My students are participating in Literature Circles this term. This has been introduced in response to a need - it is a way for students to analyse and discuss texts with the support of others, and to encourage accountability for deep comprehension and critical thinking about literature. The focus is not on the book, but on the … Continue reading Google Slides for Collaborative Literature Circles
iPads
Growing Good Digital Citizens
For anyone trying (like me) to get their head around the DigiTech curriculum, hopefully this can help get you. I plan on sharing some of the things I do in my school that address this proposed curriculum at a grade 2 level. My school's Digital Learning Team has identified the area of "Promote and … Continue reading Growing Good Digital Citizens
Integrating the Class Blog into Literacy
Something I have been working on this term is making stronger and more efficient links between reading and writing, and authentically including the class blog into those sessions so we don't need a whole session allocated to blogging each week. Here is an example of what I have done this week. My students are learning about … Continue reading Integrating the Class Blog into Literacy
Starting a BYOD Program in a Classroom
This year my school has launched a BYO iPad program for students in all year levels. (Woohoo!) This means students bring their own iPad to school each day and take it home at the end of the day. The iPads have specific requiements, including a list of apps set by the school. We are fortunate … Continue reading Starting a BYOD Program in a Classroom
Get Techy from Day One
Now comes that time of year when we all start to think about what new, exciting ways we can get to know our new students and have them get to know each other. This year I'm also focusing on how I can integrate technology into my classroom and see where students are at in terms of … Continue reading Get Techy from Day One
Publishing Writing using Tech
I give my students choices about how to publish their writing. We have enough iPads in our class for 10 students to publish using them. At the beginning of the year, they were reluctant to publish using the iPads as it meant they wouldn't have time to make a 'real book'. How far we've come. … Continue reading Publishing Writing using Tech
CBL Solutions and What They Might Look Like
My students worked on Challenge-Based Learning solutions in groups for the first time this term. I want to share what their solutions were in order to give readers an idea of the range of ideas students came up with on their own, and their varying degrees of success in implementing those ideas. When my team … Continue reading CBL Solutions and What They Might Look Like
Taking Action: Students as Recording Artists
Does anyone teach using the CBL model? At my school we are in our first year of implementing CBL school-wide and it is massively exciting and terrifying all at once. CBL stands for Challenge Based Learning. It is a type of inquiry process that puts the emphasis on students using technology as an integral part … Continue reading Taking Action: Students as Recording Artists
iPads as tools, not toys: Teaching fact families
My class has been working on fact families (seeing how numbers relate to each other using addition and subtraction) for about a week. I gave them a task to see how they were able to use what we have learnt so far and put it all together. They were asked to work with a partner … Continue reading iPads as tools, not toys: Teaching fact families
Similes and Switchzoo
My class has been learning about poetry and ways language can be used to paint a picture in the reader’s head. One of the ways we have been doing this is by writing similes. I introduced similes for the first time with a short discussion on their prior knowledge about similes (they had none) … Continue reading Similes and Switchzoo
Mrs Fintelman Teaches 