Friday "Wrap Up"

2nd grade had their turn in the makerspace this week.  I think I am going to need to change or simplify the activities that I have for them to choose from.

- 4 days of 2nd grade makerspace

- 3 Second Grade Map Key lessons

- 3 First Grade water research lessons

- 5 Kinder lessons with the Crayola  Coloring app

- 6 Third Grade mini lesson for research: questions and key words

- 3 eBook sessions for parents at STAARy Night Literacy Night

- coding club

- newspaper club
- hosted Storyteller Sue Kuentz (@Door2LoreSue)

And my wraps this week Fame and Serene 

Technology Tuesday: Google Maps

Last week, Lisa Johnson (@TechChef4U) presented to our librarians at a district inservice.  She talked about Augmented Reality and gave some great ideas.  One being using the Flyover in Apple Map Tours to give students a virtual look at different cities.

While I was exploring that I had the idea for 2nd graders to appsmash the maps with Doodle Buddy while they are learning about map keys this week.  

In the map app, we typed in the address of our school.  We looked at the satellite view so that we could see different things like trees, the track, the playground, houses and cars. Students took a screen shot of the map and then opened it in Doodle Buddy and used the brush and text feature to create a key for their map.  

Friday "Wrap Up"

It was early dismissal this week for parent-teacher conferences.  I typically don't schedule my regular 1st and 2nd grade lessons this week because the schedules are so screwy and it gives me a chance to do some special lessons or work on projects if I need to.  One of those projects was to rearrange the space where I was holding makerspace.  My original space was not big enough and did not flow right for me.  When our director came we talked about shifting my fiction section and using that space.  So I did.  

This was originally where I was going to have my makerspace.  It just wasn't working right. 

So I rearranged my fiction area so that the makerspace was near the tables in my teaching area and there is lots of floor space for those that like to spread out.

This was my fiction section before.

I put three genres on the shelves on the wall so have a clear space so I could see into the area.  I tuned two of the now empty shelves on the side to put the materials on.  This is much more functional now.  

- 5 Kinder Storytimes

- worked on makerspace activities

- rearranged makerspace area

- planned STAARy Night Parent eBook Session

And my nails from last week are still going strong so here are some Thanksgiving Wraps.  Gobble Gobble

Technology Tuesday: eNewspaper

My school has it's first eNewspaper written by students.  The idea started last year, when four 4th grade students asked the principal if they could start a school newspaper.  She told them if they could find a teacher that would sponsor the club, she was all for it.

The girls got one of the 4th grade teachers to agree to sponsor it and myself and another 5th grade teacher hopped on board too.  We met with the girls last year to discuss what they were thinking and to formulate a plan for the club.  

The sponsors met with our technology specialist and decided that the best format to use was edublogs.  We set up shared google folders and decided what types of stories/sections we would publish.  

Our first meeting with the students was September 17th.  

We talked about the process, brainstormed ideas for stories and assigned trios of kids (reporter, photographer and writer) to work on certain subjects.  At our next meeting 2 weeks later, the students brought the results of their interviews and set to work writing their stories.  And then finally last week, we got the students together again and edited the stories on the screen together and published our first edition.  

Woodstone eNews

There are some things we want to change for next time, but overall we are pretty pleased with the effort.  There was a lot of behind the scenes work done by the sponsors in between the meetings with the students, but I'm sure that will become more integrated as the students become more familiar with edublogs and how to actually publish.  

We plan to publish at the end of each 9 weeks, so our next issue will hopefully be before the winter break.