ME, A PBS LearningMedia Lead Digital Innovator?

I entered the PBS LearningMedia Lead Digital Innovator contest on Valentine’s Day.  I remember editing video right up to the last minute on that Friday.  The information packet said we would hear back in about a month.  The date came and went…I didn’t win, right?  Well, a week later I got the email telling me I was one of 100 chosen winners.  Wow!  Then, a week later, I found out I was one of the top going to Washington D.C.  Me!

So, school is over and my trip to Washington D.C. as a PBS LearningMedia Lead Digital Innovator has really left its mark on me.  It was fascinating to sit among peers with the similar interest of educating children in a technically innovative way or as I like to call it making learning fun.  The trip had so much to offer.  For starters, PBS is remaking its way into education in a digital forum with PBS LearningMedia.  I love all the browse options: grade level, subject, standards and collections.  But more importantly, there are videos, games, primary sources, self directed lessons, full lessons and more including support for educators.  My favorite part of LearningMedia is the ease of use.  I can go in, make folders with LearningMedia resources and add in websites I already use, make a folder of all on PBSLM and share it all with anyone through one PBSLM created URL link.  We even got a sneak peek at their newest website that includes a puzzlemaker, poster maker and video quiz option.  PBSLM and I feel the same way about education, if learning can be presented in a way that students enjoy then learning itself is rewarding. 

But the trip wasn’t only about PBSLM.  There were some really insightful presentations about teaching in the 21^st century.  We heard from Kari Arfstrom about Flipped Learning.  This was a much deeper topic than I had previously considered.  The idea of taking learning and making it accessible from anywhere to allow for more in-depth classroom experiences is right up my alley. 

On Day 2, we heard from two PBS LearningMedia content experts who shared some of their most favored PBSLM resources.  Just look at the links from the picture to see the experts’ favorites.  I love how we looked at math and science from Peg and Cat and Curious George all the way to NOVA. 

Leslie Fisher really stood out to me with her onslaught of digital tools that reminded me that there is ALWAYS more out there.  She talked about some I knew already like Remind (Remind101).  But then she shuffled out some really amazing new tools I look forward to trying or at least sharing: Cel.ly for the flipped classroom, Screanleap.com for mirroring, Screencastomatic, Blendspace, WUFUU and so many more. 

I can’t believe I was chosen to be a part of this amazing opportunity.  I am excited to share what I have learned upon the start of the 2014/2015 school year.  See you soon!

Math Glossary Madness

The year is coming to a close.  The students worked on their math glossaries; and now they are complete. A nice way to tie it all together is to give them the math dictionaries they made. They can serve as a math dictionary for 6th grade or simply a fond memory. As always saying goodbye is hard. Good luck at the middle school.

Gutter Boat OoLaLa

         Gutter Boats

Science at its best leads us to our 5th grade end of year challenge. Can our fifth graders engineer their very own gutter boat applying their knowledge of nature? Students built wing shaped sails to catch wind, applied aerodynamics by making their hulls pointy to cut through the water, and researched boat bottoms to discover how rudders keep their boats going straight.  As always our event was a success with times under 10 seconds.  All students worked hard and in the end were proud of their own accomplishments...and the teachers were quite impressed as well!

Beach Day 2014

Another beautiful day at the beach!  Whether they were swimming, playing catch or standing at the concession stand, all fifth-graders had a blast.  It's always such a great event to have with our fifth-graders at the end of the year.  I'm so glad I got to spend this year with you!

2, 4, 6, 8; 103 Collaborates

This year, my fifth grade ELA class worked with Mrs. Cook's kindergarten classroom to interview some high profile Francis Wyman personalities. First, we took on the roll of live camera crew as our younger counterparts discovered jobs around school.  The included finding out if this person had to wear a uniform and if he or she had to go to school to get his or her job.  Honestly, the kindergartners did a great job as did our class!






Next step, I brought my ELA class to the lab where they got to utilize their fifth grade skills to set another student up for success.  They took those videos, put them into their own Google Drives, shared them with their kindergarten partner and then created a blog post for their partners with the video in it.  Those kindergarten students will get to enjoy their videos throughout their entire time here in Burlington.






As a side note, please take a moment to ask your own child to show you his or her digital portfolio blogs.









Finally, today we went for another visit.  We showed our partners the videos and became the interviewers. The fifth graders took notes on their kindergarten partner's favorite parts of the project and important pieces of information.  The project reminded fifth graders how far they've come and the kindergartners got to see a sliver of what's to come in their not so distant futures.

App Smashing the Colonies

App Smashing by definition is a great way to get students motivated to work and learn. Throughout the year, students have done various projects and work that involved learning one app or another.  By the end of the year, we have been introduced to multiple creation apps for a variety of ways to strut our stuff.  Now students are given the choice of what they want to create to make an iMovie video to demonstrate their learning of the 13 Colonies.  App smashing is taking various apps and using those apps together to create a finished project that shows all the work from the different apps, in this case an iMovie video.  Some of our favorite were DrawingPad, iMovie, ExplainEverything, Tellagami, PicCollage, and TimelineBuilder.  Here are a couple of examples for your viewing pleasure.

Field Day: Oh My

Lots of Events and Lots of Activities

Here are just a few.