Analogies and Vocabulary With the Stick Around App

We have been preparing all week for our final meet in the 2014-15 WordMasters Challenge competition scheduled for next week. The WordMasters Challenge is a vocabulary competition based on completing analogies. Analogies involve higher order thinking skills which is based on logic and reason. We have been working on analogies and higher level thinking all year.

We decided to try something new to prepare for the meet! Students worked collaboratively and chose sixteen words expected to be part the WordMasters Challenge. They looked up the definitions of the words and created a puzzle using an iPad app called Stick Around to learn the meanings of their words. 

The first step of this project was watching a few tutorials to learn how to create the puzzle using the Stick Around App, then students started exploring and creating. 

As a class we tweeted the app creator, Tony Vincent and the app itself and a few students were really excited when we got retweeted right away! 

The goal of the student created puzzles was to drag the correct definition to the vocabulary word. Then, students were able to self-check their answers to see if they were correct and fix any errors if necessary. 

 Students enjoyed creating the puzzle but LOVED playing puzzles created by other teams. 

The Stick Around app was a really fun way for us to prepare for our final WordMasters meet. 

The WordMasters Challenge is a cumulative competition so scores from this last meet will be added to previous scores to determine our final winners! It has been a tight competition so this last meet will be critical. Keep studying and practicing! 

Mystery Book Club via Skype

We have participated in quite a few Mystery Skypes this year and my class loves them! Almost all of our Mystery Skypes have been geography based, guessing the location of the other class by asking them yes or no questions. However, last week we branched out and did a Mystery Book Club via Skype.

It was very challenging! While there are only 50 possible states to choose from, there are literally millions of books! Although my class consists of voracious readers, we have not read every single book ever published, so we had to use our research, problem solving and deductive reasoning skills to solve the mystery.

Clues that helped us guess the books the other class presented us included author information, award information, publication date and genre. When students realized they were not going to be able to effortlessly figure out the book title, they quickly took to the Internet and started researching. Students also formed great follow up questions to help them figure out the book title.

My students really enjoyed this new challenge and I was impressed by their research and presentation skills.

Digital Learning Day

Friday was Digital Learning Day, a day for students and educators across North America to celebrate digital learning! 

We completed a Pi Day cyberhunt, several students worked on an ongoing coding project and several others continued a collaborative data analytics project using Google apps. 

In preparation for Digital Learning Day, every student chose one digital project they had completed this year and linked it to a QR Code. We printed and hung all our QR Codes in the hallway as did other classes all over the school. 

We took some time touring the school and scanning codes to see what other classes have been learning this year. We will continue doing this on Monday. 

We Rock!

In Science, we have been learning about rocks, along with pebbles, sand and silt. In this investigation, students studied three different types of rocks.

They also rubbed them together and were surprised at the different reactions. Some rocks created a fine powder, some visibly scratched the other rock and some did nothing. The power also looked different on black paper and white paper. 

Homophones, QR Codes and Valentine's Day

Each year my class creates an interactive, 21st century Valentine card and this year was no exception!

Everyone worked with a partner using the free iPad app, Split Lens 2 to create a twin image of themselves. 

Students had a lot of fun getting creative with poses and props!

Students added a filter and text and emailed the image to themselves.

Then, they took their cloned image and uploaded it to Canva. They created a digital Valentine card using their cool double image. They saved and exported their Canva image and imported it into Google slides. Students made the slide public and created a QR Code leading to it. 

 Using Google docs, students inserted the QR Code and some text to print and physically glue to the front of their handmade Valentine card. 

We have been learning about homophones this week so I encouraged a pun using the word "two" since we had created a double image. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Noetic Math Winners

Congrats To Our Honor Roll Awardees!

Earlier this year my class competed in The Noetic Learning Math Contest, which is an advanced, biannual, national math competition for elementary students. The goal of the competition is to encourage students to be interested in math, developing problem solving skills and inspire young learners to excel in math! My class did very well and we had nine students finish in the top 10% nationally, earning a spot on the Noetic Honor Roll. Wow! These students were awarded math medals. We also had many students place in the top 50% nationally, and these students received an Honorable Mention.

For the first time, Noetic also awarded Team Achievement Awards for this competition. My class tied for first place with another class in Georgia. Congrats to all students for being a part of this honor!

Finally, we had the top scorer nationally with a perfect score! We will be participating in the Noetic Math Competition again this Spring. 

Phoenix Symphony

Last week, my class had the pleasure of enjoying a private concert from some members of the Phoenix Symphony! Our room parent, Mrs. Clarke is on the board of many wonderful organizations including the Phoenix Symphony, so she graciously arranged this assembly with the woodwind ensemble. Click here for more information on what the students learned and experienced.

Thanks again to Mrs. Clarke for this amazing presentation!