Literacy Night Photo Booth Fun

Our family Literacy night was full of fun, reading, words and prompts!  Families even had a chance to ride a wild roller coaster and travel far away using technology!  For copies of your photos contact Carolyn Slavin.

More and more Math Activities

This just in!  Gattis Teachers of all grade levels collaborated to make a HUGE list of Math websites. If you joined us for Math Night last night, a teacher from each grade level highlighted a site and talked about how it met with our TEKS and units studied at RRISD.  To get to the page of Math Sites go to our Gattis Webpage at http://gattis.roundrockisd.org/ Click on Resources, For Students then the link to "Math Websites" on the left side.

Make a Yeti with Code

Students in Mrs. Pearson's class made Dancing Yeti's online with Code!  This is a great introduction to code, sequencing, ordering and smiling. You should try it! It's way easier than it sounds, don't be scared, the kids can help you!

THE YETI PROJECT: DANCE, SASQUATCH, DANCE

madewithcode.com

Character Traits in Kidspiration

Ms. Carlson and Miss Hintz worked together to teach a lesson on Character Traits. Students read the book. "Wemberly Worried" by Keven Henkes in class. Then they came to the computer lab and used the Character Traits template in Kidspiration to create their document. Student worked on logging in, navigating to their individual folders to save, and printing.

Scientist Research in Grade 4

4th grade was researching scientists and identifying their discoveries they made and providing descriptions along with illustrations of their inventions and how these inventions affect modern life.  They used online research resources shared by the library, and created multimedia presentations as a group.  Check out some of their projects.

Kinder and 4th Grade Collaborate

It's the beginning of the school year, and there are lots of things to learn already.  Ms. Jefferson and Mrs. Sanford's classes decide to collaborate for the Kindergarten students learning how to log into computers at school and navigate the website.  Great idea!  Here are some photos of the classes in action.

Next Generation Classroom at Gattis

Mr. Brillhart and his TAG students were chosen to be part of a district-wide Next Generation Classroom Pilot. This means that while in his classroom, students will have access to a digital device on a one-to-one ratio.

More Information as is stated on the NGDC website:

The next generation classroom will set standards for what the digital classroom can look like in the future and will redefine the way teaching and learning take place. We will investigate the educational impact of a variety of digital classroom designs, across a multitude of diverse environments, in order to determine the best investments to be made for maximum effect.

Through this pilot we intend to...

• Impact and improve instruction and student learning

• Foster the 4 C’s of Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication and Creativity

• Make informed decisions about technology purchases and integration

• Guide professional development and teacher support

• Share ideas and best practices 

We have endearingly given the nickname of “Trailblazers” to the Educators participating in the pilot program as they embark on this exciting approach to teaching and learning along with their students. For more information explore http://ngdcrrisd.blogspot.com

Animations in Google Slides

Several students in Mr. Brillharts Tag class have been exploring the use of the different document types and created animations using Google Slideshow. Check out the one below.

Students Brainstorm on Google Docs

Students have been collaborating in Google Docs for a while, but have you ever thought about using Google Presentation to create a mindmap?  Check out one group project as they define "What is Multiplication".

4th Graders BYOD

Ms. Jefferson's 4th Grade class was utilizing their own BYOD (bring your own devices) today as they explored a new reading program we are piloting http://www.myon.com/. Students were able to bring their tablets, phones, etc to reading class and read books online. The students all loved it and they were engaged! 

Grade 1 Research and Multimedia Projects

Grade 1 students did research both online and in the library of an animal of their choice. They then created Power Point presentations to share their research.  See some of their products below.

Students Produce Newsletters

Google Docs is a great place to build a project. You can collaborate with other writers, get comments from your teachers, and publish your final project, all online.  Check out this Newsletter by one of our own 5th Graders.

Look inside an Egg with Document Camera

Mrs. Slavin's Grade 1 Dual Language class used the document camera to help all students see inside an egg! Chicks are starting to hatch today.  http://www.slavinduallanguage.blogspot.com/

And then it Hatched!!!

Math and Graphs

We have a program installed called Kidspiration. This application has tons of templates that students can use for various subjects.  Here a student is creating a graph using "MathView" then selected Colortiles. It's a great way to assess if students understand graphing.

Reading Counts

Students in grades 2-5 can earn points for Reading with an online program from Scholastic called "Reading Counts". The program does quick assessments on thousands of book titles to show comprehension.  Here is a student reading to her buddy before taking the quiz.

Second Grade Builds Timelines

Students in Ms. Carlson's 2nd Grade class, did a Timeline Project. They researched specific famous people in History in PebbleGo, wrote notes in their journals, and saved images from the internet into their folders on the server.  After they collected all the information and images they needed, they went to the ReadWriteThink Timeline Page and created timelines on their person.  Look at some examples here:

Connect to the Olympics Online

It’s time for the Olympics! How will you stay connected?  The following blog post was created with Olympic Resources for students and teachers.  They are in 3 categories. The first are links to the current Sochi Winter Olympics, the first 2 sites are geared for younger kids to be able to read.  The second is a history of the Olympics (great for those studying timelines) and the last are some teacher resources. 

http://techhintz.blogspot.com/2014/02/olympic-resources-for-kids-and-teachers.html

Here’s how some Gattis Teachers are using them: Second Grade teacher Ms. Zahm is using the Time for Kids link for morning work with her class which has lots of current event snapshots about the Olympics.  Third Grade teacher Mrs. Tilger is using the Enchanted Learning which has facts of the current Olympics, history of the Olympics and loads of Olympic facts. It even has a list of where EVERY Olympic has been held since 1896.  Mrs. Dawson’s 3rd grade class explored a few of the sites listed, they especially liked Time for Kids for the articles and some of the printables available.  Which site do you like best?  Do you have a new one to share? 

Art Virtual Field Trip to Netherlands

Students in Ms. LePlaPlattenier's Art class had a chance to connect via Skype with a  curator in the Netherlands who explained the life and works of Vincent Van Gogh in addition to using her screen as a guide to show them around her town specifically the Vincent Van Gogh Museum. She also used Google Earth to help them orient themselves. 

Research to Multimedia

As part of her 3rd grade curriculum, Mrs. Dawson's class researched different animals then explored different multimedia features of presenting in PowerPoint. They worked in the computer lab Thursday to finish their presentations and a few proud students shared theirs here. Check them out at Coyotes and Snakes.

Grade 1 Graphs as a Class

As part of stretching Digital Learning Day into a Digital Learning Week, Miss Drews first grade class did some digital graphing as a class.  Great class activity that got all the students involved, the students were engaged and learned at the same time!   She didn't have a whiteboard or any fancy tools, a one computer classroom with a projector.  Kids loved it.  Try it in your classroom!

• Interactive Graphs http://goo.gl/8ROyz 

Happy Digital Learning Day!

Happy Digital Learning Day!  Many classes here at Gattis took on the challenge of doing a lesson or activity digitally.  Here are just some examples of what was happening around the school!  Ms. Carlson’s 2^nd Grade class did digital Poetry at ReadWriteThink Shape Poem Generator, here are a few images of poems from her class. 

Many 4^th Grade classes worked on Think Through Math in their classrooms on netbooks.  Mrs. Dawson’s 3^rd Grade class used Animal Research to build PowerPoint presentations.  Mrs. Tilger’s 3^rd Grade class used this interactive clock on their Promethean Board in their classroom (see the image below).  

100th Day Age 100 Years

To celebrate the 100th day of school, Mr. Marcano's 2nd Grade class aged 100 years using an application called AgingBooth. Check out their photos on his website at http://goo.gl/vk1pab

Dual Language Paperslides

As a way to share their research, Mrs. Slavin's first grade class produced videos with a document camera and student artwork and recording.  This concept is called "paperslides" using a camera to film paper and voice to tell a story.  The students has been researching using World Book Kids which is available in Spanish and English.  Check out their projects at http://www.slavinduallanguage.blogspot.com/

Here is one here as a preview.

Tech Resources for Kindergarten

Here at Gattis, students are using Technology at all grade levels.  One Kindergarten teacher, Lisa Sanford, not only encourages the use of technology at school, but at home as well.  She has several resources on her website for parents to use with their children.  They range from ideas for learning crafts, or online activities, to links to videos that reinforce skills. Check out her page at http://gattis.roundrockisd.org/our_staff/kindergarten_team/lisa_sanford/.  Make sure to you go to her Pinterest page as well!