TPACK and SAMR- an overview

This week part of our focus was on TPACK and SAMR. My team created Piktocharts to explain the importance and uses of TPACK and SAMR.

A Day of Inspiration

Today was one fabulous day at Pinnacle! The morning started off with receiving 20 brand spankin' new IPad Air 2's!! These Ipads are going to be used to do great things. 

Then we had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Moore from North Gaston speak about Andragogy. At first I had absolutely no idea what that was, but after listening to her I learned it is something that I already do. She put a new perspective on adult learning for me. In order for workshops to be successful, you have to have a hook and make the training beneficial to everyone you are presenting too. Otherwise, you will have this...

We then ended the day learning the importance of TPACK and SAMR. Technology is a tool, not a learning outcome. Technology is to be used to take something that was originally impossible and make it possible. It is not a replacement for a worksheet to do the same worksheet on a Google Form. 

To display our learning, my group chose to create a Piktochart. Piktochart is a great tech tool to make inforgraphics (Alot of fun and options for the kids to play around with!)

Minecraft and Jellycam

Today in Pinnacle I was able to learn Minecraft! All I have to say is AWESOME! As soon as I was introduced to the game, I started to realize all of the potentials for this game!

This past year my students were really into Minecraft. When we had electronic day, my students would sit and play against each other in their worlds and I remember thinking what in the world is this Minecraft stuff?!? Then my three-year-old daughter asked me for Minecraft for her birthday and my initial response was "No Way!" Now I have a totally different outlook. I can see the benefits on so many levels.

I am really excited to bring this to my school and get my students to play a game, but on a whole level! I think I will have a greater connection with my students through Gamification.

We also played with Jellycam today to make Stop Motion Videos and this is another great tool that is simple for my 3rd graders to use!

We made our video about The Crocodile Hunter! Check it out!! This was so much fun!!

Goals as a Pinnacle Leader

Being a Pinnacle Leader for the second time around, I have a new outlook on my goals for the upcoming school year. I am learning ways to tweak projects that I have already done and ways to really enhance my teaching style. I am excited to learn new tools and tricks that I can take back to school and share with my colleagues as well as my students. I have high expectations for the upcoming school year long with many ideas that are already brewing in my mind to help my students go farther and create. I hope that I can reach my students in new ways and to make my 9th year of teaching 3rd grade refreshing and fun again!

photo credit: Day 36: teamwork via photopin (license)

QR Codes and Word Problems

We currently finished up our math unit on multiplication and division and I was looking for an alternative assessment to see if the students could identify whether a word problem was asking for multiplication or division.

Our next project was created QR codes and Google Presentations.

I created a template for my students using Google Presentations. Nothing fancy just a simple template.

I used Google Classroom to share several documents with them which was a task teaching them to toggle between open tabs, but we made it in the end.

One document I sent my kiddos had 20 multiplication and division word problems. The students had to select a problem, take a screen shot of the problem, upload their screen shot from their Drive into their Presentation. They caught on very quickly to this process. 

They had to then go to QR code generator and type their answer to the word problem. They then uploaded their QR code answer to their presentation. At the bottom of their slides in the notes section, they had to explain their thinking to me. They had to tell me how they arrived at their answer as well as how they knew to multiply or divide.

Their final projects included 5 slides; a title slide, 2 multiplication problems and 2 division problems.

This was a great way for students to share their thinking with me. 

Check out a finished project here. 

Nonfiction Writing

Back in November/ December our writing unit was on informational text. Our class decided to write informational articles on planets. This tied in nicely with our solar system unit that we had just finished up. The students were to produce a newsletter that included; headings, photographs, captions, and vocabulary.

Our county is Google EVERYTHING! We have a set of 30 Chromebooks to use on our grade level and we have been learning the ins and outs of them. I wanted my students to create their newsletter in Google Docs. I went ahead and searched on Google for a Newsletter templates Google Docs and selected a newsletter template for the students to use and shared it with them using Google Classroom.

Google Classroom is fabulous because it automatically makes a copy of the document for the student and makes a folder in my Google Drive to house all of their projects. This eliminates the hassle of the students having to make a copy of the document and sharing it back with me. 

We had spent 2 weeks researching the planets using books, encyclopedias, and the internet. This is the first time my students had used the internet to research so we had to spend a lot of time talking about how to research effectively. 

Once we had our researched typed into the templates, the students learned how to highlight text and link it to the definition of the word. This concept took some time to master, but once they caught on they were on a roll. 

Their final projects turned out pretty well for their first attempt! Click here to check out a finished newsletter about Saturn!!

Paper Slides

We completed our first big project with the Scientific Method. We made Paper Slide videos. It was so much fun. Creating them was a lot of work, but well worth it. The students had a great time working together to create their videos and can't wait to make another Paper Slide.

We have been studying the Scientific Method for quite awhile now and we have done a lot of experiments using the Scientific Method. To wrap up our unit, students chose a topic to create a Paper Slide video on.

First the kids created their planning boards. They worked in groups of 3 and decided what roles they would take on and assigned slides to be created. Together they planned out their slides. They focused on using 6 words or less per slide and using onomatopoeias.

 Once the planning boards were completed, the groups worked on writing their scripts for the Slides. They wrote out their scripts and then I took the scripts and typed them up.

I worked with the videographers, showing them how to work the Flip Videos and then let them go!

I am so proud of the final products. Not too bad for our first attempt!

This Paper Slide was about Bubble Gum Vs. Chewing Gum which one blows the bigger bubble.