#YYCLC Day 174: Grade 1 and Google Presentations

These grade 1 students have been working hard to transfer their research into a Google Presentation (for the first time). So far, we have learned to:

• Create a Google Presentation
• Use Google's Research tool
• Add 'free to use' creative commons licensed pictures and make them full screen
• Add text and manipulate it

#YYCLC Day 165: Designing Metroplis

Grade 3 is currently working to design a piece of metropolis using Morphi App. We are integrating math and science to building and print city in our classroom.

#YYCLC Day 163: Observation Station: Triops

Triops are and great lifecycle to observe. They grow and develop fast and give the students a lot to observe. Can you spot him?

#YYCLC Day 162: Observation Station - Butterflies

Spring often brings butterflies to the school. The learning commons is a great place to share these little creatures with the whole learning community! The students love coming to check them out everyday and seeing their progress!

#YYCLC Day 158: Celebrating Learning

This Grade 2 class celebrated learning by presenting their boats and design videos to other classes in the school. They enjoyed telling the story of their learning!

#YYCLC Day 157: The Tree Project

Today this Grade 1 class took their learning commons work outside. They have been documenting trees in our playground throughout the year. They noticed there was a big change in the tree over the last month!

#YYCLC Day 156: Uploading Time!

Today I took some time to upload some Explain Everything videos to Google Drive. It amazing to be able to take the time occasionally to do this kind of work. These videos are a documentation of a boat building project that a Grade 2 class completed this week! 

#YYCLC Day 106: Light and Shadow Plays

Our Grade 4 classes have just completed an inquiry into light and shadow. They had to create a shadow play and learn how they cold effective tell a story using light and shadow. Our learning commons gave them a great place to practice and experiment. 

#YYCLC Day 54: Pulley Maker Station

Grade 4 students trying the Pulley Maker Station out for the first time. Great hands on learning challenge!

#YYCLC Day 18 - Observation Station

This week we have an interactive Observation Station in our learning commons. Who likes bugs?

Keeler School Maker Stations: Part 2

Kids in the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th grades have all carried out science experiments and designed things during their lunch hour... For no reason other than because they want to! It has been outstanding, bizarre and wonderful to watch kids use our maker stations. It turns out that any project can, and should, be turned into a maker station for our learning commons.

Station 1: Parachutes. Read here about our parachute maker station. Since that post, there have been about 20 parachutes made by kids in different grades, and supported by grade 6 students who fielded their questions.

Kids (grade 2 and 5) building parachutes at lunch

Station 2: Pulleys. Kids are doing a series of progressive challenges for pulleys, during LC times. The engagement was outstanding... So we opened it up for lunch time exploration. As kids were exploring at lunch, the grade 4s tried things we hadn't yet asked them to: They made cross-library zip lines as well as double, and even triple, pulley systems.

If you look closely, you'll see a pulley
system from one part of the LC to
another.

Station 3: Raspberry Pi. Although we're not studying programming in a classroom, we got our hands on a Raspberry Pi computer (loaded with Scratch) and a TV donated to our school. The domino effect was hilarious... At the first recess there were 2 kids around the computer. At lunch there were 4. The next day there were 8. The day after that, there were more. Questions I recorded:

• How do you make him walk?
• How could we make a background? Can it move while he's walking?
• What if he jumped on that guy, what would happen? How could we make something happen? 
• Who can teach us? Where can...Youtube!! (And the students ran off to another computer)

In the past couple weeks we have really explored how we can use the space, and I think we've found it: These maker stations seem to be next step in the evolution of our LC!

Kids collaborating as they learn to program

Maker Stations in the Learning Commons

Build it and they will come... Or provide stuff and they will build it! Our Learning Commons evolved to include "Maker Spaces"... I didn't realize this was happening... We have a "Philosophers' Board", multiple "Lego Walls", gears, puppets, costumes and Raspberry Pis (among other tinkering things that are available at all times for student use). But the amazing discussion at this year's EdcampYYC helped me to find the solution for guided learning and maker spaces in our Learning Commons context.

The grade 6 students are building parachutes, and their contest is here. But why stop there? Today I introduced the "Parachute Maker Station" and opened it up to the school: Anyone who is interested can come in at lunch or recess, can use the supplied materials (or other materials, if they'd like), and can create their own parachute.

Best of all, they all know it is a grade 6 project, so if they need help they know who to ask! I've warned the 6s that questions could be coming their way, and was greeted with enthusiasm as they now see themselves as experts (YAY!). Which was handy today when we had 5 grade 4 students eagerly making their own parachutes (during lunch), and seeking help. I overheard a grade 4 ask a grade 6, "Why is there a hole in the middle of your parachute? Did you make a mistake?" (Great question!!).

This has really got me thinking... Could this work with cars?  Catapults? Clothing design? Looms? Pulleys? Could any design-based task work as a maker station?... I think we're starting to turn a corner in our LC, and I can feel the enthusiasm growing from our students!

Here are the directions for the station: 

What Do Horses Need?

My grade one class at Guy Weadick School recently completed an inquiry into the needs of plants and animals.  We took a close look at the history, the value, and the role of horses in Alberta!  We were lucky to visit Aggie Days at Stampede Park to meet many domestic horses.  We also had the experience of having Mr. Larry Semchuk, a wildlife photographer come to our class.  Mr. Semchuk wrote a a book on Alberta's wild horses called Running Free: The Wild Horses of Alberta's East Slopes.  

After learning so much about horses, the class was eager to create books.  In groups of three we worked together to write non-fiction books using the iPad App StoryMaker.  This was the first time we used our school's new iPads!  There was lots to learn, but working together to solve problems really helped. Here are some  pages from their books to help you learn about some of the things that Wild and Domestic horses need.

For more information about our inquiry please visit our class inquiry page at 
http://www.makingmyworld.ca/inquiry.html 

Building and Tinkering

To follow along with Keeler school, we started utilising some Lego that we found in our building.

Rejuvenating the Lego 

When we found the Lego it was pretty disgusting. Years of sitting in a classroom gathering dust. So after a thorough washing at home and a long time to air dry, the Lego came back to school and put into some great use!

I had a great helper throughout the cleaning process

The Project

Two of our grade 1 and 2 teachers wanted to use our learning commons to divide their classes into smaller groups to do some building centres for the grade 2 science unit, Building Things. The learning commons hosted the Lego building and iPad Lego building centres and the other two groups were back in their classrooms. We gave the students some free building time so they could play and tinker with each of the materials (Lego, iPad, Straws & pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks & modelling clay, foam building blocks, and smaller wooden blocks)

After every student had a time to play with each of the material and build something of their choice, the task was to build something specific with each of the different materials. This what they were asked to build:

• Lego - something that moves
• Lego App - some kind of box or container
• Straws & pipe cleaners - a creature
• Popsicle sticks and modelling clay - a shelter
• Foam Building Blocks - a piece of playground equipment
• Small Wooden Blocks - a tall tower

What we found out was that the kids (in general) were way more creative in the free building sessions. When we put certain parameters on the building tasks, their creations seemed dulled down and lacking creativity.

So We CHANGED It Up!

As I began working with these two classes, I was also beginning a similar project with another grade 1-2 class. This time we changed the project around to see if it would make a difference with the quality of learning. Here's what we did (and are still working on as it's continues to progress):

1. Each student had a chance to play and free build with each of the materials.
2. We will then have a class discussion about what we all made (using the photos they took with the iPads) and why they made it - This will help develop the assessment criteria for the next part of the project.
3. Students will co-create a target rubric of the assessment criteria.
4. We will watch some video and multimedia of what other people have built with some of the materials (this is the expert portion).
5. The final task will be to build 3 different models. Students will choose their materials and also the structure, or 'thing', they want to build. We will also generate a list of possible 'things' they might want to build, but not limit them to this list.
6. Students will be assessed according to the student generated criteria. This could be done as a self assessment, by their peers, and/or the teachers.

Here are some more pictures and videos of what they created during free building:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59FhiBm9OF0&feature=g-upl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83tCcKFPZ3I&feature=g-upl

Diagnostic Assessment & Space Exploration

Accessing Prior Knowledge & Starting on the Right Foot

We began an exciting group project the other day and thought it was important to start with self-reflection and diagnostic assessment through informal and formal conversations. Students filled out group proposals (below) where they had to consider their strengths within a group. We also challenged them to think about their group members and how they've worked together in the past...

Project:  You have been recruited by CETSA (The Canadian Extra Terrestrial Space Agency) to create a community proposal and a recruitment video to lure earth-dwellers to colonize your planet. 

** Students will hold a "recruitment fair" in the Learning Commons for all grades of the school (and perhaps other schools through online video/voting). Students will vote on which planet they would like to colonize based on given criteria. 

Day 1: The Hook
Each student received a letter in the mail from CETSA directing them to save humanity.They showed up to school with their letters clutched in their hands or crinkled in their pockets, ready to accept their mission! They were then tasked with identifying and resolving hazards in a colonization report to permanently settle a planet in our solar system. They will soon create a recruitment video/presentation to lure settlers to their planet - which they will later create a government for.

We gave students the sheet below, allowing them to choose their own partners. Using a sheet like this had a number of predicted and surprising benefits, here are the big three:

Self Reflection - Students were able to discuss their strengths and shortcomings in a safe environment, among chosen friends.

Group Reflection - Students analyzed the relationships within their team and identified possible issues, as well as where they may soar. It was interesting to see how students grouped themselves - some students purposefully avoided their friends!

Access Prior Knowledge -  Students were forced to access prior knowledge and to discuss what they already knew about the planets and what they wanted to learn. This discussion was further enhanced by the pesky, roaming teachers asking clarifying questions and taking notes.

The sheet we used is below, as are some samples taken from students on Friday!

Group Work and Getting Started

Some of the responses...
Some of these are hilarious, others are insightful... I think the process and the discussions we video-taped were the true gold in this. 

Problems with "big giant words such as the Encyclopedia" 

The "Who does more work" comment showed up on lots of these. 

Human Typewriter and has great potential in research and studies...

This group really hit the nail on the head! This was exactly the same problem they had in our last project... Although I didn't know about the hitting!

It's okay to laugh a lot!