Technology in the Classroom at CAIS
May/June 2014 Edition
Time flies when you're having fun...with technology! As the year draws quickly to a close, we wanted to take a moment to share some of the exciting news about end-of-year technology projects that have been happening in our very own classrooms.
Looking back, it has been a momentous year for CAIS in educational technology. We are so impressed by the efforts you have made to develop your skills and find new and creative ways to integrate technology to your classrooms. We applaud you all for the great work you have done and look forward to collaborating with you on more tech projects next year!
Best wishes for a relaxing, rejuvenating summer.
Looking back, it has been a momentous year for CAIS in educational technology. We are so impressed by the efforts you have made to develop your skills and find new and creative ways to integrate technology to your classrooms. We applaud you all for the great work you have done and look forward to collaborating with you on more tech projects next year!
Best wishes for a relaxing, rejuvenating summer.
Thank You, Brad
The end of every school year brings mixed emotions. We
look forward to new beginnings while also having to say some sad farewells. This year CAIS loses a longtime, tireless and devoted employee, one whom we personally know well. Brad Wright deserves the lion's share of the credit for what CAIS's technology program is today. It is thanks to Brad's wisdom, vision and leadership that the very content of this newsletter exists. Brad's exceptional qualities are seemingly too numerous to list: he is selfless in his willingness to help; unfailingly patient; unflappable in the face of adversity. He is someone we all rely upon and trust implicitly.
Brad, we thank you for your immeasurable contributions to this school. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with you, and we wish you all the very best.
The end of every school year brings mixed emotions. We
look forward to new beginnings while also having to say some sad farewells. This year CAIS loses a longtime, tireless and devoted employee, one whom we personally know well. Brad Wright deserves the lion's share of the credit for what CAIS's technology program is today. It is thanks to Brad's wisdom, vision and leadership that the very content of this newsletter exists. Brad's exceptional qualities are seemingly too numerous to list: he is selfless in his willingness to help; unfailingly patient; unflappable in the face of adversity. He is someone we all rely upon and trust implicitly.Brad, we thank you for your immeasurable contributions to this school. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with you, and we wish you all the very best.
Oral Presentations Go Digital
In preparation for their final presentations, first graders created digital collage animation videos using the Pic Collage and Puppet Pals iPad apps. In Pic Collage, students searched for images and created two or three digital collages based on their own stories. Then in Puppet Pals students created a personal avatar using photos of themselves. Finally, students recorded their speech by manipulating the avatars and flipping through the collage photos. These animation videos became background videos on their oral presentation day. Here is a cute video of a student describing "What is Courage".
Design Your Dream Shoes, Then Bring Them to Life!
If you could design the coolest pair of shoes you could possibly imagine, what would they look like? And moreover, what would they do if you could bring them to life? In Lisa Ostapinski's second grade art classes, students recently tackled these very questions. First students designed their dream shoes, then created them out of clay. Next students received a crash course in stop motion animation (think:Gumby or the old school Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer movie!) Using iPads and the iStopMotion animation app, students worked in groups to animate their dream shoes in a short video. Check out an example of the dream shoes in action below!
Animal Folk Tales Play
Have you ever wondered why different animals have their own extraordinary features? Fifth graders would love to share their thoughts with you! In Michael Hsu's fifth grade Chinese classes, students chose one special feature of an animal and developed their own stories about that feature. In groups of four or five, students selected one student's story and developed the story into a play. They prepared the props and practiced their expressions for about a week before the actual iMovie shooting. Take a look at one student's video "Why The Snake Is Long" and see how students immersed themselves in their roles!
Digital Books Meet Colonial America
In a project involving what has undoubtedly become one of the most popular apps used in classroom technology at CAIS this year, Ron Morris's fifth graders used Book Creator to digitize their informational books on colonial trades. Each year, Ron has incorporated technology in a different way to this project, a perennial favorite among students. Students research a specific colonial trade and present the results of their findings both through an informational book and physical artifacts which they create. At Colonial Day, the culminating presentation, visiting parents and students stopped by fifth graders' stations to view artifacts and browse through the digital books displayed on student iPads. To see an example (and perhaps learn something about the colonial shoemaker), click here!
Design and conduct your very own science experiment...then present it in six seconds! Sound like a daunting task? Not for our sixth graders! In a collaborative project between Mark Churchill's sixth grade math/science class and Jeri Countryman's technology class, students created short, snappy videos illustrating their science fair projects. Their challenge: to clearly show their experiment (the what, why and how) plus the experimental results in a six second video. Students began by creating a storyboard and then learned iMovie skills such as how to insert photos and videos, edit and trim clips, and add titles. After creating their videos using iMovie, the final projects were compiled into one master video file and projected on loop during the Middle School Science Fair. Check out one example of a student video below (and remember, this will only take six seconds of your time!)
Confucius is Coming
Two thousand years ago, Confucius said: "Teach students according to their aptitude", "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", and "Two heads are better than one". This year sixth graders in YaChing Hsu-Kelkis's Chinese classes learned these famous sayings from the Analects of Confucius. Students not only memorized these sayings but also related them to their own lives. Using Google Docs, they collaborated in small groups to develop their own play scripts. Then they assigned roles to their group members and practiced the acting before shooting video. Students enjoyed acting out their own stories and editing the footage using iMovie. Check out one group's video below!
Creating Interactive Digital Magazines
For the second year in a row, sixth graders in Jake Sproull's English Humanities class rounded out the year by flexing their digital publishing muscles! In their capstone writing project, sixth graders created their own magazines on a topic of their choosing. Students had the option to "go digital" with part or all of their magazine. In a collaboration with Jeri Countryman's technology class, students learned to use iBooks Author, a Mac application, to create a digital book with a section that included a short story and an interactive ad. In addition, students learned to use BookryWidgets to create fun interactive widgets. To see an example of a student's digital story and interactive ad, click here. To view a student's final magazine project, click here.
Disease-Fighting Superheroes in Science Class Evil HIV cell Herman I. Vernon, meet Lymphina, the HIV-fighting superwoman! In small groups, students in Susan Sherman's seventh grade science class chose a disease-causing pathogen and conducted research on their nefarious bug. Instead of writing a report, students wove together a storyline involving a superhero, supervillain and super-powered animal to illustrate their findings. Using the Comic Life iPad app, students then brought their tales of triumph over disease to life! Check out one student's project in the photo, taken at this year's fantastic Middle School Science Fair on June 4.
Upcoming Technology Professional Development Opportunities
Harker Teacher Institute - Palo Alto, CA, June 7
iCore - Crystal Springs Uplands School, June 9-10
Teach 21 West - San Francisco, CA, June 23-26
Institute for 21st Century Educators - Oakland, June 24-26
Organizing Your Makerspace - Lighthouse Community Charter School, Oakland, CA, June 26
The iPad Classroom - UC Berkeley, July 7-9
Google Chromebook & The Google-Infused Classroom - UC Berkeley, July 10-11
The Advanced iPad Classroom - UC Berkeley, July 10-11
Design Making Experiences - Lighthouse Community Charter School, Oakland, CA, July 17-18 or August 7-8
Google Apps for Education CA Summit - Palo Alto, July 19-20
CUE Rockstar Teacher Camp - Las Vegas, NV, July 21-23
Fall CUE Conference - Napa Valley, CA, October 24-25
