Use of virtual manipulatives in Kindergarten

I used the smartboard to model the use of tesselations to make pictures with the available shapes.  These shapes are similar to the manipulatives used in the classroom, so the children were able to make an immediate connection. 

Once I modeled how to manipulate the shapes, change the size and color, the students took turns adding shapes to make a "class" picture.  The following day, the children used the site to make their own pictures at centers.  I chose to use the site over a three week period to observe how the children used the shapes.  Over the course of that time, the students learned how to rotate, manipulate, and adjust the shapes in a very advanced way.  I realized that if I had only left the site up for a week, the children would not have had the opportunity to advance their application of knowledge.

By Sheryl Magner

Something new for "little" & "big" kids

Two ideas from James Hollis's Teachers Love SmartBoards  blog:
Spin and Spell - an interactive game site that has students spell basic vocabulary.  You can choose words to spell from the pictures or have the program choose one at random. 
Idiom starter: SmartBoard lesson with examples that guides students through practice and comprehending idioms, then creating original ones.  This lesson come from The Smart Insider newsletter.  You can sign up to get issue delivered via email. 

Ripples...

Take a look at the Cluster Map (lower right) - unexpected visitors/

Birds on a Wire in Kindergarten

Ms. Magner's kindergarteners used the SmartBoard lesson, Birds on a Wire in an innovative way.  We've all used different ways to line up students to leave the classroom.  Ms. Magner used the numbers on the spinning birds as table numbers to line up her students.  She pressed even numbers and one odd.  Students noticed one bird's number didn't spin.  When she asked about the remaining tables (odd ones) students were able to deduce that the odd numbers were left so the odd birds didn't spin.  This was a great visual reminder and episodic learning for the kindergarteners. 

Dictated by Ms. Magner to Mrs. Meleski at our Smarties meeting.

New Spot for Smarties

We're trying to find a new way to easily share ideas about using Smart Boards in our classrooms.  Here's hoping that it proves useful.
To add your idea, click on the "New Post" in the upper right corner of the window. When you're finished, be sure to click on the  "Publish Post" button under the text window. Don't forget to add a title!

Here's a great example of the ripple effect of our jobs.
At a PTO meeting today, our Principal was discussing the Global Classroom project. A Mom of one of the participating students said that because of the Global Classroomproject her son had talked the family into using Skype. Her father-in-law left Viet Name 50 years ago. The family used Skype to re-connect with his family left in Viet Nam including a brother he hadn't seen in 50 years. How cool is that!

Our 5th graders collaborative learning experience with Oldbury Wells School was highlighted at the Governor's Luncheon on October 26th as the 300 luncheon guests, including Gov. Tim Kane, shared in a live video conference between Colvin Run 5th graders and the students from Oldbury Wells School in Shropshire U.K. Two students opened the luncheon, welcoming guests and sharing how technology at Colvin Run has enriched and enhanced their learning. The video linked here was shown at the luncheon and outlines the Global Classroom Project.

New laptops and visions

Laptop distribution and training this week - 7 last week, 10 this morning, 5 tomorrow. How nice to have something that folks actually want to know about! Office 2007 isn't as throwing everyone as much as I had feared it might. Just goes to show that you can teach old dogs new tricks...not that anyone on our staff is old, of course.
Spent a couple hours trouble-shooting connecting to the Tandberg so that our 5th graders can share images etc. from a laptop with the students in the UK. It's been so interesting to see this project and students evolve. Students are currently comparing what they've learned about each other's cultures/communities and comparing that with their preconceptions.

This week we finally got some laptops cleaned up, re-imaged and handed out to teachers. Over the next month, hopefully everyone will have a new one to use. It's so great to see what good students our teachers are! You have to be a learner to continue what our staff does day after day - make teaching a priority. I see an enthusiasm for learning, no matter what the subject.

Global Classroom

One of our 5th grade classrooms was chosen to participate in a pilot called Global Classroom. Part of the goal is to break down classroom walls, connecting with and learning from the outside world. This week they were able to talk to students in Shropshire UK a couple of times. What a great thing for both classrooms! Our students saw a video created by the students in Shropshire of their community - Bridgnorth castle ruins ("...blown up in the Civil War by the parliamentarians - who botched it, as parliamentarians are wont to do") I've been thinking this week-end what our kids can share tht will be as cool....Tysons corner? The kids did ask what malls were nearby but there's not much else of historical note nearby - does Wolf Trap count? Guess we may need to send them D.C. or ours will be a bit lackluster.

This week's activities included:
Weds:

• running the SCA election via SurveyMonkey
• helping teacher w/students while he was rehearsing for a presentation w/a small group
• set up laptop cart for parent workshop on using Excel - checked in to help troubleshoot w/group

Thurs.:

• take students for teacher rehearsing again
• spreadsheet w/data for laptop switch
• take laptops to IS and pick up replacements
• process new laptops received today

SCA elections started today via Survey Monkey. What a great step forward from the Blackboard survey we've done for the past 3 years. Even out second graders were able to easily vote online and at the end of the day we have totals that are reported as both numerical totals and percentages. It took a couple hours to figure out how to tweak the question options to get the candidate photos lined up with names, but it was well worth it!

10/5..successful connection!

It was an exciting day in rm. 252 because they were finally able to connect with Oldbury Wells school in the UK. It was pretty cool to see the classroom several time zones away so clearly. The only overlap time our two schools have is 9:30-10:00 so it's a great way to start the day. Today each class introduced themselves and had a get acquainted discussion...What's your favorite food, what kind of pets do you have and some random questions - "Do you have black and white movies?" (from our school ?!) and one of their girls, who was looking spiffy in a tidy uniform, loved the black and white checked shirt and mismatched socks that was Alyssa's ensemble today.
Some interesting responses - Our students pets were the usual, dog, cat and the occasional snake but in Bridgenorth, Shropshire, the pets were more along the lines of chickens and horses! The really cool part was that our students had been exploring Bridgnorth on Google Earth last week and noticed how rural the countryside became outside of the city. Making geography connections and learning relevant - an interesting concept.

Quantifiable?

The budget woes in our school system seem to have reached critical mass. The latest round of balloons (float it up and see if it flies) include cutting the school-based technology specialists. We're the ones who work with technology in the schools on a daily basis.
One point of discussion among us has focused on the fact that our "value" is often overlooked because our job is not quantifiable - we don't fill out checklists of tasks completed.
I decided to try write about my day, teachers, students and community. Perhaps this will quantify my "value added" to the school system.