Lego Stop Motion Movies DONE!

We finished our Lego stop motion movies! Last week we held a red carpet premiere night in my classroom. Yes, we had a red carpet! I rearranged the room to look like a theater. We had a concession stand with popcorn and bottled water. It was awesome! I have never seen so many people in my classroom. I am sure my dad (the retired fire captain) would have closed it down for overcrowding. But, we all piled in and watched our movies.

It was so cute. Some kids dressed in their finest. All were proud and anxious. No one had seen all of the videos except myself. I watched them all the day prior. So, this was truly a premiere.

The lights dimmed, the movies were cued and the crowd quieted. We watched all ten movies. People laughed, clapped, cheered and had a great time. It was a SUCCESS!

This was a great project. The kids had a great time creating. They worked so well in their cooperative groups. I learned a lot about how to make next year better.

We are taking our show on the road already. For the next two days we are visiting the 2nd grade classes and my groups are teaching their groups how to create short movies. I am hoping they will download the app on their devices this summer and practice. Having kids with experience coming to me next year will definitely make the process easier.

If you'd like to see our movies, go to my teachertube channel. You can view the videos and download them if you want. Enjoy the viewing!

 

Donors Choose Rocks!

Such an exciting week! Last week I submitted a grant to Donors Choose. My project, "Lights, Camera, Stop-Motion: Student-Created Lego Movies" asked for iPod Touches for my class to make movies in class. To my surprise, Disney fully funded it in less than a week. My iPods arrived earlier this week. Donors Choose encouraged me to submit another project because Chevron was looking to fund projects for Orange County teachers. I asked if I could submit the same grant again (since I wanted more iPods for my project). They said I could. So, I did... and guess what... Chevron came through for me and fully funded three more iPods for my class tonight. I am now up to 5 iPods! I am overwhelmed with the generosity of these companies. My students are going to have such a great time making movies! I definitely encourage all of my teacher friends to submit projects to Donors Choose. It's easy and you might just get something great!

Technology for Teachers

I love technology! Finding ways to use it in my classroom and to make the job of teaching more fun and manageable is the greatest thing in the world. This year I am looking for more ways to integrate technology into both my teaching and management.

Last year I was fortunate enough to be awarded a grant to purchase SMART Response Clickers. They are awesome. I used them a little last year, but I am going full force this year. The kids have a great time using them and I love the instant feedback I get right on my computer. I use question sets I find on the SMART Exchange website as well as question sets I create to go with what I am teaching. My favorite thing about my SMART Response Clickers is that every kid has to respond, every time. No one gets skipped, no one can hide and there is no pressure to answer before your neighbor.

My iPad 2 is another one of my favorite tools to use when I teach. I love my SMART Board, but don't enjoy being tethered to it. I tried using an Airliner tablet, but never really got the hang of writing on it and not having a frame of reference of where I was on the board. I took advantage of an inservice opportunity at the Orange County Department of Education last year and learned about an App that has made my iPad an invaluable tool. It's called Spashtop. Using Splashtop allows me to mirror my computer screen on my iPad. I can hold my iPad and operate my computer and SMART Board from anywhere in the room without wires. It is awesome! I can move around, interact with students all over the room and make lessons dynamic. Check out their website and see if this would be a good solution for you and your teaching.

Pinterest came through for me again! I found a pin for Remind 101 and I am singing it's praises. This App allows me to use text messages to communicate with my students' parents. In this day of instant communication, using text messages helps parents and students stay updated and informed quickly and efficiently. I like Remind 101 because it keeps my phone number private and makes texting easy. I can schedule texts for future delivery, too. I am looking forward to using this a lot this year!

I am hoping to use our school's new N-Computing system this week with my students. Six computers running off of one tower. So far, I love it. The clean design and lack of hardware and cords everywhere has really improved my classroom decor. After we have a chance to use them this week, I'll weigh in on how they function.

Have a great week!