EdTech Review: Oooo! Gimme SMORE!

Image from smore.com

It's not hard for me to get excited about something I know will help get the message of READING across to students, parents, and teachers.  At the end of the last school year, I found just that!  Sending home more than just a summer reading list was my goal.  I wanted to supply parents with resources to not only find books, but to foster reading love and fun.

Throughout the school year, I'd been sending home library media paper newsletters in the form of infographics (more about this in a future post).  Deciding to provide more content for the summer newsletter, I searched for digital newsletters and came upon Smore.  You can sign up for free and create 5 newsletters (called flyers) with this plan (to view education pricing for unlimited flyers, click here).

With Smore, my newsletter was nicely formatted and included images I could upload, links, and buttons (for summer reading lists).  There is SO much more that is possible to add--such as audio, video, events, etc.  You can share the newsletter via email or other social media platforms.

I emailed the newsletter to all teachers.  I asked them to share this with the parents of their students.  Since not all parents have email, I created a PDF through Smore and printed it for teachers to share.  Also cool, I was able to track how many people viewed the emailed newsletter.

Here is what my newsletter ended up looking like (note: the formatting is different because it's embedded in my blog: link here for original formatting).

Revisiting Hour of Code™

"Ms. Ehll, I went home and coded last night!"  This makes me so HAPPY that my students participated in Hour of Code for Computer Science Education Week  (December 7th-13th)!  My previous post talked about my students visiting sites, such as Code.org, and following self-directed tutorials.  

I expected a high degree of engagement and they were more than willing to abide.  (It might have helped that I mentioned how President Obama learned a line of code...) They were very focused on trying to understand how to code and even those who struggled would ask for help or ask if I could direct them to a simpler coding program.

Benefits from this week of code:
1. Engagement
2. Exposure to computer science/coding language
3. Perseverance with new concept
4. Collaboration...helping each other and paired programming (two work on same code)
5. Excitement (word spread about what was happening in library)
6. Beyond the classroom extension

The wheels are a churnin' in my head about how this Hour of Code initiative can be expanded upon next year...

Hour of Code™ December 7th-13th

My 2nd-5th grade students are taking over the computer lab this week during their library time!  Why?  For the Hour of Code™!  What is the Hour of Code™ you ask?  

“The 'Hour of Code™' is a nationwide initiative by Computer Science Education Week and Code.org to introduce millions of students to one hour of computer science and computer programming.”

Students have many options that day.  The choices might seem overwhelming, so here is the way I'm breaking it down:

Grade 2 will use Kodable or as some of my students call it the "fuzzy monster game".  Very easy to learn.  Older students who can't quite get the hang of other coding tutorials can use this on to start their journey.

Grade 3 will use Code.org to choose tutorial of interest: Star Wars, Minecraft, Angry Birds, etc.  These are multi-level self-guided lessons.

Grade 4 and 5 will use Code.org, Tynker, or Scratch.  Code.org can actually guide your students to the other sites if they scroll down to "Partner Tutorials for Grades K-8".

And to top off my students week, they are all getting a certificate for completing their Hour of Code™.

Next week, the results of Hour of Code™ week at my school.

Exploring NookColor with 4th Grade

This past week, I had two of my three 4th grade classes explore NookColors. I showed them what the NookColor looked like (purchased along with the Nooks were book-like protective cases) explaining that it was an eReader or a tablet meant to hold books for them to read.

I asked them to think of some rules that would be good for the handling of the device. They were told to keep in mind that the Nook was an electronic device, so think of the rules for the computers in the library. The Nook is also like a book, so they needed to think of the care required of library books. After sharing ideas of what should be expected of Nook care, I passed one Nook to each table.

We watched a short clip about Nook Kids, so students would see what they would be experiencing with the eReader. Most of my students haven't used a tablet, so this was a good way for them to visually see what would be in store for their future reading.

Each student at the table was guided through the following aspects of using a Nook: locating the power button and turning it on, turning it off, sliding the green button to unlock the Nook, putting the Nook on sleep mode, waking the Nook, accessing the menu by pressing the "n" right below the screen, accessing the library and more specifically the kids shelf, selecting a book, "turning" the pages, and adjusting the volume. My students were so excited to be using the eReaders that they didn't mind the simple step by step instruction.

Students were given 8 minutes to explore any book on the kids shelf. I purchased the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel, so many of them chose that book. Some of them chose the free books put on the Nook, such as Seymour Simon's Fun Facts About Pets and The Elephant Child by Rudyard Kipling. The 'Read to Me' feature was one of their favorite finds (like the feature indicates, the book is read to them).

This coming week, they will continue exploring the Nook.