Monday, December 16, 2013

Good Citizenship Lesson Culminates in Video

Kindergarten learns about good citizenship.  Kindergarteners love to "publish" their work through video using the document camera.


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Animal Nation, an Independent Study Project for First and Second Grades

Our Independent Study Projects are directed by our Talented and Gifted teacher, Ms. Melissa Jacks.  Our
First and Second graders compared two favorite animals in their ISP, Animal Nation.  They used the library resource pages, in addition to print resources,  to study about their two animals. Then they used Easybib to cite them.  They created a PowerPoint or Prezi at the conclusion of the project.  They presented at our school, as well as at the district level.







Monday, November 25, 2013

Kinder is Thankful!

Ms. Rivera's Kindergarten Class write expository text at Thanksgiving Time and give thanks!
Kindergarten at Purple Sage have a great time using their document camera to share with families their student projects through video.  Google Drive allows them an easy way to share with the public on their websites and our Getting I.T. Right Blog.
Writing TEKS/SEs
Expository Texts
K.15 Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts. Students write expository and procedural or work-related texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes. Students are expected to:
(A) dictate or write information for lists, captions, or invitations.



Thursday, November 21, 2013

Symbaloo

Teachers at Purple Sage are spreading the word about using Symbaloo to visually show their links for their students. Check out Mrs. Jacks and Mrs. Waddill's websites.  I already know they have passed the idea on to other teachers.

Math Strategy Technology

Many different technology tools are used in Mrs. Scott's second grade class during math.  When technology is used everyday, it becomes a second skin, and you don't even think of all the technology the students are using to learn.  Here is a picture of one of the second graders on the Promethean interactive board demonstrating the bridging to ten strategy.   Mrs. Scott found this flipchart on Promethean Planet

Mrs. Scott said other activities to solidify the bridge to ten strategy she found at gynzy.com, a free site with good math manipulatives to be used on interactive boards. Mrs. Scott uses the Creating the Number line, Abacus, or the Bead Necklace sites within this program to practice this strategy and improve mental math.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Mrs. Waddill's Fourth Graders Blogging their Reading Responses

Here's the link to show you what Mrs. Waddill's 4th grade students are blogging. They're experimenting with responding to their reading and each other using the blog.  Mrs. Waddill chose kidblog.org for students to blog.

Kindergartners Learn Good Citizenship

Kindergarten shared what Good Citizenship means to them by illustrating and sharing. TEK: K.1. 
Mrs. Mooney's Class                                                           




 Mrs. Rivera's Class

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Students are Back in the KPUR Anchor Seats

Fifth grade students are now back in the anchor seats of our KPUR Broadcasting.  Thanks to our Librarian, Catherine Jones, and her library assistant, Laura Stutzman, our Instructional Technology specialist, Bunny Barnard, and expert help from Jennifer Manning, at the district level, our broadcast technology is set up and running.  We have our green screen up in hopes that our software, Visual Communicator, will provide the different backgrounds.  Every other day, the students present in English or Spanish, just like our school's language of the day approach.  That means our students are learning new words in another language.
The students present the lunch menu, the weather, a Spanish word for the day, and the American and Texas flag pledges and moment of silence.  They also present special people.  Today, our new principal, Dr. Barrera, presented his charm on air and shared words of wisdom to his Rider Scholars.  He also presented the Boy Scout leader who spoke about the Purple Sage Boy Scout troop's membership drive.
The classes tune in each morning to watch and get the morning started.

Friday, August 9, 2013

2013-2014 School Year is about to START!

It is quiet in the halls right now at Purple Sage Elementary. VERY SOON, teachers will be back full force to see the completed construction of the new Safe and Secure Entry and meet our new principal, Dr. Arnold Barrera, and our new assistant principal, Mrs. Denise Thompson, and our soon to be announced, office specialist. As teachers prepare their rooms and start creating their lessons for the upcoming new year, integrating technology with the curriculum will allow students to explore beyond the textbook and will increase student interest. Our Technology Application (TA) of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) were revised last year to be integrated into the curriculum beginning in kindergarten!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

The Manhattan Project

Ms. Faris, fifth grade teacher, wanted to share a really cool project one of her 5th graders recently completed. The students read 20th century literature and researched the topic of the novel. One group of students read, The Green Glass Sea, a novel by Ellen Klages, about the Manhattan Project, and Dillon turned in a great stop motion video presenting his research. Check it out!

Kindergarten Field Trip

Kindergartners Use Scientific Investigation

Ms. Mooney's Kindergarten Wildcats conducted a classroom investigation using scientific investigation and reasoning. They collected data, recorded and organized information.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Ms. Lewis's Kindergartners Read their Published Stories

Seth Joey Samuel

Wildcat's Field Day 2013

Photostory3 of Kindergartners' at Field Day: Mrs. Mooney's Class

2013 Independent Study Projects

Students select a topic of interest, a pursuit of passion, to study about for a month. Then they select a career person who would know lots about that topic to dress up like to present their research. Students used Edcanvas, Prezis and Powerpoints to present their topic. They created a presentation board that included a Wordle for their career. Students of all grade levels participated in this independent study project.
Mixbook - Create Beautiful Photo Books and Scrapbooks!



Thursday, May 2, 2013

Shape Walk

Students in Mrs. Mooney's kindergarten class walked around the school to identify objects in real life to the shape they had in their hand. Great camera shots were taken and uploaded to PhotoStory. The students loved this activity. It was a fun learning experience. K.9B Students recognized shapes in real life objects such as balls, boxes, and cones or models of three dimensional geometric figures.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Kindergarten's Spotlight on Learning

Kindergarten presented to our PTA their Spotlight on Learning. They highlighted their Animal Research. For Kindergarten research (including TEKS K19A & B) in Reading, students asked opened questions about their animal and then developed a plan to answer them using expository text and search engines like Pebble Go. For Writing, students used (TEKS K.20 B) students' pictures and writing to document their research. Students speak clearly and to the point. (TEK S K.22) This was a great experience and the students loved every part of it. Mrs. Mooney and her Wildcat's.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Kindergarten Photograph the Weather

Kindergarten Weather reports were made with photographs on PowerPoint slides and turned into Photostories (Ms. Lewis' class and Ms.Mooney's class).


 

Retelling by acting out main events-" Goldilocks and the Three Bears"

Kindergarten is working on retelling or acting out important events in a fairy tale.  
They are also working on listening and speaking.  Students are to speak clearly .
Students are expected to share information by speaking audibly and clearly using
the conventions of language. It was a great experience for the students.

First Grade Advertise and Sell Through Media

First grade students in Ms. Rivera's class created a product to sell and advertise. They had the opportunity to choose their way of media to use to sell their product.
 These are the objectives they were working with:
Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning.
 Students continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts. Students are expected to: (A) recognize different purposes of media (e.g., informational, entertainment) (with adult assistance); (B) identify techniques used in media (e.g., sound, movement).


Scavenger Hunt for Measurement

Kindergarten students learned about how we measure and why we measure. Students directly compared attributes of length, area, weight, and capacity.  They had fun hunting for objects to compare!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Penguin Research Culminated Through Technology


Students in Ms. Mooney's kindergarten class generated a list of topics they wanted to learn about. 
Students then chose one topic, Penguins. The class gathered facts about penguins.  The students then drew a picture and wrote a caption for each fact they learned. When they finished, they completed a Paper Slide to show their completed expository writing. 
Please enjoy. 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Sole Mates in Kindergarten


The Kindergarten Activity, Sole Mates, had kindergarten students comparing two foot prints of different lengths, theirs and a classmates, and using comparative language to answer the problem:  Which foot is longer, shorter, or the same. 
Mrs. Mooney's students had a great time completing this assignment. Watch the paper slide video that they created as a way of presenting their work.  Kinder Foot Book

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Welcome Terri Skinner to 4th Grade

Terri Skinner is new to teaching and Purple Sage.  She has taken over one of our 4th grade classrooms this week.  She has really jumped in fast!!  Ms. Skinner has already been using her Promethean Board and has actually used her Activotes with her students twice already and it is only her fourth day!  Way to GO Ms. Skinner!  Great technology things are predicted to come from her class!