What is Pi?

This was a little discovery of what Pi is activity, that my class did on 3/14! Some of the fourth graders knew that Pi is 3.14, and some had memorized beyond that, but I was pretty sure they didn't know what Pi means. I explain in this educreations video what we discovered on Friday, March 14!

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/pi-day-activity-for-discovering-what-pi-is/18708465/?ref=app

Khan is more than MATH

Well, it's been a while since I've been on KhanAcademy. I had set up a class page on khan which I can say, fizzled out. Parents mentioned that it was difficult to access, so I have students who are early finishers in math class, go on KhanAcademy without signing in.  I have observed my students utilizing the computer programming and coding features on KhanAcademy.  Fascinating stuff! Today I watched Sal Khan's TED talk, and was re-inspired to get my class going on it! I sent out invites to parents again, and am hoping for a smoother start this time. As I was searching and navigating through the KhanAcademy site, I found science movies about planets and gravity. Seems like I'm just touching the iceberg of what is included! 

Missions and Forts Turned out Well!

My class had three weeks to complete their California Missions (4th graders) and Spanish forts (5th graders) assignment. They were required to make a physical model, poster, or Minecraft model. Students also wrote a report about their mission or fort. I have rubrics for both, and so far everyone has at least +15/15! Students included church, courtyard, kitchen, garden, pastures, graveyard, padres' rooms, workrooms, storage rooms, tannery, Native American houses. Students added their own extra features like fountains, prayer circles, stables, pianos and organ, holy water, Bibles in the pews. Just an incredible job done by all of the students! Parent comments are all positive about the learning experience participating in the Mission/Fort assignment! I love the results I'm seeing!

Minecraft Missions and Fort Assignment

I learned about Minecraft this year from my 4th and 5th grade combo students, in my BYOD 1:1 iPad classroom. The first time I thought there was an academic application for it in the classroom, was when a girl shared her "Science World" with the class. She had taken all of her science vocabulary from the week, and made a Minecraft world using those words. There was a block shaped bee sitting on a block shaped flower, with a sign defining pollination. Then we traveled through structures seeing other definitions and building representations of those words.

I was floored.

Now an assignment has been formulated using Minecraft for making CA mission replicas (4th grade assignment) and Spanish forts (5th grade assignment). I see the partial results and am amazed by the innovative creations so far!

I can't wait until next week to see the results!

Showbie

Well, I didn't make this discovery; my boss did! The Showbie app is free and is a place that my class can turn in assignments. I can write on their PDF files they've sent me, can add a text message on the PDF, and put a voice note reply to what they have sent. One of the students gave our class a tutorial today of the extra features in Showbie, like adding stamps to images and PDF files! Photo editing is a part of the app too, and adding video clips to posts. One of the students just sent me a voice text in Showbie asking if she can show the class tomorrow how to add a video text in the Showbie app.

A real plus is that I'm the only one who sees their comments, and posts. This is much different from Edmodo, which is a class page where all the students can see each others' posts. Serious business to have a place to get immediate feedback and store all work! So cool!

This app makes turning school work in via email seem old-fashioned!

Math Movies

If I make two math movies for everyday of the school year, to address CCSS standards for fourth and fifth graders (because I teach a combo class--both of those grade levels) and EverydayMathonline.com doesn't have math movies to go with their lessons(if they do, where are they?), why not offer them over to Everydaymathonline? It just dawned on me to send them a little note, asking this very question. I've got the movies. I'm making them every weekend. They are made specifically to match the lessons in the Everyday Mathematics program. Can't wait to see their response!

Students Send me Articles and Movies

We are loving the all iPad classroom. Students recently have been sending me articles and movies about science that they find online. They are initiating doing so, without being given that assignment. Today, a student emailed a movie of an experiment done on the International Space Station, about wringing a wet towel in space. What happens to the water droplets? We decided to show the class the video tomorrow, after asking the students to write their hypotheses. Just thrilled to see students eager to research science topics, utilizing these innovative tools!