Technology @ Coonley
3rd Quarter Highlights of Technology in Education
3rd Graders "QuadBlog"!
This quarter Ms. Crews and Ms. Vega's 3rd grade classrooms are quadblogging! Students in these classrooms are writing for an audience outside of their immediate peers. Students from 4 schools around the world (hence, the quad) are blogging with each other sharing examples of their day, their schools, their writing, etc. Each week one of the four schools is responsible for posting information on their class blog. The remaining 3 schools view the blog and comment. The schools we are communicating with are located in Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia. Please take a look at the blogs and feel free to comment!
Ms. Crews: http://crewsinthird.blogspot.com
Ms. Vega: http://vegablogging.blogspot.com
Ms. Poulsen (New Zealand): http://www.westmelton-eighteen.blogspot.co.nz
Mr. Gascoigne (Malaysia): http://mkis-esblog-tgascoigne.blogspot.com
Mr. Hoskings (Australia): http://classyear4.blogspot.com.au
Wikis Across the Grade Levels
Wikis are websites that can have multiple authors. This quarter four Coonley teachers have explored this tool. Ms. Meegan in middle school created a wiki titled "39 Founders" for her students to complete research. Ms. Murphy in kindergarten created a wiki as part of a field trip experience where parents scanned a QR code, were brought to a picture on the wiki and went on a math scavenger hunt to locate the source of the picture in the Chicago Children's Museum. Ms. Bertucci's second grade class conducted research on animals and completed their own wiki page with the findings. Students also created word clouds about their animal. Finally, Ms. Malhiot's fourth graders explored endangered animals and authored their own "field notes" research wiki page. Students sketched their animals and scanned those onto their field notes pages. Please check out their work!
http://bertucci207.wikispaces.com
Thinglink Example
Google Docs for Research
TodaysMeet for Feedback
Creating Interactive Images with Thinglink
Mr. Sullivan's third grade class conducted research on the Northeast Region in social studies. Students were given a set of pre-selected websites and specific topics to find information on (for example culture, economy, government, etc.). They took notes in Google Docs that Mr. Sullivan was able to view and comment on as they worked. For their presentations the students created interactive images using a web tool called Thinglink. As you can see in the first image above there are as series of 'tags' that are placed on the image. On the site you can scroll over those tags to find images, text, videos and links to various websites to learn more. When Thinglinks were complete students had a chance to present their image to classmates. While presentations were occurring the audience was able to provide real-time feedback using a web tool called TodaysMeet. Mrs. Zumpano provided a mini lesson on strong, neutral and nonsense feedback to help strengthen student comments. Students did a great job!
Fun with Flags!
Ms. Caffrey's second grade classroom has been studying flags! Students began with studying the design and symbolism behind the Chicago flag. Afterwards, using Google Presentations, students designed individual personal flags. Scripts were written to explain their flags and students had audio sessions with Mrs. Zumpano where they spoke about their flags using the app Audioboom. QR codes linking to this audio were created and will be placed on each flag. Scan the black QR code below to hear about a personal flag. Scan the blue QR Code to hear the students narrate "The Great Chicago Flag"!
Sites We Love
Class Dojo
Teachers use Class Dojo to track and monitor behavior in classes. Student can be awarded Dojo points for positive behaviors and can have Dojo points removed if needed. There is a parent communication feature to keep parents up to date.
Get Schooled
Students in grades 6-8 have the opportunity to participate in Get Schooled, Get Connected an interactive website where they can read articles, watch videos and complete quests for points and prizes. The main focus of the site is preparing for college. Students can also access the site at home. As of today Coonley is in 3rd place out of 20 schools. Go Coonley!
TenMarks
TenMarks is a free website used by some primary teachers to supplement their math curriculum. Teachers can assign specific concepts for individual students to focus on. TenMarks provides teachers data reports to help target areas for focus.
"Technology Highlights" is published by Nicole Zumpano, Technology Coach
Email: nmzumpano@cps.edu
Website: http://zumpanotechlab.blogspot.com
Location: 4046 N Leavitt St, Chicago, IL, United States
Phone: 773-534-5140
Twitter: @nmzumpano