Thomas' Tech News and Tools
Keeping up with the latest technology news at WPS
How Have Teachers and Students Been Using Our New Learning Space?
After 2nd grade students completed their Holidays Around the World inquiry-based learning unit they were thrilled to explore Virtual Reality through a Google Expedition and see some of the holidays they learned about. It truly felt like being in another country! We cannot wait to try another Google Expedition this year.
Novel Engineering
Mrs. Cerny and Mrs. Thomas explored "Novel Engineering" with a class of Kindergarten students this month to introduce the Engineering Design Process. We read the book, Emmanuel's Dream and discussed a problem in the book that we wanted to solve. We decided on a problem, discussed possible solutions, and explored the Makers Space to find materials that would allow us to build a solution to the problem. Students collaborated with their groups to brainstorm ideas, designed a model of what they felt was the best solution, and built a prototype of their model. Students presented what they created and explained how their design would solve Emmanuel's problem. We really tackled the 4C's with this one!
Holiday Fun!
If your child is in Kindergarten, you would have seen the adorable snowglobe holiday cards they gave you over winter break. We took a picture of each Kindergarten student in front of the green screen and put them into a snowglobe. They couldn't believe they were trapped in a snowglobe!
Mrs. Lappe's students wrote a letter to Santa providing reasons why they should be hired as the next reindeer. They used a digital portfolio app called Seesaw which allowed them to take a picture of themselves, draw on that picture to turn themselves into a reindeer, and record their voice reading their letter. The students had a blast!
Home Connection Tech Tool
https://westchester-primary.typingclub.com/
All 1st and 2nd grade students have an account to Typing Club which allows them to build keyboarding skills and improve their typing speed and accuracy both at school and at home. Since students are using computers and educational technology tools at a very early age, it's important that they develop good habits early on. If you did not receive your child's account information at Parent-Teacher Conferences, please email Mrs. Thomas at cthomas@sd925.org so I can provide you with that information.
Teacher Spotlight
Miss McMorrow and Miss Cevaal have truly engaged their students this year with the integration of technology throughout their curriculum and instruction. They have designed an ELA menu that offers student choice and voice as they work during center time. Students can research a topic of interest on PebbleGo, they can read or listen to books on Epic ebooks, they can type, edit, and revise stories on Google Docs, or they can improve their comprehension using ReadThoery.
Students have a choice on how they want to share and present this newfound knowledge on a number of different technology tools. They can answer questions on a Google Form, type an extended response on Google Docs and share it with their teacher through Google Classroom, or they can make a video on FlipGrid for their peers to view and offer feedback.
These innovative teaching strategies give students ownership in their learning, inspire them to exceed expectations, and provide an opportunity to improve their creativity through the use of technology. Keep up the great work ladies!
Mrs. Christina Thomas
Email: cthomas@sd925.org
Website: https://canalitisthomas.weebly.com/
Twitter: @thomastechteach