Day 150 - Patrick Larkin, Assistant Superintendent

A Four Minute Video On The 2013 K-12 Horizon Report:


The New Media Consortium (NMC) has just released its fifth Horizon Report for K-12 education. As it has done in each of the previous four years, the report "examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative inquiry within the environment of pre-college education." (via NMC.org)

The video above is a short synopsis of this year's report highlighting the six technologies to watch in 2013. The technologies cited are -

1. Cloud computing
2. Mobile learning
3. Learning anayltics
4. Open content
5. 3D Printing
6. Virtual and remote labs

The video also explains the three adoption horizons:

1. near-term (12 months)
2. mid-term (2-3 years)
3. far-term (4-5 years)

The report is a great guide for schools to see where they stand in regards to staying current with technology planning. You can get the entire report here.

Day 149 - Pine Glen Elementary - Grade 2 Students

Second Grade Culture Projects:

This year our really big library and technology project with the second grade was the culture project. Inspired by work shared by teachers at Fox Hill during a Social Studies Curriculum Council meeting, this was an in-depth project involving instruction by the second grade teachers, librarian, and technology specialist. Students researched and learned about one of the cultures their family came from, nonfiction text features, and finding appropriate images online, then inserting those and text into a finished electronic book on the iPad. Many students also used their voices to share some of the words they learned in the language of the country that they studied.
Click on the links below to access the books created by the second grade students!

• Miss Anderson’s class
• Mrs. Keough-Lane’s class
• Miss Varrell’s class

If you need help viewing these books, please see this post with instructions for both computers and iOS devices like the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

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 144 - Marshall Simonds Middle School, Grade 6

Geometry Scavenger Hunt Projects:

Instead of taking a traditional test to wrap up the geometry unit, 6A students participated in a school wide scavenger hunt.  Students took pictures on their iPads around the math classroom, hallways, auditorium, Learning Commons, school entrance, and a courtyard to find different types of angles, lines, polygons, and perform some calculations on either volume, surface area, or area.  Students were surprised that so many of the geometric concepts we have learned about surround them everyday.  Here are some examples of the students’ Geometry Scavenger Hunts made on the Explain Everything app.

 

Day 143 - Jane Lynch, Pine Glen Elementary School

Rock Geologists of Room 205:

Ms. Christie helping out.

Does it sink or float?

How many colors can I see?

Can it scratch a penny?

Scientific process at work!

Can it leave a streak on a porcelain tile?

I think I can break this...

Data and recording results

Day 142 - Jill Cunha, Pine Glen Elementary School

Building Boston Project:

So far the building Boston projects have been very creative!  We have seen a bird sanctuary, a barnyard, a hotel for sports players, a chocolate chip cookie factory, a gluten-free bakery, and a nature place.  Every year I am amazed at how great these projects come out.  I especially love the names that each building has.  Great job third graders!!

Day 141 - Burlington Science Center Staff

The Science Behind our Energy:

Over the past two months the Burlington Science Center’s exhibit, “The Science of Energy” has made its way through the main lobbies of all four Burlington elementary schools. An array of interactive exhibits accompanied by informational displays encouraged students to learn about the many forms of energy and how energy can change or transfer from one form of energy to another.
Students were guided through the exhibit by answering essential questions differentiated at each grade level. From the looks of our pictures below its clear everyone was engaged and excited to learn all about the energy of our world!

Energy comes in many forms!

Exploring all the different exhibits!

Solar energy can be used to run motors, play music, and light our homes!

Cranking up the Science Center’s electromagnet generator to make electricity!