Our iPads, MacBooks and Chromebooks have been getting a workout these past two months! Some recent highlights: first graders get creative on their iPads; fourth graders make healthy eating fun with multimedia presentations; and seventh graders teach us a thing or two about how to make dumplings. Read on to learn more about the latest and greatest technology happenings in the classroom at CAIS!
Just Me, Myself, and My Explain Everything Video
Would you like to personalize learning for your students and engage their imaginations? Sue Geng did just that with her first grade students! In this project, students learned how to describe themselves and their physical appearance. Using the iPad app Explain Everything, students created videos in which they took photos of one another, imported the images to videos and labeled their body parts in Chinese. Finally, working in pairs, students recorded themselves explaining the similarities and differences in appearance between themselves and a classmate. Check out the example below!
Creative Content Creation Meets First Grade Math
Looking for a way to liven up your math instruction? Check out what our first graders are doing in Chinese math! Students developed their own word problems to demonstrate their understanding of subtraction. Using iPads and the Explain Everything app, students created videos in which they illustrated, explained, and solved a word problem. See an example student video below.
Bringing New Life to Prewriting with Kidspiration Maps
Want to add some pizzazz to your writing unit? Consider trying Kidspiration! In a recent Writing Workshop unit on persuasive essays, fourth graders in Sean Mosconi's and Anne Valentino's classes used the iPad appKidspiration Maps to support their prewriting process. Using Kidspiration, students created a graphic organizer to display their thesis statement and supporting reasons. Not only were the diagrams visually appealing and fun to create, but they also helped students organize their writing and generate ideas. In addition, Kidspiration Maps has the added benefit of converting from visual diagram to text at the mere tap of a button! Click here to see an example of a student project in writing view.
Healthy Eating Made Fun through Multimedia
Think your diet might benefit from a nutritional tuneup? Ask our fourth graders for advice! In Chinese class, fourth graders learned about eating balanced meals based on six categories of nutrition: water, carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals. In this project, students used Google Presentations to design slides that illustrated healthy eating, then used Movenote to record themselves reading descriptions of their balanced meals. The final product was a multimedia video presentation with slides and synchronized videos. Click here to see an example!
Touring CAIS, Fifth Grade Style
Ever wondered what our campus looks like through the eyes of our students? As part of an ongoing collaboration with Tsai Hsing school in Taipei, fifth graders in Ron Morris's class were tasked with introducing the Taiwan students to the CAIS campus. In small groups, students worked together to produce videos presenting various parts of the school, such as the library, gym, music room, and playgrounds. Using iPads and the iMovie app, students recorded footage, edited it, added captions and music, then uploaded their videos to their shared Edmodo group for the Taiwan students to view. The results were both creative and highly entertaining! See a student project example below.
Lost and Found with GoAnimate
In a project that is a perennial favorite among fifth graders, students in Michael Hsu's Chinese class used an animated video site called GoAnimate to practice vocabulary relating to lost/found items. First students scripted stories in which they lost something of value to them. Next it was time to bring their stories to life using GoAnimate. To create their videos, students chose characters, added speech balloons containing text, then recorded their speech balloons by reading the text aloud. In the example below, a girl loses her sister. Will she manage to find her missing sibling? There's only one way to find out!
The Ever-Evolving Book Report
In yet another fun twist on the traditional book report, last month Jake Sproull's sixth grade English Humanities students created a "Character Caricature" to report on their historical fiction book of choice. In an integrated project with Jeri
Countryman's sixth grade tech class, students created a poster using the Sketchbook MobileX iPad app. In their poster, students had to portray important aspects of their character including name, physical characteristics, personality traits, and what the character might say. Students were also tasked with creating a background that represented a specific scene from the book. Finally, students had to back up their facts by citing specific page numbers related to poster elements.
Exploring Big Questions in Science with TED-Ed
Is space trying to kill us? How would our bodies work without the force of gravity? These are some of the questions our seventh grade students have grappled with through TED-Ed lessons in Susan Sherman's science class. TED-Ed is a fantastic resource that offers both original online lessons and the ability for educators to build their own lessons around a TED-Ed Original, TED Talk or YouTube video. Educators can add their own questions, discussion topics, and other supplementary materials to their online lesson. In seventh grade science class, students watch a short video, answer multiple choice questions, then post a response to a discussion prompt. If you haven't checked out TED-Ed before, take a peek and see if there might be something for you and your students!
Learn to Make Dumplings...Compliments of our Seventh Grade Chefs!
Dumpling making took on a new twist in Jiun Chou-Young's seventh grade Chinese class this year. Not only did students get a chance to make the tasty traditional Chinese treats, but they also created their very own tutorial videos to help others replicate the process! After making dumplings in class and documenting the process with photos and videos, students used iMovie on their iPads to compile and edit their footage. Finally, they added subtitles and recorded themselves reading pre-written, step-by-step instructions. Dumpling making newbies, take a look and you may learn something from our students!
Upcoming Technology Professional Development Opportunities
CUE Rock Star Camps - Various locations in CA, June/July
Design, Do, Discover - Palo Alto, CA, June 19-20
Teach 21 West - San Francisco, CA, June 23-26
Institute for 21st Century Educators - Oakland, CA, June 24-26
Google Apps for Education CA Summit - Palo Alto, CA, July 19-20
