Parent Coffee - Internet Safety 3-5

How do we keep students safe while still allowing them access to the amazing tools available in 2016?

Today I led a Parent Coffee about Internet (and Technology) Safety geared toward the parents of students in grade 3-5. This was the second in a series, building on last weeks presentation geared toward grades K-2. 

Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend, we had a great conversation. Attending in person is not always possible, so to ensure the entire community has access to the conversation I am posting the presentation for all to share and use...

Parent Coffee - Internet Safety K-2

How do we keep students safe while still allowing them access to the amazing tools available in 2016?

Today I led a Parent Coffee about Internet (and Technology) Safety geared toward the parents of K-2 students. Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend, we had a great conversation. Attending in person is not always possible, so to ensure the entire community has access to the conversation I am posting the presentation for all to share and use...

3rd Grade Information Books 2016 - Mrs. Mangan

This post is a work in progress as students finish & tweak their animated books

The following items are animated books created using Google Slides with Ms. Mangan's class:

The third graders created Information Books as a part of our non-fiction reading and writing units.  They started with an "expert" topic, one they already knew a lot about. This topic required little to no research, simply background knowledge.  After the students chose a topic they began developing chapter ideas, elaborating on those ideas and accompanying them with non-fiction text features. The kids worked on several drafts making edits and revisions. Each chapter was placed in a logical order, for some students paragraphs were developed and for all students the writing was organized with topic sentences and supporting details. 

Next came the publishing portion of the project. With support from Mr. Casal, the students used Google Presentation to create slides to display their information. This was a wonderful learning experience. Everything from typing text to inserting photographs to creating transitions was taught and then put to practice.  In the end the third graders created a comprehensive non-fiction information book that can be enjoyed for years to come and across the globe because of its final form, Google Presentation. - @LindsayCMangan

The books...

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:

New App = New Learning

by Ms. Boyer

I introduced Padlet to my 5th graders this week. I really didn’t know much about Padlet but thought it had the “cool factor” and would prove to be a very interesting way for my students to share their new investigations of non-fiction. I set up our collaborative group in Padlet, made a WELCOME page with a few notes for students to read with links to follow, and sent each student a note (in their google drive) introducing our new adventure.  I knew I didn’t know everything there was to know about this new app, but I do know 5th graders and I draw comfort from the fact that whatever I don’t know, they will figure out in a fraction of the time it would take me to resolve any issue.  Ten year olds are not intimidated, they are intuitive.

It’s been two days since Padlet became a new buzz word in our classroom and I’ve experienced a few F.A.I.L.s (First Attempts In Learning) but each hiccup was quickly resolved because my students possess two qualities that big businesses look for in their prospective employees; they are skilled problem solvers and they are digitally literate. Digital literacy is a fairly new term that marries the two words, digital and literacy.  Yet it is so much more than just the words; it’s a way of life, a way of interacting with the world, a way of solving problems and communicating.  In my 5th grade classroom, it’s me being comfortable with the fact that I will never know as much as my students; I teach them, they teach me. We raise the bar everyday.  

Padlet has proven to be an effective collaborative learning tool thus far. My students have now created shared Padlets as reading partners and are busy linking additional media to inform their learning. In a brief check-in ‘round the room the consensus was that we should continue to use Padlet, that it was easy to take notes on and it was a good way to organize thinking to share with a group. And so we shall...

3rd Grade Google Slide: The Year Long Reflection

The Project:

Using Google Slides 3rd grade students will create a 13 slide presentation, one month at a time, over the entire school year.

The Why?

It is never too early to start building a digital portfolio and not every portfolio will look the same. But one great way to show true growth and progress is not to publish the best of the best, as most portfolios tend to be, but rather show real, individual progress and growth though the eyes, and words, of the students themselves. It's important for students to think about, and voice, the things that stand out to them the most, their "a-ha" moments of clarity, their personal triumphs. It is also important for students to keep a record of such things and look back on them. It's one thing for us as teachers to say "you've come so far" but it's far more powerful for the student to look at a body of work and say "this is how I've grown."

The How?

Parent Coffee - Twitter!

Once again Mr. Casal will be talking Twitter during a Parent Coffee session. Last year was his first year at Heathcote and the first annual "Twitter @HeathcoteSchool Parent Coffee" was held. As a school community Heathcote has made amazing strides in using social media, Twitter in particular, to create a vibrant, transparent learning community that puts the awesome work of our students at the forefront.

It is now time time for the 2nd annual "Twitter @HeathcoteSchool Parent Coffee!"

This is the agenda, with associated links to resources, for the event...