Thank you to all that participated in the 19th annual St. Patrick's Day Graphing Project! It was a great year of counting, sorting and graphing our favorite St. Patrick's Day cereal, Lucky Charms!

As you can see by the graph below, we found out that our hypothesis was not true. We worked to prove that there were more green clovers than any other marshmallow piece. Interesting as well as that several classes commented that they did not have any Pots of Gold marshmallow pieces this year which may be why our results show only 1,052 total pieces. The "Other" pieces were reported to be unicorns by all of the classes.

If you'd like to see the results, feel free to jump over to St. Patrick's Day Graphing Project website.

☘️ Here's hoping that all of our classes had a wee bit of fun and that you'll join us again next year! Registration for 2024 will open the end of February 2024. ☘️

☘️ St. Patrick's Day Project registration NOW OPEN ☘️

 St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner and I couldn't be more excited. This is one of my favorite holidays; I'm just a wee bit Scotch-Irish! I couldn't resist creating a few shenanigans in my classroom this time of year... those gosh darn leprechauns, always causing trouble thinking that I had stolen some of their gold. 😉☘️🌈

The annual St. Patrick's Day Global Graphing Project is up and running! Covid took the fun out of 2020's project, but we're back and ready to provide your class with a wee bit of fun in '21!  I encourage you to jump over to https://stpatricksdaygraphing.weebly.com/ to find out more! This was always one of my favorite activities to do with my first graders!

https://stpatricksdaygraphing.weebly.com/

This project is a great way to engage your learners while also covering a wide variety of standards including: counting, sorting, graphing, analyzing data and more! Opportunities also exist to connect with other classes through Flipgrid, a collaborative Google slide deck, or even by connecting in real-time through  Google Meet or Skype IF YOU CHOOSE. 

If you are a K-3 teacher, I HIGHLY encourage you to sign up and give it a try!

☘️ Registration is open and will be open until Sunday, March 14th! ☘️

Malchow's Tech Bytes 👩🏻‍💻 ~ Nov 16th

 

Click the image above to access the links and view the deck in a larger format 

Malchow's Tech Bytes~ October 26th

 

Click the image above to access the links and view the deck in a larger format.

Add caption

Remote Learning with April's EpicPals 📚🌍

Click the image to access the Google Doc (need pdfs due to remote learning? See below)

The April's EpicPals collections are ready and waiting for you. 
(Please see important note below re: student posts)

Need this month's boards in PDF format so you can easily share with your students?

 Click here for the primary board 
Click here for the intermediate board

** Important Information re: Student Posts ~ Please read **
Due to recent issues of several students leaving inappropriate content in their posts and the fact that many of our students are now learning from home,  Bobbi and I are now fully moderating all posts and will delete ALL posts with inappropriate language, .gifs, and links for students safety. This simply means your students will not see their posts until we have approved them. 

We hope that you and your students will continue to post and enjoy using EpicPals during the coming months of home learning.  

------------------------------------------------

New to EpicPals? Head over to the #EpicPals page at the top of the blog for additional information to get you started!

------------------------------------------------

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to Bobbi or myself. You can find both of us on Twitter- @smalchow (primary boards) and @bhopteacher (intermediate boards)

Malchow's Tech Bytes~ March 2nd

Click image to access clickable links

Malchow's Tech Bytes 👩🏻‍💻~ Feb 24th

Click the image above to access the links

Malchow's Tech Bytes! 👩🏻‍💻 Jan 27th

Malchow's Tech Bytes 👩🏻‍💻~ October 14th ⚙️🎃

Global Collaboration is something I am passionate about! It is amazing what our students can learn when you bring the outside world into your classroom- whether that be guest experts or learning from other students! Check out Michelle Flicek's new monthly global collab STEM project. It looks like an amazing opportunity for multiple grade levels! 

Apple Classroom is a phenomenal tool for helping with work flow and to monitor student behaviors but have you thought to use it for formative assessments? Take a peek at the amazing resource from Jodie Deinhammer in today's Tech Bytes to find out more!

St. Patrick's Day Graphing Project 🍀🌈

St. Patrick's Day is just around and I couldn't be more excited.This is one of my favorite holidays (I'm a wee bit Scotch-Irish!) and there were always a few shenanigans going on in my classroom this time of year... those gosh darn leprechauns, always causing trouble thinking that I had stole some of their gold. 😉☘️🌈

If you haven't already heard about the St. Patrick's Day Lucky Charms Global Graphing Project (yikes, that was a mouthful) I encourage you to jump over to https://stpatricksdaygraphing.weebly.com/ to find out more! This was always one of my favorite activities to do with my first graders!

https://stpatricksdaygraphing.weebly.com/

This project is a great way to engage your learners while also covering a wide variety of math concepts including: counting, sorting and graphing. You'll also have the opportunity to connect with other classes through Flilpgrid a collaborative Google slide deck, or even by connecting in real-time through  Google Hangout or Skype if you choose. 

If you are a K-3 teacher, I HIGHLY encourage you to sign up and give it a try!

Registration is now open and will be open until March 14th!

👩🏻‍💻 Malchow's Tech Bytes~ Jan 21st

Malchows Tech Bytes~ Jan 21st

👩🏻‍💻 Malchow's Tech Bytes~ 10/18

Malchow's Tech Bytes~ 10/18

☘️St. Patrick's Day Project ~ #SPDProject18 ☘️

St. Patrick's Day is just around and I couldn't be more excited.This is one of my favorite holidays (I'm a wee bit Scotch-Irish love the wearin' o' the green!) There were always a few shenanigans going on in my classroom this time of year... those gosh darn leprechauns, always causing trouble thinking that I had stole some of their gold. 😉☘️🌈

One of my favorite activities to part in though was the Lucky Charms graphing project that Jen Wagner hosted on her ProjectsByJen site. (If you've not checked her site out, you definitely need to take a peek. She runs some fantastic collaborative projects that will get you connecting outside the four walls of your classroom!)  Needless to say, Jen was not planning to continue the St Patrick's Day project and I just couldn't bear to see it die... so.... I've taken over the reins and am super excited to continue this fantastic opportunity for our youngest learners! 

https://stpatricksdaygraphing.weebly.com/

For those not familiar with the project, it involves having your students sort the marshmallow shapes from a box of Lucky Charms cereal. As a group we are working to try and prove that there are more ☘️green clovers☘️ than any other shape. 

This project covers multiple standards (which you can find on the site) including: 1:1 correspondence, sorting, graphing, and analyzing data. By participating in the project, you'll also be covering several of the new ISTE standards including the Global Collaborator-GC1 standard.







Also included this year is a coordinating Flipgrid board where your students can participate in several topics such as creating a math problem for others to solve, using their marshmallow pieces to create a story or simply share their favorite marshmallow piece.  






We have over 140 classrooms already signed up to take part and would love to see your 4K-3 classroom join us. For more information, or to register, check out the official St Patrick's Day Project website~ 
☘️🌈  https://stpatricksdaygraphing.weebly.com/ ☘️🌈 our hashtag is: #SPDProject18 ☘️🌈

View St. Patrick's Day Project Participant Locations in a full screen map

Tech Bytes~ Feb 26

Is your class taking part in Read Across America Week or celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday? If so, there are several resources this week that you may find helpful in this week's Tech Bytes newsletter. Don't forget about the Read Across America Flipgrid resource that was highlighted last week as well~  https://flipgrid.com/drseussbirthday

Malchow's Tech Bytes~ Feb 26th

One of my long time favorite apps is Padlet. If you follow them on Twitter, you probably already know of all the fantastic new upgrades that have recently been released. If you haven't heard about these new features, you definitely need to take a peek! Lots of great new features that will make this tool even more accessible for our youngest learners and provide a variety of on board tools for all grade levels!

World Read Aloud Day

Ever had one of those crazy days where you feel you just don't have enough time to get a read aloud in? I'm sure we've all had one of those crazy typical days, but did you know that reading aloud is one of the most basic and most important things you can do with your students?! 


Reading aloud gives students the opportunity to hear fluent and expressive reading, increases vocabulary, and provides crucial phonemic awareness skills. 

Mem Fox, in her 10 Read Aloud Commandments, says, we should "spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day reading aloud".

February 1st will be here before you know it, so mark World Read Aloud Day on your calendar and then share that your class will be taking part by registering for the event here.

Ready to take it one step further? Share a read aloud with another class using Google HangOut or Skype! 

Here's how to find a class... 
Use this Google spreadsheet to find a partner class, it's just that simple! 


Need help or have any questions, feel free to reach out! I'd love to help you make a connection!!!

Are you on Twitter? If so, share some pictures using the hashtag #WorldReadAloudDay and tag @litworldsays

Special Edition Global Read Aloud #EpicPals

Are you taking part in Pernille Ripp's 

Global Read Aloud? #GRA17

Bobbi and I have worked to create a special edition of our monthly #EpicPals collections to coordinate with two of the Global Read Aloud choices, the Mem Fox (K-1) and Fenway and Hattie (2-3) choices for this year. We hope you will find these to be a nice addition to your Global Read Aloud experience!

Click this link or the image to access the
Mem Fox collection

The Mem Fox collection  (recommended for K-1)has a variety of informational texts about Australia, Koalas, Kangaroos, and Possums. These books were all chosen due to the connection with characters and events in the Mem Fox stories your class will be experiencing.  I've made sure to include several Read to Me books as well to support your emergent readers. Also included are two audio books of Mem Fox's Possum Magic and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge and a few videos as well.

Click this link or the image to access the
Fenway and Hattie collection

Bobbi's Fenway and Hattie collection includes books about squirrels and dogs, both of which your students will encounter as they enjoy Fenway and Hattie with you. Bobbie has also included some Read to Me books to help support your emergent and transitional readers as well as including a few coordinating videos.







Both collections include a Padlet board for your students to respond on but we have given them a bit of a different twist for this project. The links to the Padlet boards are included on the Google Docs. We encourage you to check them out and have your class contribute them.  

Example of the Mem Fox Padlet board for the #EpicPals Special GRA17 project

If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. You can find both of us on Twitter- @smalchow and @bhopteacher

***************************************

New to EpicPals and need some additional information? If so, head on over the the #EpicPals page at the top of the blog for additional information.

Dot Day Success!

Our Dot Day was a success today! To help get my students excited about the day, each of them got this sheet on their desks this morning. Their job was to color a picture inside of "the dot".

Once they finished their coloring, they opened an app called, colAR Mix on their iPads and pointed their iPad at their image. As they held their iPad on their sheet, the center area came to life in a 3D way. You can click on the link above to download this free app and try it yourself. There are other neat pictures to color and use the app on as well. My 2nd grade son has printed some of the sheets to practice his spelling words on. He's always excited to see what it will do. This has definitely been a motivator for him! (Whatever works!!!)

 After watching the story on YouTube, we used the Drawing Pad app to create digital dot pictures. Here are our finished digital dot art pieces. Kiddos not only learned how to navigate the new app Drawing Pad, but also how to use a stylus, how to take a screen shot and how to save their images to their camera roll today as well. It was a fantastic day of embedding technology into our learning!

The Dot Project

Are you looking for a collaborative digital project to start your year that doesn't take much prep? If you answered yes, I've got just the place for you to start! It's The Dot Project!

Monday, September 15th is International Dot Day- a day to celebrate creativity, courage and collaboration. Yes, I know that tomorrow is the 15th which doesn't leave you much time, but remember... I said it doesn't take much prep?!

If you are interested in participating in this project, go to the The Dot Club to sign up.  You simply need to share the book by Peter Reynolds called, The Dot and then find a creative way to help make YOUR mark. They have a fantastic PDF that gives lots of ideas, may of which are as simple as taking a piece of paper and having your class create their own dot pictures. Can't get much simpler than that!

My class will be participating this year and will be enjoying the book via the YouTube video below. (I've made even less prep for you by embedding it below) We will then talk about creativity, self expression, and taking risks.  As part of this project, we will then create our own dot projects and see what just a dot can turn into when it comes from different people's imaginations. We will be doing our projects digitally on our iPads using either the Doodle Buddy app (free) or the Drawing Pad app ($1.99 or 99 cents if volume purchased). 

Once we finish our projects, we will share them with our parents via our classroom blog. We also plan to Skype with our buddy class from Canada and share our creations with them as well.

So... what are you waiting for? Go sign up and take part in this year's International Dot Day! The video is below and everyone has paper to do pictures with. If you're interested in connecting with a class after the project, we'd be happy to hook up with you as well!