We're a Bunch of Happy Campers!

Once again Ashaway School enjoyed a very successful and fun Reading Week!  Every day was special as we celebrated books and reading with a camping theme!






Thanks to our fabulous PTO the week was kicked off by a "Books and Breakfast" event.  Students were invited along with their families to come to school a little early to enjoy a free breakfast and book fair preview.  Teachers were also welcome to join in on the fun, have something yummy to eat, and select books for a classroom "wish list".  

Here are just a few pictures from this fabulous week.  (You can see a LOT more by visiting our school photo gallery!)  Enjoy!

As always, Mrs. Bartkiewicz filled the hallway with balloons to welcome the students as they entered the building!

The bulletin board outside our library!

Students "warm their hands" by our library campfire!  ;)

Students in grades K-2 enjoyed a QR Code Listening Center.  They had six camping-themed books to choose from!

Students in all grades were invited to make their own "Camp Out with a Good Book" book mark!  (Thanks, Miss Zemske!)

On Monday the wonderful Tommy James amazed us all with his reading themed magic show!

Tuesday was a perfect day to set up outside for our Family Read-In!

Wednesday night's Book Fair and Ice Cream Social was a huge hit!

On Thursday students and staff were encouraged to dress as "Happy Campers".  Mr. Scanapieco welcomed everyone to morning meeting with a lot of spirit!

 My sincerest thanks to everyone who contributed to making Reading Week an enormous success!

 

Having a Hoot with Kahoot!

To review the library rules with the third and fourth grades I decided to try out a free online resource called Kahoot!  The students loved it and the game certainly jazzed up the lesson!







Teachers can sign up for a free account at https://getkahoot.com and create multiple-choice quizzes to be displayed on the SmartBoard (or with any projector).  The process is really easy and I had my rule review game set up in no time. 

I signed out our school's classroom set of iPads so every student had a device to use, but Kahoot does offer a "team" option.  All the kids need to do is visit https://kahoot.it/ to enter my game's pin number and type in their first names.  (The students don't need individual accounts so there's nothing to set up ahead of time.  It's so simple!) 

Ready?  Set!  START!  The first question appears on the board.  A few moments later four possible color-coded answers show up and the countdown begins.  On their iPads, the students see four colored blocks that match the ones on the board, and they tap the one they believe is the correct answer.  After everyone has responded (or the timer reaches zero), the students either get a green screen indicating they were correct or a red screen with the right answer displayed.  On the board, a graph appears to indicate how many students selected each possible answer.  This allowed me to explain why the wrong answers were incorrect and clarify any misunderstandings.

The students had a blast and I definitely had their attention!  :D

We're on a Plicker Kick!

Before school started the teachers had the opportunity to attend a variety of professional development workshops.  One of my favorites, led by PE teacher Catherine Moffitt, was all about using "Plickers" with our students as a way of checking for understanding.  Many of the teachers at Ashaway School are now using them, and the kids love it!

A sample Plicker card

Each student is given a "Plicker card" that's printed with a blocky black square.  No two squares are exactly alike, and each is numbered and assigned to a student.  When given a multiple choice question, the students give their answers by holding up their cards.  Each side of the block is labeled with a letter, and they hold their cards so that the letter on top indicates their answer.

"Cards up!"

Now for the really cool part!  The teacher records the students' answers by scanning them with a smart phone or iPad!  (There is an app that teachers need to download to their devices, but the app and the Plicker website are completely free to use!)  Using my iPhone's built-in camera, I just sweep across the room and the app automatically records the students' answers.  When each student's answer is recorded, the student's name appears on the screen in green (for a correct answer) or in red (for a wrong answer).  All the information is stored in my online Plickers account for me to refer to as needed.  Everything is password protected, but only the students' first names are used to ensure privacy.

The students' names appear on top of their Plicker card so I know that they've been scanned.  If the name is in a green bubble I know they got the answer right!  (Great job, fourth graders!)

The questions can be displayed on the SmartBoard, and I can reveal a chart of which answers were selected.  This is terrific for quickly identifying any misunderstandings of the topic while keeping each individual student's answer private.

The students are really enjoying this new method of interaction, and the teachers love the immediate feedback.  You can learn more about Plickers by visiting the website https://plickers.com/!

Finding a Book is as Easy as "One - Two - Three"!

Our third graders have been learning how to find books on the shelves in the library.  This might sound simple, but it's actually a multi-step process that takes practice!  Before I taught them a way of approaching the problem, I would often find students wandering endlessly back and forth in front of the shelves with their limbs dangling at their sides (I call that "spaghetti arms").  Other times they'd insist the book wasn't there and I'd discover they weren't even looking on the correct shelf.  Now I guide the students through a three-step Shelf Searching Strategy, and they are becoming much more efficient at finding books independently!

Step One: Make a smart guess where your book would be and put your hand on a shelf.
To do this, the students need to "Crack the Code" by deciding which section of the library to go to based on the book's call number.  Then they need to make an educated guess as to where in that section the book is likely to be.  (For example, in the nonfiction section we would go toward the beginning for a book in the 200's, in the middle for a book in the 600's, or near the end for a book in the 800's.)  I insist that the students physically place their hands on the shelf they select to help them focus on the task.

Step Two: Look at the first book on that shelf and decide in which direction you need to go.  Keep going until you find the right shelf.
This part is like using the guide words in a dictionary.  Look at the first book on the shelf and decide if the call number you're looking for is higher or lower.  If it's higher, go up a shelf.  If it's lower, go down a shelf.  Then look at the first book on that shelf.  Repeat until you've "gone too far", meaning that the book you want is on the shelf you just came from.

Again, this might seem simple, but this activity requires a degree of spatial reasoning.  (Often the students want to respond that the numbers will get lower as you go "down" a shelf, or that the shelves are read straight across from one section to the next.)  The hardest part is having your hand on the top shelf and figuring out which direction to go in to find the shelf that comes before it.  To give them a way to visualize it, I put an image of an open book on the SmartBoard and we identify where we would start reading [upper left] and how we would read the sentence [left to right].  When we get to the end of each line, we go down and back over to the left.  And, when we get to the bottom of the page, we continue reading at the top left of the next page.  Of course the students see this as pretty obvious, but then I show them that this also applies to the shelves in the library! 

When you reach the bottom of one section, go up to the top of the next section - the same way we read a book!

Step Three: Find your book!

"I found it!"

This is the fun part!  Once the students have determined which shelf the book must be on, they can scan the shelf to find the exact call number they're seeking.  All along the way, I insist that the students touch the shelf and then the spine labels of the books to help them focus on the call numbers they're looking at.

To help the students practice finding books on the shelf, they are participating in a "Call Number Scavenger Hunt".  They are given a list of call numbers to find in the library.  Each student's paper is unique, so two students won't be looking for the same book at the same time.  They enjoy moving all around the library, and I get a good sense of how their book seeking skills are developing!  It's a fun activity that leads to the one they are the most excited about: using the computer to find a book's call number!

These are some of the students who were "caught" touching the shelves while searching for their books.  They each earned a Cougar Claw Card for responsibility!

The Many Phases of Research - Part 2!

Four very proud illustrators!

Back in December I wrote about a moon research project that my first graders were working on.  (You can click here to see that post!)  Well, we took a hiatus from that project while my student teacher, Miss Anderson, planned her own activities to share with the students during her time at Ashaway.  Miss Anderson has now moved on to an exciting new adventure, but before she left we put together the students' work into a PowerPoint presentation I could share with them this week!

A hard copy of their presentations will be bound into a book to be enjoyed in the library, but during class the students were able to see their illustrations projected onto the SmartBoard. 

Click here to view the presentation made by Mrs. Breault's class!

Click here to view the presentation made by Miss Mooney's class!

Land and Water

A student about to circle Egypt on the map

All this week I've been telling my students about our "Reading Oasis" contest.  (Scroll down to my last blog entry for all the details, or click here.)  To help the students understand the theme, we spent some time learning what an oasis is and how the theme ties in with Ancient Egypt.  This was especially fitting for my fourth graders who have just started a science unit called "Land and Water"!

In the fourth grade classrooms, the teachers have been encouraging the students to make observations and inferences when looking at a photograph.  This activity really helps them to differentiate between what we see (observable facts) and what we might guess is true.  In library, I introduced the concept of what an oasis is by putting up a photograph and asking the students what they noticed.

The students observed that there were a lot of trees and plants growing around the water, and many buildings could be found right next to it. They inferred that this was because both plants and people need water to survive.

Then I put a satellite photograph of Egypt and the Nile River Valley onto the SmartBoard and invited the students to come up with some observations and inferences.  They worked in small groups at their tables, and many of the students went up to the board to point out details to their peers. (The students were amazed when I zoomed in and they saw that the long, wide "river" was actually vegetation and the water was just a thin ribbon in comparison!)

On Thursday, the fourth graders created their own "rivers"!  These students are allowing a small stream of water to flow across an area of soil before draining out a hole at the opposite end.  This experiment allows them to observe how the water affects the land.  After the entire bottle of water had finished draining away, they noticed that the water:

   * forms a path that bends, depending on obstacles
   * picks up and carries soil as it flows, and
   * sometimes "fans out" as it reaches the end of the land

Is it just me, or does that sound a lot like the Nile and the delta formed by its tributaries?  I love when I can connect my lesson in the library with what's happening in the classroom!  :)

Fun with Phonics!

Our kindergarten students have been using a fun web site to practice their letter sounds: www.ABCya.com!  Last week we played Letter Sound Bingo on the SmartBoard.  Every student got the chance to come up to the board and press the letter that matched the sound they heard.  

 



The students at their seats colored in the letters that they identified from the given sound while they waited for their turns to come up to the board.  The first time a letter was used they colored in that letter.  If a letter was used twice they colored in the background as well!


 


This week the students each got to sit at a computer and play the game alone.  They were so excited when they won; the library was filled with their happy cries of "I got BINGO!"  



 

 

There are lots of free educational games on this site that students can use to practice their reading and math skills.  You can choose games for students in grades kindergarten through 5th grade, so older siblings can join in, too!  Have fun!

 www.ABCya.com

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Can you see the orange bow in Samantha's hair?

 
Friday was Dr. Seuss's birthday, and Ashaway School celebrated in style!  For starters, everyone was encouraged to wear orange in honor of the Lorax, one of our favorite characters from his books.  As you probably know, the new movie was just released and the tagline is Orange is the New Green!

Surprise!

Every class had a discussion about ways we can help our environment, and every room received a surprise visit by Mr. Morrone...on a bicycle!  He reminded the students that riding your bike to a nearby destination can help cut down on pollution, and he gave every student a packet of seeds (courtesy of URI who provided a variety free of charge).  I would love for folks to send in pictures of what they grow!

In the library, every student also got to select a bookmark cut from an old book catalog.  That might not sound very exciting, but the students were thrilled with all the different colors and designs there were to choose from!  We talked about ways that we can Reuse, Reduce and Recycle every day both at school and at home.

My first graders enjoyed an activity on the SmartBoard called "Break the Lorax Code".  I found it at www.seussville.com, which is a wonderful website chock-full of great stuff!  The children are learning about vowels in their classrooms, so I asked them what the three missing letters (at the bottom of the board) have in common.  After answering that question, I challenged them to identify the other two vowels and to find them in the message on the board.  Then each student had the opportunity to come up to the board and fill in one of the blanks.

A student leads the class in reading the Lorax's message out loud.

Our celebration came to a lovely close with 20 minutes of D.E.A.R. Time (Drop Everything And Read) at the end of the day.  What better way to honor Dr. Seuss than encouraging students to take some time to enjoy a good book?

Mrs. Lee's class was in the library during Friday's D.E.A.R. Time

Zoo You Know Who I Am?

A few weeks ago I wrote about the first graders' zoo research project, which they conducted with the help of their fourth grade research buddies.  In the past, the first graders would use the information they recorded to write a report, but this year we decided to try something new!  Mrs. Ward, librarian at Richmond School, has her first graders use their research to write clues for a project she calls Zoo You Know Who I Am?  We had our first graders write their clues during the school day, and a group of fourth graders volunteered to stay after school to turn them into PowerPoint presentations. 

On Thursday the entire first grade came to the library to use the SmartBoard for our Zoo Am I? game show!  Each time the first grader tapped the board a new clue would appear, and the presenter would choose a student to make a guess.  Mrs. Austin even brought a prize box for the winners!

If you'd like to try out a game for yourself, here they are!

Mrs. Gigliotti's Class

Mrs. Campbell's Class

Mrs. Breault's/Mrs. Austin's Class

Traveling the World in Folktales!

Our second graders have been enjoying stories from all around the world.  As a culminating activity, the students searched through the books to determine their settings.  Then we used Google Earth on the SMART Board to identify where each country is on the globe.  The continents are part of their social studies curriculum, and we zoomed out to identify those as well!

 

Our class time just flew by, so we'll have to "book" another flight to visit the countries we missed!

WacKy Wednesday!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2nd, Ashaway School enjoyed a very "Wacky Wednesday"! The fun day began as the students assembled in the gym after getting off their busses. They were surprised when the teachers switched spots and the "wrong" teachers brought them to class! Each visiting teacher enjoyed a morning meeting with a bunch of new faces before returning to her own classroom. All day long the teachers and students got to show off their fabulous outfits, dressed in their wacky best! (Go to the school photo album at http://kmman.magix.net/album to see some very silly shots! This is a picture of our music teacher, Mrs. Sherman, outside the door to the library.)

In the library, there were LOTS of wacky things for the students to find. How many can you find in this picture? It's okay to ask a student to help! :)

In library class, I used my new IPEVO USB camera to project the pages of "Wacky Wednesday" onto the SmartBoard so that all the small details could easily be seen by the students. The children took turns going up to the board and tapping on all the wacky things in each picture. They loved watching the pointer jump to the spot that was touched, and it was a lot more fun to be able to share the book in an interactive way!