Art of Evaporation

This week we continued discussing changes that happen in our world by exploring the three forms of water (solid, gas, liquid). One of the activities I really enjoy each year is water painting. Yes, simply taking out buckets of water and paint brushes and painting the concrete. We discuss evaporation and most of the kids seem to have a good understanding of water turning into vapor but this fun activity seems to really reinforce the concept. I love hearing them yell "IT IS EVAPORATING" as they watch their creations disappear. These type of fun (hands on) activities that reinforce vocabulary are what I strive to find for my class.

I have had great success with this activity in the past but this year was even better because I didn't over manage their exploration. My only rules were explore evaporation, do not get another friend wet, and when the water is gone we are done. The class started painting as usual but it wasn't long before their learning expanded.

One group took the bucket and carefully poured some water into the sidewalk cracks..

student- "Look it is like a river"

me- " I wonder why it is moving that direction and not the other"

student "because it is downhill"

me- " I don't see any hills"

student- "I mean the sidewalk is slanted, the water goes down"

me- " Does the water always flow down? Can you make it go another way?"

At that point I left to check on other groups. They continued to try to manage the direction the water by placing dirt, sticks and rocks in the path. Another group had also moved away from basic painting and were exploring handprints and footprints. There was rich vocabulary as they compared their footprints, counted how many steps they could make, and discussed how their shoes were different.

Usually if I get out of the way the real learning happens by itself.

Fun With Toontastic Storytelling App

Free iPad App that includes basic scenes and characters. Additional scene/character packs are $0.99. I purchased the unlimited package for $10 that gives me all the current and future characters/scenes for one price. Well worth it in my opinion.

This is my personal favorite as far as storytelling apps on the iPad. We have been using this app in large group all year for review and retelling but this week my kids got to use it independently in centers. This app requires more steps and more ability than most of the other storytelling apps I have used but it is well worth the extra effort. My class had no issues navigating the app since we have used it in large group so many times. I do suggest starting with easier apps like Sock Puppets or Felt Board first but don't be afraid to let them give this one a try once they are experienced creating stories on the iPad.

One of the features I really love about this app is it gives the kids a visual (and vocabulary) for the parts of a story (pictured below) This encourages them to plan out their story in more detail. This is a great next step for the kids after using the more basic storytelling apps.

Another feature I have grown to love is the ability to add music to each scene. The students spend as much time deciding the best music for their scene and are really developing an understanding how the music effects the audience.

The finished products are nothing special in most cases (and often hilarious) but I know there is value in two kids spending 15 minutes or more making a plan for a story, deciding all the details of that story and then recording it. Here are a few examples...

Tiny Seed Mural- Art Collaboration

(hard to tell size but these are about 4 feet wide and 2 feet high)

This week we have been learning about seeds and plants. One of our lesson involved reading "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle and then working in small groups to retell the story by creating a mural.

This lesson has been a big bust for me in the past because getting a group of Kindergarten kids to work together on a project can be a struggle. In the past I would have given a big talk, worked to keep them in the "right" direction, hovered over every slight "discussion", and even made an example of what I expected before they started. In the past I...well I was the problem

This year things were different! I have worked all year to give my students opportunities to learn how to work together, encouraged them weekly to be creative, allowed them to fail and stepped back from being a "teacher." This year I... well I was proud

The project was simple. Read the book. Retell the story as a large group. Make a mural with your friends that will tell the important parts of the story.

Fine Motor with Perler Beads

At the beginning of the year I bought several large tubs of perler beads. These are the beads that you can melt with an iron and they will stick together. At the time I bought them I planned to let the class use them as they are intended with the pre-made shapes and designs but I struggled with this as there is limited creativity in telling the kids what shape to create. So the beads sat unused most of the year. A few weeks ago I decided to revisit the beads because I knew they had value for fine motor. I also learned that the kids loved sticking their hands in the bucket so there is a sensory aspect too.

Two projects I have come up with so far. Yes, for both of these we used hot glue guns, more on why I decided to use hot glue guns in my room HERE

Using beads to outline pictures or highlight details. It seems I am constantly asking the kids to add more details and this is a fun way to think about those details as an artist. The beads also added texture and color to the artwork making it a win-win!

(glue gun was not working this day so white glue was used)

Making a pattern with the beads. First the kids were asked to draw a line of some type on the paper. Then they had to decide what pattern to make and what colors to use for the pattern. Tons of fine motor practice!

Would love to hear other ideas you might have for the beads!

Document Camera

Pictured- baby rolly polly (labeled with skitch app)

I posted a few weeks ago about my favorite tech tool, today I am sharing my second favorite - the document camera. The document camera we use in my class is called an ELMO but I know there are many brands that will get the job done. The main features I would make sure it has is projecting the image through a projector, ability to capture the image displayed (video is a plus too), and a zoom feature.We use the document camera every day in my class. It is a great teaching tool but even more valuable as a tool for allowing the kids to share.

Most mornings we start the day with an iPad game projecting through the ELMO. While the class is unpacking the kids take turns playing various literacy or math games. The reason I like the ELMO for this is it allows the class to see exactly what the students are pressing on the iPad. This helps them learn how to use the tool while watching others play. All new iPad games are shared this way also.

Other ways we use the document camera...

- show and tell

- students sharing how they solved math problems

- looking closely at ANYTHING cool we find

- practicing how to complete a center

- showing off student work

- taking pictures of ANYTHING neat we find

- introducing new iPad games

- introducing new math centers/games

- basically, if it fits on the ELMO and I want the entire class to see it easily the ELMO is my tool

Cheking on various stages of lima bean development

Practicing using base 10 blocks

Do beetles leave footprints? Yes they do!

Looking closely at pill bugs

What does a root hair look like?

Do ants really have 6 legs?

Keeping a picture diary of our decomposing bucket

Sock Puppets

Once again the iPad proves to be a great way to promote creativity through storytelling apps. This week my class has been using the Sock Puppets app to make stories with a partner.

The app itself is free but there are a few "extras' I purchased within the app to make it more useful for our purpose this week. The two that I purchased are allowing the video to be saved to the camera roll (99 cents) and extending the allowed video time from 30 to 90 seconds (99 cents). There are few other things you could buy but nothing necessary for my goal. The app also has a VIP purchase for $4.99 that gives you all he extras plus any future releases for one price.

The app has about 6 characters, a dozen backgrounds and around 18 "props" the students can choose when starting a story. Of course there are options to purchase more as mentioned above.

One of the neat features of the app is it changes the students voice to match the character they are using. This adds some extra fun for the kids but was also my biggest concern as some of the voices are hard to understand. I noticed that if the kids did not like the voice they would just change to a new character so it is an easy workaround if needed.

Overall the app worked great for the purpose, which was to allow kids to create and practice stories with a friend. The students were expected to come up with a plan, practice the plan two times and then record the video. I spent very little time helping in this center so I feel confident that most kids over 4yo would be able to navigate it.

As always I am more concerned with the process than the finished product. I was pleased to see my kids working on creating stories in a fun and engaging way. They had rich conversations with great vocabulary and dialogue as they played with the app. Here are a few of the finished stories...

(download)

Felt Board App

One of my favorite way to use the iPad is to allow kids to create stories. Recently I found an app that is great for storytelling called Felt Board. The app is $1.99 currently and well worth it. Imagine a typical felt board with hundreds of pieces... just in digital form.

Last week the students in my class use the app as part of a center for the first time (we always play with tools first before "working" with them). The job was fairly simple, create a scene with a friend that you will write about during journal time. The app was easy for the kids to use and the only issue we had was they all took extra pictures of their product. When you press the camera button within the app to save the image nothing happens to show the picture has been taken. Not a big problem but something I hope they will address.

The images turned out great and all the kids were excited to write about their story once I printed them. I know we will try this again..

Other ideas I plan to try with Felt Board...

- allowing the students to create stories without the writing part

- have the students write about someone else's scene

- create a scene and try to paint/draw it yourself

- have students work together to write the journal also

What other ideas can you think of? Please share!

NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center Statement on Technology

In their recent statement on technology in early childhood, The NAEYC and Fred Rogers Center make it clear that a balanced approach that is centered on what is best for each child should be the focus of decisions made about technology in the classroom.

I found the following points most useful for me as a Kindergarten teacher.

- It is important to give students the opportunity to explore technology before they are asked to use it for a specific purpose.

- Technology should enhance the learning not "be" the learning.

- Technology can be a powerful tool to help build relationships between the home and school through parent engagement. We should use these technologies to foster these relationships and also provide opportunities to educate parents on their use.

- Digital citizenship can and should start in early childhood by exposing students and modeling for them appropriate uses of technology in safe and socially positive ways.

- The goal of technology is to integrate it so that the technology itself does not take away from the learning or activity taking place.

- Children should be doing more than consuming when using technology. The real goal is that is allows them to create or produce in ways they could not without the tool.

- The use of technology is not a replacement for play or other forms of exploration in the classroom.

- Connecting students via technology is a great first step but the ultimate goal is allowing students to collaborate with children around the globe.

- When children are given the control of the technology and outcome it can provide a "voice" for them in sharing their learning with the class and parents.

- Teachers must be willing to explore new technology and become familiar with the tools so they can make informed decisions on what technology will best meet the needs of their students.

Armadillo Experts

Twitter has been a great way for me to encourage authentic learning in my class. I consider it authentic because it is not planned and the learning is student led. We read tweets from our friends and I let the class decide if we will respond and what we will say if so. Every time there is a topic the kids get excited about we pull books from the library to learn more. So far we have learned about owls, nocturnal animals, different types of weather, cardinals, snow, blizzards, Eric Carle, golden eagles, sink/float, pacific salmon, migration, batik, time zones, White House, squirrels, plus much more.

My class is also becoming much more confident about sharing what they know with their friends. Last week one of our twitter friends asked us about armadillos and if we knew where they lived. We tweeted back that we do have armadillos in Texas and would research more about them. The armadillo research center was VERY popular and the kids were so excited about the opportunity to share what they learned with another class. At the end of the week we worked together as a class to create a book to share with them using the StoryBuddy iPad app (results below).

The students now consider themselves "armadillo experts" and have made it the main topic of the last few Skype sessions we have had with other classes (pictured above). I'm proud of the learning that is happening in my class but even more proud of the excitement behind the learning. Connecting students is a wonderful thing but the power lies in letting them collaborate, create and share their learning together.

Animal Research Project

I posted a few weeks back about a website called LittleBirdTales I planned to use for our animal research project. In that post I showed an example book and how I set up the site for my class (you can find it HERE)

I am happy to share the results from the project. I had 21 kindergarten students create a book. They all made three pages focusing on how the animal moved, what it eats, and how it protects itself.

The only issues I found when using the site

- The students occasionally moving on before saving their work (so I modeled the steps daily)

- We were not able to record audio for the pages. This was an issue on our network not the site itself

- I assigned the same password to all the kids in our grade. This caused issues for students with the same name. Easy to fix next time.

I enjoyed using the site and plan to use it again in the future.

Here are a few of the books the kids created...