Day 153 - Karen Hoyt and Melissa Parnell, Pine Glen Elementary Kindergarten

Boston Symbols:

To culminate our studies of symbols we worked with Mrs. D'Elia and Mr. Callahan to make this video presentation.  We know you will be very impressed!

Day 145 - Dan Callahan, Pine Glen Elementary Instructional Technology

Reading ePub documents on your iOS device or Computer:
Later this week I should be posting lots of student projects from this year that I haven’t had a chance to post yet!
Many of the projects this year were created in Book Creator for iPad, which creates an ePub file, which is an electronic book format. The advantage of the electronic book format is that it allows students to insert audio and video into their books. The negative is that there aren’t many options for how you can read those books. Up until a couple of months ago, your only option was using iBooks on an iOS device. Now, fortunately, there’s another option on the computer. This post will describe both ways of reading student work created in Book Creator.
iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch)
First, you’ll need to download iBooks from the App Store. It’s completely free!
Next, you’ll need to find an ePub file to download. Here’s the first grade graphic novel that I posted earlier this year!
After tapping on the link, you’ll see a screen that gives basic information and gives you a download button that you should tap.

This will bring you to an Open In screen. If it says Open in iBooks, tap that. Otherwise tap Open in… and then choose Open in iBooks from the list that pops up.

iBooks will open up with your new book ready to read!


Computer (PC or Mac)
If you don’t have it already, you’ll need to download the Chrome web browser by Google.
Download the ePub file and save it somewhere easy to find again. I use the Downloads folder or the Desktop.
You’ll then need to add the Readium Extension to Chrome. In order to add it, you’ll need to be signed in to a free Google account.


After downloading, it should create a New Tab on the Apps page. Click on Readium.


Click the Add Items button


Click Choose Files, then find your epub where you had saved it. Then click Add Book. Now you can read your book!


Later this year, Apple will release a new version of Mac OS X that will have iBooks built in, so this is just a temporary measure for reading on Mac. After that it will work much more like iOS.

Day 140 - Laura Delia, Pine Glen Elementary Library

Where Can I Find Books to Read This Summer?:

Find links to all of the recommendations listed below (and more!) on the “Summer Reading” Symbaloo page.

Glen Picnic and Book Fair, June 12

All books will be Buy One, Get One Free. Great chance to stock up on summer reads!

Got Books? Book Cart

Pine Glen now has a Free Lending Library Book Cart in the lobby filled with gently used books from the Used Book Superstore of Burlington. They are free so take one or donate one (or two or three)! Only available while school is scheduled.

Burlington Public Library

Not only do they have a great Summer Reading Program but you can check out books, magazines, graphic novels, and ebooks all year long! It’s free!

iReady

Pine Glen students can continue to use iReady at home over the summer. Just use the same student login you use at school. Free to use.

Tumblebooks

Pine Glen’s database of digital picture books available to students and their families all summer long. Free to use.

WeGiveBooks.org

Sign up for a free account and you and your family will have access to a great collection of web-based, digital books you can read online. Plus! for every book you read, one book is donated to a world literacy cause. It’s free!

Used Book Superstore

Lots of great deals all year long!

Day 136 - Jill Cunha, Pine Glen Elementary School Grade 3

Harvard Museum of Natural History:

Day 132 - Jane Lynch, Pine Glen Elementary Grade 3

Twisters touch down in Room 205:

Guided reading lessons this week were all about tornadoes .In the wake of the recent tornadoes in the Mid-west we worked hard learning about how these storms can start and how to stay safe. We used the tornado bottle models to observe the formation of the funnel type column that forms during a tornado. This week we are writing our own weather reports and drawing weather patterns across the United States.

Day 125 - Ms. Varrell, Pine Glen Elementary School Grade 2

Our Trip to the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary:

Here's a quick pictorial look at our trip to the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, MA. Thank you so much to Ms. Cohen, Ms. Boogaard and Ms. Thyne (and Mr. Conte from Ms. Anderson's room) for their fabulous chaperoning throughout the trip!

Our naturalist, Bruce, explaining the tools we will use to catch 'land insects'.

Nick, checking out a 'land net' for results.

Later, we put our insects into small containers to look at more closely.

There's a dragonfly in there somewhere!

Bruce used a flow chart to show us how to determine what kinds of insects we found.

Mr. and Mrs. Goose and their three goslings taking a swim on the Ipswich River.

Learning about 'water insects'.

Bruce, demonstrating the use of a strainer (sieve) to collect water insects.

Insects like to hide!

"Let's see what we got!"

"I hope we find some tadpoles!"

Cleaning the strainers before returning them to their place.

Returning the insects to their natural habitat.

What a fabulous class!

Oh my! Whose class is this??