Friday 28 October 2016

Using Kid Techxperts to Teach Apps

Students in Mrs. Clark's class were faced with a dilemma.  They needed to learn how to use four different apps in only two 40 minute learning blocks.  How could they do it?

Through a guided discussion students shared ideas about how, when, why, and by whom.  They began by deciding that they could only learn 2 apps a day.  Next, they thought about the fact that some students already knew some of the apps.  After that, they debated on how a student could teach other students an app.  Then, students self-selected which app they felt was their 'expert app'.  Lastly, students applied a technique from PE for grouping off in order to group students with a kid techxpert in class.  Finally, each student techxpert took a small group of students and demonstrated the functions of the app for five minutes.  Once the five minutes had gone, the other students got their ipads and practiced what they had learned.  The student techxpert would monitor and support the others while practicing.

Over the 2 days, we completed the process for all 4 apps so students had the opportunity to either be the techxpert or learner.  Not only did these lessons accomplish our goal of students learning how to use 4 out of the 6 core apps for first grade, more importantly, it set a foundation in the classroom that students saw each other as excellent ipad/app experts and resources.


 

Thursday 27 October 2016

The Red Angelfish are Making Friends in Paraguay!

Ms. Gray's kindergarten class is starting a partnership with another class at the American School of AscunciĆ³n in Paraguay.  They began by making an intro video.  Here it is!



Saturday 22 October 2016

KG Share their New Learning about the Human Body

Mr. Lewis's class finished their guided inquiry on the human body and shared their new learning with some pre-k students.  It was exciting to see how quickly the kindergartners partnered up with a younger student and dove straight into explaining their models about the human body. I overheard one student saying, "You see the lungs are here [pointing to a printed picture of internal human anatomy] and here they are in my model too."  Students also shared how the sides of the brain control the opposite side of the body.  Other students explained how veins take blood back to the heart.

Mr. Lewis's students were very proud to be able to teach the pre-k kids and demonstrate how they had become experts about what is inside their bodies.

Here is a short video of their inquiry.


     

Friday 21 October 2016

Visual Literacy in Kindergarten


I worked with a kindergarten class to integrate visual literacy skills with letters and sounds.  Students had to make a poster of a letter and an object that started with that sound while applying good poster design principles (solid color background, images large, straight, and lined up).  Below are some finished samples.  



Wednesday 19 October 2016

Writing Small Moments Celebration Assembly

Mrs. Bourdon and I collaborated on a video with her class to show what they have learned in their Small Moment Narrative Writing unit.


Sunday 16 October 2016

2D Shapes with Yakit

Grade 1 students in Mrs. Coole's class demonstrated their knowledge about defining and non-defining characteristics of 2D shapes.  

Teacher Sample



Student Sample


Thursday 6 October 2016

A Shared Inquiry

Mr. Lewis, a kindergarten teacher, began a shared inquiry with his class and then asked the librarian, Ms. Cuthbert, and me to join him on their learning journey.

It has been exciting to watch the students explore together a topic they found intriguing.  We are only in the first stages of our inquiry according to Kath Murdoch's model.  Below are some photos detailing what those stages have looked like with Mr. Lewis's class.