Day 103 - Lauren Kippenberger, Memorial School Grade 3

Fraction Fun:

We are learning about fractions! As part of our math program, the students play a game called "Fraction Cookies." Today we learned how to play. The first person to collect 12 cookies wins!

Day 102, Andrew Marcinek, Burlington High School Staff

Subtext app update:
The social reading application, Subtext, recently added new features to its iOS application. Subtext allows teachers and students to read books on the app as well as upload ePub (and PDF files coming soon). Teachers and students can also pull articles from any website on the web and save them to subtext. This feature only brings in the text and some links.
In their latest update, Subtext allows Teachers to create assignments with any text or article on the group shelf and provides Google drive integration.
Teachers can add an assignment by clicking on the + sign



And then Teachers can title the assignment, select pages for students to read, add categorical tags (such as characterization, foreshadowing, etc.), and post a introduction message to the assignment and a message when the students finish the reading.



The other new feature that was recently added was Google drive integration. Students and teachers can now access their Google drive and all of the docs while working within the pages of Subtext. At the top of every page, there is a lowercase ‘g’. When users tap on that the page will flip and users can sign into their Google drive account.



Once signed into Google drive, users can access a previously created document or they can create a new document or spreadsheet. Plus, users can create a running bibliography list, or start a rough draft for an essay they are working on. This feature also allows users to bring in their highlighted passages and use while constructing their essay or research paper. In short, it’s a great, all-in-one application for research and reading.



Since its launch, Subtext has been one of my favorite applications for beginning a close reading of a text, building discussions around a text outside of the classroom, and engaging students in the reading and now, the writing process. Their updates are directly related to what teachers and students want. If you’re interested in starting your class on a Subtext reading assignment, please let me know. You can also follow them on Twitter @readwithsubtext 

Day 101 - Irene Farmer, Francis Wyman Elementary Grade 1

Spring show photos, Field Trip Updates and more:

Some photos from our Spring Show!

Field Trip to See Click, Clack Moo
Reminder:  The field trip to see Click, Clack, Moo is on Thursday, April 3rd.  Chaperones have the choice of either driving or traveling on the bus for this trip.  The students will eat lunch when we return to school, so there is no need to pack a brown bag lunch for this trip.

Off to the Rainforest!
We are waddling out of Antarctica and traveling into the Rain Forest for our next unit of study.  We will learn about the layers of the RainForest, the animals and plants which thrive there and how we can do our part to help save the RainForest from further destruction.

MATH
We are wrapping up our unit on measurement and you will soon receive all of their hard work from this unit.  Our focus now will be on adding and subtracting with tens and ones.  As always, please help your child's math fluency by having them go onto xtramath (click here) a few times a week.  (Please contact me if you have lost or misplaced your child's password.) It's quick and easy and most children seem to love it!  I've also opened up access to more homework in ST Math if your child is enjoying that program as well.

Day 100 - Burlington Integrated Preschool

Science Center Show -Reptile and Light Show:  Today Ms. Wendy and Mr. Sean from the Burlington Science Center came to our preschool to present a reptile and light show.  We learned new facts about reptiles such as they have backbones and they are cold blooded.  Wendy had an alligator, a snake, and two turtles to show us.  We even had a turn to touch the snake if we wanted to. She also showed us a turtle shell that had a backbone inside of its shell.

 We loved touching the snake to feel its scales. Many of the animals we saw in the show were in our unit books (Raccoon on His Own and Play With Me)

 The alligator was making sounds during the show.

 We loved watching the turtles have a little snack during the show.











Learning about light with Mr. Sean!

 Then Mr. Sean taught us about light.  We learned how the sun gives us light and makes our planet warm.  He had a white ball that lit up.  When he turned out the lights and spun it in a circle, it made new colors.  Then he showed us different kinds of mirrors.  This reinforced our unit of reflections.
Finally, he showed us a laser light. He explained to us that light travels in a  straight line.  When he put the lights out, Ms. Wendy sprayed "smoke" on the light and proved how light travels in a straight line.



It was an amazing show.  We are very lucky to have such an amazing resource in Burlington.
We love the Burlington Science Center!!
Thank you so much Wendy and Sean!!









Learning about reflections and the path of light.


When we came back from the show, we recalled the new facts we learned. They were really listening!!
Steven D.- Snakes have dry skin.
Stephen H. - Turtles have a backbone on its' shell.
Stephen B.- The laser light goes in a straight line.
John- The alligator has very sharp teeth for biting.
Paige- The snake has a long tongue to taste the air.
Michael- The turtle has bones inside its' shell.
Trevor- When you put your hand in front of a laser, it will block the light.
Jack- The alligator had a backbone.
Gabby- Alligators are born from eggs.
Sarah- A laser goes in a straight line.
Sophia- Reptiles temperatures goes up and down.
Nao- The snake had a long tail.
Kayden- The snake had a backbone.
Logan- The snake slithers to get around.
Boris- When you see your reflection in a bendy mirror it looks blurry.

Day 99 - Burlington High School Student Help Desk

Gear Heart:

A video put together to show the Help Desk’s new print “Gear Heart” in action.

The Heart itself is made of seventeen red, hallow PLA pieces. Just like a real heart, it is capable of breaking, and inflicting pain.

Day 98 - Patrick Larkin, Assistant Superintendent

But How Will Their Students Pass The State Assessment?:

As our students in Massachusetts settle in for their annual round of "high-stakes" testing, I think it is the perfect time for people to take a few minutes to watch the video from TEDxCreativeCoast titled The Future Will Not Be Multiple Choice.  The presentation by Jaime McGrath (an elementary school teacher in Savannah, GA) and Drew Davies (a web designer) was posted on Mind Shift's blog about a month ago and I forgot about it until I saw a tweet last night with the link. It really is a must watch for anyone who thinks that our current educational structure is adequate.

It's no newsflash the current structure of most classrooms is unchanged from the structure that was created to educate students for an industrial society back in the 19th Century.  At one point in our history fitting the right piece in the right hole as quickly as possible and being able to retain large amounts of trivial information in order to regurgitate it or draw from it quickly may have actually been useful. However in a day and age where asking the right questions is of more value than providing a quick response to a multiple choice question, we are past the point of needing a change.

In fact the findings of educators like McGrath, who stray from the current script and look at problem-based education and a focus on "design thinking" are clear.

"All we did was give them the challenge, point them in the right direction and give them the space to be creative," noted McGrath.  

Here are a few of my take-aways made by the co-presenters Jaime McGrath (an elementary school teacher in Savannah, GA) and Drew Davies (a web designer):

• Reports predict that 65% of our students will be working in jobs that don't exist yet.

• "Such simple tasks as manipulation of blocks helps infants and toddlers develop early skills, including math literacy - the language of numbers." Huttenlocher, Jordan, and Levine 1994

• Don't need students skilled in picking A, B, C, D 

• "A true understanding of reality is not possible without a certain element of imagination..." Lev Vygotsky 

• Design in education compliments all learning styles 

• Will it be messy and risky? But what is the reality we are trying to prepare our kids for? 

• The future is not a multiple choice test, it is a design challenge

So my question about the state assessment (or a national assessment) posed above was - "How will these students pass the state (or national) assessment. Here's my answer -  "Who Cares!"

I think the bottom line is that students who are being taught in classrooms where they are being taught to think will be successful on any measure.

Day 97 - Dennis Villano, Director of Instructional Technology

Early Update About 1:1 At MSMS:

Marshall Simonds Middle School in Burlington is 1:1 with iPads. About 860 students in grades 6-8 have been using iPads in the classroom since January. Teachers and students at MSMS were recently asked about how the 1:1 program is developing. Here are some of the early updates about the 1:1 environment and a current top ten list of MSMS apps.
Foreign Language
Students are using iPads to to practice and reinforce vocabulary. Educreations is being used to write vocabulary as dictated and translate. Educreations is also used as a review tool before assessments. Students are accessing Quia.com in order to play games that reinforce vocabulary from class. They have the option of taking class notes in Evernote or Notability. Many students are creating virtual flashcards with pictures or voice attached. Students have shown excellent growth in organization of materials using the iPad.
Music
Students in the MSMS Select Chorus use their iPads instead of sheet music. Students use a number of apps to record their parts when rehearsing. This is useful as they can hear themselves singing the correct notes, limiting the number of times a particular passage needs to be reviewed. Practice tracks are created for each part and designated Section Leaders use their iPad to reinforce music to their peers. The entire grade 6 General Music curriculum is on NetTexts. They can view videos and complete worksheets on particular topics. This eliminates the need to make photocopies. Students love the app and appreciate the consolidated organization of content.
Art
Students are using iPads to find images for art projects and incorporating the digital images into paintings, Photoshop projects, and sculpture. Students are using iPads for digital video art projects as well.
English Language Arts
iPads are being used to find poetry in music lyrics. iPad apps including Evernote and Notability are being used for note taking, worksheets, and practice. Highlighted apps include Edmodo, Socrative, Grammar, and Explain Everything. Students are using Haiku Deck and Explain Everything for presentations.
Math
Students are completing daily MCAS warm up questions and using Notability and Evernote for note taking. Explain Everything is being used for student videos and screen casts as well as some interim assessment activities. Educreations has been helpful for group or partner work and JogNog has been used for MCAS practice and review. Socrative is being used for quiz review and MCAS style questions. Students are using Google Chrome to check their stocks daily as part of the stock market game. They use Google Spreadsheets for keeping track of their stocks and Google Drive for creating letters to their companies. Edmodo is also used for daily homework and test preparation.
Social Studies
Socrative is being used for practice, review, and quizzes. Most students are using Evernote for note taking. Students have created presentations using Haiku Deck and Explain Everything which have been shown through the classroom AppleTVs or Reflector app. Students are also using the Globe and Google Earth apps to locate and describe places as topics are discussed in class.
Science
Students are using Evernote and Google Drive for note taking and science lab activities. Students are reviewing for the science MCAS using the JogNog app. Students are video recording classroom presentations and reviewing projects created by their peers. Many students have used Explain Everything and the camera roll as presentation tools.
MSMS Top Ten List of Apps (as of March 25, 2013)

1) Evernote

2) Explain Everything

3) Google Drive

4) Notability

5) Haiku Deck

6) Socrative

7) Educreations

8) Edmodo

9) NetTexts

10) JogNog 

Day 96 - Alison Varrell, Pine Glen Elementary Grade 2

Classroom Summary March 18 - 22:

Here's what we did this week...

In Fundations we completed our unit on the double vowels /ee/, /ea/, and /ey/. We know that ey is most frequently used at the end of multisyllabic words like monkey and money. We also know that the /ea/ and /ee/ double vowels are most often used at the beginning or middle of syllables, although /ee/ can sometimes come at the end of a one syllable word (free) and /ea/ can come at the beginning of a syllable (each). Next week we will work on the double vowels that make the long o sound. Can you guess what those might be?

In Math we continued our work with tables and charts with missing data. We learned how to identify patterns in number to discover what data was missing and then applied the information we read in the tables to discover the answer to the question: What is the mystery shape? We used our knowledge of  geometry and pattern blocks and counting in groups to solve various mystery shape problems. Our homework on Monday will reinforce our work with tables.

In Miss Varrell's reading group the children began reading about the science topic of amphibians and reptiles. Each group had to identify the parts of the text that proved that the book was nonfiction. Next week we will learn how reading a nonfiction book is much different from reading a fiction book. We began using an information organizer to help us comprehend the text before, during and after reading. Next week we will complete more of the organizer. At our centers, we worked on our Kidblogs, kept track of our independent reading in our reading logs and worked on a skill sheet about adjectives and 'check-up' sheet on inferring. Ask us what two questions an adjective will always answer!

In Writing this week we continued to work in our writing folders at various stages of the writing process: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing and publishing. Miss Varrell taught a mini-lesson on how to use questioning to help us revise and improve our writing. We each took turns reading a piece of writing to a buddy. After the reading, our buddy asked us up to three questions about our writing. When we were able to answer the buddy's question(s), we went back to our writing and inserted the information where it would most make sense. When we were finished we shared! Below is a video and some photographs to illustrate our process:

In Social Studies we began our unit on landforms and bodies of water. We began reading a chapter from our social studies book called "Where We Live." We noticed that just like in nonfiction books we have read in reading class, our social studies book had some of the same special text features. There were maps, photographs, and instead of bold words, some words were underlined. We know that when we see words that are bold or are underlined, the author is telling us to pay special attention to them. Many times the meaning of those words is stated right in the same sentence! So far we learned the following terms: map key, island, hill, mountain, peninsula, plains, lake, ocean and river. We will learn more as we continue reading the chapter next week.

Weekend Challenge:  Here's an expression that people often say around this time of year:

March comes in like a lion but goes out like a lamb. 

What do you think it means? Write your answer using TTQA (turn the question around) on an index card. On the other side of the card, draw a picture illustrating your meaning. Bring your card in on Monday!

F.Y.I.

• The Pine Glen Carnival is just a couple of weeks away! The PTO is in need of set-up, day-of, and break-down volunteers for this annual event. Any amount of time you can give is appreciated. Also, thank you to those families who have donated to the Room 211 Raffle Basket that our room parent, Mrs. Naddaff, is organizing. If you have already volunteered to work the carnival and have already sent in your donation, the Pine Glen Community sincerely thanks you!
• Book orders were placed on Friday, March 22. Books usually take about 1-2 weeks to arrive. As soon as they arrive I will send them home with your child. Thank you for helping our class earn book points!
• Good Friday is March 29. There is no school.
• Please continue to have your child bring in his/her reading corps slips. For every 15 minutes your child reads, one box can be crossed off. Parents just need to initial or sign each slip (don't worry about signing every single box) and send them in to school. We are keeping track of our home reading progress on a poster in our classroom. We would love to see everyone have their boxes filled before the end of the year!
• In the homework packet for next week, there is no draft page included, but there will be two graphic organizers attached instead. Please have your child use whichever one he or she prefers when brainstorming ideas for his/her paragraph. The only paragraph paper that needs to be returned to school is the final draft; the graphic organizers are to assist your child (and you) when beginning the writing process at home. Thank you for all your support!

Day 95 - Susan Astone, Francis Wyman Principal

Read Across America Day: Thank you to all our celebrity readers for joining Francis Wyman students on Dr. Seuss  - Read Across America Day! We appreciate you giving the students your time and attention. By reading to our students, you are supporting their reading development and modeling a life-long love of reading.

School Committee member Mrs. Kristen Russo read to grade two students. She encouraged students to read for enjoyment.

DPW  Mr. John Sanchez read to our grade four class and answered many excellent questions from the students. The students were learning about measurement and enjoyed hearing about the gallons of water Burlington uses on a daily basis.

Selectman Runyan read Green Eggs and Ham to grade two students. The students enjoyed hearing about being both a fire fighter and a selectman.

Senator Donnelly read Sneetches to grade 3 students. He encouraged them to run for Student Council as a way to become involved. It could lead to a life of public service!

Representative Gordon read his favorite Dr. Seuss book The Lorax to grade 5 students. He too encouraged students to become involved through the Student Council.

Day 94 - Marshall Simonds Middle School Student Help Desk

How to Use Educreations:

Day 93 - Laura DElia - Pine Glen Elementary Library/Media Specialist

Celebrating Books, Reading & World Literacy:

From March 1 through March 11 (extended due to snow days), Pine Glen celebrated Bookapalooza, a school-wide event that allowed us to share our love of reading and to support world literacy. It was a lot of work but even more fun!

First, it was important to promote Bookapalooza to our school community before the big week. I asked the Student Council if they would like to help and they were eager to get on board. These students came up with the name “Bookapalooza,” made posters to hang around the school, and helped me make Dr. Seuss goodie bags.

Students making posters

Stuffing Dr. Seuss Goodie Bags

Bookapalooza poster

 
“Make a Change With Your Change” poster

We kicked off Bookapalooza by celebrating Read Across America and Dr. Seuss’s 109th birthday on Friday, March 1. Ms. Smith’s first grade classroom made Dr. Seuss posters to hang around the school and Mrs. Visocchi helped to arrange for her Bridges senior volunteers to visit classrooms and read Dr. Seuss books to our students. The lunchroom served green eggs and ham and the Library & Technology Center handed out small goodie bags to all students (you never know when you’re going to need a Dr. Seuss bookmark!) Rumor had it that the Cat in the Hat showed up to do a little reading, too!

L
ots of excitement (and silliness!)

Fi
rst grade posters for Dr. Seuss’s birthday

Goodie Bags

Member of Mrs. Visocchi’s senior Bridges program reading Dr. Seuss

The Cat in the Hat made an appearance in First Grade

Then we turned our focus to world literacy by participating in a week long celebration of World Read Aloud Day, March 6. Our homerooms signed up to be Book Buddies with other homerooms so students could read picture books aloud to each other. It was so great to see older students reading to younger students and vice versa! The LTC had plenty of great read-alouds set aside so students could choose their favorites to read. I love seeing which books students chose especially those who wanted to share a book that they loved when they were younger.

Samantha reading to her Kindergarten Book Buddies

Devin loved reading his favorite childhood book to his Kindergarten Book Buddy

Brennan is enjoying being read to by his big sister Book Buddy, Shea

World Read Aloud Day is a worldwide event hosted by LitWorld.org that brings awareness to world literacy. There are 793,000 people in the world who are not literate.

World Read Aloud Day is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology.

Pine Glen participated in World Read Aloud Day in a handful of ways. First, we Skyped with other classrooms in the United States, sharing a picture book and reading aloud to each other. The majority of the books we shared we read on the WeGiveBooks.org, a database of digital picture books that you can read online while supporting world literacy:

• We read One Cool Friend with Mrs. Lussier’s class in Connecticut,
• We read Bunny Days, Duck! Rabbit! and Mine-O-Saur with Ms. Broderick’s class in Massachusetts,
• We read Mine-O-Saur with Ms. Broderick’s class in Massachusetts AND Mr. Winner’s class in Maryland at the same time! (that was definitely a shining moment
• We read Same, Same but Different with Mr. Plemmons’s class in Georgia,
• We read Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons with Mrs. Schmidt’s class in Georgia and her students performed Reader’s Theater for us,
• We read Extra Yarn with Mrs. Potter’s class in Maine,
• We read One Cool Friend with Ms. Myles class in North Carolina,
• We read Bunny Days with Mrs. Hundt’s class in Wisconsin, and
• We read Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon with Mrs. Kaldenbergh’s class in Iowa.

Reading One Cool Friend with ours friends in North Carolina

Skyping and reading with Ms. Broderick in MA and Mr. Winner in MD at the same time!

Reading Same, Same but Different with Mr. Plemmons in GA

Pine Glen also decided to raise money for world literacy. We created the “Make a Change, With Your Change” Fundraiser (thank you, again, Student Council for such a great name!) After a week of collecting change, we raised $400.00! The LTC will donate this money to WeGiveBooks.org who, during the winter season, will give two books to a world literacy campaign for every $5.00 you donate. That means Pine Glen donated 160 books! Great effort to everyone who donated. Pine Glen definitely made a change with our change

Devin adder her change to the bottle

Finally, we ended Bookapalooze with “Dress Up as Your Favorite Book Character” Day. There were many great book characters spotted that day such as Percy Jackson, Pinkalicious, Skippyjon Jones, Harry Potter, Tintin, and Pippi Longstocking.

Pinkalicious

How many Things are there?

Paper Bag Princess

Tintin

Skippyjon Jones

Rendi from Starry River of the Sky

Percy Jackson

Pippi Longstocking

Even the Friday Faculty Breakfast got into the spirit!

Thank you, Pine Glen, for a memorable week of sharing our love for books and reading.

View the whole set of photos from Bookapalooza 2013