On February 5th my class decided to participate in Digital Learning Day. Due to extreme weather conditions Brighton Area School's have experienced 6 snow days, so I honestly thought I couldn't possibly fit an extra, unique activity in. I am so glad I put forth the effort and went for it. I designed my lessons for the day to utilize as many online learning experiences as possible using my class set of Chromebooks, 1 personal ipad and my iphone. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to stray away from the curriculum for any subjects at all. I found ways of fitting all the objectives in while providing my students with new, exciting ways to receive and show understanding of the information. I have never seen my students more engaged. I loved it! My day went as follows:
We started off using my favorite non-fiction website called Wonderopolis.org. We just learned how to pick out the main idea and supporting details in our reading workshop lessons. The students watched the video for "The Wonder of the Day", read/listened to the article, used a graphic organizer to record the main idea and supporting details mentioned and wrote a thoughtful response that Wonderopolis immediately responded to. Our thoughtful responses usually restate something that we learned, a connection we had with the text or a question we are still wondering. The kids loved the positive, encouraging responses Wonderopolis gave and felt that their writing was for a specific purpose and meaningful audience.
Next we got with partners and collaborated, created and designed Animoto videos on a non-fiction text feature partnerships pulled out of a hat. In reading workshop we have been noticing and figuring out how non-fiction text features can help us comprehend a text and find information we want to know quickly. Using the downloaded Animoto app on the Chromebooks the students created 30 second videos using photos they took with their webcam and saved images from the internet to show how their assigned non-fiction text feature helps a reader read a non-fiction text. The loved that they could choose their own personal template with music. I was expecting a high level of frustration with this activity, but surprisingly all students were thrilled to be doing creative work and they were proud of their hard work in the end. So was I. You can see all of their Animoto videos on my webpage at
http://mrsgiannandrea3.weebly.com/animoto-non-fiction-text-videos.html
The Everyday Math lesson that was on the agenda for the day had students practicing writing, naming and comparing 7 digit numbers. We started with a digital version of the suggested picture book "How much is a Million" By David M. Schwartz. Youtube had a wonderful uploaded version that we watched as a whole group on the big screen. Then as we worked on problems that pertained to the lesson in our workbooks selected students used my ipad and the Show Me app to record themselves writing and saying their own 7 digit number they come up with themselves. The kids love to hear themselves talk and perform. What a great way to get them to show their thinking! See this great example:
During science time students learned about light. They watched the interactive Brainpopjr video, played games, read word walls, read comic strips, wrote about what they learned using their keyboards, and took quizzes all pertaining to the subject of light. Choice was key here. It was the end of the day and we were all tired. Having so many options for the students to choose from that they enjoy is a great, positive quality of Brainpopjr.
As all of the mentioned activities were occurring in the classroom I was simultaneously sending out Tweets of everything on Twitter. The kids knew that I was using the hashtag #DLDay and were hoping I would snap a photo of them to show off to our followers, especially their parents who can see what their child is up to during the school day. Once again a meaningful, authentic audience made a difference of the performance level displayed. And of course I used Class Dojo, like I do every day, monitoring classroom behavior. Students were happy to get many "On Task" and "Participating" Class Dojo points as the day progressed while having fun with learning!
Phew! What a day!
