Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Digital Learning Day and BYOD Day in Team Bond

Today we are celebrating Digital Learning Day, and we have brought our devices!  In addition, we are wearing our App Shirts! (see photo) Here are the devices that were brought in by Team Bond members:
  • iPads: 2
  • Nintendo 3D: 3
  • Tablets: 2
  • Kindle Fire: 1
  • iPods: 9
  • Tablet/Laptop Combo: 1
We have used our devices in the following ways:

  • We practiced our words for our spelling test. Some people drew the words and some typed their words.
  • We listened to Mrs. Bond read The Secret Zoo Book 2, and we kept track of good word choice on edmodo or on our note taking apps.
  • Mrs. Case came in to help, and we went out in small groups to try out QR codes. We were able to look up 3 sites that were attached to the QR codes.  The last one was this blog!  We hope a lot of people read it!
  • We had free choice during recess, and Minecraft was a popular choice.  18 of our 20 students chose to stay in! 
  • Our PTA just bought an iPad cart!  (Thanks Glengary PTA!!!!) We got to use the iPad cart for 20 minutes, and we explored www.infuselearning.com. We drew what we had for breakfast, we took a quiz on nonfiction text feature, and we drew the silliest face we could think of!  We can't wait to use it again!
  • In computer lab, we went on edmodo, and we were excited that one of the founders of edmodo, Mr. O'Hara, was on helping people in the Support Community!  We added a post telling him how much we love edmodo!
  • In computer lab we found out cool information about our states, and we took our spelling test in VocabularySpellingCity.
  • During free choice, we taught Mrs. Bond more about Minecraft.  She didn't know that there are different biomes in Minecraft, as well as ways to learn about the minerals and rocks below the Earth's surface.  She was SUPER excited, as we just started our unit on Earth Materials! 
Students listened and typed the words that stood out to them. 


We practiced our math facts for multiplication.  Here are the ways we used our devices and apps.
  • Use the calculator app to solve problems.
  • We can use Rocket Math...now called Mathmateer.
  • We can draw out our math facts.
  • We can quiz our friends.
  • We can use one of our other apps that help us learn.





Finally, we were discovering the rocks and minerals inside our Mock Rocks, so we used technology to create a Mock Rock Mining Doodlecast.  In addition, we will be creating a Zapd site to record our learning.


For homework, the children have to reflect on the ways we used our devices throughout the day for our learning.  I can't wait to hear what they thought of their first BYOD Day!  We will be having these every 2 weeks from this point on! 

Cheers to Technology!


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Digital Learning In Physical Education!

Today in PE, our classroom participated in centers that included technology.  Here are the activities we did...
  • We used the Wii and did Wii Fit.  We did a game that allowed us to step on and off the board.  The people without the balance board used buckets to step on and off of.
  • On the laptop, we played a game that allowed us to identify the parts of our body.
  • We used an exercise bike with an iPad.  It sensed our motion and allowed a Monster Truck to move! 
  • After jump roping, we held onto sensors that tracked our heart rates. Our heart rates were in the high 100's and into the 200's!
  • In addition to the tech infused centers, we also used the climbing wall.
It was super fun to include technology in PE!  We hope Mr. Vogt does this again!  We are also glad that we are in an edmodo group with him.  :)

Tomorrow is Digital Learning Day, so we are looking forward to having more fun with technology in our classroom.  We are also excited to use the iPad cart for the first time!