“How-To” Books in Gr. 3

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This spring, all Grade 3 students made “How-to” books using the Book Creator app on iPads from the Specialists’ iPad cart.

The students came up with several topic ideas for their books:  How to Use Alexandria Library Book Search, How to Sign Into Chrome, How to Find a Library Book, How to Type, How to Check Out a Library Book, were some popular choices.

The first step was to draft a pencil and paper storyboard with text and illustration ideas.  Students could either use a second app, Drawing Pad, for their illustrations, as in the book above, or they could use photos taken with the iPad camera, or a combination of drawings and photos.

The next step, was to add and design the text boxes of the book.  Students learned to choose visually appealing fonts and colors that also were also easily read.   Some fonts and color choices initially appealed to a student, but once they saw the book displayed on the SmartBoard, they realized that they needed to rethink their design choices so that their books could be read more easily.  Students also worked hard on punctuation and spelling!

Once the books were edited and complete, the students learned how to publish them as video files, add the file to their Google Drive accounts and then share them with me in a Google Classroom assignment.

This was a multi-step digital project that required students to help one another and take creative risks.

ISTE Standard for Students 6: Creative Communicator.  Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.

Media Kahoots!

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“Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn – any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!”

Educators around the world have discovered the power of Kahoot in the classroom.  Kahoot engages students in a challenging, often highly competitive experience with their academic content.  All Gr. 5 students played an original Kahoot in their Media classes as an end-of-unit assessment.  Many students responded postively to this alternative way to “show what they know” about using Wikipedia as a source of information.   Click on the link below to view, and play! this Kahoot.

Gr. 5 Wikipedia Kahoot

In Gr. 6 Media, students first created their own class Kahoot questions about the various forms of media, both traditional and modern, based on their Forms of Media research projects.  Click on the link below to view and play Mrs. Sierpina’s class Media Kahoot.

Gr. 6 Mrs. Sierpina’s class Media Kahoot

 

Scholastic Book Fair a Success!

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Student’s from Mr. Duffy’s Gr. 4 classroom

This year’s Scholastic Book Fair earned nearly $2000 in profit for our school Library Media program!  This money will add both new books and new furnishings to our Library Media classroom.

The Fair was well attended; our Family Night brought in many families shopping for books to add to both their home libraries and to the classroom libraries in our school.

In addition to the profit earned from the Fair, our school community very generously provided new books to our classrooms via the Book Donation feature of the Fair.  Mr. Duffy’s name was selected from the “Books for Your Classroom” raffle drawing this year.  Above, (4) student representatives from his classroom  selected  books from the Fair to add to Mr. Duffy’s classroom library.

Many thanks to the parent volunteers who donated their time to set up the Fair, work at the Fair, and pack it up at Fair’s end.

 

Volunteers Needed for our Scholastic Book Fair!

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Volunteer Online Sign Up

Scholastic Book Fair 3/19-3/23

Come to the Fair!

Our Annual Scholastic Book Fair will be held in the Library Media classroom.

Each classroom will come to the Fair during their regularly scheduled Media class times, with the exception of Mrs. Cronin’s class (Wed. 9:35) and Mr. Duffy’s class (Tues. 1:30)

Book Fair dates: Monday March 19 – Friday March 23

Shopping hours:  8:30 – 3:30 Mon., Tues., Wed., and Thurs.   8:30 – Noon Friday.

Special activities: Family Night on Tues. March 20 from 3:30 – 6:00

Before you visit the Book Fair, be sure to download the Book Fairs app to help you find the right books for your child. For more information, visit: scholastic.com/apps/bookfairs.

Shop Online!

If you are unable to attend the Fair in person, we invite you to visit our online Book Fair Spofford Pond Schools Book Fair Homepage.  Our online Fair is available from March 14 to March 24.   All profits from online sales are added to the Book Fair total sales.

Making Media

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Media is all around us 24/7.  Every day the creators of media vie for our attention with advertisements,  commercials, videos, billboards, tweets, etc., using techniques that they think will appeal to us.

Grade 6 students researched the history of media, from the first published book to the latest social media platforms, Snapchat and Twitter. Then, they each produced an animated slide to demonstrate and share their learning.

Abiding by the “less is more” theory, students were limited to one image and five or six text boxes in which to present their information, so they learned to choose their images and words carefully for the greatest effect.

They also learned how to use the Google Presentation tools, Animations and Publish, effectively, so that the viewers of their shared media slides would know what to read and when to read it.  Too often, students (and adults!) create and present slides that are well-intentioned but ineffective because the slides are loaded with static text that does not appeal to viewers who are accustomed to more dynamic media.

ISTE Standards for Students 3.  Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.

 

 

 

 

Gr. 3 Students Weigh-in on Keyboard Skills Programs

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Touch-typing, or keyboarding,  isn’t perhaps, the most fun skill to learn, but it’s one of the most important.   At the start of Media class, Gr. 3 students have been choosing between two, free, online programs,  Dance Mat Typing or Big Brown Bear.

The focus of each 10 minute practice session is for students to use the correct fingers on the keys while improving their confidence and accuracy.

As an extension to Google for Education tools, students were asked to complete a survey that was created using Google Forms.  Which of the two programs did students’ like better?  Or did they like them both equally?

Google Forms turns the students’ responses into a spreadsheet that includes a pie chart.  The pie chart above shows Mrs. Gibson’s class responses.  Dance Mat Typing was the overall favorite of Gr. 3 students .

Students then learned how to create their own Google Sheets. They used the same data, but represented it in bar graph format.

D. Hixon, Mrs. Holt’s class

Next month, students will have a third choice, Typing Club.  All three of these programs are free and can be accessed both at school and at home.

ISTE Standard  for Students:  1c. Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

 

 

 

SEPAC Grant Awarded to SPS Media Center for Alternative Seating

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Exciting news!  The Board of the Tri-town SEPAC has recently granted a request to fund two
Jellyfish Ball Chairs for use by all students in the SPS Media Center.

This grant is a part of a longer-range plan to provide students with more flexible seating and learning options than are presently available in the Media Center .  (For some formulating ideas about this initiative, see Converting the Library to a Learning Center) by Jennifer Gonzalez .

Jellyfish Ball Chairs are ergonomic seats that can reduce squirming and fidgeting.   They are designed to stimulate thinking and allow continuous, non-distracting movement.  Stability ball chairs, like the Jellyfish Ball Chairs, allow purposeful movement to strengthen students’ core muscles while increasing focus on school work.

Each classroom of students who have entered the Media Center this past week immediately noticed the chairs and have asked to try them.

After explaining the purpose of the chairs to students, a plan to allow each student time to experience learning while using the chair was implemented.

Feedback as to how this new seating option impacts students and their learning in the Media Center will be gathered  to determine whether additional seating of this type for the Media Center might be funded in the future.

 

Infographics

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Grade 5 Google Drive

“Infographics are visually stimulating and force us to summarize well.”

from Matt Miller, Ditch That Textbook

Last year in Gr. 4 Media classes, students practiced their word processing skills using Google Docs.  In these docs, they shared their ideas about what Google Drive is and what it does. Classes then came up with a group-generated definition of Google Drive.

This year, in Gr. 5, as an introduction to the Google tool, Google Drawing, students took that definition and summarized it in an infographic.

The slideshow above is a compilation of one student-created infographic from each Gr. 5 classroom.

Students also created a slide that listed the URLs of each of the images they used in their infographics to demonstrate their understanding of attribution.

AASL Standard 2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.