Koko's Kitten by 2H and 2O

Recently, two Second Grade classes, Ms. Higgins and Ms. Onofri, read Koko's Kitten by Dr. Francine Patterson. 

To extend the experiences and add a technology component we decided to let both classes work in layered partnerships to create their own reflections on Koko's Kitten as a group book. Students worked in teams of two to create a "page" of this new book. Both classes came to the lab simultaneously and each student partnership worked on a single computer, using a single Google Slide. Once each student partnership was finished with their page they were all printed out and the class partnership built an amazing bulletin board to showcase this collaborative reflection on Koko's Kitten.

The board looks amazing...

Hour of Code

Coding is a popular activity and skill. The “Hour of Code” is an international program aimed at sparking interest in computer science and the concept of coding. The “Hour of Code” week is December 7-13 and encourages teachers and students to try coding, with the tagline “an hour of code for every student.”

Here at Heathcote coding isn’t an hour, or a week. We’ve been using coding platforms for the past few weeks, as we did last year, and plan on to continue well beyond the “Hour of Code.”  Coding is available, and used, throughout the year.

Since this week is the “Hour of Code” week I wanted to share our approach as well as the resources we have available to students. We have multiple avenues for student coding experiences:

Spring Update

It has been many moons since the HeathcoteTech blog has been updated. And that is a good thing!

The lab has been cranking. Students are in most hours of the day. iPads are being checked out, MacBooks are being borrowed, Chromebooks are running full steam. It's been a great few months, students learning and creating amazing things.

Here is a quick rundown of what's been going on in the lab since February:

Chrome's multiple users update

Yesterday Google updated Chrome.

One of the best features of Chrome is the ability to multiple Google accounts logged in simultaneously (previous tutorial post here)

The feature is still there, Google just tweaked the visual...


You no longer see the icons like this:

It now looks like this:

As week three begins...

As week three begins we are one step closer to getting all the technology up and running. But first I wanted to thank the parents who stopped by the lab during the Open House. It was great to meet so many parents and have the great conversations we did.

Here are a few follow-up points:

Google Chrome - setting up multiple users

As the year gets underway one of the things everyone has heard me say a lot is "Google."

I am a huge fan of Google Apps as a platform. It does wonders for collaboration, communication, and efficiency. One of the biggest perks is that with our 4th and 5th grades on Chromebooks we can all interact within the same digital environment, just as we interact in the same physical environment.

One of the things that makes the full Google Apps platform work to its fullest potential is Chrome. Chrome is a web browser available, for free, on all operating systems.

The follow is an overview of Chrome and a tutorial on setting up one of Chrome's most powerful features, multiple users. No more need for Safari for personal Google use and Firefox for Scarsdale Google use. Chrome lets you sign in to multiple Google accounts in separate windows without needed to log out when switching between them.

I hope you find this useful...

Why Chrome? The basics:

• free
• supported on Windows, Mac, and Linux (full specs here)
• Google suite fully integrate (ie: search from address bar, sign in to all services once, etc)
• Multiple users

To paint a picture...

Heathcote Network Update

As the 2014-2015 gets underway I wanted to give the Heathcote community a status update on technology, and when students will begin to access the resources (lab, Chromebooks, iPads, etc).

We are in the process of re-imaging and configuring all Mac desktops in the building, so that they all have the latest available software and access to printers. This process should be complete by Tuesday morning, if not Monday afternoon. Currently, students do not have access to their network accounts (district-wide). Typically, students are not allowed to log into their network account until they have been presented with the Acceptable Use Policy (which I will do) or for the youngest students, a lab orientation. This year there will be a slight delay in allowing student access, even after the AUP presentation, all in the name of progress.

In a nutshell, we (the entire elementary tech team, district-wide) are creating new student user accounts and we are re-organizing our network structure and management practices. Planning for this began last spring and was implemented through the summer. The traditional method of saving network files on a remote server and shuttling them back and forth between classroom, lab, and library computers had become outdated, and no longer supported by Apple. This setup became increasingly faulty as more and more students received login errors or had their connection crash, preventing them from saving their files. Moving forward is our best option and we are confident that these changes will result in more reliable network performance.

We are having a soft opening of the computer labs in the week of September 15. This is a week later than planned, but we need the time to hammer out final network issues. The soft opening will involve a handful of classes who are willing to take the new network setup for a test drive. If all goes well, we'll then roll out the lab calendar for open scheduling.

A great deal of planning, coordination, and technical effort have gone into a number of technology improvement projects over the last few months. Too much to write about in a single blog post. More details to come. 

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.