Week of January 25

We kickstarted this week with storyteller Darrin Crow on Tuesday. He presented to 3rd grade about the Underground Railroad and to 2nd grade students about immigration. Darrin is such fun to listen to, and he totally captivates our kids.

Also this week, I hooked up some iPads to use as search stations. We had a couple of computers that I wanted to use, but the cords were missing and there were other issues, so I got these iPad clamps from Scholastic. They work pretty well! I used Guided Access on the iPads to lock them into the Destiny search app. Here are some 3rd grade boys using it for the first time. 

We'll start with 4th grade this week and work our way down, just for kicks. 

Fourth graders learned about iClipart and how to download their (free to us) photos. Iowa AEA supplies us with this tool, and I'm so grateful! Students did want to go to Google Images, but we started with iClipart, and I explained how we don't have to do a formal citation of those images and that it would save them bunches of time. They didn't complain too much after that. Next week we should be ready to start making the video book book trailers using WeVideo!

Third graders started doing research on the famous African American that they chose last week. They used iPads with Britannica online and put their notes in their Google Doc on their Chromebook. It was awesome to see kids excited about doing research--I had really good intentions of snapping some pictures but didn't! Next time, I promise.

The second graders are still working on getting their robots to drive through their story map. We are getting close to wrapping up--maybe 2 more weeks. 

First graders played the game Telephone, then read the book called Telephone by Mac Barnett. We used the illustrations to predict what would be coming next. Playing the game was so funny--one of the messages got changed to "I love you" and every single kid giggled when they heard it and passed it on.

Kindergarteners are still learning about life long ago. We read Prairie Day which is one of the picture books in the My First Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It describes their life while traveling west in their covered wagon. 

Our AK and preschool students read Frog on a Log by Kes Gray & Jim Field. It is a fun book full of rhymes. It always cracks me up, because when students first grasp the concept of rhyming, every time they hear a rhyme they shout it out.