Writing for an Authentic Audience

Today we worked with Kindergartners to begin publishing their first writing pieces for this school year. We used iPads, clear nesting tables, and recording headphones with a microphone to cancel out background noise. Students were so excited to begin this process and were so excited to share their writing with their family through the Seesaw App! Below are some pictures of the process, as well as a finished product. 

Teach the Writer, not the Piece- 3rd Grade Test Prep Writing Unit

Today, our amazing Lincoln 3rd graders took a look at a recent opinion writing piece they did as part of their test prep unit. In today's mini lesson, students reviewed a classmates writing for all of the things that good Opinion Writers do. We used fun post-it tabs to mark each of these important parts. We used the following labeling system:

O- My Opinion

R1- Reason 1

R2- Reason 2

R3- Reason 3

C- Conclusion

After engaging in this experience as a whole class, students returned to their own writing to evaluate themselves as good Opinion Writers (not their writing). 

If students were able to mark the 5 main parts, they received additional post-it tabs to mark examples. 

Without even being told to do so, students began to see where they forgot their good Opinion Writer habits and began adding those parts as part of the revision process. 

During the workshop, we paused to ask how many students found things to add, all hands shot up. We shared a few examples of additions students had made. 

At the end, we reminded students that they should always go back and revise what they have written, by making sure they have all of the "good opinion writing parts."

Next, we move on to evidence language used by good opinion writers tomorrow. More to come...

3-D Shape Walk with 1st Grade and Attributes

First graders are learning about 3-D shapes, but taking it a step further than they did in Kindergarten! First Grade students are not only learning the names of the 3-D shapes, but are also learning how to identify and count each shapes attributes, including edges, corners or vertices, and faces. Check out how they showed what they know! Check out
more projects HERE!

Using Explain Everything to Tell the World what we Know!

In First Grade, we are using the iPad App Explain Everything to show the world what we know about books we are reading. We are using our typing and speaking skills, as well as researching for pictures that match our words. 

News Crew

We have come so far with News Crew from where we started this year! Check out our progression below! 

Shape Walk with Kindergarten for 3-D Shapes

This past week, kindergarten students went on a shape walk around the school. This walk was similar to one that we did earlier in the year with flat shapes, except for this time we were looking for 3-D shapes!

Students were searching the school high and low for 3-D shapes including: cylinders, cones, rectangular prisms, cubes, and spheres.

We were not sure how many shapes our kindergarten students would find, but they amazed us! They found 3-D shapes everywhere. Check some of them out below!

Next we will be putting these 3-D shapes into a Padlet, where we will again review what it means t be a 3-D shape and then provide the shape name and give the attributes of the shape. Our class Padlet will then be posted on the teacher blog and here to share the great kindergarten searching and thinking! Look forward to it!

 

 

Our New Take on Field Trips

We now have a new way to reflect on field trips. During the 2nd grade trip to WKYC, students took pictures to document their learning with the iPad. They then reflected on their learning once they returned to school. This reflection helped students not only to process their learning during the trip, but also allowed them to practice and demonstrate 21st Century skills, including sharing their ideas and learning digitally through pictures and words with a their peers, parents, and community. Check out their work below!

Created with Padlet