The Earth, Santa, Blogging and Coding

Kindergarten has been learning that the Earth is full of places that look nothing like Selah. We live on the North American Continent and Selah is a speck on the planet Earth.

First and Second Graders have electronically participated in Macy's Believe Campaign.  For each letter submitted, Macy's is donating $1 to the Make a Wish Foundation.

We continue to blog in 3rd & 4th grade.  Our volunteers have been regularly commenting on posts giving the kids an authentic audience. Safety and appropriate uses for a blog are part of technology classes.  We need more adults to read and comment on these posts.  This is perfect for the newly retired.  Sign up today!

Our writing training this week has helped me to focus on the type of writing I'm asking kids to do. I will be far more intentional about making a plan and identifying the form (narrative, expository or opinion) of writing we use on the computer.

During intervention this week, I had the opportunity to participate in a program called an Hour of Code. Students were able to program characters from Frozen and Angry Birds.  Students enjoyed this so much, I may try this with regular classes. After all, computer programming takes a lot of higher level thinking and is helping society move toward the 21st Century.

Best EdTEch of 2014

Common Sense Media 
Best EdTech of 2014

What's New in our Woods

Kindergarten and First Grade both got to take a look at Google Maps.  We found Lince Elementary using the satellite, map and street views. Some students found their homes.  It was very exciting!  We got to zoom in and zoom out, but we still working on the concept of planet earth being broken up into continents and countries, etc.

Kinder has also taken a little walk through the forest this week.  We discussed how virtual tours can let us learn outside our classroom walls, but it's not quite like using all of your senses.  After all, we can't smell or feel the forest through a computer!

First Graders continue to write short letters with Kidpix.  We've also added a few Internet vocabulary words to our bank of knowledge.  Words include: tab, window, browser, Google Chrome vs. Firefox, home button, back button and homepage.

Second Graders are now moving faster through the letter writing process on Word Publishing view.  We've added clipart and can now grab a photo out of a folder sitting on our desktops.  I throw a lot of directions at them, they are very patient as I learn what is too much instruction.

Last, but TRULY THE BEST lessons these past few weeks have been about digital citizenship and starting our own student blogs with 3rd and 4th grade.  I've always had the hardest time with the quietest kids.   Blogging has always surprised me with how much those kids have to say.

We've already had a few lessons about what is appropriate and what is not appropriate online.  The students and I agree that it's nice to have a safe place to learn about being online.  We are allowed to make mistakes and safely talk about how we should respond to others thoughts even if we disagree.

I encourage all our 3rd and 4th Grade student parents and or grandparents to get in on this opportunity to see what your child has to say.  See how their writing skills grow. Give me a call if you are interested in learning more.