Day 165 - Kindergarten Spring Poetry - Mrs. Ardizzoni and Ms. Carney - Pine Glen Library Technology Center

Our kindergarten students have been discovering their five senses through stories, discussions, writing, and illustrating.  Our project began with reading the story My Five Senses by Aliki with our librarian, Miss Carney.

After reading the story, Miss Carney and Mrs. Ardizzoni helped students brainstorm and discuss their ideas of things they could see, hear, taste, touch, and smell during the season of spring.

During the next meeting, students wrote one sentence for each of the senses, beginning with the phrase, "In the spring, I" see / hear / taste / touch / smell ________________________________.

Then students used the app, Drawing Pad on their classroom ipads, to illustrate one of the sense sentences they had written.  After illustrating, Miss Carney and Mrs. Ardizzoni helped type the sentence on their drawings and students then concluded by typing their name.

Next, Mrs. Ardizzoni used the app, Book Creator to compile all of the students' illustrations and writing into one classroom poetry book.  Here we are, back in the classroom where students got to see their final product as both an ebook and hardcopy classroom version.  Students were called up to the board when their page was displayed and they read their sentence aloud.  Congratulations kindergartners!

Day 77 - Digital Citizenship Lessons - Rings of Responsibility - Michelle Ardizzoni - Pine Glen IT Specialist

This post first appeared on the Pine Glen Library and Technology Blog

To begin the new year, our fourth grade students have been learning about being both responsible citizens within communities as well as responsible digital citizens using technology. During the lesson, students were called upon to examine and reflect on their responsibilities in both areas of citizenship.   The essential question guiding this lesson was"What kinds of responsibilities does a citizen and a digital citizen have for themselves, toward their family and friends, and toward their community?"  In these pictures, students were each given one statement on a post-it note, such as "I do not share my passwords.".  They needed to decide and discuss with a partner, where the level of responsibility of this action would be - self, family and friends, or a larger community. Students also considered how the outcomes of these scenarios could impact others.  The lesson was adapted from Common Sense Media's lesson, "Rings of Responsibility".

Their website can be found at:  Common Sense Media Education.

Day 54 - Going Places Safely On The Internet - Michelle Ardizzoni - Pine Glen Elementary IT Specialist

Second grade students are learning about what it means to be "online" and how to safely visit "just right" websites on the internet, meaning those that a teacher, parent, or guardian has given permission to visit.  Students experienced how far reaching the internet spans, both by observing locations labeled on a globe and via websites.  We visited two "just right" websites, one was their homeroom teacher, Miss Varrell's blog and the other was the Huston Zoo, specifically the Huston Zoo Animal Webcams. 

Day 23 - iPad Introductory Lessons - Michelle Ardizzoni, Pine Glen Elementary IT Specialist

This post first appeared on the Pine Glen LTC Blog

Here at Pine Glen Elementary School, our elementary students each have their own iPad to be used as a tool to enhance and support their learning.  As the instructional technology specialist, I can often be found at the beginning of the school year, in classrooms giving introductory iPad lessons to students.  

Mrs. Ardizzoni

During these lessons, I discuss important topics such as the basic operations of an iPad and its use and care.  Once the basics have been established, we are off on a learning quest to put those basic operation skills into practice.  Typically, I have the students locate and open the Drawing Pad App, which every student has available to them on their iPad.  From there, students use just one finger to select a crayon, marker, or colored pencil that allows them to "draw" with, and they create a picture of their own choice. Drawing Pad is an intuitive App that every student, at all grade levels can easily feel successful with, as early as their first time using it.  These introductory lessons are building a skill set of vocabulary, gestures, icon recognition, familiarity with their iPad, and self-confidence using technology, that students will transfer and apply to other areas of their learning.