I am a Grade 3 teacher at Mulgrave School in West Vancouver, Canada. I am excited to be riding the iPad wave and blog about 1:1 iPads in my classroom.
We just completed a six week unit that explored the solar system. Here are a few projects we completed.
Students wrote poems about invented exo-planets... the iPads helped them discover adjectives and adverbs. They drew their planets using a variety of art apps:
This week has been all about exploring our solar system. We decided to get our hands dirty as we studied the planets. Students used their iPads to read about and closely observe photographs of the planets. They used the Internet and space related apps and were blown away by the imagery they found.
Here are some of the space related apps they recommend:
Papier-mâché
My first job, twelve years ago, was teaching a Grade 1 class in Calgary, Alberta. I took over from a master teacher and was able to shadow her for a week before she departed. Part of her Grade 1 programme included "VIP sharing." One child shared items from home and then the class wrote a letter altogether to that student. Each student in the class was the VIP for one week. As I moved on to new schools, grade levels, and countries I brought the VIP programme with me. Each year I adapted it to the grade level and group of students in my class.
Although typically thought of as a younger primary activity, I feel it has many benefits in a Grade 3 class. In third grade, the students choose 3 artefacts from home that tell a story about who they are (interests, talents, passions etc...). Each student then writes a letter to the VIP during the week. It helps creates a strong, student-centered community and promotes skills like speaking, listening, writing, and reading.
This is the letter I sent home at the beginning of the year:
I start out the year modelling a presentation which also allows me to share some things I am passionate about. The students get to connect with me on a different level and see me as more than just a teacher. We've also had guest VIPs come in like principals and heads of school!
Because of our iPad initiative, this year the students are able to video record their presentations. These videos can then be shared back at home. I use the video to analyse their speaking skills. I also have a record of the audience and can easily see who is listening attentively and asking relevant questions.
Another new iPad/VIP development has been the student initiated use of their iPads during their presentations. This year, students have created movies, keynotes, and slideshows to share.
Here are some clips from a few of our presentations:
Each week before we write the letters, I teach a mini-lesson on one aspect of writing including things like: friendly letter formatting, sentence fluency, paragraphing, topic sentences, brainstorming/outlining, adjectives, strong verbs, connecting to the reader, punctuation/grammar, introductions and conclusions, expanding on a detail, asking questions, and connecting to our PYP attitudes and attributes.
Here are some of the ways we have done brainstorming/outlining:
Here we used Idea Sketch to brainstorm:
Here are a few handwritten letters:
Sept:
Nov/Dec:
Jan/Feb:Last week, after completing many hand-written letters, we decided to try out typing our letters in Pages. Each student emailed his or her letter to the VIP and the VIP cut and pasted the letters into Book Creator. This book can then be shared through email or on our class blog for everyone to enjoy. Here is the beginning of our first VIP class ePub book:
The letters are great as formative assessments. I now know that my next mini-lesson will be on brainstorming topic sentences that do not start with "Wow!" LOL!Another added bonus of the VIP programme is that the students LOVE reading these class books - especially the reluctant readers!
Overall, the VIP programme that I have interwoven through my teaching career, has helped to develop the reading and writing skills of my students, while promoting a community within the classroom. The iPad has added a new dimension that is both motivating and engaging.
On Feb. 10, Melanie, Kent, Karyn and I presented about our iPad pilot project to a group of independent school teachers. It was a great way to consolidate our data and reflect on how far we've come.
Here is our presentation:
If that download doesn't work, try this link to my public dropbox file (thanks Ben for the idea):
I have included a link to our related Google Docs at the top if this blog titled: Our iPad Google Docs.
This is what is included in the collection:
Here are the separate links in case the top link doesn't work:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoiHwoq36htddFR5cUVKdDdWeE1XLUNT...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ySBZSw9sDOSZepomnkPyF61B9qlJpHpc4yz-iwoS0...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FaTqfdeq-6RVjjqRyaIUuOQpjEpF-4ZcASujBAvGR...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UP9Q4UP9oDLsiDc1Yib_c-Zw5R8dRNKFrGJfvihTL...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zYnb2-C7EsU2N3QLgsM2Dass2Nvd6DexxkROHlu1Q...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a0cup44V9wIAGFgVQkPu5MX-g4cqgYrvvYYKqQXp5...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IU2Fq7TgI_SwSPtnxCL6L39GS-XLDU-bhT8__oQdG...
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kbz-ELq9MZm56DAfGM2iaRoeO_CqXY4JGMWt7HeN0...
Thanks to Melissa, Joe, Amin, Jed, Lucy, and Gaby for sharing their expertise at the beginning of our presentation. Nothing quite like seeing the kiddos in action!
Our Grade 3 classes have been immersed in a 1:1 iPad environment for about five months now. At this point in the year the devices are no longer in the spotlight but are a sophisticated tool we use on a daily basis. They allow our students to access information, practise skills, interpret and synthesise new information, reflect on learning, and connect with each other, their teachers, their parents, and the world beyond.
It has been a smooth transition toward digital literacy, but we have hit a few bumps in the road. Last week, during a class meeting, a number of issues were raised by students regarding the social dynamics of being in a 1:1 iPad environment. I recorded their feelings during the meeting but felt we needed to explore the issues more deeply.
On Friday, I set up an "App Peer Pressure Graffiti Wall" in the front foyer of our Junior School. The students could freely and anonymously express their feelings about our iPads on this wall.
Many students told me afterwards that they were very glad to have had the opportunity to share their feelings. This week, the students have begun writing some new agreements. I expect we will continue to revisit and revise these throughout the year.
In their words:
I believe a new sense of awareness exists within our classroom and valuable life lessons were learned.
At Mulgrave School, each class from K-6 organises and performs an assembly once a year. Our class created a show called The New U. We built a model of a new, eco-friendly town in which to live. The students recorded themselves building their model structures using an app called Time Lapse. They then imported these clips into iMovie and edited them down to about 1 minute each. They added music, titles, and photos.
Building the model town was part of our How the world works unit of inquiry.
Central idea:
Certain factors influence the design of structures
Lines of Inquiry:
Here are the time lapse movies of each structure:
(download)
Music: Sabre Dance - George Gerswin
(download)
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Trance Remix) - DJ AG
(download)
Party Rock Anthem - #1 Hits Now
(download)
William Tell Overture - Gioachino Rossini - London Philharmonic Orchestra
(download)
Dynamite - Taio Cruz
(download)
Popcorn - Crazy Frog
Sharing these time lapse videos proved to be a great way to share the process as well as the product of our learning.
Thanks to Ms. Cannon, we have a videorecording of the entire assembly. I posted it to YouTube because of the large size:
The final part of the project was to summarise the learning and reflect on how cooperation skills were developed. We achieved this through a collaborative essay writing activity. Here is one narrative essay example:
Every literacy teacher knows the benefits of having students keep a book log. It's a great way for teachers and students to keep track of the types of books students are reading and can lead to helpful conversations and recommendations.
Before this year, I would either copy a blackline master of a book log for students or quickly create one myself. This year, with our 1:1 iPad programme, I eagerly awaited a decent book log app to be developed. No such app has emerged thus far, but last week I decided to take a closer look at the Numbers app to see if I could find a solution. I quickly realised how easy the "checklist" template would be for students to use to track books. After I showed it to them, I asked them to figure out how to add and resize columns. It took them about 5 minutes to figure out all the formatting we would require to create our book logs.
We then had a discussion about the types of things they would find interesting to track. They thought of things like: author, illustrator, dedication, recommendation, plot pattern, genre, number of days it takes to read, number of pages in the book, and rating. I let them choose the categories they wished to include, with a minimum of three columns (in addition to date and title).
I love how the iPad has allowed my students to take ownership of their learning. I suppose I could have had students create their own book logs on the desktop computers in our lab, but the sheer number of steps involved would have been a huge deterrent.
Filling in their portable logs, both at home and school, just became a whole lot easier and more meaningful!
Here are some early examples:
Amin:
Erika:
Ryan:
Tianna:
Ms. Yip, the K-3 Mandarin teacher at our school, is a creative, progressive teacher who has found numerous ways to integrate iPads into her lessons. Often, I observe her giving the students their objectives and challenging them to find a way to meet these objectives using their devices. The students are motivated and empowered during these activities. Students can re-record lessons until they are successful. Listening to the recordings of fluent speakers is helpful as they work on acheiving proper pronunciation.
Here are a few students practising some basic vocabulary words:
We've spent the last few weeks in Grade 3 reviewing and exploring mental math strategies. We all know that if our learning is connected to an authentic experience our motivation is increased. Our retention of the material we are working with is deepened. When we have a purpose and definable objectives, we move from the audience to the stage. So that was my goal: give the students a challenge or set the stage and let the actors create.
Step 1:
Review mental math strategies. We have kept an ongoing list of these and have enjoyed "naming" them:
Step 2:
Pose the challenge or problem (mini-PBL opportunity). Create a student-generated rubric.
Vygotsky described human cognitive development as a "collaborative process," which means that the learning process of individuals takes place through social interactions. Children acquire cognitive skills as part of their induction into a way of life. Shared activities help them internalize their society's modes of thinking and behaving. Moreover, social interaction not only helps children remember, it may even be the key to memory formation. In addition to these ideas, Vygotsky also forwarded the notion that it is through inner speech and oral language that thoughts and mental constructs (a child's intellectual being) are formed. A child's conscious awareness of these and their being impressed upon the human psyche provide an underlying theoretical rationale for such truisms as:
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Lev_Vygotsky
Here's where the iPad magic comes into play: students could use any app they wanted to to somehow record their lesson. They chose everything from keynote to ScreenChomp to iMovie.
Without further ado, here they are talking and (hopefully) learning:
