Guys Create - Summer School 2013

The first two weeks of summer school are complete!  That went fast!  So fast that there was little time to update every couple days on what sorts of great activities my students did.  That said, even though I taught two classes, the one I will go into detail about right now is "Guys Create."

In this class our goal was to take part in creating, as well as see how "stuff" is created.  We were able to do both in ways that guys would enjoy.

After day one of the class I was a bit worried about whether or not my lessons plans could withstand the group of boys that had just left my classroom.  I called our district technology coordinator and asked for some ideas...which between the two of us...the thinking caps got to work.

In my class the boys went on three field trips to two local businesses to see how they create.  Last week we visited Dynamic Designs, which is a family owned business in our village who creates screen printed clothing, embroiders clothing, does web design, and much, much more.  Our task was to have them help us take our designed T-shirt from day one of class, and turn it into an actual T-shirt our students could wear.  In rewind, on day one students had to provide a design for a particular letter/word/number in "Guys Create Summer School 2013."  The design had to reflect their creativity.  They also voted on a shirt color and ink color (green and orange...in that order).  Next we delivered the design and got a tour of their building.  The boys got to see all the different "things" that Dynamic Designs does.  Two days later we returned, only this time to actually create our shirts and bring them back.  Check it out:

This is the original design the Guys created.

Our next field trip, just this past Wednesday took all of our boys to Bay Tek Games, in our village's business district.  At Bay Tek, our boys were treated to an incredible tour showing them how an arcade style video game is constructed, beginning with a lot of plywood to a finished product.  The boys learned that their is a lot more to the video game creation, than just plopping one down in the middle of an aisle and waiting for quarters for eager players.  Many of the boys were surprised to learn that Bay Tek's games travel all over the world.  They were also excited to recognize many of the games built here.  They now have a better respect for the creating process.  This trip was incredibly interesting and really made an impact on many of the boys.  To top it off, they got to test out one of the games ready for production: Dizzy Chicken.  

Along with these great field trips that we were fortunate to be able to either walk to or take a brief bus ride to, our class also focused on using iPads and Chromebooks for the creating process.  

We made action movies using an app called: Action Movie FX.  SUPER FUN!  BOYS LOVE IT!  Girls probably would too.  Since this was a summer school class, and BOYS, my technology director gave me permission to download this app.  Permission needed, because basically the app takes live video footage and adds special effects; such as boulders falling from the sky, laser beams, cars rolling, missiles launching, and much more!  Check out my example:

Another iPad Creation apps that we had fun with was Coaster Frenzy.  This is a roller coaster creation app.  Sky is the limit with this app.  The user literally creates and tests their coaster(s).  Today they had a final challenge of creating a roller coaster which lasted 2 minutes, within 10 seconds, and had to exceed 65 MPH. They had 20 minutes to do this, and a lot of fun!

We had a lot of fun with many other apps.  I should also mention that my students used our Chromebooks for some fun, creative creation projects.  We used a Chrome app called: Lego Builder.  This app is a simulated, virtual Lego world.  You can build almost anything to your heart's content with this app.  The boys did say it was challenging, and made their brains hurt.  To me, that sounds okay...it challenged them!

We also used our Chromebooks and Google Presentation to create business cards for a fake business idea.  Of all the activities, this one probably presented the most challenges, because many of the guys lacked needed background knowledge on using either Google Presentation or Microsoft PowerPoint.  Some business cards turned out really great.  In addition, we played with a Chrome app called Cargo Bridge, in which the goal is to create bridges for the character to carry a load over...lots of fun.  Lastly, the boys created animations using ABCya!'s animation creator site.  This both challenging and rewarding, once the final product is complete.  

Overall, we had a great two weeks!  It is hard to believe it is already done.  Scary to think...but bring on July!

Inventorying Grade Level Guided Reading Books

One last BIG project.  Our students inventoried over 175 guided reading novels from our grade level library.  They organized all of them, added lexiles, and created a HUGE spreadsheet for our teachers to use for years to come!  They did incredible!

We had a great school year!  Best wishes to our fifth graders as they move on to the middle school!  Have a great summer!

Next up...summer school...then presenting on 1:1 Google Chromebooks in the classroom at SITA...then get ready for the next bunch.

Blog entries might get slow for a while.  Enjoy the summer!

~ Mr. H and Mrs. O.

Bay Beach Fieldtrip 2013

It was a beautiful day to spend time with our whole fifth grade class at Bay Beach.  Many rides were rode, may smiles could be seen, many screams and laughs could be heard, and much food was eaten.  Here is just a snapshot of some of the good times we had together at Bay Beach.