Blogging with 5 year olds

As we countdown to the end of the school year, my class have received their own blogs as preparation for moving to Year 2 next year!

The blogs were created with a few days of the term left, so I decided to take advantage of this and have the learners do a post using the Blogger app on their iPads.   This was a scaffolded lesson and we started by thinking about what we have particularly enjoyed about having iPads to help us with learning this year and unpacked some of the required vocabulary.  Learners created their own stories in their writing books and then used this to create their blog post, together with a photo of themselves taken with the iPad.

The class used the Blogger app for the first time and we went through each step as a whole class, with me demonstrating on the Apple TV and the learners then completing each step.  The Blogger app is really user friendly and I only had two children that tried to rush ahead and published too early - as I am an administrator for all the learners in my classroom I was able to quickly fix this.

I've also added some additional posts to my learners blog, celebrating the learning we have completed this year, as this will become part of their history at Pt England School.

A selection of my learners blogs are available here (linking to their very first individual blog post):

Oalii

Atlanta

Casshius

Nature

Francis

(NB:  These learners are currently Year 1 and will be Year 2 in 2015)

Maths with Explain Everything

After completing JAM tests with our learners just prior to the holidays, Michelle and I decided that two of our groups needed to work on "Adding on from the largest number".  Having time to play for this learning I decided to create some Explain Everything projects to scaffold this learning.  After spending time at the teaching table using equipment to model the concept, we moved onto my first Explain Everything project.  This project, made up of 25 slides with an equation on each, was highly scaffolded at the beginning, leading to just the equation towards the final slides.  In the first slides, the largest number was circled and dots were placed under the smaller number, allowing the learners to count the dots, starting from the circled larger number.

As the learners worked through the slides, they had to identify the largest number and circle this, before completing the equation.  Later, they had to place the dots under the smaller number to assist them in their addition.  

One of the features of using Explain Everything is that learners are able to revisit this project.  After completing it on Thursday at the teaching table, I was able to watch what learners were doing and provide further assistance as required.  The next step will be for these learners to complete the project independently, and record as they are working so we can review and check the understanding of all learners and see what they are able to achieve independently.

This video of the completed slides shows the end result of one learners work.  There is no voice with this recording as this movie was created as just a summation of all slides the first time the learner completed it.  Learners will now record, with voice, when the work with this project.  We have a master copy of the project and this will enable learners to revisit it as many times as necessary to assist in reinforcing the concept.

Adding on project 16.10.14 from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

Once learners have mastered this project, I have created a new project, again working with adding on from the largest number, this time scaffolded with a numberline.

Once again, the power of Explain Everything, combined with Teacher Dashboard to share the project to each individual learners iPads, has helped make this lesson so successful.  Learners will upload the project to their Google Drive when they complete it independently, so we are able to view these via Teacher Dashboard and check their understanding.

Writing using the iPads

One curriculum area which we haven’t to date used the iPads extensively with is writing.  Our main rationale for this was the need for learners to learn how to write using the traditional pen and paper.

We did implement a few innovations using the iPad during the first two terms, including having a lined page on an Explain Everything template for learners’ to practice writing their name as well as a trace the letters of the alphabet project (to assist with correct letter formation).  However, for the most part we have focused on writing using books and pencils.

That has all changed in the last few weeks as Michelle identified a need for our learners’ to remember their stories in order to write them.  They have some amazing ideas, many of which have come about through the rich gifting of oral language we are doing in the classroom (drawing on school wide professional development we are receiving from Dr Jannie van Hees).  We have trialed using Explain Everything to record their stories orally and then have the learners use the playback function to assist in their writing.  This innovation has shown immediate results with some great stories being created and written by our learners.

This approach has highlighted that learners are able to locate high frequency words and sounds within a word, and record these into sentences but they struggle to retain sentences (or multiple sentences) in their head and sequence it for writing.  Through this recorded scaffolding they are experiencing success in their writing which in turn is engaging them in writing.

In combination with this, we are now allowing learners to type their stories directly onto the iPad on some occasions.  This has resulted in greater detail in the stories and learners are even more engaged in writing and keen to write all the time.  This was highlighted last week when many selected writing during a twenty-minute period of ‘free choice’ in the classroom. 

While it is early days, the results already from learners recording their stories orally first and then using this recording to write has been so effective that we plan on continuing it into next term.

Two samples of independent, unscaffolded writing from my learners:

An example of a recorded sentence which a learner has used to write their story:

This post appears as my fortnightly contribution to the University of Auckland's Top of the Class blog, of which I'm a regular contributor.

Amazing writers

Michelle and I constantly attempt to innovate and think about new (or better) ways we can use Explain Everything to assist our learners.

One of the things that is holding back some of our learners in writing, is they fail to remember their whole story, so get part way through writing and forget what great idea they had and therefore what goes next.  Last Wednesday while I was at University, Michelle trialled them recording their story using their voice and then using this to play back again and again as they wrote.  It seems to have been a success although early days yet!

Accompanying this, we have allowed learners the opportunity to type their story.  Some still prefer to use their book, but some have taken to the typing and can actually create a much longer story using the keyboard than they would using a traditional pen and paper.  In fact, on Friday, we had a spare twenty minutes to our day, and when given a choice, some learners chose to write on their iPads as their 'free choice' activity!  With some amazing results.  These stories were not scaffolded at all - they were able to write about whatever they wished.  I had a few requests for "how do you spell this" but the ideas, the structure and the location of many of the words were done independently by the learners.  I was amazed with what they created!  

We will continue to offer the keyboard option on some occasions, particularly when we get results like this:

Explain Everything to extend our Integrated Learning

Our integrated learning theme is "Working Smarter not Harder" based around equipment in the kitchen which makes things easier to do.  On Thursday we planned our first cooking session with the class but wanted to unpack this learning by introducing the vocabulary of the equipment we would use.

We started the session by showing all the equipment we would use (waffle iron, measuring cups, mixing bowl, apron etc) and we provided labels for each item to scaffold the learning.  We decided to have learners use Explain Everything to take a photo of each piece of equipment and then rather than simply photograph the label, they would use their stylus to label their photos in Explain Everything.  The results were extremely impressive and it was great to see the engagement of the learners as they completed this task.

Unfortunately some learners learn the concept of saving the hard way - when they accidentally deleted their work before saving it - this reinforced to Michelle and I the importance of going over this step with the learners.   Many of our Explain Everything projects to date have been templates shared with them so they were easier to save as the file name was already completed.  As a result of this I will create a screencast as a reference for learners to reinforce the saving process.

After cooking (and eating) the waffles, as a follow up, learners were asked to add to their Explain Everything photos with an additional slide.  The instructions were to draw a picture of cooking waffles or the equipment that was used and talk about their photo as they did it.

The power of 'the voice' with Explain Everything

The learners being able to record their voice is a very powerful feature of Explain Everything.  As a teacher we can 'replay' their learning through Teacher Dashboard, and this can assist with identifying any gaps in their learning.

Yesterday for writing, a group of learners used Explain Everything to write their story.  They used their stylus and started with a lined page - I created the lines and set it as the background on a blank Explain Everything page, using Teacher Dashboard to share this with all learners.   The focus was on crafting their own story, based on what they did over the long weekend - we shared our weekend activities first with our peers and then as a whole class.  On the whiteboard, we documented just some key words from their ideas next to each child's photo.  At the teaching table, the learners came up with their own sentences and we worked on identifying high frequency words and sounds within a word.  

Once the writing was completed, learners read their story and recorded this using the iPad.  While this session was guided with the learners, it opens the way for the learners to create a story independently, recording high frequency words and known sounds in a word before reading and recording their story so we are able to hear and compare their oral language with their writing - powerful!

Term One ... where did the time go?

WOW - my first term as a teacher and its over!  Despite the exhaustion it was bittersweet to wake up this morning and realise it was time for a break!  And a review!  Time to look back on my own personal goals for the term and think about the great learning strides that the students in Class 20 have made and celebrate how far we've come .... but the journey is only one quarter done for the year and already Michelle and I are thinking of new ways to extend the learning next term!

I'm amazed at the progress some of the students have made and I can't help but compare some of the oral language gains that we've achieved and celebrate these.  Compare these two clips, the first a scaffolded class sentence which students were extremely reluctant to repeat, let alone record, followed by a narrated presentation by the same student with no teacher input.

Nature 7 Feb from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.


nature fia fia from Team 1 PES on Vimeo.

We've sung, danced and explored our way through the first term.  The students have been SO engaged, which is constantly commented on by visitors to our room and the iPads are just a natural part of our teaching.  Michelle and I continue to discuss and think of ways that we can use them innovatively and this will only continue next term.  We've already thought of new things to explore with Explain Everything!  I'm ready for a holiday, but at the same time, I'm SO excited to continue this journey.

Further extending Oral Language with EE

After an amazing Fia Fia performance last night we decided we wanted to use that as a writing motivation for today.  After discussing what we wanted to do we decided to start with a pair-share of our experiences from the night followed by the students using Explain Everything to make a drawing of their performance and us capturing their thoughts by typing up individual stories.

Michelle suggested that instead of us typing up the stories, we used Explain Everything to capture their stories by each student talking about their picture as they completed the drawing - this is the first time we have done this, and we would need to demonstrate the activity to the class.  Using the Airplay function we were able to do this and I drew a picture of me on stage, talking about my drawing as I did it and adding detail.  I modelled turning the recording off while I thought about what I was going to draw next.  When I had completed the picture we were able to replay the recording and the students could see the picture being drawn with the voice-over explaining what I was drawing.

The students then went to their own individual iPads and began the activity.  I noticed a few things:

• Many of the students copied what I had drawn (eg the stage, lights, costume) and used similar language to what I had used - I'm sure as we do this activity more often they will begin to experiment with their own thoughts and language
• Some students didn't record as they did their drawing, however, with teacher prompting they were happy to record a story to go with their picture.
• Many students were extremely keen to use the AirPlay and watch their work on the big TV
• Teacher Dashboard is great to review the students videos later and assess what each child has done

As this was the first time we've attempted this activity I was extremely pleased with the results and would like to follow up with another session of doing the same thing before the holidays in order for this learning to be embedded.

Check out some of the samples from today's session:

Taking Samples to Gauge Progress Later

Today was our first round of taking samples of the students' oral language and we did this as they read a sentence we had constructed as a class throughout the week.  We added to this sentence over a number of days and then turned it into a “song” so the students could easily remember it.  When it came to sampling the class, some students were very keen to have a go, while others were very shy and not prepared to even try.  We will need to get samples from these students next week.  

The following are two examples of the samples recorded today: