Gearing up for the TECHNOVATION CHALLENGE! BRING IT!

A couple of weekends ago at a Code.org Workshop, the clear message was of the importance of promoting an awareness of computer science to students of all ages, the high demand for computer programming in the world, the need for it to be offered as courses in our schools, but the one that caught my attention... was the underrepresentation of girls and students of color who actually pursue an education and career in the areas of math, science and technology- (still today!). 

The Hour of Code is that initial step to bring this awareness to everyone: students, teachers, administrators, parents, and the community. Now.. it's time to go beyond the hour.  At the Code.org Workshop, Kelly Powers, copresident of the Computer Science Teachers Association of Greater Boston shared many opportunities that just couldn't be passed up, like the Technovation Global Challenge specifically geared for girls. MS/HS girls are challenged to blend human needs with technology in developing an app to solve a real problem in their community.

My thoughts...we have to get a Medfield Team together!

The Technovation Challenge is a somewhat rigorous one as you need to get a team of 5 girls together, find/work with a mentor who is a women in the field, identify a social issue, develop the app  and a business plan and then pitch it! This is done all within a 12 Week timeframe which means the commitment is an estimated 4 hours a week. Whew!

Watch the video of last year's participants as they share the rewards it brings!

Blake MS will be holding a brief informational meeting after school on Wednesday, Jan. 7th 2:15-2:45ish in the LMC. If you have any questions or interest, please contact Ms. Allen, Mrs. Heim, Mrs. Buley or Ms. Horvath!

The official start week is Jan. 12th- Wish us Luck!

For more data & info on the need for coding, visit:

Code.org/stats 

National Center for Women & Information Technology

Technovation

State of Technology in MA

Blake's Hour of Code

Boston Globe: Preview of Writing Code for the Future

SO WE'RE IN! ARE YOU?!!

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Google & Office Can Play Nicely- Check Out the Updates!

Medfield's full transition to Google Apps for Education happened this past July, leaving teachers wondering how are they still going to make use of all those Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoints slides??  While you can convert them on upload to Google Drive,  most Office Files lost their formatting- adding to more time needed to fix them. The bottom line: Google and Office just didn't play well together.

Well.. here's one technology update you all have been waiting for... improved Office to Google File conversion AND the ability to actually edit Office Files in Google Drive. Read on!

*NOTE: This is in reference to using Google on the computer and not a mobile device.

Google Guru's: 3 Updates To Make Editing Office Files Even Easier

1. Convert Office files to Google in one click - in Gmail, any Word, Excel, PPT attachments can be converted directly from the email message and saved into Google Drive. YES!

2. 15 new supported Office formats to improve the conversion and reduce the changes in formatting.

3. Edit Office files with Google Office Editor — this is a Chrome Extension for those who want to leave it as an Office File and still edit it within Google Drive. Click here for the Chrome Extension.

Source: Visit Google Guru for more info and the latest Google Updates.

For those who are looking to edit Microsoft Office Files on the Computer, you'll be happy to know that Dropbox + Microsoft have also teamed up. Once the Microsoft Office Apps are install, you can open those files in Dropbox, edit and sync any changes in Dropbox!

Read this article for more information.

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Highlighting our 1:1 Classrooms for Parents! #AMUST!

Blake Classroom Highlights Session for Parents

This year has been one like no other.. it's Blake's first year going completely 1:1 iPad for all grades! The result is some fabulousity in the classrooms. Teachers are transforming their students learning beyond what they could have done pre-mobile device! The learning looks different. The studying can look different. The support for students may look different.  

This is where our Parent Highlight Sessions come in.  A cross-section of teachers gave brief presentations selecting one or two ways the iPad/Google Apps/technology has been integrated into the curriculum, why, and their observations and impact for students. Afterwards, there was an open Q & A discussion time to answer parent questions for those who were able to stay to the end! If you missed out, another Highlight Session is being held this Tuesday night at 7pm.  Otherwise, feel free to check out the presentation below and links to the presenting teachers' websites.

Marjorie Heim: 6 Science Mike Gow: 6 Social Studies

Marissa Gumas: 7 Math

Sara Donovan: 7 English

Brian Gavaghan: 7 English

Cynthia McClelland: 6/8 Social Studies

Erin Kearney: 8 Math

Jason Heim: 8 Science

Seth Hellerstein: 8 English
Principal's Blog

*Directions to Backup Explain Everything & Notability

A huge thanks to the above teachers for their willingness to share their experiences!

(wish I had it recorded to post)

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Count Medfield in for the Hour of Code!

Computer Science Education Week.org states:

• There will be 1 million more computing jobs than students over the next 10 years (adding up to $500 billion in salaries)
• Computing occupations are among the highest-paying jobs for new graduates. Yet fewer than 3% of college students graduate with a degree in computer science.
• Fewer than 20 percent of AP Computer Science students are women. Fewer than 10% are Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino. See where Massachusetts falls: Info Graphic

CSEW.org has designated the week of Dec. 8th -15th as the #hourofcode!  This is the LARGEST GLOBAL campaign  (estimated over 15 million participants worldwide) to push, inspire, and bring awareness and support to the importance of teaching computer programming and coding to our students! It can and should start as early as Kindergarten!

Here at Blake MS, we will be hosting a school-wide event on Friday, Dec. 12th with an alternative schedule and then....going beyond the hour of code with Showcase after school sessions the following week & more! 

I know the High School, Memorial School and other Medfield Schools are hosting their own events throughout the week, so please ask at those respective schools for more info.

Of course this is only one hour of code, with the hopes that if some students and teachers get a taste of it, who knows what will happen!

Check out other videos and resources at hourofcode.com/us

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PTA: Back Up Your Work in Explain Everything & Notability

Attention all Students: 

I want to remind you about the importance of backing up your work particularly when using Explain Everything and Notability. Many students have stopped by my office after their iPad crashes! Even if you have iCloud setup, you must MUst MUST follow these steps to save your work in these two apps.

 Explain Everything only saves locally to your iPad. It does not save to iCloud. Therefore, you will need to EXPORT any work created in EE to Google Drive.

First, make sure Explain Everything is connected to your Google Account. Export your work as a PROJECT File. It's quicker and will allow students to continue editing their work.  

  For more info, click the link below.

   http://eastech.blogspot.com/2013/11/exporting-from-explain-everything-to.html

Second, Make this the last step in  your workflow routine when using Explain Everything!

Everytime you create something, end the class with exporting it to EE!

* The end result: IF your iPAD ever crashes, you can open EE,  import your work AND not miss a beat!

Notability will backup your work automatically if the BACKUP settings for Google Drive is Turned ON! Open the App < Go to Settings Gear (bottom lefthand corner), Login to Google< That’s IT! Your work will be autosaved in a Notability folder in Google Drive.

Please let me know if you have questions - Hopefully, this will help you from losing anything!

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We'll Go Somewhere Where There's CLAYMATION!

Wallace and Gromit, The California Raisins, oh no and can't forget Mr. Bill... Claymation has a long history dating back to 1897!  Like anything, it has evolved over time especially with the insert of a mobile device, the iPad. Let's take a peek into Mrs. Delaney's 6th Grade Art Class to see how it's changed!

By the time I came into the Art room, the process was already in midstream. Students were grouped together to work as a production team. Most of the work began earlier with developing an idea or story line with characters, dialogue, props and scenes.

The next step was to storyboard those ideas into scenes including the mapping out the details of character movements and actions and any props needed. 

Third, the group had to create the characters from clay, find props and paint the background scene on cardboard.  They also had to figure out how to make the movements happen- what wires or tools were needed to make the changes in expression or how the character moved on camera. The iPad became a useful reference tool during this part of the process.

 Fourth, time to shoot and record the video! This required ultimate teamwork in communicating, assigning roles, and executing the plan!  All with fun too!

The students used a  Stop Motion App  (free version) to snap incremental photos of their story.

But, there was still production left on recording voice overs or adding music, 

or adding title and credit slides.

This is where iMovie comes in for a little appsmashing!

Once those Claymation projects are finalized, 

come back as I'll post them here with 

great anticipation!

My brief experience in the 6th grade Art class, left me

saying.. Wow, This class was full of engaged, creative, motivated learners!

Sign me up! I want to be in that class!

Resource: Making Claymation in the Classroom

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New! Parent Workshop Series: All About Google

Our parent community has asked! And we're responding! As important as it is to provide professional development and support to staff and training to students, do not forgot one other key component.. PARENTS! Just think.. with Medfield's move to a digital world of communication, workflow and creation to prepare students with 21st Century Skills, parents not only need to be informed, but also educated with what we're asking students to do in our schools!

This October, Blake MS has begun to offer Friday Parent Workshops. We launched with our Google Series of 3 workshops: Understanding Google Apps for Ed/ Gmail for the Medfield District, Google Calendars in the Classroom and now, Google Drive as the new Workflow.

Our first two workshops had a great turnout with 25+ parents participating. However, if you were not able to attend or missed out, links to the presentations are found at the top of this website. Also, our third workshop of the series is being held this Friday on Halloween. Please note, that the location has changed to the Blake's computer lab (see info on invite below).

This Google Drive workshop will focus learning Google Drive on the computer, please do bring your iPad with the following apps installed: Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Click on the image below for a list of direct links to the iTunes Store.

A quick note those who attended the Google Calendar Session-  We spent time learning about having your child share their homework calendar with you (if s/he is recording HW on Google Cal) and subscribing to the Cluster Calendars (particularly the 7th grade cluster cals). You'll find that there is an issue that needs to be resolved on our end in order for this to happen. A Google Admin setting needs to be changed to give you access to seeing the details of the calendar instead of busy/available. Please stay tuned as this may take a day or two.

* We're also in the process of hopefully getting the district calendar to be shared as a google cal through the district website too-- which will allow you to subscribe to it.

Any questions, comments, do not hesitate to contact me! dhorvath@email.medfield.net

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CaptureBlake- our new photo-sharing community blog!

                               
October is Connected Educator's Month.... but what about including how we as educators can connect with our students too? At Blake MS, we launched a new blog called CaptureBlake. The idea behind it is to take advantage of everyone's access to a mobile camera & use it to capture life as a Blaker! It works like this..students & staff receive a daily email with the photo prompt for that day.

Here is our Photo Challenge List for October!

(Shoutout to 8th Graders Tatum and Anna for their contributions to the List!)

Of course, there are a few basic rules:

• You can take pictures of yourself, pets or your family, objects, scenery or draw /create your own image.  Think about using fun photo apps to add filters, make a collage, add stamps and text,cartoons, etc.
• This should be your own work and not a copyrighted image from the internet.
• Your photo should be school appropriate.
• You can submit only one photo per day.

Students and staff submit their photos to an email address that posts directly to the CaptureBlake blog as a draft. They include the name of the day's photo challenge, a title and their first name /grade.  With the blogger app on my iPad, it makes the process easy to approve and publish the photo entries as they come in!

Hoping there will be a growing- interest as everyone becomes more familiar with this new project and just think, we'll have a photo album of the year by June!

**My Favorite free Photo Editing Apps:

SnapSeed

Photo Editor by Aviary

Diptic

Over

PhotoSLice

PIcLab HD

PicCollage

*FYI: Many free photo apps have in-app purchasing for additional features or are ad-supported until you upgrade.

The above pics were created on the computer w/ picmonkey.com and canva.com 

Feel free to leave the name of your favorite photo apps in the comments below.

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Follow our Journey through HASHTAGS!

Blake MS has caught Twitter Fever! A big push has come from the principal, Nat Vaughn (@nat_vaughn) who encourages teachers to use it to share their students' work and experiences, for connecting with other educators professionally and to help build a school community.

It's been a wonderful way to share the many fieldtrips students take to places like Boston, Washington DC, and ... the 7th Grades' week-long trip to Lake George called Nature's Classroom.

All you have to do is follow the #blakeatNC
and see all the laughs and smiles!

#blakeatnc Tweets

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"I Survived Tech Bootcamp Day!" said every 6th-7th Grade Blaker!

With the 6th and 7th graders now entering in the 1:1 iPad journey,their teachers thought the best course of action was to designate one full "Tech Bootcamp" day during these early weeks --making sure everyone had their iPads setup correctly and taking time to introduce their new workflows and apps. 

A side note: You might be thinking, well what does #HackersWednesday and #TechAttack really mean? One thing you'll notice about Blake MS is that we have caught #hashtag fever-- and decided to give these days a fun #hashtag name! The students love it.  There was so much excitement before the day even began!

This is how it worked:

The students were in groupings by advisories and rotated through the different sessions/periods for the entire day. Some of the sessions were as follows:

1. Calendar/Agenda- 7th grade is using the Sunrise Calendar app to share a cluster calendar of special events, long-term projects & tests,  and students can also record  their homework assignments here.

2. Google Drive- Introducing the idea of using cloud-based storage tied to their school google accounts where it becomes a main workflow of receiving resources and assignments from their teachers and turning in their work through shared folders.

3. Explain Everything- Probably the best app in terms of versatility and creations with the ability to screencast, draw, record and explain everything! Students received a redemption code to be able to purchase the app.

4. iPad Setup/Nearpod- The iPad offers so many wonderful built-in features that were introduced during this session along with a scavenger hunt to test their skills. Then students experience an app that allows for teachers to take over their screens with Nearpod. Nearpod is basically a way to engage students through an interactive lesson.

5. Evernote-Evernote will be used as the student's notebooks. Each student setup an account using their School Google Account, created a notebook and shared it with that teacher. The teacher now has access to 'looking' into the students' notebooks to see if they have the correct notes or it may be a place where they complete an assignment. One nice feature of Evernote is that it is both an app and a website. 

6. Gmail/ Google Keep: With Medfield becoming a Google Apps For Education district, all of the middle school and high school students have their own accounts for use of gmail too. In this session, students learned how to create a contact list of their teachers, search the directory and send an email. Then Google Keep was introduced to 6th Graders as their 'agenda book'. This will become the place where they record their homework through photos, lists, and text.

Below are a  few of the session presentations. As a parent of a Blake 6th or 7th grader, you may find helpful.

Mrs. Ruminski's Fire it Up Animoto to start her session.

Before diving into Gmail and Google Keep.

Mrs. Donovan asked students to spill the beans and 

explain everything! This screencasting app is one of the most

versatile apps in creating, recording, drawing.. and so on.

During this session, Mrs. Donovan gave a brief introduction to 

the functions of the app.

Mr. Gavaghan is one of our ultimate Google Drive teachers.  I would say the
English teachers in general are big fans of GD! In his session, he walks the
students through creating and organizing a folder system for getting
and turning in work.

While students are somewhat iPad-savvy, we did spend time in the settings
to take advantage of functions like text-to-speech or how to set up your
device so it functions like a champ and doesn't get in your way!

Overall, it was a hugely successful day. The students learned new things as well as the

teachers too.  Any teacher or staff members that felt they could benefit from one or more of 

the sessions were welcome to join in! 

Listen in to a few student reflections about the Tech day.

I have a feeling that this will definitely become a new tradition at Blake!

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Bienvenido Vamos a clase española con su ipad!

Our first week of the 2014-15 school year has been

extremely hectic for Blake Middle School students with
getting to know their new teachers, possibly a new school and 

learning with a new tool- the iPad!  Yes, this year also brings

over 700 mobile devices into the school with the expansion 

from 1:1 iPads at the  8th grade only to now including all grades.

So..things went from 0 to 100.. 300 quickly!

As you can imagine,

we cycled through some of these common techie questions/issues:

Who has an Apple ID? Do they have the apps they need? 

Can they log into their google accounts?

Do they know their network/wifi login?

Are they getting their passwords mixed up?

Homework? What homework? Where do I find that? 

How do you turn it in?

What was refreshing to see was Sra. Boulos' Spanish 1 Class
and how she began integrating iPads in an easy, purposeful way.

She took advantage of Youtube & earbuds:) to have students
individually listen and practice  the Spanish Alphabet for as many times
needed before singing it as a class and then returning to their iPads

to make their own personal recordings!

I found this to be a wonderful example of just keeping it simple.

Even though most students are pretty iPad-savvy, it's important to be mindful of

the students' learning curve in now having to use and manage it as an educational tool.

Bravo! Sra. Boulos!

http://blakespanish.weebly.com/

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Get Ready. Get Setup .....

The 2014-15 School Year is right around the corner!  There is mucho excitement about Blake MS going 1:1 iPads for the entire school! That's right.. 6th.. 7th... and 8th graders will all have iPads in hand. Prior to school starting, there are a few things students should do to help setup their iPads for the first day.

Mr. Vaughn has email detailed information about the following:

1. Creating your own school non-credit card Apple ID 

   with special instructions for those who are under the age of 13.

2. Google Account login information  and a link to Google Apps for Ed Overview. 

3. The iPad Initiative Student User Agreement

4. Starter List of Apps to download prior to the first day of school.

 Note: the apps on this list are all free. Some apps will require students to create an account. Please wait until the first day of school when teachers will provide instructions on how to create or sign into those accounts. We want to make sure their is consistency in how it is done so we're able to help support students when they encounter login problems.

5. Other apps:  If you happen to have a newer iPad, iMovie and other Apple-based apps (Garageband, Pages, etc.) are free for you to download.  Please go ahead and do that!

However, if you have an iPad 2, you would have to pay for those apps. The district will be purchasing extra iMovie redeemable codes for those students. Inform your advisory teacher of that on the first day.

Another paid app that is not on the above list is called Explain Everything. Students will be using this app probably the most! The district has purchased a redeemable code which will be given to students during the first two days to download then.

6. One last thing to think about as a family with a student who has their own mobile device...

a FAMILY CONTRACT! One of the homework assignments during the first week of school is complete the Common Sense Media Family Table Contract. Start giving it some thought, discussion and feel free to contact Mr. Vaughn or myself with any questions.

* Wait ... remember your iPad should be kept in a sturdy case. If it is a Leased iPad, then it must stay in the Survivor case that was provided. In the last two years, probably all but one cracked screen or damaged iPad occurred because it was not kept in a good case.

Ok, now go enjoy the last days of summer...exhale!

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Memorial School is Representing at the Better Together Conference!

This Fall, the MA School Librarian Association (MSLA) and MASSCUE are sponsoring a professional development event with projects that emphasis deeper learning and the collaboration between librarians, technology integration specialists and classroom teachers while tackling the Common Core.

Well,  Randie Groden, Memorial's Librarian, Julie Colantoni, First Grade Teacher and myself- Diane Horvath, TIS will be presenting a transformation of the Big 6 project into the student-centered Wonder Inquiry Project with the integration the new digital database, Pebble Go in combination of creativity apps on the iPAD.  We're excited about sharing our experience so  think about attending! We'd love your support!

Better Together Conference
Date:  September 20, 2014Place: Newton North, Newton, MA

Click Here for detailed information and registration!

View on Flowboard - Presentation Software for iPad and Mac

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What Do You Wonder About?

What Are Your Wonderings? The first graders at Memorial School have a lot of them! They're wondering about stars, hurricanes, spring, caves. You name it. They're wondering about it. I bet you are wondering why we're doing some much wondering?! Well Memorial's Teacher-Librarian Randie Groden (@randiegroden) is revamping the Big 6 research project to the Stripling Model of Inquiry- with the focus on learning how to ask good questions ..... or wonders.

It works like this. Students are introduced to making an inquiry and researching their inquiry using the new Emergent Reader Research (Science) Database called Pebble Go. Next they brainstormed a list of their wondering topics based on the Science categories and began their research documenting the facts and information they learned from the videos, images and text onto a (paper) graphic organizer.

Click on image to enlarge.

We posted our wonderings both on the LMC's bulletin board with 

sticky notes and our virtual bulletin board (padlet.com) too!

Click on image to enlarge.

After their research was completed, students drew a picture and

 wrote several sentences about their wonder.

Of course, we couldn't keep this all to ourselves!

It was important for us to create something 

to post on the blog and share our new learning.

Good thing we have iPads & the Chatterkids app to 

take a snapshot of our drawings and audio record

the facts we learned. That's what we did!

This is when students were teamed up with a partner to create 'talking' pictures!

Since it was this classroom's first time experiencing using the iPads,

working in partners helped students remember and/or

 figure out the directions together and sometimes 

you just need an extra pair of hands for picture-taking

and recording!

And now what you all have been wondering about... 
what does this Inquiry process really look like?

Now that this process has been modeled, teachers

can incorporate it into their classroom on a more consistent 

basis. Otherwise, in the past years with the Big 6th project, we found

that it was a once a year "big showcase" project that seemed

to be more teacher-centered than student. Hoping to see 

a transformation with the new Stripling Inquiry based approach and
the integration of technology to becoming more student-driven, collaborative, 
and connect students to a variety of resources.
This is just the beginning!

Besides.. wondering is neverending...

What's your next wonder?

FYI: Check out Wonderopolis.org as another place to Wonder

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Digital Distraction Management Tips

Digital Distraction Management Tips

View more lists from Lisa Johnson

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Look Who's Talking?!

What's all the talk about creativity on the iPad?

Well one of the simplest ways to add creativity to any lesson or activity is by making an image talk in two quick steps. That's right, first you'll choose an image -anything in your camera roll or draw your own (like Sketchbook express or Drawing Carl). Second, use an app like  Chatterpix or Yakit to add a mouth or face and record your voice! Voila, C'est a piece de resistance!

Another popular app, Telligami is very similar although it offers a little bit more. With Telligami you actually create an avatar and add your own background image. there's a choice to record your voice or type the text.

By giving students and teachers this type of capability, there are many possibilities for how to apply it to the class:

• Oral practice of reading fluency or other languages
• Oral directions
• Explaining or introducing a concept
• Become a character or historical figure!
• Teach Perspective 
• etc.

An example from SCS Elementary School. Students created Talking Snowmen

to "talk" about the recent snow storm and the weather.  

Talking Snowman by Laniah from Southfield Christian School on Vimeo.


Our own 8th Graders in Jason Heim's Advisory reflected on their report cards with a Telligami to share with their parents.

During a workshop, our French Teacher Cindy Dalpe gave us a snippet of
her lovely singing voice w/ a drawing app and Chatterpix!

Here's an self-created example of Yakit- just to give you a quick demo.

(for fun, of course)

These tools do not have to stand alone either, when combined with other apps (called app smashing) you can have endless options:

Read more:   A Handful of Ideas for Using Tellagami In School

                     AppSmashing with Telligami
                     Yakit Tutorial
                     Chatterpix Book Talks with 2nd Graders
                     Aurasma and Chatterpix: A fun way to bring Photos to Life

Feel free to leave comments below of any ideas you have for using these 'talking' apps!

*Note: This post was inspired by Dan Callahan's Tweet about Pine Glen Elementary students using Yakit! I've love Chatterpix, but move over! Yakit may have knocked you out of your fav spot!

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Redesigning the 6th grade team!

The Koala Cluster got a face-lift!

After a year long pilot using the Nexus tablets, looks
like the 6th grade team maybe moving onto the iPad next year. We had to 
have a little fun as we concluded the final Nexus workshop!

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R-E-S-P-O-N-S-IBILITY!

Every month, Memorial School holds a very special assembly called the Get Along Gathering to promote social learning. This month's theme tackled the topic of RESPONSIBILITY! and Mrs. Colantoni's first graders stepped right up to the task!

And this time around.. we tried something new! Instead of playing the same ole tune (get it- hahaha) of just drawing and writing a sentence to share... the first graders turned to drama and their acting skills to produce their very own skits on the iPads.

Step 1: Planning

Mrs. Colantoni's class discussed what responsibility means and looks like in school.  Students were then divided  into teams of 2 or 3s and worked on drafting their ideas of what responsibility means on paper. (please excuse the ads)

simplebooklet.com

Step 2: Creating & Collaborating on the Video Production

Get out the iPads and open the Toontastic app! Let's turn these situations into a skit with three scenes: a setup, problem and solution. Students were introduced to Toontastic and collaborated on choosing the scene and the characters. They rehearsed their dialogue, timing and character animations and then hit ACTION! to record. Maybe the best part was adding just the right mood music to put the finishing touch on each scene. (If you think about it, it's the first time they've ever incorporated music into their written work!) 

Shhh... Quiet on the Set- Production in Progress! 

  Step 3: Now Playing

Once all of the Toontastic skits were shared through dropbox, we imported them into Explain Everything to create one presentation or movie. Then it was ready for Dr. Quigley to present it to the school at the GAG assembly. It was a big hit! The students and teachers absolutely loved it and could relate to our examples of responsibility.   And now we're sharing it with all of you so hopefully you can learn more about being responsible too!:)

To learn more about Toontastic, visit their website. 

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