It's a new school year and teachers are doing the amazing things they do to make kids feel welcome. Seats are assigned, lunchbox routines are being established, and homework turn in spots are being made known. Something that teachers are working hard on is rolling out some great technology routines. We use iPads and other technology as tools for learning and creating, and our teachers know it is important students view them that way.
This is not to say that the devices aren't good for entertaining, they certainly are. Last year some of my students made educational games as part of their learning, and it was awesome. The devices can open up some amazing doors for our students, and I'm so excited to see teachers embracing technology in ways that will help our students grow their learning.
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One of the benefits to using digital tools are the authentic products that can be created to show learning. Students can make a movie that others can watch, make a game that others can play, or a site that others can browse. What I've noticed is that this awesome feature creates an internal motivation of sorts to make their work look better. Students know that movies "do stuff" that their first movies didn't do. They want to make it look like that. We've been working with iMovie a lot during the second half of the school year. Teachers are loving it for publishing writing pieces and adding life to story telling. Kids are enjoying hearing their voice next to words and pictures that match their writing. I've found that the motivation to make their movie like what they call a "real movie" has them practicing some of the growth mindset type skills. They listen or watch, then reflect, make changes, and watch again. Transitions and timing are some of the things they have gotten good at that add a lot to their movies. They keep working and tweaking their projects, and they get better and better every time. |
What do paper airplanes have to do with computer programming? Students in the coding club at Harvey Swanson found out that a list of steps is called an algorithm, and you need a good algorithm to make a paper airplane. Students looked at a list of nine possible steps and had to do some debugging. There were a few steps that weren't helpful. they cut the steps out, glued them in the correct order, then shared their algorithm with someone else who then made a paper plane according to that algorithm. Computers need algorithms too, they receive them in the form of programs. Unlike humans, computers cannot guess or infer. They need steps listed very specifically and in the right order. We also did some programming on code.org to practice programming a computer using some Angry Birds! It was an awesome first club meeting and I can't wait to share more of the great things we do. | |
Break almost upon us! Long holiday breaks are great for spending time with family, eating great food, and relaxing. It is a great for our kids to step back form all the hard work they've been doing at school and feel proud, but it can be hard on a student's learning if there is a total break from from anything educational. Fortunately, being on break doesn't mean that learning stops. I always think of the advice: "Learn something new everyday."
Reading is hands down the best thing your child can spend time doing to keep their learning growing. Make time for family reading at night, or read a book to your child before bed. Kids learn so much from watching and imitating, that seeing you as a parent reading can be very powerful. These can be fiction books or nonfiction, and really try to find some "just right books" for your child. Just right books are also called "Goldilocks" books because they aren't so easy that your child will get bored, but not so difficult that your child gets frustrated. You can use the Lexile information from your child's NWEA scores as a starting point to find just right books. You can even download the app Overdrive to check out free library ebooks from the comfort of your home!
Some teachers or schools have RazKids available for their students as well. RazKids is a inclusive leveled books and assessment program where kids can earn stars for reading and correctly answering questions about reading. It's fun and provides some cool incentives for kids to read. There is a link to the RazKids site in the Links for Families section of this website.
Math practice is also very important. iXL is available to all k-3 students at Brandon! Their slogan is "Practice that feels like play!" iXL is a great way to practice math facts and concepts. It offers quick bursts of practice with tutorials for questions answered incorrectly. iXL also has a incentive component that provides kids with some fun short goals to keep them engaged. There is link to iXL under the Links for Families section of our site.
I hope everyone has an awesome break full of learning!
Reading is hands down the best thing your child can spend time doing to keep their learning growing. Make time for family reading at night, or read a book to your child before bed. Kids learn so much from watching and imitating, that seeing you as a parent reading can be very powerful. These can be fiction books or nonfiction, and really try to find some "just right books" for your child. Just right books are also called "Goldilocks" books because they aren't so easy that your child will get bored, but not so difficult that your child gets frustrated. You can use the Lexile information from your child's NWEA scores as a starting point to find just right books. You can even download the app Overdrive to check out free library ebooks from the comfort of your home!
Some teachers or schools have RazKids available for their students as well. RazKids is a inclusive leveled books and assessment program where kids can earn stars for reading and correctly answering questions about reading. It's fun and provides some cool incentives for kids to read. There is a link to the RazKids site in the Links for Families section of this website.
Math practice is also very important. iXL is available to all k-3 students at Brandon! Their slogan is "Practice that feels like play!" iXL is a great way to practice math facts and concepts. It offers quick bursts of practice with tutorials for questions answered incorrectly. iXL also has a incentive component that provides kids with some fun short goals to keep them engaged. There is link to iXL under the Links for Families section of our site.
I hope everyone has an awesome break full of learning!
Bob Larson
Instructional Technology Coach
Brandon School District
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