#edcampMKE = End of the School Year Revitalization

@amyuelmen and @g5changeagent21

This past weekend I thoroughly enjoyed my #edcampMKE experience, which began with an early morning meet-up with our districts instructional technology coordinator @amyuelmen for a quick drive down to South Miklwaukee High School....of course not before a selfie (or is it not a selfie since there are two of us) for the edCamp Milwaukee's Instagram page / Picasa Web Album.

Pitch and Plan "BEFORE"

For those not familiar, edCamps are a relatively new idea of professional development.  It is professionals joining forces to create the conference on site, with no actual leader determined for sessions, but rather people chiming in.  To organize this, the edCamp organizers begin the day with a "Pitch and Plan".  The slate is literally clean.  

Pitch and Plan "AFTER"

After 30 or so minutes of pitching and planning, the slate is super messy and awesome!  This messy board is then transferred to a shared document for all to view and choose their learning direction for the day.  The best part of the choosing is that if you enter a session that does not peak your interest, you get up and go find a different session that maybe will.  The conference sessions are about you and what you want to get out of them.  

At #edcampMKE I was fortunate to be able to attend three sessions and also collaborate with colleagues and new colleagues over a multitude of ideas.

My first session choice was: #Gamification - Here is what I walked away with:

• Gamification is not all about games - that is a large part of it though - it builds around the idea of changing the landscape of a classroom to be more game based
• Gamification can be more of a classroom attitude (I think) - challenge students to score points and climb leader boards within the classroom - issue awards (badges)
• I am considering the following badge website: classbadges.com 
• To learn more about Gamification check out this video: http://goo.gl/QQYhvB 

My second session choice was: Google in Grades 4 to 6 - My take aways:

@g5changeagent21 (me)

• As a whole, our group was psyched about the possibilities that Google Presentation holds for classrooms
• Google's Research Tool can become a critical tool for students looking to add information / images into anything Google Doc related and also for citing information
• Use hashtags in Google Doc titles as a way of labeling them - try it - hashtag multiple titles, then search that hashtag - voila: #rad

Third Session choice: Lessons that Even Students Would Pay For:

http://goo.gl/srvi03

• this session was packed with professionals ready and willing to spill the beans on lessons / units they do that fully engage students into learning - whether or not they want to be
• I was able to share our invention unit with other teachers - they were able to share their invention units (we are FOR SURE going to Google Hangout at the end of May) - also learned of a grant via Kohl's Department Store for getting some cash-o-la for next year's Discovery World field trip
• excited to purchase and read Dave Burgess': Teach Like a Pirate - I think this book could have a great impact in a school as a book study - I want to set this up via Google Groups this summer for some fun, casual conversation among peers and professional development

Final Choice: Hang with Peers

• we all have great stories to share of successes and epic failures from our classrooms - we can only get stronger as teachers
• Twitter is a great place to hang out and learn from others - I either spent the day Tweeting or waiting for a Tweet - Loved using TweetDeck (kept me organized and full)
• Pizza is a recipe for delicious discussions about iPads, Chromebooks, tech integration, and life in general 

#edcampMKE was a great experience for me.  I truly enjoyed traveling there with my other Pulaski teacher friends and spending a day with dedicated professionals.  I feel revitalized!

@g5changeagent21 @MrsGeeLMS @amyuelemen @recessduty

Invention Unit: Week 1...so far...

This week marks the beginning of our first full week of May and the first full week of our "Trash to Treasure" Invention Unit.  Along with creating inventions from recycled materials, our students also are engaged into innovative ideas through various avenues.  A new piece we were able to add, thanks in part to a grant that was won by a local gas station (which donated the funds to our school), we were able to purchase 40 copies of "Discovery Kids: Inventions" magazine.  Since we are using the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret for our whole group piece, the non-fiction magazine is a supplemental component added to our small group reading.  In just the first pages students have already learned information about Thomas Edison and his "Menlo Park" invention team.  According to Edison, his team's goal was to produce one small invention every 10 days, and one big invention every 6 months.  Additionally, he shared with our students (via the magazine) that "Inventing is 1% Inspiration and 99% Perspiration."  As we dive deeper into the magazine will practice text coding, while using informational text.

Another exciting way we kicked off the week was by having a guest inventor.  This year our guest was Nils Melberg, from En Novative Technologies, Inc.  Nils and his team assist in testing soil samples to determine if particular areas have too much or too little of "something."  This ties in also with our Ecosystem unit, since we test the PH levels of our soil to determine its basic and acidity levels.  Nils and his team are responsible for creating a mechanism, The En Core Sampler, which takes a soil sample safely from the ground, without allowing it to release the contaminants (that may be in it) through evaporation.  Nils also introduced our students to an inventing acronym: SCAMPER.

S - substitute another item

C - combine two other products

A - adapt an existing item

M - magnify or minimize another product
P - put another item to a different use

E - eliminate or subtract what is not needed

R - reverse or change parts

Our invention unit is off and flying.  Many of our students have already come up with some incredible ideas for inventions in just the few days we have spent brainstorming and investigating.

Let the Innovation Begin...

Today we kicked off our 2014 (4th Annual) "Trash to Treasure" Invention Unit.  At our school this unit includes a multitude of pieces related to literacy, innovation, and FUN!

We use the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret for our textbook.  This book explores innovation from the eyes of a young boy growing up in some difficult situations in olden day Paris, France.  Throughout the unit students explore and research famous inventors.  They create their own invention, which they display at our annual "Trash to Treasure" Invention Fair.  Plus, they learn elements of persuasion through infomercials.  With those elements, they create and record their own infomercial, which is played throughout the invention fair.

Today is just beginning of a month long journey that will conclude at Milwaukee's Discovery World in early June.  LET THE FUN BEGIN!

Notice and Note: Close Reading with Signposts

If you have stumbled upon this blog post hoping to gain extensive information about "Notice and Note", close reading, and/or signposts within text, then you may want to press the back button on your screen.  However, if you are curious what this looks like in the very early stages in our fifth grade classroom, then read on.


We have been fortunate to have our district's literacy coach and reading specialist (Rhoda Wood) join our classroom for the past two weeks to teach us various signposts that author's use to help us as readers get more in tune with the character and the story, or with a non-fiction article.

We are working on signposts in text to prepare for our upcoming unit which largely focuses on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Today we closed our mini-lessons with letting our students explore signposts within books they are currently reading.  This will hopefully be a great reading skill that will transfer over to other 

To learn some basics about signposts, click on the image to the left to see the presentation we created in our classroom.

Ecosystems...Gone Digital!

This spring I am trying to "change things up" a bit from previous school years in relation to our Ecosystem unit.  The first change I saw that needed to be made was to figure out a way to better integrate technology into daily lessons.  

Step 1: Create a Digital Packet:

CHECK!










So, with that accomplished, my next thought was, observations.  I cringe when I think of fifth graders making observations with our previous ecosystem packet.  Reason being - drawing and coloring.  The observations of the past were incredibly skewed and not accurate.  How do you provide the opportunity to make more accurate observations...TAKE A PICTURE!

Step 2: Use iPad to Take a Picture:

CHECK!





**Sigh of relief**

The next big task (not really that big) was to figure out a quick way for students to transfer images from the iPad to their Chromebook.  To do this I created a "dummy" Gmail account.  In doing so, I then put the "dummy" account on each iPad.  This in turn provided a solution for students to email themselves their group's observation picture.  Once they received their picture, they could then load it into their digital packet.

Step 3: Load Picture into Packet:  

CHECK!





The last task my students have left to do is to write some general observations (which you can see above) about their ecosystem.  

The benefit of this system for observing is critical in several ways:

1. Allows for regularly, daily observations.  In the past, this was a hindrance and not fun.
2. Integrates technology seamlessly.
3. Uses a variety of skills - tech, collaboration, writing, design, thinking, observing, etc.
4. MAKES SCIENCE REAL...ESPECIALLY IN THE 21ST CENTURY!

Check out future posts to see how this "experiment" with technology and ecosystem moves along.