Digital Learning Day and KidBlogs!

This morning while I was having my breakfast I was checking my Twitter feed and noticed a few tweets about Digital Learning Day (which is today). Many of the teachers I follow were encouraging each other to try something new with their students using Web 2.0 tools. I thought that this was a great challenge and started thinking about what new technology tool I might share with the kids of Room 9 during our computer lab time at the end of the day today. I thought about putting together a quick FLIP video, or trying out a new tool like Voki or Voicethread, or maybe just taking some time to try out some of the new sites on our wiki. However, during Daily 5 this morning, my plans changed. Here's what happened...

Tristan was working on a piece of writing on one of our laptops and wanted to show me. I sat down with him and read his writing, a detailed piece about himself full of great descriptions and interesting facts. It sounded like the kind of description bloggers post to their blogs to introduce themselve to readers. During our writing conference I shared my reaction with him and asked if having a blog would be something he'd be interested in. He had lots of questions and was pretty excited about the possibility however, he wanted more information before committing to the idea (and I wasn't totally sure I was ready to "let go" of one of my classroom bloggers :) I gave him the option to check out some other student blogs during the next round of Daily 5 so that he could see what other kids in other schools are doing. After a few minutes, he was sold. I set up a KidBlogs account for him within my teacher account and together we posted his first piece.

Little did we know, there were many eyes watching and wondering what we were up to as we moved from laptop to classroom computer. A few students figured out what Tristan and I were doing and word spread through the room like wildfire. For the next few minutes all I heard was:

Can I go next?   I wanna do that!    Is that his own blog?!?    Can I go next?!   Can I go next?!!

As the kids went out for recess, I thought to myself - What have you gotten yourself into now? Setting up individual blogs takes a bit of work, as does moderating all of the posts and comments. But, if a little bit of work on my part will give my students new motivation to write, edit, revise, talk about words and spelling, and to reply to comments and questions about their writing, then I'm sold too. To see an 8 year old boy get excited about writing (of course while playing it very cool) and ask if he can do it at home on the weekend is pretty awesome.

As an educator, I believe that using technology in teaching is no longer an option, it is a necessity. The children in my classroom are "digital natives", meaning they have grown up surrounded by technology and will continue to be no matter what path their lives take. They are "programmed" differently than the adults around them and learn to use technology quickly and efficiently. However, I discovered this morning that using old technology is a different story....

This morning I found some books with cassette tapes in the library and brought them into the classroom for the kids to use during Daily 5. As the first group pulled out their books and the cassette tapes, a discussion ensued (which I assumed was about the book that was chosen) and then one of the members came to me (cassette in hand) and said, "We don't know what to do with this". I showed them how to put the tape in the stereo, and walked away. After about 5 seconds I heard one of them say, "It's not working. It didn't start. It just sounds like shhhhhhh" As I started to walk back toward the group (assuming that there was something wrong with the stereo) one of the kids said "Wait! Now it's going". They of course didn't realize that when you start a tape from the very beginning there is a slight delay as the tape spins to the right place. It doesn't start instantly like a CD or an iPod. That short pause threw them for a bit of a loop. Afterwards when I explained that you could flip the tape over and hear something different, I was met with blank stares. I was not speaking their language. I'm considering bringing in my old record player tomorrow :)

So, I needed to make a decision about who, and how, and when other children would be able to start their blogs. I decided that the best time would be today, while the idea is fresh and their excitement is high. Over the lunch hour I set up KidBlog accounts for all of the kids in our class and decided that we'd try it out in the lab at the end of the day. It went very well with one student, so why not try 25 all at once! As always I was surprised and impressed by my 25. Before I was logged in and had the Smartboard running, most of them had made their way to their blog and had begun posting. They took their job seriously and many decided not to post their piece today as they wanted more time to add to, revise and read over their writing before other people would be able to see it. I think that this makes it all worth the effort. They took their writing seriously and wanted it to be their best work. When the kids write in their notebooks their audience is me and maybe a couple of classmates. Blogging broadens their audience and has motivated many of the children think about the quality of their writing, spelling and word choice, and interest level in just one day... I think that's pretty awesome too.

So here it is... the link to our KidBlogs. Please read them, write a comment for someone, and keep checking back for more! If you leave a comment, here is our criteria :)

A note about KidBlogs...

KidBlogs is a blogging platform that allows teachers to set up accounts for their students under the umbrella of a classroom account. This means that I have complete control over what is posted to each blog. Before any post or comment appears online, I receive an email and then have the option to approve, deny, or edit the post or comment. If the post or comment meets our criteria, I approve it and then it can been seen by others. I moderate everything and choose what goes live.

A note about conferences...

Conference time can be a very crazy time of year in an early years classroom. Helping 25 children prepare 25 portfolios is always a challenge... but worth every second and every effort! Over the past two weeks, the children and I spent lots of time talking about our year so far, reflecting on the things they've learned, setting some goals for next term, choosing just the right pieces for portfolios, and practising sharing learning with others. The night and afternoon of conferences can be quite hectic, but also very rewarding. I love eavesdropping on the children in my classroom as they talk their way through their portfolios with their families. Hearing the children explain their work, talk about their favourite books, teach their families a new math game, and laugh about something they remember about a project is my favourite part of the night. Seeing them explain, reflect, and discuss all of their learning makes me feel very proud. Watching parents look at their child's work, ask them questions about their learning, and congratulate them on their accomplishments is also very rewarding. It was another AWESOME week.

On Friday afternoon I came across some interesting tweets while I was checking my professional Twitter account. A number of the educators I follow were at a conference where author Peter Reynolds was the keynote speaker. (Peter Reynolds has many great children's books including "Ish" and "The Dot") The tweets were sent by Tony Baldasaro and many were quotes from Reynolds' keynote speach. Here are 4 of the tweets Tony sent. I thought they came at a perfect time. I love it when that happens :)

Here they are:

The last one was my favourite. Simple. To the point. True in everyway. Every child is amazing. 

-Erin



The Everything Day

In gym we played spongebob square pants it was fun. -Aliegha

We have A substitute her name is ms koehn and ms anderlic but she is A student teacher. - Aliegha

Today in computer lab we are doing pinky dinky doo and story bird. - Lindsay

we playd a game calld number black out and I win.- Lindsay

Today I started my practicum block. This means that I will be in the classroom for the next month until Christmas break. I am really looking forward to seeing the children everyday :) They are awesome students and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to teach them. - Ms. Anderlic

A Special Delivery

After lunch recess, we walked into the room and there was Frisbees in our classroom and everyone got a Frisbee with their name on it. After we got our Frisbees, there were some leftovers so we got to practice with the Frisbees outside in the front and the side. -Taylor

We were throwing them to our partners. My partner was Sydney H. It was feeling great! -Sam

When I was outside, me and Jadyn were throwing the Frisbee and we threw it to each other. It ended up over the fence. Then Mrs. Malkoske had to get it. -Rhianna

Me and Tristan threw the Frisbee together. It got full of mud. I threw it and it looked like it was going over the fence, but it didn't-Cole & Tristan

When we were outside in the front, my partner was Nicholas. We are friends. Nicholas was a really good thrower. -Rylee

I thought my Frisbee was going to end up over the fence. It got all full of mud too. -Jonathon

My partner was Aliegha and Jolene and Mrs. Malkoske. When Aliegha threw the Frisbee it went in the mud and I had to go get it. -Madeline

You put your pointer finger out and hold it with your thumb on top. Then you wrap it with your arm and throw. -Cameron

Taylor was my partner and she was awesome! -Ashley

I caught the Frisbee two times. -Jadyn

My partner was Sydney R and we sometimes hit the glass on the window. -Kendall

Lindsay was my partner. She was a good thrower. -Olivia

My partner was Brandon and we almost went so high, it almost went over the fence. -Peyton

My partner was Alexander and he was AWESOME! -Tyson

When Kendall threw the Frisbee, it rolled and I thought it was going to go in the parking lot. -Sydney R

Bag Up Manitoba!

Our adventure with Bag Up Manitoba has come to an end. The kids in our classroom worked really hard to collect, count, package and recycle 3733 plastic bags... that's 3733 less bags that will end up in Winnipeg landfills this year. This video documents their work and learning. Awesome!

An afternoon away and other news...

It feels like it`s been a long time since my voice has been heard on our classroom blog... which is kind of awesome because that means that I`ve started to meet my blogging goals...
1. To post something every school day.
2. To `hand over` the responsibility for the blog to the children.
3. To help the children in my class see that the work they do is important, interesting and worth sharing with the world.
...I`d say so far so good. We`ve posted every day and blogging has become a natural part of our daily routine. Some days we blog together and everyone has a chance to contribute, and other days two or three students take on the responsibility. I have had a number of children ask if they could post on their own and very soon they will get that opportunity. The children are interested in looking at our flag counter to see which countries our visitors are from, and the LOVE getting comments! They`ve even helped Mrs. Caldwell with her blog. She was a bit nervous about sharing her thoughts and ideas with a global audience, but Taylor assured her that she would be okay, there was nothing to be nervous about, and that `it`s just like sharing stuff with your friends`.
This week we got a present in the mail from one of our blog followers. (Which was very exciting for all of us!) Mrs. Dent Scarcello at Bird`s Hill School follows our blog and saw that we are doing the Daily 5 in our classroom. She sent Awesome Owl bookmarks to each of the students in our classroom! The children knew that we needed to thank her so we Skyped her this morning. It was our first Skype call of the year and we had a couple of technical difficulties at first, but we got to talk with Mrs. Dent Scarcello for about 5 minutes. She asked the children about the Daily 5 and answered a few of their questions. We talked about the criteria for Skype and the jobs that we will have during longer Skype learning calls. This short call allowed us to test out all of our equipment and of course to thank Mrs. Dent Scarcello!
You might have noticed that I`ve made a few changes to our blog tonight. That`s because I`m getting it ready to share at a professional development conference for teachers this weekend in Winnipeg. I`m facilitating a session called A Window to the World - Blogging in the Classroom at the Fab Five conference for new teachers. I`m also conducting a couple of different technology sessions at the SAGE conference later in the month... so our visitor counters are going to sky-rocket!
I almost forgot... the reason that I`m posting without the children today is because I was away this afternoon at an ICT coordinator meeting (I am the coordinator for Dr. Hamilton this year). Our blog requires a password in order to create a post, so the kids can`t post without me... but they`ll be back tomorrow!
-Mrs. Malkoske

Daily 5 is Awesome!

During Daily 5 we had to do all three things but you got to pick in which order. -Peyton

We listened to reading on the stereo. -Cameron

On Daily 5 I read with the birthday boy. -Tristan

I picked chapter books for Daily 5. -Aliegha

I learned how to read Mom! -Kaspir

We switched our books. -Sydney

I read with Aliegha when it was Read to Someone. -Madeline

It was my birthday today! -Cole

We had cupcakes for snack. -Jadyn

We drew our houses. - Nicholas

Today we had jungle gym! It was AWESOME! -Ashley

We had fun at jungle gym. -Rylee
We had fun! -Sam

It was another busy day in Room 9. The children in our classroom are getting very good at following the expectations for each of their Daily 5 choices. Check back later to see a short video of the Daily 5 in action!

PS - Cole had an AWESOME t-shirt on today! :)

Choice Time!

Today during Choice Time...

We played in the sandbox. -Brandon

We builded the biggest Lego house in history! -Alexander, Peyton, Tyson

It had a patio and two hottubs and a lake. -Jonathon

We played with the straws. We made a hotel and a wall and an entrace to our library. -Tristan, Cole, Aaron

I played with marble stuff and made a big marble party. -Cameron

We did a puppet show! -Kendall

Me and Ashley made crowns out of paper. -Sydney R

I read a book with my earphones. -Nicholas

We opened the sand table. -Ashley

I played in the sandbox. -Aliegha

I went on the computer to Seussville. -Madeline

We had an awesome puppet show. -Brandon

It was hot lunch today. -Ashley

We played on the play structure (at recess). -Sam

We had fun! -Rylee

PS- It's Mrs. Malkoske's birthday! -Syney H

Today was a great day in Room 9. For some of our younger classmates (and a few of the older children too) it was a long first full week of school. The transition from summer to school and from half days to full days takes a bit of time and all of the kids are doing the best they can. I appreciate their smiles, kind words to one another, and willingness to help each other out and cheer each other up when needed.

This afternoon we had Choice Time. Choice Time is a time of day when the children are able to choose from a variety of activities in our classroom. Today they chose from activities like painting, puppets, listening to stories, exploring author websites, building, and sand. To the kids, Choice Time is all about playing. When we were writing this post the children listed the activities they chose, and said things like "We had fun!" and "I played with ________". To me, Choice Time  is about so much more than playing. As I observed and interacted with the children during choice time I saw more than a really cool lego house and a quirky puppet show. I saw children cooperating, using kind words, encouraging one another, and sharing as they played Lego. I saw children solving problems, making a plan, organizing themselves, inviting other children to join in, and using their imaginations to create a story as they played with puppets. I saw children being creative, sharing, working together, being resourceful, and making cards and pictures to brighten someone's day as they painted, drew, taped (lots of tape!), glued and sparkled their creations. I saw children changing their plans, organizing a large group, sharing, helping each other, and doing something to make our classroom more interesting as they built with straws and connectors. I saw kids quietly enjoying a story when they knew they just needed a break. All of these things happened within our four walls in a matter of 30 minutes. When children are given choice and the opportunity to explore their passions, magic happens. Have a wonderful weekend!

-Erin

The 25 Faces of Room 9

Reading Rocks!

We read a lot this morning. -Taylor
We did read to self. -Kendall
We did read to someone. -Alexander
Today we started word work during Daily 5. -Lindsay

Here are some other things we did today:
Today was our first day of math centres. We started Inquiry too. We talked about ourselves and had to answer questions.-Tristan
We did counting by 5s in math centres. -Brandon
We had the grade 5s and 6s in gym with us. -Jadyn
We did our jobs. -Nicholas
We had an awesome day! -Taylor

Watching young children grow as readers throughout the course of a school year is an awesome experience. Listening to a young child read a book that they couldn't read just a few short months or weeks before is rewarding, but watching their faces as they realize what they've just done is magic. :)

The Second Day of School

Today we made a glyph. A glyph is when you draw your answers to questions. -Tristan
We went to Music. -Sydney H
Mr. Chan has a new school. He goes back and forth to each school. -Tristan
We finished our dragonfly chart and we finished our dragonflies. We put our heads on them. -Madeline
We did our morning message today. -Aliegha
We took pictures outside. -Jadyn
One of our 3 Be's is Be Responsible. -Nicholas
Be Respectful is another one. -Rhianna
We drew a picture and wrote sentences about summer. -Alexander
We played on the play structure. -Cameron
We read the pictures in our books. -Kendall
We also read the words. -Lindsay
We caught a grasshopper today. -Tyson
I've learned almost all of the names of the children in our class. -Ms. Anderlic

We had another busy and exciting day at school today. We continued reviewing expectations and figuring out what we want our classroom community to be like this year. The children worked together to fill in our dragonfly chart which is part of our Schoolwide Positive Behaviour initiative. Here's a picture of their thinking:

Over the past two days I begun to realize what a gift it is to be able to teach the same children for two years in a row. The 9 students that were in my room last year and have moved on with me have been a tremendous help to me and the children that are with me for the first time. These kids know the routines of our classroom, where to find (and put away) supplies, how our classroom library is organized and many of the other small things that happen in my classroom... and in one of our discussions today they showed just how much they know about me!

Today I watched one of these 9 children show another child where to find the markers and I saw one of them teach another child how to use the hole puncher. These seem like simple things that don't take much time or effort, but they allow me the time to sit and listen to a child read and help another with a word they're trying to write. I'm leaving here tonight feeling very lucky and extremely proud of the children in my classroom. -Mrs. Malkoske

It's a New Year!

It's our first day of school! Here are some things that happened today:

I made a new friend. - Rhianna
I played with Cameron. -Nicholas
I'm happy to see my friends. -Aliegha
I saw Kaelan. -Peyton
We painted dragonflies and I played with Aliegha. -Madeline
We had fun. -Ashley
We took a picture outside of our class. -Jonathon
We had gym! -Jadyn & Sam
We had fun in gym. -Rhianna
Me and Tyson found a grasshopper outside. -Cole
Me and my friends found a ladybug. -Taylor
I played with Kai. -Cameron
We got to meet new people. -Ashley

It was a wonderful first day of school for me too! We spent the day together learning some of the routines of the classroom and getting to know one another. Today we welcomed Kaspir and Sydney H into our Dr. Hamilton Family and look forward to learning with them this year. For many of the younger students in our classroom, today marked a very important milestone in their school lives... it was the first day that they got to have 3 RECESSES! There were many tired faces at the end of the day (including mine) but they still had smiles on them. :)

In my last post I talked a little bit about why I love doing what I do. Today I would like to add another reason to the list: Magic. Everyday I get to see something magical happen. Not the pull-a-rabbit-out-of-a-hat kind of magic, but the magic that happens when kids are being kids. Today I saw one of my older students get up quietly from storytime and walk over to a younger student (who was quite nervous and had arrived a little late), show him where to put his things, and invite him to sit next to him on the carpet. No one asked him to do it, and might seem like a small thing, but to me it's magic. Later in the day I watched another student from our classroom notice a child from another classroom playing alone on the playground, walk over to her and invite her to play. This afternoon I was able to sit down and listen to a couple of younger students read from books they had never seen before. Magic. Kids. Everyday.
-Mrs. Malkoske