Hearts, computers, and more!

These two groups finished up  a fun month of snow experiments and arctic animals.  Kindergarten is busy preparing to log into the computer.  75% of the students know their LAST NAME.  This is wonderful since they have to spell it as part of the computer log in!  So we started by just seeing who knows their last name.  We also started making log in cards in 3 out of 5 classes.   This week, we will be logging into the computers!  They will go crazy…it is the most stressful lesson that I teach.  20 Kindergarteners spelling one letter of their first name and their whole LAST NAME then 2 numbers (just for the user name).  The password is more doable.  They have to learn mouse skills, how to read a keyboard, and patience! 

For some science, these two groups finished up  a fun month of snow experiments and arctic animals.  Kindergarten is busy preparing to log into the computer.  75% of the students know their LAST NAME.  This is wonderful since they have to spell it as part of the computer log in!  So we started by just seeing who knows their last name.  We also started making log in cards in 3 out of 5 classes.   This week, we will be logging into the computers!  They will go crazy…it is the most stressful lesson that I teach.  20 Kindergarteners spelling one letter of their first name and their whole LAST NAME then 2 numbers (just for the user name).  The password is more doable.  They have to learn mouse skills, how to read a keyboard, and patience! 

For some science and art, we also talked a little about our heart.  We watch two videos…one from Sci Show Kids and another from Brain Pop Junior.  They also colored a HEART from Crayola.

First grade has been reviewing how to type in a website address.  We usually go through a series of clicks on my district website.  This is a daunting process of reading letters off the board or waiting for oral review and then typing them in.  We also review what does “WWW” stand for.  One of the cool websites is STARFALL.  This “free-mium” site was recently updated.  The games are new and different.  Overall, the new content is a hit! 

Finally, we also did the same heart videos as kindergarten, but the first grade coloring sheet was more detailed! 

Here are the links to the videos and worksheets!  

Here is a link to Brain Pop Junior.  You might need a log in code!
Brain Pop JUNIOR Heart video

Heart worksheet

Heart worksheet - EASY

SADAKO and Paper cranes

The art teacher and I are collaborating to make the ASIAN CULTURE themed art show amazing.  Initially, she proposed a three dimensional dragon.  YIKES was my first thought.

I went back to my room after our conversation, looked through pinterest, and just waited for inspiration.  I felt more confident with origami.

Then I found the idea of Sadako and the 1000 paper cranes.  AMBITIOUS, but doable.

So, second through fourth grade have been learning about the Japanese art form of origami.  We briefly discussed the story of Sadako and the 1000 paper cranes.  If you want a summary of the story, feel free to look at this book summary - Sadako
Plus, we found a great You Tube tutorial.

The lesson has been a learning process and a test of patient and tenacity. 

Week 1 - NO class finished a crane,  I let every student take their partially completed crane.   Encouraged them to try to finish at home using a library book, you tube tutorial, or their method.  They did not need them to return them!  Many students left feeling frustrated and "bummed" with a partial crane.  I was left in shock on the first day on how this was really going to take.  How do handle this moment is not in any teaching course or manual!

Week 2 - I precut the squares of scrap paper and work hard to keep things moving.  It takes 2nd grade 50-60 minutes, but EVERYONE leaves with a crane.  Third grade takes about 45 minutes which means that they have a few minutes to watch a heart video, take a picture with the cranes, and clean up.  Fourth grade is working the best since we are down to 35-45 minutes.  They can usually complete a couple of levels of Edutyping on the computer at the end of STEAM.  Not all groups have seen me for week 2 yet!

The final week will be for the art show using recycled book pages, recycled pictures from magazines, and more!  Making 300 squares is a bit daunting, but it is going to look awesome.

Mrs. Long and I have figured out how and where we want to hang our 300+ cranes.  Plus any student who wants to make more will have the option through out March during free choice time in art and STEAM.

Want to make your own crane?
Check out this video!

January updates

This month is flying by...

So what are we doing in STEAM and library?

SNOW and  INTERNET SAFETY!

Here is a highlight of each grade level:

Kindergarten - Winter centers, polar picture/skip counting puzzles, snow experiments and more!  Most are recycled from previous years, but I did add two snow science experiments. 

Experiment inspiration -
Melting snow
Salt experiment

First grade - Snow research on Pebble Go, make a recycled materials dendrite, and do skip counting puzzles.  Some of the groups also got to do the two snow science experiments

Second grade - Snow research on Pebble Go, make a recycled materials dendrite, and are starting coding on Kodable website

Third Grade - Read the "Technology Tail" and worked on Interland.  In addition, some chose to make a recycle materials dendrite.  Plus we are starting to learn how to use our printers and solve the first step of a Rubix cube

Interland - Be Internet Awesome
You Can Do the Cube

Fourth grade - same as third grade but they also did some paired programming on  Code.org to "catch everyone up to the same spot

It has been a busy month plus 2 hour delays, snow days, teacher work days, meetings, and more!

Look for some cool pictures below.

WQLN Competition

Wattsburg Area Elementary Center came together and worked hard to win the WQLN reading competition this fall.

The competition runs from September 1 to November 30.  Students started out by reading a PBS based book in library.  Students turned in forms and earned a STAR outside the library.

Our school won all three categories - school, class, and student winners.

Here are some of the amazing statistics:

Wattsburg Area School District read 16, 059 books.  Our school won the traveling trophy as well as $250 for new books!

Top students who read over 200 books:
1. Cheyanne B - 693 books - won a trophy lap desk, barnes and noble gift card, and book light!
2. Ezra D - 461
3. MiMi M - 390
4. Madison N - 262
5. Alcide A - 268
6. Jackson W - 217

Top 3 classes:
1. Mrs. Webb - 2030 - won a plaque and a pizza party for the classroom
2. Ms. Baltes - 1967
3. Mrs. Shores - 1943

Today was our school wide celebration and assembly

Here are a few pictures of the assembly:

Plus we were featured in the newspaper twice and on the news once.
WQLN article 1
WQLN article 2 
Your Erie News 

Finally, we get a shout out on the WQLN website.
WQLN website

Year in Review

As 2018 comes to a close, I like to look back then forward.

My most popular post was my post last January on the WQLN Reading Competition!
Here is the link: LINK

My favorite new lessons were the Rubix Cube Mosaics and the marble design challenges.

I was able to get new materials from Donor's Choose as well.

So what do I have in store for 2019????

I want to pick my "new" word for the year, start a 365 picture book challenge, and continue to find new resources for my school.

I explain the "One Word" idea in last year's post - Patience

or you can check out this awesome website and book - Jon Gordon's One Word website

My new word is "Creativity".  I want to find ways to update my house (decoration and organization wise).  I want to be creative in my instruction and program at school.  I want to model and expand my personal creativity!






For my 365 book challenge, I plan to try a new app called "One Second".  It takes a picture or 1 second video each day and creates a montage at the end of the year!

One Second






What are your goals for 2019?

Holiday fun 2018

Kindergarten is working on their first engineering design challenge.

Student read "12 Sleighs of Christmas".  Then they had to design a new sleigh using 1 straw, 1/2 piece of construction paper, 1 pipe cleaner, and 1 egg carton section.

The challenge was in getting Elmer's glue to dry and stick on the Styrofoam.  I think that we could have skipped this material.

The goal is to get them to slide down a "zip line" since Santa's sleigh needs to fly.  I gave them 10 minutes the first class, 40 minutes the second class, etc...

Another challenge was storage!  How do you store 100 gluey sticky creations flat?

Overall, the students are having fun and I am seeing their unique personalities!

A Sleigh is started here

Can we test our sleighs like engineers?
Great question from this student!  So we created a second make shift zip line.

Sleigh in process!

This student thought outside the box then inspired/helped friends!

Engineering is a messy process of trying to figure it out!

1st and 2nd graders are working on the basics of coding.  I have not done coding so soon and they are ROCKING it!  First we read "How to Code a Sandcastle" for background.  This was much more readable for this age level.

Next, we started with Snoopy Snowball Battle from Hour of Code and Code Sparks.

Snoopy Snowball Battle
Finally, this week started doing Google's Santa Village website.  It has several coding games built into it for first grade. 
Here is the link to Santa's Village
Second grade is trying out Grinch Hour of Code.  Two of the students in second grade completed all 20 levels in less than 1 hour!  They loved seeing Wattsburg School district on the "Hour of Code" website.
Link to Grinch Hour of Code
Link to Hour of Code

Finally, third and fourth grade completed the Binary Code ornament activities.  I did this two years ago.  I felt like that it went so much better this time.  I understood the topic, more organized, and had better video resources.
You can see my previous post here - Binary Ornaments 2016

In addition, I updated my Sway presentation with new videos and fun videos!  Pictures to follow soon

Binary

Holiday Ornament

Go to this Sway

This week, we are doing more holiday fun and finish up the activities above!

Marble run wrap up

The marble runs were such a successful project that I wanted to build in time for other skills.

Students got a chance to present/show off their creation to their peers.  I loved watching the group dynamics.  Many students had to get over a true fear of speaking in front of others.  Everyone got up with their group and we got see all of the projects.  Only 2 projects got "lost" in the week between book fair and thanksgiving break.

The next thing that most of the students got to do was a survey about the project.

I found the data fascinating.  We will use this later to create our own forms online later.  I also discovered a way to make the survey tell me each child's answers and how to make them all anonymous.  Pros to sign in was the accountability piece while the con is the time to sign into office 365.  Pros to the anonymous was the quick access to the survey.  Con was that I do not who said what in the open ended responses.  A few classes missed the survey for a few reasons - 2 hour delay, high absentee rates with a crazy weather day, musical practice, etc...

Here are some of the survey highlights:

Question 1 was a star rating of the project,   Here is the snap shot of the results:

The open ended responses were equally interesting.  Many showed thought and reflection.  One student wanted it quieter to work.    Good thing to think about next time!

My favorite was a little boy who said - "seeing it work" was his favorite part!  YES.  This is the best part - seeing your success :)

For the question, what would I change.  Again, some were brutally honest - a different partner.  Some had predictable answers - more materials, more time, more ways to decorate it, etc...

Finally, I asked if they wanted to share anything else with Mrs. Hedderman.  Here is my favorite answer:

"I loved this projcet! I think you should do this for every class/every year! I hope the other grades love it! I mite do this at home! I love it so much! I can't stop talking about it! I'm so happy that I can do this at home.My brother can't wate to try to make one! Or my mom!My aunt loves crafts and so do I !So I am going to teach her how to make one!"

My take away is a better way to store the projects, a better way to take home projects so that there are less upset students.  


It worked well for the first project!   We also found the online marble run website.  It works best it on Google Chrome.  Our IT department had to "white list" it.  There is a build mode and a gallery mode.  

https://www.marblerun.at/tracks/new

Now onto winter/holiday projects.

STEM/STEAM wish list

I hear my students say "I am going to ask for this for Christmas".  I am so happy that they want educational activities, but struggle with price for some of the materials.

So here is a list of some of my favorite "wish list" items.  They are at different price points.  3 under $50 and 2 over $50.

Happy holiday shopping!

LESS THAN $50

Code and Go Robot Mouse - LINK to buy on Amazon
WEBSITE: https://www.learningresources.com/home.do

Pros - teaches computer programming, user friendly
Cons - gears can break in mouse if mishandled (use the enclosed grid pieces rather than the floor)

Makey Makey - LINK to buy on Amazon
Website - https://makeymakey.com/- (they are running a BOGO deal today!)

Pros - lots of options online, turns every day conductors like bananas into a computer
Cons - must be used with a computer or USB adapter, lots of wires

I have not used the cheaper - Makey Makey GO yet!  We use the classic in STEAM.

SNAP CIRCUITS - LINK to buy on Amazon
Website:  https://www.elenco.com/brand/snap-circuits/
Pros:  Teaches electricity
Cons: lots of kits to choose from, clean up (the box has a great organization tray, but children struggle to match up the "map" during clean up

OVER $50 

Keva Planks - LINK to buy on Amazon
Website: http://www.kevaplanks.com/

Pros: Low tech (no computers, wires), encourages creativity/engineering
Cons: looks like blocks or Jenga

Cubelets - LINK to buy on Amazon
Website: https://www.modrobotics.com/cubelets/

Pros: Intuitive robots, rechargable battery, can be expanded with LEGOS
Cons: Price for the product

I hope that you find something to add under your tree this holiday season.  I do have a STEAM WISH LIST on Amazon.  I plan to purchase new items from our book fair profits, but my wish list is always bigger than my budget.  PLUS - Scholastic has a limited selection as well of STEAM/STEM items.
Mrs. Hedderman's WISH LIST

I DO NOT make any money from this post...it is just a few ideas from Mrs. Hedderman.

MARBLE RUNS, MAZES, GAMES

Last week was book fair.  This means two classes on the STEAM side while a subset of students shop at the book fair.  In the past we have done a movie, free choice stations, directed stations, and more.  None of these "worked" well.

This year we tried an engineering design challenge to create a marble run, maze, or game or some combination!  This was a HUGE success. 

95% of the groups created a working model of a marble activity.  The students had 1 cardboard box such as a cereal box, 3 cardboard tubes, a scrap box and UNLIMITED TAPE AND GLUE. 

I would get more masking tape since this was easier to manipulate and cut compared to packing tape.  I would find a way to secure the materials after the initial selection since many could not respect this limit.  Finally, I would start collecting materials earlier and CUT the longer tubes into halves or thirds.   This way everyone has more equality in materials.

The students created a variety of projects and were extremely creative.  This week, students will share their creations with their classmates and take an e-survey/quiz/assessment of the project!

Working on paper airplanes for spring book fair.

Here is the engineering design process worksheet that we started with:

I will post more pictures this week, but here are a few of the projects in action!

Leaf fun

I have been busy at work and home....therefore my blog is neglected!

Here are some of the activities and topics covered:

Kindergarten:
We have done shapes, bridges, and leaves.  For shapes, we read Color Zoo and did a simple shape worksheet.   The students listened to my one of favorite fall stories for our leaf week.  I found a read aloud version at this link - Falling Leaves.  She doesn't do too many fun voices, but they enjoyed the story.  I think that the message was a bit over Kindergarten heads.  Students made "leaf" faces like the book using tracers, pencils, and crayons.  This practices fine motor skills, following directions, and creativity.  Another activity was bridges.  The story was The Three Billy Goats Gruff as well as watching Sci Show Kids on Bridges.  LEAVES video




First grade:Students have done engineering, websites, and leaves!  Students did some centers including our new Lakeshore Learning Kit about constructing a apple orchard for Johnny Appleseed's birthday.  We have practiced logging into the computer.  Plus we are working on mouse skills on the computer.  The favorite website is Sparky from the National Fire Protection Agency.  In addition, we did a week of leaf activities.  First, we completed a simple science experiment to see the chlorophyll inside the leaf.  Then created "Leaf Creatures".  Plus we got some free-choice engineering time as well.  I love to share videos along with the activities.
Here are links to the two main videos that I used as well as a You Tube playlist
Fall Play List
Fun Science Demos
Leaf Explanation - the kids are not native English speakers but the information is good!

Leaf Person

Leaf creation

Surfer, surf board

Sun

Snake

Shapes, Shapes, Shapes

I am working hard to create a curriculum not just a random collection of meaningful learning activities.

I want to offer educational opportunities not just craftivities,  I want to develop a great STEAM program.

Where do I start?  How do I find ideas?

I really heavily on Pinterest, twitter feeds, facebook group posts (like Future Ready Librarians), I attend conferences, I read books, and more...

Is this enough?  I do not know, but I feel that every activity has the ability to teach and reach a student.

So I must press on...

One topic that I focus on in the fall is shapes.  It is part of the kindergarten and first grade math curriculum and has so many options in STEAM.

Here are a few of the activities that we do in a variety of ways.

First grade, watched and created tangrams with a new You Tube video that I found.  We created three of the five tangrams with the video.

Next, students explored how to do tangrams online on ABCYA since the one on PBS Kids is no longer available.  Tanagram game


My Kindergarten used Cat and Bat tangram sheets that I have in sheet protectors.  They use them like a puzzle.  Tangram
The students did this as one of their math centers during STEAM.

In addition, I changed the pattern shape sheets for November.  In October, I have pumpkins, apples, spiders, and more...  For November, I add in two turkeys, a pilgrim, and a mayflower.    Here are some resources to print your own sheets.
Jessica's corner
Pre-Kinders
This Reading Mama

Finally, we read "Perfect Square" by Michael Hall.  Students in first grade made a square from a rectangle than tried to create an image inspired by the story.  Kindergarten was given a square.



Happy Shape Creating...

Robot

Person, pumpkin patch, and barns

Tree

Beak

Turtle

Pizza