iPad Integration for Mother's Day

My class made E-books as their Mother's Day gifts.
We used an app called My Story.  It was super easy to use and allows each child to have their own account in a one-to-one classroom.  The teacher has control of the entire class but can give access to each child to author their own book.  As a way to try out this new app, my entire class made one digital e-book.

Check it out here!

http://msty.me/1l4BAQa

The Indian in the Cupboard

The 3rd Graders are currently reading The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks.  As a fun way to assess my students' understand of the story, each group of students created a news report or interview based on a series of questions that I have previously provided.  My class had fun recording themselves on the iPad (without much teacher help) and producing their own video.  Little did they know, I was actually assessing them!
Here's the video or click on the picture of them recording the video.

3rd grade Field Trip February 2014

The video below was taken by a parent of our field trip to the Science Discovery Center in Santa Ana.  It was the worst rain storm in February but we made it anyway!  It was fun and a learning-filled experience.  This field trip highlighted the three main areas of science in our 3rd grade curriculum - physical science, the solar system and beyond, and living things.

In physical science, the students made and took home slime.  They saw how individual ingredients combined together can make slime!  The students were able to watch and interact with the Earth, and other 7 planets through their computer generated exhibits.  They were also able to "see" the Sun and stars in the observatory.  Lastly, they were able to identify the different textures of animal shells and skin in the "Grossology" Exhibit.

Student Work

In 3rd grade, learning their multiplication and division facts is very important.  Here is an activity we did in class to demonstrate how multiplication and division are related.  Also, we showed our problems by  using an array.

Common Core State Standards:

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

• Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division.
• Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division.
• Multiply and divide within 100.

In Science they learned to identify by describing the characteristics (physical properties) of matter.  In this lab experiment, we were able to identify the physical properties of candy!

The photo below shows the 3 different novels my students are learning.  We are working in cooperative learning groups and comparing our novels with other groups.  We call our cooperative learning groups the "Expert Groups".

Accelerated Reader is a big component of our daily reading.  In this bulletin board, students wrote summaries about the books they just finished and illustrated the cover with the author's name.

iPad: Educreations in my classroom

One of my favorite apps to use in my classroom on a daily basis is Educreations.  Here is a picture and an active clip of how I use Educreations in my classroom.

In this screenshot, I am showing a (work in progress) graphic organizer that the entire class help create.  Using a web graphic organizer allows students jot down their ideas when given a topic.  We started to learn how to elaborate a main idea.

In this video clip (below), I had students explain how to solve math word problems using variables.  This was my way to assess my students immediately during a math lesson.  My favorite part of using Educreations is to show my students their academic growth through video clips.  This is also a way to immediately share the students' work with their parents with one quick E-mail!

Back to School Night Packet

Here's a sample of my Back to School Night Packet for the 2013-2014 School Year!
Click on the photo for a pdf copy.

Notes from my students

My little treasures to remind me that I chose the right vocation!

From a former student / I was surprised when a sibling dropped this off for me.  It was then, when I realized I did my job... I made a difference!  (Above is the note and the front is a beautiful painting by him)