Tech Bytes~ March 12-16th

Malchow's Tech Bytes~ March 12th

Assessment using Seesaw

I love all of the ways that you can use the Seesaw app to have students show their learning. Today we tried something new. We have been studying the continents as well as learning where our state and city are located and also knowing the cardinal directions. I wanted to assess my students' knowledge of these areas but didn't want to do a traditional worksheet or take the time to do a cut and paste activity. After a lot of pondering on what would be most manageable for both my students and myself I came up with the idea of sharing two different maps with my students on Seesaw. I simply had students touch the "Copy and Edit" button to make a new copy for themselves. 

After each student had their map copied I gave them specific directions such as find Antarctica and put a 1 on it, Find Australia and mark it with a 2, etc. After we marked the continents, I asked students to use the recording feature to tell which continent we lived on and to put a star on it.
On the United States map, students were to label the cardinal directions, locate and circle the state that we live in and as a bonus, mark where we live in our state. They then recorded this information for moms and dads.

At then end of the day I was able to easily see and hear student's responses to my questions. Before sharing this assessment with parents, I put a comment under each students' map sharing with parents what the standard was that I was assessing and shared what number each continent was supposed to be. This ended up being a great way to keep parents informed of their child's progress and gave them a quick glance at what they could help their child with at home. 

Picture It Project 2015

We are once again participating in a Projects by Jen online project. This time we are participating in Jen's Picture It Project. The project is set up to be a collaborative project with 23 other classrooms around the world to create a collaborative piece of artwork. This years' project has us creating a quilt. Each class is responsible for creating a 7" x 7" quilt square in whatever fashion they choose. We will also be filling out an "All about Us" sheet that will be sent along with our artwork. 

I chose to embed some of our "About the Class" info directly into our quilt pattern and then turned our project into a color-by-number to reinforce turn-around facts and symmetry. 

In hindsight, I wish I would have let the kids pick their own 3 colors for their code so that each of the quilt squares would have had their own look and feel. Live and learn. Seeing as each piece will be going to a different school, so will be part of it's own unique quilt, it won't be a big deal. That's what happens when you try to save time during a busy time of year and not let the creative juices fully flow. Our piece will be similar to the one seen here. This is my digital master of our finished square.

As our pieces come in from the other schools we will locate the states/countries on our map using clues such as, "This state is in the northwest corner of the US" or  This state is north of Florida". This has been an authentic and engaging way for my students to practice and reinforce their map skills. Once things get going they always look forward to finding out if we received any mail. After we locate the states we will place each piece in the hall, along with the information that each class sends us, to create our quilt. I'll post an updated picture as our quilt begins to take shape.

If you've never participated in one of these projects, I highly encourage you to look at the various projects that Jen offers. There are many and they span multiple grade levels. They are very engaging, collaborative, cover multiple standards and are a great way to embed technology into your curriculum.