It's December! Can you believe it? This year is going by so fast. I wanted to share with you the stations we have been working with in Makerspace these past two weeks. The first week in December is when we participate in the Hour of Code - this is an international website that encourages boys and girls of all ages to learn to code. It really helps promote computer science in all grade levels. We have done this for the past 3 years and the growth I see by the time my students are in second grade is incredible. So, to follow up with our Hour of Code I made all our Makerspace stations have to do with coding. I have included some pictures below. The stations are B-bots, Daisy the Dinosaur app, kodable.com, code.org, and coding Osmo. The students have done so well! Another thing I thought I'd explain here is Colt Day. Once or twice a month we have what's called a Colt Day here at Westwood. It is a day when each grade level comes to specials for an hour and a half instead of 45 minutes. This is to allow the teachers to work together as a team and to meet with administration all together. The grade levels are split for specials usually so they don't have the same conference time. This allows for collaboration and is very beneficial for teachers. So, the "thumbs" as we are called, take the kids and we have activities planned for them that are meaningful to their learning. We have had a fire truck visit, learned about health, celebrated holidays and even had special activities to help build our character. These days are so fun for the kids, even Nurse Migl says she doesn't see as many kids on Colt Days! Here are some pictures from last week's - I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and I am looking forward to 2019!
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This month in the media center we have been learning about a new app - Quiver. This app allows the student to color a pre-printed image and scan it with an iPad to make their picture come alive. The kids love it! The app is free and many of the coloring sheets are free on the website - quivervision.com
We have also been creating marble runs, light up towers, train tracks, our own buildings, lego pictures and much more. The conversations I hear in the Makerspace area of the library are my favorite. The students are problem solving and using each other to solve problems. Next week we will be in the computer lab working on keyboarding skills and second grade will be learning how to use FlipGrid on their chrome books. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving! This month is a busy one here in the Media Center (library/computer lab). We are doing lessons daily about Digital Citizenship. It is so important to start teaching the students about this concept now. We do lessons like how to be a digital superhero - how to make strong passwords, how to take care of our technology equipment and using manners online when chatting or playing. We are also learning about our digital footprint - how to make good choices online because where we've been and what we have done stays with us. There is so much to teach the kids and so much for them to learn about being safe online. I always feel like it's such a good reminder for me as well.
We are also trying to have some fun creating bag puppets for Halloween and trying some new stations in Makerspace. The students are so creative. I LOVE it! Hello! My name is Amy Boyer and I am the librarian/ technology teacher/ icoach/ webmaster for Westwood Elementary. This is my 21st year to teach and my 3rd year in the library. Before that I was a first grade teacher for 18 years.
I grew up in west Texas in a small town near Lubbock. I went to college at Baylor University and took my first teaching job in Arlington TX. After 3 years there I moved to Bryan and taught there for 3 years before meeting my husband and moving to Friendswood. We have two boys - 5th and 2nd grade and enjoy doing many sports related activities with them. My favorites are baseball and football. My husband is a musician and make custom cowboy boots! Your child will come see me once a week. We will do a technology lesson either in the library or the computer lab. Then we will work on computer skills or do Makerspace. Click on the Makerspace tab above to learn more about that. Your child will also check out books once a week with their teacher. So please read the books at home and return them when you are finished. I'm looking forward to a great year! The day is here! Teachers are officially back to work! After working for a couple of weeks without people here, I LOVE the sounds in the building. It makes me so happy. I can't wait until next week when those sounds will be joined by the sounds of our students.
Don't forget Meet the Teacher is Monday 4-5. The first day of school is Wednesday, August 15. See you soon! I cannot believe it is already May! We are having our last week of check out in the library. The students' books will be due back starting next week. Please make sure you return all library books. I will begin inventory soon. Thank you!
In technology class we are about to begin learning Stop Motion Animation. We will use Lego mini-figures to do this, so if anyone would like to donate more figures I would gladly take them! The week of May 21st Christina Hicks from the Friendswood Public Library will be on campus to talk to each grade level about their summer reading program. If you have never participated...you should! It's so good! Thank you so all our volunteers! And thank you for letting us teach your children all year. Have a wonderful end of school and summer! Our online book fair is happening now. Please go to the Barnes and Noble website and check it out. Anything you order and enter the ID for our school we will get part of the proceeds. We will use it to add the new Texas 2x2 books and some literacy titles the teachers need for next year. Thank you so much for your support!
Education Foundation came today! They helped complete almost all my grants. There's going to be lots of new activities and gadgets in makerspace very soon! I'm so excited! Have a great weekend! Hi! This month in library/makerspace we have been using our new products purchased with Scholastic book fair dollars. Because of the generosity of our parents, we were able to purchase many new items for the students to use. They have LOVED the light table! The students use it to sort jewels (they call them diamonds sometimes), build with see through blocks and use the colored see through letters to make words.
In tech class we have been learning how to use the data-base PebbleGo. The students have four catagories to choose from - animals, social studies, biographies and science. They can learn about 100s of topics. In first and second grade we are using this information to make a "presentation" on Buncee (a favorite website of mine). It's so fun to see how much these kiddos have learned this year. Next month, we will continue to work on research databases and start using the green screen for sharing ideas. Happy New Year! This beginning of 2018 has been a weird one that's for sure. After our first four days back, we had almost a week off again with our ice days. But, now we are back and have our regular schedule! Yea! In the library and makerspace this week we are reviewing library skills and using some new items purchased from our Scholastic book fair dollars. Our kinder classes are learning about Sammy the shelf marker and getting to check out from other shelves, not just the Pre-k/Kinder shelf. They are so happy! We are using our new listening center in makerspace and our light up table for building. The students are loving their new choices this week.
Thank you for supporting our library area by purchasing books from our book fair this year. Be looking for spring book fair information soon! It will be an online fair and one Barnes and Noble night! So, I knew the district had purchased virtual reality sets for the schools to share, but I had never used them myself so I was a little afraid about what to do with them. A good colleague of of mine brought them over to me last week and taught me how to use them.
This week I have begun showing the students in my technology classes the goggles and devices. When I first turned on a "field trip" under the sea the screams of delight could be heard around the school! It is amazing!! So far this week we have been to the Statue of Liberty, the international space station, Natural Bridge Caverns as well as many under water locations. (sharks are some of our favorite things to see) I am so glad I didn't let my fear about not knowing how to use the devices or what to use them for stop me from doing this lesson. It has been a joy to see the excitement in all my students' faces. |
AuthorI am Amy Boyer, media integration specialist at Westwood Elementary. I teach technology and run the library at a K-2 campus. Archives
December 2018
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