More Arduino Boards

Here are some more pictures of us working on programming our arduino boards. We also played the board game Robot Turtle to learn more about programming and coding!

Arduino Boards

Our principal, Dr. Locke, is helping our class learn how to program arduino boards! We will use our knowledge to program lights to blink at different speeds.  In addition, we are learning about circuits through our Snap Circuit boards and we made a human circuit using this energy ball!

And here is us experimenting with the arduino boards!

Snap Circuit Final Project

For our final Snap Circuit project, we made a circuit to launch a flying saucer! The kids got to try and launch at targets once their circuits were complete.  We did a tally chart of our results and then drew a  diagram of what our circuits looked like. It was really fun!

Mac Mini

This little tool doesn't look very exciting, but I'm so excited about the possibilities it's bringing to our classroom.  It has really stepped up our technology game! :)

The thing I'm most excited about is the ability to project WIRELESSLY! This will pair really well with a whiteboard app that I have. It means that I can walk around the classroom with my iPad as I draw out story problems in math or sight words in reading.  We also have the ability to project up to 4 screens at once.   This means I can have each student on an iPad and project four of their iPads all at once as they show their work in math.  This could also lead to some fun race type games.

Here's an example of something I might show for 4 + 3= 7.

After showing this, I might choose 4 students to project and have draw me a picture to solve another addition problem. 

Post It Note Questioning

We are about to have another FaceTime call with our friends in Oregon.  We both have the same Reading Street curriculum, which means we get access to all the same amazing big books.  Mrs. Hang's class picked out this panda book for us to discuss together.  The students are coming up with questions to interview each other with using FaceTime.  This will be their first experience being more one-on-one with another student and I think it will be really fun!

FaceTime-Dinosaur Bones

We have a student on vacation on the east coast right now and I heard that they would be visiting the Natural History Museum in New York on their trip.  Luckily the timing worked out perfectly for us to FaceTime with them and see the bones through the webcam.  So cool!

Dinosaur Week Continued

We started off our second day of dinosaur week by making a schema chart, we put our current knowledge in one color and our new knowledge in a different color.  When we find a misconception we can move our post-it note easily down to that box.  I was so impressed with how many specific facts they already knew about dinosaurs!

Royal Reader Month

To celebrate National Reading Month we've had parents and siblings come read stories to us during the day.  It's been fun to have our family members in the classroom and to hear their favorite books.  One of my parents came to me with the greatest idea.  We had her Nan read us a book all the way from Australia using Skype.  Her mom and sister had copies of the book to show us the pictures while she read.  The best part was that it was a surprise! Afterwards, the kids got to talk to her and they came up with some fabulous questions.  It was so fun!

Vowel Bat Center Idea

The day finally came to show my kids the Vowel Bat song! I have a lot of Batman fans, so I knew this would be a hit.  We've been talking about vowel sounds a lot lately, so it was perfect timing.  If you've never seen Vowel Bat click here!

To practice our vowel sounds, I had the class do a vowel hunt as a center activity.  They started by watching the video again on the iPad, to get to the video they scanned a QR code. After watching the video, they did a search around the room for vowels.  One person held a bat stuffed animal and one person took the iPad and took a picture of a vowel.  Then they switched.  It was really fun!

Snap Circuits-Scientific Drawings

Our class is working on a technology project using Snap Circuits and will eventually be collaborating with other schools on our project.  Our first step in the project was to get familiar with the pieces in a Snap Circuit, so we did a scientific drawing of the pieces we will be using.

I then did a rubric activity by showing them 4 drawings and I had the class put them in order of what they thought a 1 looked like and so on.  Making these pictures really helped, the kids would bring their pictures up to mine when they thought they were done to see what else needed to be added. 

                             

We've done scientific drawings before, but I made sure to remind them of how to make a drawing by giving them objectives on a chart.  

Brain Breaks

Brain breaks are a lifesaver, especially in kindergarten! If we have to transition from one sitting activity to another, I always make sure I squeeze a brain break in the middle.  My class loves them so much, I even use them as a reward sometimes.

Shake Break- This is our ultimate favorite, my kids could seriously watch this 10 times in row. 

 It's short and sweet. Any of the Pancake Manor videos are pretty fun.

Facetime

We've started a relationship with another kindergarten class in Oregon using Facetime.  I'm so excited about the possibilities that we can do using video chat.  Our first activity was having each class hide an object before our call started.  We then took turns asking questions to try and guess what was hidden.  I was so proud of my kids for staying quiet, taking their turns to ask questions, and that they remembered to ask quality questions.  I can't believe both classes figured out the mystery object in under 5 minutes.  Our next activity will be using video chat during rotations.  The class will get to be one-on-one with another student and interview them.  Here is a video from our call today!

View in Youtube here.

Pre-K Celebration

We do a couple events a year with the pre-k students at our school.  It's always fun for the pre-k students to see what kindergarten is like and for kindergarten to see friends and siblings that they might know.  Yesterday, we threw a celebration lunch for the pre-k students after their holiday concert.  They came to our classroom to read a book, learn a song, eat some lunch, and have cookies/cocoa. Here is a video we took of the class learning the song The More We Get Together.  They are so cute!!

Pinterest Collaborative Boards

I'm slowly learning the power of collaborative boards on Pinterest.  It's a great way to see and share ideas from other Kindergarten teachers around the country, but now I'm seeing the power of using it with a primary team or grade level team right at my school.  For our professional development class, we are working with incorporating more math games and stations into our routines.  I created a Pinterest collaborative board for us to pin ideas to and give us games to make and discuss.

iPad Grouping

Here are some examples of how I group the students when iPads are available:

• The most common way I use iPads during the day is during a reading, science or math rotation.  I'll set up the app or video I want the kids to use and when they get to the table they get their own iPad to use for the time.
• Sometimes, if I have a specific story I want the class to listen to and read I will give them each their own iPad and we will do it as a whole class, then discuss.
• During rotations, I'll often have two kids share one iPad.  This helps them work on teamwork skills and they will have some sparkling academic conversations during their time as well.  
• Also during rotations, I will sometimes set up one iPad with a story and hook up four headphones to the iPad using an adapter.  This gets them all working together and discussing. 

Guided Access

Can I just say how much I love guided access on the iPad? My first time using iPads with Kindergarteners I wasn't expecting them to be so quick to take pictures of each other instead of staying on the app I had set up, who knew?

After some discussions about iPad expectation, my little problem was resolved.  But, then I found that sometimes their little fingers and bodies hit the home button and bring them out of the app on accident.  That's where guided access is so helpful.  It locks the iPad onto the app you choose and it can only be closed with a password.  That means more uninterrupted learning and minimal distractions.

Here's how to set it up!

Step 1: Open settings

Step 2: Click on general

Step 3: Select accessibility

Step 4: Turn on guided access and set your passcode

Then you're good to go!  Just triple click your home button when you have an app open that you would like to lock your iPad onto.  When you're ready to exit, triple click again and enter your passcode.  

Life changing.

:)

My Favorite Apps

I have a few favorite apps that I tend to gravitate towards when using the iPads in the classroom. Most are free, some are paid for.

One More Story-Reads a picture book aloud to the kids.  I will usually have them listen together, then do a response worksheet after.  The worksheet will have them rate the book and then draw a picture using details from the story.  I’ll also sometimes have them stop in the middle and make a prediction about what might happen on a worksheet.

Endless Alphabet-Dragging letters to vocabulary words.

QR Code Frenzy

I've been on a little bit of a QR code kick lately, there are so many fun ways to use them around the classroom.  My most favorite revelation is that I can easily use them to differentiate work for different students AND they get to have control over some aspects of our activities using them. Here are some of my favorite resources I've found so far:

This shape scavenger hunt is free here through TPT.  It gives me lots of great ideas for alternatives to write the room.