Mini Book Reviews

Students explored a fun way to share their favorite books in Reader's Workshop. Two apps were used in the process, Pic Collage and Yakit for kids. Here are a few samples.

Reflective Blogging

Grade 1 students have been doing a phenomenal job blogging so far this year.  For the most part, first graders post a photo of their work and then type a sentence about what they learned or give more information about the image.  Mrs. Hellgeth decided that her students were ready to extend the types of sentences they included in their blog post.  So, her class explored and practiced making reflective blog posts.  They were exposed to ways you could be a reflective thinker by asking themselves one of the three questions below:

1.  How has my thinking changed?
2.  What do I know, but what am I still unsure about?
3.  Why is this new learning important?

Here is the lesson

Student Samples

How has my thinking changed?

What do I know, but what am I still unsure about?

 Why is this new learning important?

Festival of Stories

Grade 1 students are participating in the lower elementary school's Festival of Stories. In order to get ready to celebrate reading and authors like Todd Parr, students made READ posters.  The idea was for first graders to use the style of Todd Parr, bold solid colors with a black outline, when creating their posters. They also had the opportunity to consolidate several functions in both the Drawing Pad and Pic Collage apps.

Authentic Foreign Language Practice with Green Screen by DoInk

Students in Grade 1 used the app Green Screen by DoInk to recreate an authentic restaurant visit in order to practice their new unit vocabulary.  This 'app'tivity not only helped students apply their language skills, but it engaged them in a new way which made presenting their skits even better.

Check out one of the finished products below.

Basic Coding Apps to Get Started

Grade 1 students participated in the Hour of Code this week, testing out three different apps that are a good introduction to the basics of computer programming (coding).

By far, the students' favorite coding app has been Kodable.  It is free in the US and Singapore itunes stores.

Their 2nd favorite has been Scratch Jr, also free in the US and Singapore itunes stores.

Then, their 3rd favorite was Daisy the Dinosaur.  Again, free in the US and Singapore itunes stores.

Here are some photos of Grade 1 students during the Hour of Code lesson.

Hour of Code in Grade 1

Grade 1 students were absolutely thrilled to participate in the Hour of Code today.  What is the hour of Code?  The Hour of Code is a way to get people, anyone and everyone, excited about the computer sciences and learn the basics to getting started with the language of computers.  In first grade,  students used the apps Kodable and Daisy the Dinosaur to explore the world of computer programming.  By commanding a fuzzball, in Kodable, with arrows to tell it which direction to go or a dinosaur, in Daisy the Dinosaur, with actions to tell her what to do, students entered the world of computer programming with smiles, shouts of joy, and celebratory high-fives when their object successfully completed their commands.

Showing Respect Online - Digital Citizenship Lesson #2

First graders were involved in another foundational Digital Citizenship lesson pertaining to ‘Showing Respect Online’ with me, the first grade tech coach, and Mrs. Cuthbert, the first grade librarian.  Since all of our first grade classes are running student-run blogs, we were able to relate this skill, Showing Respect Online, to commenting on each other’s blog posts.  Students learned that they should ask themselves 3 questions before they make a comment on a peer’s blog post.  

Think Before You Comment

Would I say this in person?

Did I only use first names?

Is my comment positive?

Here is an informative and engaging video that we (G1 tech coach, G1 librarian, and G1 counselor) made for the students.