Wonderful workers / Winter Musical!

Hello! Thank you for popping by to read and learn about all of the exciting learning that is taking place in our classroom.

The children completed Unit 4 in math. During this unit, the children worked to solve addition and subtraction number stories as a way to strengthen their mental math skills. We then moved on to pencil-paper strategies to help us estimate and solve problems adding 2 and 3 digit numbers. The children practiced measuring using inches and centimeters and reading temperatures on a thermometer. Finally, we focused on the "partial sums" algorithm (that I demonstrated back on curriculum night) which involves adding the tens place, then the ones place, and then combining the two. The children are really beginning to deepen their number sense!

Here, the children are measuring the height of classroom objects including the height of their desk, the height of their chair, and the width of our classroom door in both inches and centimeters, using a tape measure.

 Here we are getting ready for our 2nd grade musical! The children were buzzing with excitement when it was about to begin!

 The children's voices, dancing, and singing was very merry and bright! The decorations were beautiful and inviting, too!

 Ready for showtime!

 Luke is ready to shine!

 A class selfie! :)

 Kurt looks a little nervous!

During our reading lessons last week, the children viewed this drama/play called "The Lost Sock." We noted that in a play, the dialogue spoken between characters is not found in between quotation marks like the typical fiction stories that we have been reading. Instead, the spoken words of the character follows the colon following their name. Other features we noticed include the role of the narrator to provide additional information and keep the story moving along, and the use of parenthesis to add stage directions, or actions to the characters.

 The children highlighted examples of these features found in a drama.

 I LOVED watching this interaction between the students. They are not working quietly and independently. They are engaging in the activity with EACH OTHER. They are together, often looking at the same paper, pointing, listening, searching and learning as a team. I was so happy to see (and snap!) these examples of terrific teamwork!

 I found some additional leveled texts that were of this same drama/play genre. The children enjoyed playing the part of a character (including changing their voice to match the role they were playing :) and also noticing the features we had discussed during our reading lesson. They learned quickly not to SAY the stage directions (laughing, sleeping, smiling, etc.) but to just DO them instead.

 The children loved hopping up in front of their classmates for a quick performance! What a great way to build expression and fluency in our voices through a repeated reading! It was also a terrific excuse to take one more look at those drama/play features that we don't notice in the fiction books we have been reading lately!

During our learning about estimating, the children used a picture of a roller coaster like the one above to help them remember that numbers ending with a 4 or less should be rounded DOWN, and numbers ending with a 5 or more should be rounded UP!

 Here, the children enjoyed having a quick ballpark estimate relay race!

Additional items to note:
* January Lunch Bunch: Mrs. Sessler is looking forward to sharing fun conversation and interactive games with the students in our class in January! Students with class numbers 1-11 will meet with Mrs. Sessler on Tuesday, January 19th, and students with class numbers 12-21 will meet with her on Thursday, January 22nd during their lunch recess! Oh, what fun!

*Winter Wonderland sponsored by the Dryden PTA is coming up this Friday morning! The children will enjoy some winter fun on Friday morning with songs, crafts, and winter cheer!

*Extra gloves/socks: That snow has got to be coming sooner or later! A helpful suggestion for when it decides to arrive is to keep an extra pair of dry socks and gloves in your child's backpack- it can make a huge difference in their comfort throughout the day!


Coding information from the desk of Ms. Breaux, our TECHSPERT!

In honor of the #HourOfCode, students were treated to lessons in coding during the month of December.  Lessons were carefully crafted to move students through several skill sets used in coding.  It’s important to note that many of the skills used in coding apply to learning in general.  For example, problem solving, perseverance, critical thinking.

The first lessons involved Kinesthetic exercises, referred to as “unplugged”lessons, followed by an iPad App lesson, and ending with a Code.org experience.  Students were captivated by the “unplugged” lessons, thrilled with the iPad lessons and enthralled by the code.org options. In other words, students enjoyed the coding experience.

You can view pictures and videos of the student coding experience on twitter by following @DrydenTech or on the Dryden School Facebook page.

Links to apps and video used in lessons, as well as additional resources, are included below.  Many of the apps, as well as code.org are free.  Students may be interested in continuing the  coding experience at home.

K - 2

Brainpop-computer programming video 5:55min.

Coding Unplugged Grid/Arrows on floor from code.org

Kodable App on iPads

code.org Course 1 lesson 4, Maze Sequence using ARROWS. iPad or Computer.

or

Code.org Studio Hour of Code Starwars Puzzle 7

Addtional Resources:

Google: Made w/ Code and Other Projects (block code) offer a variety of challenges that can be accomplished in short time frames.  Access from a browser on Computer or iPad.  Easy to do at home or in classroom centers.    

code.org:  StarWars and Minecraft projects for the hour of code  New 2015!!

code.org: Code with Anna & Elsa of Frozen (block code) an hour of code instruction with progressively more challenging coding steps.

code.org: Angry Birds (block code) more hour of code fun with the popular angry birds series.

code.org: Play Lab (block code) in addition to moving blocks and selecting variables, this set of exercises offers fill in the "words" to increase the skill level.

All these options from CODE.ORG can be accessed from a browser on Computer or iPad.  Easy to do at home or in classroom centers.  No login required.

Khan Academy Hour of Code: Drawing pictures with code and/or Drawing pictures with Blocks  both featuring snowmen!  Also try Khan hour of code from 2013 projects.

Scratch Hour of Code 2014 : see additional projects here

The folks at MIT developed Scratch and Scratch Jr in an effort to get younger students engaged in coding.  Scratch can be a little more challenging, but students quickly adapt and love it.  

Cargo-Bot in the Classroom

A game that allows kids to learn the basics of programming, Cargo-bot is the first game programmed entirely on iPad using Codea. A puzzle game where users teach a robot how to move and reassemble crates into color patterns, this app provides  high-quality retina graphic, and recordable solutions users can share on YouTube.  YouTube also has great "cheats" as some of these puzzles are quite a challenge.

Light-bot App (coding concepts for younger students)

Lightbot: Teaching Coding Concepts to Students

Similar to Cargo-bot, but a little easier, this coding app is a programming puzzle game: a puzzle game that uses game mechanics that are firmly rooted in programming concepts. Light-bot lets players gain a practical understanding of basic control-flow concepts like procedures, loops, and conditionals, just by guiding a robot with commands to light up tiles and solve levels. Light-bot features 40 levels and 20 challenge stars to collect.

Daisy the Dinosaur App (younger students create with block code)

Using Daisy in the classroom with younger students

Learn the basics of computer programming in this coding app that has an easy drag-and-drop interface that students of all ages can use to animate Daisy to dance across the screen. Students will intuitively grasp the basics of objects, sequencing, loops and events by solving this app’s challenges. After playing Daisy, kids can choose to download a kit to program their own computer game.

Hopscotch App (blockly code for older students)

Using Hopscotch in the classroom

Hopscotch requires a login.  It teaches students to code using simple, intuitive building blocks. Students can create games, animations and other programs, as well as tell stories in this colorful, interactive environment. Students can program characters to move and use commands like shaking, tilting, or even shouting at the iPad to control them. Hopscotch was inspired by MIT’s Scratch.

Kodable App

Kodable in the classroom for K-2 students

Kodable is a game offering a kid-friendly introduction to programming concepts and problem solving. For kids ages 5 and up, and tools for adults as well.  This app is ideal for grades K through 2 aged students.

Happy Coding,

Beth Breaux

Dryden Technology Facilitator

Thanks for reading!

:) Kelly O'Sullivan