Padlet Boards and Guided Reading- Easy Peasy

Sorry I have been missing for a few weeks, tons of things going on here that have kept me away from blogging. I'll write more about that another time though.

Last year, I wrote about the website Padlet  (for those old enough to remember, Padlet is the old Wallwisher site) and how we utilized this site during our study of organisms (you can read the post here). Since then I've branched out and utilized this wonderful tool in many different ways, both in the classroom and professionally.

This site can easily and seamlessly embed into so many facets of your curriculum. Currently I am using it with my higher guided reading groups as a way to monitor understanding through questioning. My kiddos are loving it! I find that it empowers my kiddos as it gives each of them a chance to express themselves.

Padlet is EXTREMELY easy to use and you can easily have a board up and running within 10 minutes the first time you try. (I've use it enough now that I can easily get a board up and running with minutes) If you've never used Padlet before, I have a Padlet board with tutorials, tips, and classroom ideas located here. Feel free to check it out. I'll be blogging in more detail about it soon, but this will get you started.

QR code in front cover of books

Back to Padlet and guided reading groups. So here's how I am using it and managing it with my groups. Once your board is created, Padlet gives you a url (which you can customize) as well embed codes and even a QR code. I simply printed off the QR codes and taped them to the inside cover of my books so I can use it year after year (you can clear the sticky notes off your Padlet board without having to recreate the board) I also added the url in case families don't have a QR reader. To give parents another option I also added the url to my classroom blog on my reading groups page (great way to get families to the blog as well as empowering my kiddos once again to navigate on their own- they handle all of these way independently. Amazing! If you'd like check it our for yourself, click here. 

Student adding his question to our Padlet

When our group meets, my kiddos bring along their iPads and either scan the QR code or access it through our classroom blog which have saved as an icon on our iPads (again, easy access!) This literally takes them 30 seconds or less. We start our group time by looking at the Padlet and talking about any new questions that were posted or any information that I have added. We then read and discuss 2-4 pages of the next chapter together and also add any questions that they have. After our group time, they have the option to go and find a quiet spot to continue reading and posting their questions if they'd like, otherwise, their homework is to finish the chapter(s) at home and if it's ok with mom and dad, to add their questions to the Padlet from home. I sent a note to parents about the site, how we were using it and directions on how to access it ahead of time. I also told parents that if they were not comfortable having their child access from home, that I totally understood (I mean, we are 1st graders) and that their child would not be penalized. They still have opportunity to use it with me here at school. 

Our current Padlet board for Mummies in the Morning

Here's the BEST PART though... as they post their questions, I can post examples of vocab that they are unsure of or leave them with another thought to ponder. In the example above, one of my boys was wondering what hieroglyphs were so I was able to embed a picture to show him. In or previous book, they wondered what a whinny was. Again, I was able to go out and find an audio clip and post it to the board so they could experience it first hand. This was so much more valuable than me simply saying it's a sound that a horse makes. Horses make lots of different sounds... which one would be in their mind? On that note, it is great for ELL students as it gives them direct experiences, visual and auditory, with vocabulary and concepts.

Using Padlet has really brought this group to life. In a typical group situation we still would have talked and shared our questions, but some kiddos wouldn't have had the opportunity to share due to time limitations, shyness or other group members monopolizing the time. ;-)  Using Padlet has empowered all my students to share and has given them the voice that they possibly didn't have before. I has been a wonderful tool!  Another perk... this past week I was gone on a tech visit to Minnesota. My students were really bummed but when I told them that their group would still meet and that I would be checking in from MN they were totally WOWed. I was able to read their questions and post my own responses. 

Whew! That was a long post! Congrats if you've made it this far! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.  Have some other ways that YOU'VE used Padlet in your class? Please post below so we can all learn from each other.

Amazing students....

It never ceases to amaze me what even the youngest learners are capable of with a little bit of guidance. Being a 1:1 iPad room my students are in a unique environment in which we embed technology in many different ways on a daily basis. When I first started out, our iPads were used more for games which extended or reinforced skills that we were working on in our classroom. We still use some of those apps, but more often than not, we use creation based apps now to SHOW what we know. 
This past week one of my students and I were talking about penguins during her reading group time with me and came across a fact about penguin feathers being oily. I asked her if she knew why the oiliness of the feather was important. She has some ideas but was not sure. I wrote a note to her mom and asked if they could do a little water and oil experiment at home over the weekend to help her with this concept.  Well, on Sunday afternoon, I received an email from this student with a picture of her experiment done in Skitch along with her conclusion. I was totally floored!!! The fact my kiddos use technology in our classroom is great, but when a child takes that same technology and thinks to use it at home to share what they've learned is priceless!

On that same afternoon I also received a video from another student in my class. On Friday we had chatted a bit about 3D printers. Our LMS brought in a gnome that her daughter had made at her school on a 3D printer and the kids were absolutely floored by the fact that a printer could make such a thing. Well as it turns out, this child went to a local technology store and saw a 3D printer in action. His mom said he went nuts and used her phone to video the printer for the class and also showed us some of the projects that it had made. On Monday used Air Server to show the video to the whole class and this child again got to share in his excitement! What a great learning moment for all and teaching moment for him!!

Did I mention that I teach 1st grade? Amazing right?! Who says 1st graders aren't invested in their learning! Rock on guys! You never cease to amaze me!!!!

We've been learning about the reading strategy- Determining Importance. This strategy is used when good readers need to decide between what is simply interesting in a text and what's important in order to understand what they are reading.We did an experiment today in which we had a bowl of water with noodles in it which represented our books and stories and a colander which represented our brains. We used the colander (our brain) to strain out the noodles (the important information, the main ideas, and key topics) and left the water (the interesting stuff with little detail) behind. To help solidify the concept, I had my first graders take  a picture of our experiment and import that picture into the PicCollage app. They then labeled the pieces of our experiment (interesting, important and brain) and sent it to their parents. Their homework this evening is to explain the experiment and their PicCollage to their parents. 

Spider research

Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but in this case, an explanation would probably be appreciated, so here is the story to go with the pictures... FINALLY!!

We have 30/day dedicated to intervention and enrichment in which we take all 90+ of our first graders and group them according to their needs. My group currently consists of 19 kiddos that are reading above grade level for this time of year and so my group is structured as an enrichment group.
My focus last month was on having them read for information. Seeing as my kiddos are reading anywhere from level F - I, I needed text that would be appropriate for all but still allow me to focus on the reading or information objective. To alleviate this issue, I purchase National Geographic's book, Spiders in eBook format through Scholastic and then was able to put it on my iPads using the free Storia app. This was a perfect solution as students were still able to "read" the text but also had the option of having the text read to them if needed.

You can see this groups facts beginning to
be organized on the easel behind them.

While students were "reading" they were give a pack of post-it notes to record their new learning and/or interesting facts on. After we finished recording our facts, students worked with their partners to sort and organize their information into categories of their choice (babies, where they live, what they eat, etc) We had done this once prior as a group when we dug into bats and I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with how well they did independently! Once their post-its were organized, they glued them down onto a 12x18 piece of construction paper so we wouldn't have to resort each day.

Last, students used their information to write an informative piece about spiders. This technique worked very well and gave them the resources and information they needed to write from experience and independently in their own words.