Week 35- Finished Testing & George Washington QR Codes w/7 Habits

This week we finally finished taking the ASPIRE tests! We were all happy to have that behind us.

In social studies this week our focus was on George Washington. My students used a QR code to access a website about Washington. They used the information from that site to fill in their flip book in the SS interactive notebook.

Each group worked together to find important facts to add to their flip books.

Then every group made post it notes for our poster about how Washington used the 7 Habits. 

The next day we completed a Venn diagram about George Washington and King George III and how they each used the habits. 

On Wednesday, they used another QR code to access the Rules of Civility that Washington had to copy as a student. My students picked 3 rules and wrote them in words so other students could understand what they mean. They also had to explain how each fit into a habit. 

Check out our final display for Synergize.

This is the project I shared last week! In case you missed it I'll give a quick overview. I printed pictures of my students working together in our classroom. Each group worked together to write a paragraph and one student typed it. Then another student used the iPad to record the paragraph and create a QR code that visitors can scan and hear them read the paragraph. 

Week 27- BYOT- Using LOTS of technology in class

I started the week in a BYOT workshop (bring your own technology). I learned several new things and had reminders of a few things I used in the past. So Wednesday I decided to test them out on both of my classes. Each of my classes watched the same video. I knew this would be perfect to go with Habit 6- Synergize. 

For my homeroom, I stopped the video as we watched and had them answer questions and share at their table. Then I posed the final question on Padlet. Each group used an iPad to access the padlet I created and post their group answer. 

I loved seeing all my students put their heads together to synergize and answer the questions about the video we were watching.

I decided to try something a little different with my 2nd class. I created a room on Today's Meet for our discussion.I created a QR code for them to access the chat room.

 As we watched the video I posted the question in the chat room and then paused the video. After the first time they knew to look at the chat room when the video paused. Then each table had a discussion about the question and one person in the group posted the answer. 

I'm pretty sure Backchanneling with Today's Meet was my favorite! I can see how this would be great to use during lessons. My students could post questions they have and I could address them on the spot. Students who might be reluctant to ask questions in class would be more willing to post them in our group room. 

I have a few more tech things we used in class this week too! I created a blendspace for my students that focus on the geometry lessons in math. I posted the link to this in my Edmodo classes so my students can access all the videos and other things we did in math class this week. 

Since I was out Monday at the workshop I created a ThingLink for my sub to use. This had all the videos and notes she needed for my science classes to cover physical and chemical properties. I've also made a thinglink for the Declaration of Independence and Acids/Bases.



As you can probably tell, I'm loving all this technology and I can't wait for us to get more network support to start the BYOT movement in our school.

Friday we had our fun run at school. My kids ran around 35 laps or more. I was exhausted just watching them.

And our class team name for the fun run? Here's what the students voted for using AnswerGarden.

I let the kids make suggestions using the iPads with a QR code.

They scanned the code to go to the AnswerGarden I created for this. Then we took the top 2 names and did a poll on Edmodo. White's Walking Dead was the winning name.

Here is our video newsletter for the upcoming week.



STUDENTS: We used a lot of technology this week. How did using technology prove you are synergizing? What was your favorite part of using technology?

Week 12- Keep It or Junk It & Math SCOOT w/QR codes

This week I tried a new classroom activity and I think my students enjoyed it. I feel like they understood the material a little better than usual after doing Keep It or Junk It.

I divided the class into groups to read a section in the text and create a list of words that would help them answer the focus question. Our focus question for this lesson was: "What is erosion and what are the ways in which it happens?"



The students decided if they would read together and make their own personal list or if they would read alone while making the list. Once they developed their own list their group had to work to develop a group list of words that would answer the focus question. They voted by showing numbers with their fingers- 1 keep it, 2 junk it, or 3 cloud it. If they put it in the cloud they had to come back to the word when they finished and make a decision.



Then each group shared their list with the class as a whole. Then the entire class voted on words to add to the class list for keep it or junk it.



Both of the science classes developed a list. In the end they used the list of words to write a paragraph to answer the focus question for the lesson.









Here are just a few pictures of the notebook pages that each individual made. You can see on the first list the ones crossed out were the ones that group decided to junk.





We also used the iPads during this activity. I had the students add information to the wall about weathering. For this wall, They were able to share what they thought weathering was, we added the list of words, and some definitions. I thought this would be a great summary of information and a great way for students to revisit what we did when they need to study. I posted a link for this wall on our Edmodo page for the students. Both classes contributed to this wall. If you don't know about Padlet you have to check it out!

Created with Padlet

At the end of the week I asked a small group to create a Gami about keep it or junk it. I let them decide what to say and how to do the gami. Austin created this one along with the help of his group members. I love the way he took a picture of our classroom so it looks like his character is talking in our class! Great job guys!



Check out my previous post with the posters for Keep It or Junk It.

This week our math coach, Mrs. Hamlet came to do an activity with my math classes.



She had decimal math task cards and the kids played a scoot game to answer each card. Then she had a QR code sheet the students used to check their answers.





We had enough iPads so that each group was able to share to check their answers.



STUDENTS: How do you feel about keep it or junk it? I felt like you guys were able to defend your choice of words so well. Do you think you understand more about weathering and erosion because of this? Would you like to try it again?

QR Code Math Review- Add/Sub Decimals

I wanted to share this with all my teacher followers. I made this QR code sheet the kids used to review our math skill this week, adding and subtracting decimals. I even made the video for the first QR code. This is my first video but I'll be doing more!

Meet & Greet Tour via QR Codes

This week I put together my website and QR codes for the self guided tour of my classroom. For the first time this year, we are having a meet & greet instead of an open house before school starts. The parents and students can come and meet the teacher/bring supplies from 12-3. So I was trying to figure out how to show everyone things in the classroom without having to do multiple tours of the same things over and over. I'm also not going to be able to do my traditional PowerPoint so I'm putting it on the website for the parents and students to view as well.



So these are just a few of my QR codes around the classroom.





The letter I typed to go along with the brochures I mail let them know they need to download a QR code reader before that day. I hope that I'll be able to get a few iPads from the library to use for this as well in case there are some parents/students who don't have smart phones. Want to see my website? I kept it very basic and didn't add too many photos because I didn't want the pages to take too long to load. Scan the QR code or click on it to see the site. I just gave you one QR code to get you to the page and then you can see the links on the left side. Let me know what you think.

QR Codes in the Classroom

There has been so much talk about using QR codes in the classroom so I decided to share what I did last year with QR codes in my class.

A QR code is a quick response code that looks like a 2D bar code. I see them a lot in magazines, on products, and on business cards. These codes can also be used in the classroom. There are a few sites that make it easy to make your own QR codes. These are the ones I use.

Make Your Own Voice QR Code

Make Your Own url QR Code

I also downloaded a free QR Code reader for my iPad in the classroom. Each week for math I teach lessons throughout the week, review the skills on Thursday, and test on Friday. On my review day (Thursday) I had 3 groups rotations going during our math time. One group started on their review sheet for the week, one group met with me, and the other group used the ipads and the QR code sheets I created.

I created pages that allowed them to navigate to different websites to review what we had been learning in class. After they finished that they were allowed to play math games on the iPad. This is a sample of the QR code sheets I made. This one is for reviewing dividing fractions.



My kids loved using the QR codes and they started paying attention to QR codes everywhere. They were excited when they found another QR code somewhere. I can't tell you how many times the kids came in and shared where they saw another QR code.

I have also added the QR codes to my beginning of the year brochures so parents are able to easily access our class website and blog. I am super excited to use them with some new things next year! I want to allow the students to make their own QR codes for projects. I also plan to set up QR codes in the classroom this coming year for open house. Our school is planning a meet and greet day before school starts. I thought it would be neat to set up QR codes around the room so parents can scan them and get a tour of the classroom even if I have to step out.

Do you have ideas for using QR codes? I'd love to hear your ideas. I'm constantly reading things on Twitter and other places about teachers using AR codes.

I also wanted to share some of my Pinterest projects from this week. My room is red, black, and white (to match my Canon camera strap). So I made 2 projects I found on Pinterest this week. The first is a ribbon wreath for the classroom door. One side of my classroom door is our class Twitter door.



On the other side I plan to hang my new homemade ribbon wreath.



This was super easy to make. I got a foam wreath form, several rolls of ribbon, and straight pins from Michael's. I cut the ribbon into 4 inch pieces, rolled them into a circle, and pinned them on. Viola!

The other project I made was a pictures frame for my desk. I plan to use an Expo marker to write my reminders on this.

 

I hope you have a great weekend! And don't forget to post your ideas for using QR codes in the classroom.