Moving

Please visit my new blog at http://mdeckstein.wix.com/mdeckstein

Connecting Comprehension and Technology PLC

 I was introduced to  Anne Goudvis several years ago when she did a professional development workshop at High Peaks Elementary.  High Peaks was using the Comprehension Toolkit and Anne was there to help us better implement the practices.  When I changed jobs last year and began teaching technology at Peak to Peak, I was looking for ways to integrate the technology standards I needed to teach with the grade level content that students were engaging with.  I discovered,  Connecting Comprehension and Technology.  Knowing how much I learned from Anne's workshop, I decided to buy the book and fell in love with the ideas.   This year the kindergarten teachers and I have been doing a year long book study.  Each month we read and discuss a section of the book and look for ways to implement the practices into our classrooms.

During our first month we read about monitoring comprehension and started using the Drawing Pad with students.  Some of the early projects included reading books about animals getting ready for winter and drawing about our thinking.  Later we read about puffins and used Drawing Pad  to show what we learned. Students loved using Drawing Pad to show their thinking.






During the second month we read about connecting and annotating our thinking and began to use Book Creator along with Drawing Pad. Students continued to use Drawing Pad to show their thinking with pictures, learned to save their drawings and then add them to Book Creator in order to add voice to their work.

We fell in love with Book Creator and Drawing Pad have used them as comprehension tools in many situations. As we looked at the chapters on Asking Questions, we introduced students to BrainPOP Jr. and PebbleGo as online resources that are safe and easy for kindergarten students to do their research. In small groups, students researched animals of the continents they were learning about in class.  Students used Book Creator to show what they learned about their animals.  We published their work in an interactive Google Drawing . Students love to read and listen to each other's work.

This month we have been talking about visualizing.  We began by looking at the book Right Outside My Window by Mary Ann Hoberman and talking about how the author has shown what is outside the window through illustrations.  After a few pages, I asked students to become the illustrators and visualize what the author was describing. They did a great job of drawing their visualizations.
"

Silver raindrops catch the light, right outside my window."

"A spider weaves her web around, right outside my window."

Next we read the poem Green Giant by Jack Prelutsky. Students really enjoyed visualizing the giant and sharing their visualizations. 

Thank you Stephanie Harvey, Anne Goudvis, Katie Muhtaris, and Kristin Ziemke for helping us to effectively engage students in the reading process with the technology in our classrooms.  I recently read  Amplify:  Digital Teaching and Learning in the K - 6 Classroom.  Looking forward to implementing new ideas and practices in our classrooms from this as well.

Drawing Pad Visualizations

Kindergarten students have been learning about Drawing Pad and visualizations. This week we read Right Outside My Window by Mary Anne Hoberman.  Students had so much fun drawing and sharing their visualizations.

Asking and answering questions EdTech Style

First graders are learning about Ancient Civilizations in their classrooms.  In Tech today, I asked students what questions they have about what they are learning in Core. They generated a wonderful list of questions.  We talked about places they could go to find answers to their questions.  BrainPOP and Pebble Go were their first suggestions as we've used both sites before.  I also introduced them to DK and Wonderopolis today.  They went to work researching to find answers to their questions.  After finding answers to some of their questions, students went to Wixie to write and draw to show their new learning.  Students then shared their Wixie projects on the SmartBoard as a closure activity.

We had so much fun asking and answering questions today.
http://www.wixie.com/p/UzUxMDkxNjA%3D/wixie.html
http://www.wixie.com/p/UzUxMDkzODY%3D/wixie.html

Games over Time

I was working with 3 students today who were researching video games on the Museum of Play website and were fascinated by how games have changed over time. We started talking about video games of the past, and I confessed that I played Zork many years ago and described to them how there were no images in the games so I had to draw a picture to keep track of my thinking. Then I told them about the work my son did in college with XBox and coding sound from a dancer. Their eyes got buggy ... I can't wait to see what they come up with as they think about what games will be like in the future. They had some pretty wild ideas.

Simple Machines and Ed Tech

My second grade students were learning about simple machines in their classrooms. For this month's tech project, students researched their favorite simple machine. They read about their simple machine on Pebble Go; watched movies about simple machines on BrainPOP; and then wrote about their simple machine in Wixie. They incorporated important nonfiction text features in their writing including table of contents, headings, pictures with captions, labeled drawings and glossaries. The students loved creating and sharing their books. Wixie made it easy for students to write, spell check, format, and share their books. Students loved adding transitions and music to their final products. Enjoy a few of their books: http://www.wixie.com/p/UzQzMjg1MzU%3D/wixie.html
http://www.wixie.com/p/UzQzMjg0Nzg%3D/wixie.html
http://www.wixie.com/p/UzQyOTYxODM%3D/wixie.html
http://www.wixie.com/p/UzQyOTU3NjI%3D/wixie.html
http://www.wixie.com/p/UzQyOTU0NTk%3D/wixie.html
http://www.wixie.com/p/UzQzODYwNTA%3D/wixie.html

Colorado Stories - Donor's Choose

Hi Friends, 

Now through January 17, any donation you make to my classroom project request on DonorsChoose.org will be doubled (up to $100). I need your help to get my students the materials they need to succeed. 

Here's the project: 

Colorado Stories 

To have your donation matched, enter the promo code LIFTOFF during checkout. This offer is good through January 17. 

My students and I would be so grateful for your support! 

Michelle