Fun with WeDo 2.0

Lego Robotics kits have become very popular very quickly. As students and I learned how to build, program and problem solve, I discovered a few tricks that make teaching, planning and management of the kits and devices easier. Below is a slide deck with a few tips and tricks that help me stay organized.

Makerspaces in the Library

My challenge this year was to introduce and tackle makerspaces in the library. Having collected a variety of materials such as Lego blocks, arts and crafts materials, iPads and laptops for coding, as well as a set of Kapla blocks introduced to us by our resident engineer, I invited primary and junior students to join me and a small group of dedicated teachers to build and create together. Unsure as to what a makerspace club should look like, I decided to go into it with an open mind and allow my students to take the lead.

After reading "Rosie Revere, Engineer" by Andrea Beaty and talking about perseverance, the power of failure and the magic of invention, I told students that the makerspace club is their club and all the creating, collaborating and inventing will be entirely up to them. We agreed on a few basic rules, explored the available materials and set out on a journey of building, creating and collaborating.

Through this process, I discovered that there is no one perfect recipe for creating makerspaces. What makes them work are the following:
- student voice and choice
- access to a variety of materials
- expert advice -anyone can be an expert!
- flexibility
- "what if" questions
- challenges and authentic situations and problems

Getting Started with Makerspaces

Getting Started with Lego Robotics

WeDo 2.0 arrived at our school last week. Twelve starter sets in neat blue boxes are sitting on the shelves, ready to be used. Grade 6 students had a blast opening up the boxes and organizing the blocks. Over the next few days, students will be building and programming robots, our mission - Space Exploration ending with some science fiction writing! Can't wait to get started.

  

 

"I like to move it, move it..."

Yesterday, I attended and presented at TDSB's Google Camp 3.0. It was an amazing experience and it was a privilege to listen to two incredible keynote speakers - George Couros and Dean Sharesky. Both were very compelling and inspiring. Their thoughts on teaching, learning, reflecting and sharing really resonated with me - especially George's question: "Would you like to spend the whole day learning in your own classroom?" (G.C.) and Dean's comment: "If there is no sharing, there is no teaching." (D.S.).  Google Camp, just like any other Professional Learning sessions, where I'm surrounded by like-minded people, always leaves me feeling empowered and ready to try new ideas. Both George and Dean spoke so passionately about the power of relationships, life-long learning and sharing. For some reason, or maybe for no reason at all, this morning I remembered this picture of a worksheet I found on Twitter a while ago. Not only did it make giggle, but also made me think about how clever and resourceful kids are. As an educator I have the power to influence and make an impact on my students - what impact will I make? Would I want to be a student in my classroom? I have no answers to these questions today, and maybe I will never find the answers but I know I will look at what I do through a different lens.
Here is to SHARING and REFLECTING! Thanks Dean and George.

Inquiry Based Learning

In her key note address, one of my brilliant colleagues used a quote:

"If they can Google the answer, maybe we are not asking the right question."

This quote is the essence of learning and inspiring students in the digital age and I remembered this quote as I engaged on an exploration of inquiry-based learning with Jill Colyer and a number of like-minded educators from the GTA area. 

Watt, Jennifer Gail, and Jill Colyer. IQ: A Practical Guide to Inquiry-based Learning. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

IQ: A Practical Guide to Inquiry-Based Learning

In this one week long learning module, we focused on creating inquiry rich classrooms, asking deep questions and fostering natural curiosity among our students. The module is based on a book "IQ: A Practical Guide to Inquiry Based Learning" by Jennifer Watt and Jill Colyer and it explores instructional strategies and activities that foster a culture of inquiry and wondering in the classroom. The text, clearly and succinctly, explains what inquiry-based learning is and why it is important. It describes the various aspects of inquiry-based learning (IBL) and gives authentic examples from the classrooms on how IBL can be implemented. In addition, the authors included a number of reproducibles that can be easily modified for different grade levels (or used as is) and used to teach critical thinking and literacy skills to students. The suggestions provided in the book allowed me to challenge my thinking and understanding of IBL and I think I will be able to use these suggestions in my library program next year.  As an exercise in shifting my thinking, I composed an outline of my current planning process with a couple of activity ideas and infused it with strategies that support IBL. Here is the doc that I'm still working on, comments welcome!

Unit Planning Process

Learning with Google Classroom

Google Classroom is yet another brilliant tool developed by Google. After previewing and testing it last June, I couldn't wait for it to become a part of my school board's suite of GAFE. In October, Classroom was open to students and teachers across the TDSB. The slideshow below captures a few activities and highlights the possibilities made possible by Google. Google team continuously improves this tools and makes changes based on suggestions offered by users. Can't wait to see the new changes and upgrades in September.

Minecraft in the Classroom - Getting Started

My students love Minecraft!
They spend hours playing it, talking about it, living and breathing it. It is incredible to listen to their stories and the excitement in their voices. My fascination and interest in learning more about the game, began a couple of years ago, when I heard Liam O'Donnell (Gaming Edus) talking about gaming and literacy outside of the game. It has been a huge learning curve for me and it all started when I met my grade 2/3 students last year and used Minecraft as a vehicle to get the very active boys in my class to write adventures. This year, I have finally began to feel more comfortable with integrating the game into my program more regularly. Our latest assignment focused on measuring area and perimeter, students in my grade 4/5 class used Minecraft to create a blueprint for a house with a garden, complete with measurements. Our learning and reflections were captured in this slide show below. (NOTE: All work was posted with permission from my students)

The Power of Blended Learning with Google Apps and Kidblog.

In preparation for a workshop, I had an opportunity to review the work my students have done over the course of the school year. It is incredible how much they have learned and how proficient they became in using virtual environment to show their learning and to collaborate online. We use Google Docs and Kidblog as well as TDSB's platform called Academic Workspace (AW). The presentation below captures our journey since September.

Google Apps for Education

Last month, I introduced my students to Google Apps. They have experienced Google Docs earlier in the school year through forms, drawings created by me and shared graphic organizers. A couple of weeks ago, they were very exited to publish and share their work in a Google presentation. After they published their work, they used the commenting feature to give each other effective descriptive feedback. It is amazing how well they can comment on each other's work. We are now working on reading the feedback and using it to grow and develop as writers. It is quite a challenge to get them to go back and make changes to their work. I'm hoping that with time, this process will become easier.




Below are a few prompts that students use to comment on each other's work:

Favourite Educational Links

Here it is!!! A Google Map and Google Earth certificates.  Both are incredible and provide so many options to explore and lean about geography, history and people on our planet.  I do, however, feel much more comfortable with Google Maps.  I can see students in early elementary grades using maps in a meaningful and purposeful manners.  Google Earth is fun, it is amazing but it is far more sophisticated and I need time trying it out in the classroom.  For now, I'm the lucky holder of two certificates and I can't wait to use Maps in the classroom.  Coming up - a curriculum idea that integrates social studies, math, language and ICT.  Stay tuned!

New Google Forms - UPDATED - Forms even newer!

79 interesting ways_to_use_google_forms_in_the from GrahamAttwell

New Google forms allow multiple users to collaborate on the same form in real time.  One of the most exciting features of the new forms is the ability to insert images and page breaks into Google forms. 

Here are a couple of examples using new Google Forms:

Forms with Images - Analyzing Graphs
Forms with Page Breaks - Learning Skills Assessment


Additional Resources:

Follow Molly

Add-ons to Use with Google Forms

Hello! I love Google Forms

Creating a Rubric with Google Forms

80+ Forms for the Classroom

Beginner's Guide to Google Forms

Innovative Ideas for Using Google Forms

79 Ways to Use Google Forms in the Classroom

Mapping with Google

Google Teacher Academy didn't work out for me this year, will have to try again.  In the meanwhile, I've been working on a Google mapping course and earned my first certificate.  

Mapping with Maps Engine Lite

Last week, I started a self-directed course "Mapping with Google" and was able to learn about and explore Maps Engine Lite.  As I was learning about the features of Google Map Engine, I came up with a number of ideas for using Google Maps and Google Earth in the classroom with my grade 2/3 class next year.  What an amazing tool to teach mapping skills and to help students gain knowledge of their local community and communities around the world.  In the next few weeks, I will be planning my social studies lessons with Google maps and sharing ideas on the blog.  In the meanwhile, check out the map I created in preparation for  my trip to Bonaire this summer.

Scribble Press in Kindergarten

Our kindergarten students have been reading books by Todd Parr. They have visited his website and learned about his favourite animals, foods and colours. During our author study, we talked about the beautiful colours, sentences and notes found in each book. Students created additional pages for a book called "It's Okay to Be Different". They made story boards and then created pages for their very first books that will be published with Scribble Press.