Well, things have settled down nicely here in the computer lab, and I am very happy to be back in action with my Lower School favorites! We have been working on some fun things since my return at the end of January and we hope you'll check back often to see what we have been up to!
First Grade
We have been working on building our understanding of robotics and programming using our friendly Lovett robot named "Rommy" (Row-me). Even though the first graders haven't yet programmed Rommy to make his way around the school, they have begun working with this site to get good programming practice in. We've been talking about left and right turns, repeated commands, rotations, etc. The children have loved learning a bit about programming, and we have plans to continue with these skills.
One first grade class experimented with the app, Tellagami on the iPad. Tellegami invites users to create talking, moving, interactive avatars, and we used them to create short "Welcome to Lovett" "gamis" or videos. I find this app easy to use because the finished product is saved to the iPad's camera roll. It's free in the App Store for a limited time!
Another first grade class is using the iPad app My Story to create opinion pieces (reviews) of some delicious snacks that were sent into school by class parents. The children are working in trios to do this work and each member of the group has a role (typist, illustrator, checker). Stay tuned for this work!
Finally, we have been using BrainPop, Jr. with first graders to complement their geography learning. There is a great video about continents and oceans and another about reading maps that the children have enjoyed watching. Please remember that our Lovett BrainPop subscription is available to anyone at home--on the computer and mobile device!
Second Grade
Upon my return, the second graders were jazzed about coding and their excitement was infectious...so, we continued with our coding activities (Kodable, Angry Bird, Light Bot, Hopscotch) for two letter-day cycles before taking a break to do some other things. We learned how to play a new board game called Robot Turtles (check it out, here) to practice programming skills in a different context and it was a big hit!
We also used the app Drawing Carl to create our own Olympic events on the iPads.
We practiced interpreting data using the final medal count table posted on the official Sochi 2014 website.
Finally, there is new content in Ten Marks for all second graders. We will be participating in their "Math Madness" competition beginning next week!
Third Grade
We have been working on additional coding activities in third grade as well. These guys got really good at LightBot--I'm proud of them! Some students have even come to me to share that they have talked to their parents about purchasing the full version of LightBot so they can progress through those higher and higher levels at home. Awesome!
Our big project in third grade has been the creation of Earth Week-themed memes. Everyone has seen those silly photos on Instagram, Facebook, and various websites where a humorous caption is pasted on top of a photograph, right? The third graders have worked hard to create their own memes that share some kind of earth-related message. Here's an example of a mainstream meme and a Lovett student's interpretation:
First Grade
We have been working on building our understanding of robotics and programming using our friendly Lovett robot named "Rommy" (Row-me). Even though the first graders haven't yet programmed Rommy to make his way around the school, they have begun working with this site to get good programming practice in. We've been talking about left and right turns, repeated commands, rotations, etc. The children have loved learning a bit about programming, and we have plans to continue with these skills.
One first grade class experimented with the app, Tellagami on the iPad. Tellegami invites users to create talking, moving, interactive avatars, and we used them to create short "Welcome to Lovett" "gamis" or videos. I find this app easy to use because the finished product is saved to the iPad's camera roll. It's free in the App Store for a limited time!
Another first grade class is using the iPad app My Story to create opinion pieces (reviews) of some delicious snacks that were sent into school by class parents. The children are working in trios to do this work and each member of the group has a role (typist, illustrator, checker). Stay tuned for this work!
Finally, we have been using BrainPop, Jr. with first graders to complement their geography learning. There is a great video about continents and oceans and another about reading maps that the children have enjoyed watching. Please remember that our Lovett BrainPop subscription is available to anyone at home--on the computer and mobile device!
Second Grade
Upon my return, the second graders were jazzed about coding and their excitement was infectious...so, we continued with our coding activities (Kodable, Angry Bird, Light Bot, Hopscotch) for two letter-day cycles before taking a break to do some other things. We learned how to play a new board game called Robot Turtles (check it out, here) to practice programming skills in a different context and it was a big hit!
We also used the app Drawing Carl to create our own Olympic events on the iPads.
We practiced interpreting data using the final medal count table posted on the official Sochi 2014 website.
Finally, there is new content in Ten Marks for all second graders. We will be participating in their "Math Madness" competition beginning next week!
Third Grade
We have been working on additional coding activities in third grade as well. These guys got really good at LightBot--I'm proud of them! Some students have even come to me to share that they have talked to their parents about purchasing the full version of LightBot so they can progress through those higher and higher levels at home. Awesome!
Our big project in third grade has been the creation of Earth Week-themed memes. Everyone has seen those silly photos on Instagram, Facebook, and various websites where a humorous caption is pasted on top of a photograph, right? The third graders have worked hard to create their own memes that share some kind of earth-related message. Here's an example of a mainstream meme and a Lovett student's interpretation:
Stay tuned for their finished products on the bulletin board and on my webpage.
Here are some photos from our computer lab happenings lately. Enjoy!
Here are some photos from our computer lab happenings lately. Enjoy!