:

I choose a book.
Purpose (Why do I want to read it?)
Interest (Does it interest me?)
Comprehend (Do I understand it?)
Know (Do I know most of the words?)

Just as we go to the store or our closet to choose the "just-right" shoes, we have to think about choosing the best books for us. I am sure that soon our students will be excellent book choosers for themselves!

1, 2, 3 Transitions

Transitioning from one activity or setting to another can be challenging in a classroom. A lot of time can be wasted if transitions are not quick and smooth. Several years ago, I learned about the 1, 2, 3 transition model from the book Teach Like a Champion. It has been one of the best tricks I have learned in my 12 years of teaching.

Here is how it works in our classroom:
1- All students stand by their chair.
2- All students push in their chairs (quietly).
3- Everyone walks quietly to the carpet (or line).

One of the secrets to this technique is that everyone must do each step before we move on to the next one. Also, it must be quiet. Students learned this quickly on day one, and we already have it mastered. It saves us so much time each day!

Here is the 1,2,3 transition in action: