Mrs. Claus Graciously Accepted Another Visit to Purple Sage Elementary

Mrs. Santa Claus this year was connected through Region 13 and Zoom technology to Central Texas primary level classes to share storytelling.  Purple Sage was so lucky to have her visit two classrooms online.  This second visit was for Mrs. Stefonsky's first grade class.  The students were so excited that they were talking with Mrs. Claus through our big screen in their own classroom.

Westwood High School Students Introduce Coding to Purple Sage Students

The Wednesday of Hour of Code Week, three Westwood students came with their sponsor, Christie Fennewald, the Instructional Technology Specialist at WWHS, to Purple Sage Elementary at the beginning of the elementary day to introduce Coding to 2nd and 5th graders.  They used Tynker.com with the Candy Quest game, and Code.org with the Frozen game.  It was a great experience to learn a new language and have great high school students as their mentors.  The students were truly involved in their learning.

One Hour of Code

Monday Purple Sage started their Week of "Hour of Code."  Ms. Mooney's kindergartners were introduced to Coding with the millions of other students around the world.  Our plans were to use Code.org but when that crashed due to the large numbers of participants, we moved to Tynker and used the game Candy Quest.  The students were 100% engaged, loving every minute, and were hugging Mrs. Barnard, our ITS, when they saw her later in the day!  Your students might be begging for computer time at home.  The links are on the Purple Sage website on the students' tab under Science.

Then, later, Mrs. Barnard, our ITS, introduced coding to 4th graders in Ms. Robinson's class.  They were able to use code.org and the "Frozen" tutorial to make snowflakes.  If fit nicely with their math unit with angles.  They were able to see the affect of a 36 degree angle versus a 120 degree angle.

The Hour of Code week is aiming for 100 million participants worldwide to prove that there is a demand for  21st century computer science education.  Think in your everyday life what all needs a computer scientist to build them:  a traffic light, a cell phone, a microwave, as well as the computer. The students were communicating together to problem solve, and using logic and creativity each step of the process.  We saw adding, subtracting, patterning, using geometry all in an hour or coding, and it was fun and engaging!

Substituting Pencil and Paper with Technology

Ms. Munoz, our third grade teacher, took her technology training on Tuesday evening to heart and took it back into her classroom immediately.  She was differentiating student choices in the classroom! Students were given the opportunity to use technology to type WTW (Words Their Way) sentences and clip art to find pictures to support their sentences! 

Mrs. Claus reads to Purple Sage's Kindergarten Class

One of the reindeer whispered that Mrs.Claus might be connecting through Region 13 and Zoom technology to primary level classes in Central Texas for storytelling and singing after Thanksgiving. Ms. Mooney, one of our Purple Sage kindergarten teachers, contacted her to hear a story and talk to Mrs. Claus for a half hour.

Since the North Pole knows about academic standards, they assured her that this activity will address the following:

Listen to and comprehend oral communications
Follow basic directions
Identify and summarize key points of a story or discussion
Participate effectively in discussion

Volunteer relevant information, ask relevant questions, and answer questions directly
Ask for clarification and explanation of unfamiliar words and ideas
Summarize information conveyed through discussion

Give examples and explain how language, stories, folk tales, music, and other artistic creations are expressions of culture and how they convey knowledge of other peoples and cultures.

Ms. Jones, our librarian, and Ms. Barnard, our I.T.S,. both helped to set this up for Ms. Mooney's class.

The students loved it!

Veteran's Day Activities

Veteran's Day is a special time at Purple Sage. The day is a hustle and bustle preparing for our beautiful Veteran's Day assembly where we honor all our visiting veterans with music and song.  Ms. SadatPurple Sage's music teacher, does a magnificent job in preparing each grade level with a patriotic song.  Then we have Grisham's band and choir and Westwood's color guard to help complete the program.
In the classroom, Ms. Robinson, fourth grade teacher at Purple Sage, used an interactive lesson from Gynzy.com. As we saw in our assembly, many students have a veteran in their lives, but many don't really know what the holiday represents.  This lesson included videos and activities about the military, and what a veteran and freedom means.

Ms. Robinson writes, "Just wanted to relay that I did this lesson with my class. They, of course, didn't know the wars although some used the context clues of looking at the pictures to figure the time-frame out. It was a really powerful lesson, and I would definitely do it again. Thanks for suggesting it!"

Digital Citizenship Week

Digital Citizenship Week was the week of October 19th-25th. Digital Citizenship is really not much different than citizenship in person.  Each class has already signed their commitment to our District's Acceptable Use Policy, just like they signed their class social contract.
Remembering our behavior plan, the 3 Bees, we want to BEE Safe, BEE Respectful, annd BEE Responsible in real life, as well as in the digitable life. Always follow the rules that you have committed to:  Always get parents or teachers' permission and supervision to be on the computer.  Only go to safe sites that are for your age.  And, speak only to people you know, like your grandparents.  Be protective of yourself by never sharing your information.  One class created bookmarks as a way to remind them of their commitment.

SHOW ME!

CHECK OUT THIS FREE App! IT's AWESOME! Mrs. Jacqueline Garcia was very excited for her class to use this with their IPads! It's a virtual whiteboard.  Students can write on the iPad using their finger or stylus.  This App gives the students the capability to audio record! The learning opportunities are endless!  Students can immediately play back a tutorial that can be used over and over. Great to use with students who have been absent and missed original explanations and examples. 

Mrs. Garcia's class was working on division and the algorithm steps the first day they tried this app.

Very Hungry Caterpillar!

Mrs. Rivera's Dual Kindergarten Class completed their retell on The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.The students enjoyed this activity and wanted to share it with you!  Document Cameras are used quite a bit to document growth in kindergarten.  It is creative how Mrs. Rivera's class shared in English and Spanish.

Learning in our Dual Language 5th Grade Classroom

Our Next Geneation Digital Classroom is off and running, learning new things daily with our IPad Air devices.  Mrs. Garcia got her feet wet first by adding a technology component in with our Dual Language Student Created English Alphabet.  The students researched to find strong words to represent each letter of the English alphabet.  Then the students acted out their word and a classmate snapped the IPad camera.  There was great excitement stirring in the classroom!

             

                 

What happens When Sophie Gets Really, Really Angry!

Mrs. Mooney's Kindergarten class completed their retell on When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang This is what they came up with.  They really enjoyed sharing using their document camera.  
K.8 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the 
structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:
(A)  retell a main event from a story read aloud;

Introducing our Next Generation Digital Classroom

Have you heard about the Next Generation Digital Classroom initiative? Congratulations to Jacqueline Garcia, who has been given the opportunity to lead this trailblazing experience. Round Rock ISD created "incubator classrooms" in each school, elementary to high school, to foster the integration of new teaching and learning with mobile tablet technology. The district selected four different mobile devices, and Ms. Garcia and her 5th grade dual language class are piloting the IPad Airs. There is one for each student.
Along with the Ipad tablets, each class received an interactive white board data projector called BoxLight. Since we had a Promethean board, we were able to move that board into another room for other classes to use.
The class started off with addressing our Acceptable Use Policy, the district technology expectations. Students have learned to log into the new devices and have been trying new apps, as well as using their Google accounts. Our goal is to seamlessly embed this new technology into our curriculum and master our technology application essential skills and knowledge.
The class is off to a great start! The students are so engaged in learning. We are confident that this initiative will benefit our students and keep us moving from a First Class to a World Class District!

Welcome Back! to a Great New Year at Purple Sage!

This 2014-2015 year is off to a GREAT START at Purple Sage Elementary!  So many smiling faces and students excited to learn. This week, our new counselor, Patricia Quintero, and I, Bunny Barnard, our Instructional Technology Specialist, will team up and meet with each class to start our technology world off on the right foot with our Acceptable Use Policy and learning what to do if they experience cyberbullying. The younger grades will be viewing:

http://learninglab.org  Garfield animated cartoon video

Then our 4th and 5th grade will watch

http://www.tyla.org/tyla/index.cfm/resources/educators-students/elementary-school/r-u-safe/ Young Lawyers Assoc. R U Safe?

To introduce myself, I will use a fun Google App, PowToons.

2nd Graders use Board Builder in Discovery Education

Ms. Santineau is proud to show a few of her students' Discovery Education Board Builders that they used this year to present their animal research.  The students loved the new experience.
(If you don't have a Discovery Education account, register.  It is free.  And, these are worth viewing!)

Box Turtles       Copperheads      Fossils

IPad Pilot in First Grade

Mrs. Stefonsky's first grade students have been using the iPads daily, during the math intervention time. They enjoy playing Code Squad, Operation Math, and other games and quizzes from Brain Pop. They have invited other students to play with them. These have been wonderful tools for enrichment in math for many of her students.

Kindergarteners Take A Stand

Kindergarten wrote about what they would do if they saw someone being bullied.  Ms. Mooney downloaded images of the students' writing to Movie Maker, added visual effects and music and this is what she produced. Enjoy!​  Ms. Mooney has discovered many ways to display her students' work digitally and display it for all to see.

Smart Phones Document Happenings in Kindergarten

It is so nice to be able to pull out your SmartPhone instantaneously and capture learning at the moment its happening.  Here is kindergarteners discovering what 3D objects are and naming their findings.

Kindergarten learns online with Virtual Manipulatives

This is Kindergarten at Purple Sage Elementary using the sets of wireless mice on virtual manipulatives, Geo Boards math, http://www.mathplayground.com/geoboard.html.
The students had a lot of fun with math since they had the chance to take turns moving the wifi mice.

Online Brain Breaks with GoNoodle.com

 

This is Kindergarten using GONoodle.com for Brain breaks.  They are loving the relaxation and wake up breaks. 

Student Initiative

Fourth Graders in Ms. Waddill's class have taken the initiative to start a Google Spreadsheet of all the Google Presentations they have created since they have been introduced to Googe Applications for Education!  I am so proud of them and the excitement they have toward Google and all its features.  I know it is spreading throughout their classroom, grade level, and Purple Sage!  Thank you, fourth graders for sharing!

Fourth Grades Love Google Presentation

Here are a couple of pictures of Ms. Waddill's fourth grade students all working collaboratively using Google Presentation. They are in groups, and each group is creating a slide.You can see all their colored letter blocks in the second picture as they are working together, and Luke is actually working on a slide while his teammate is on another computer working on the same slide! They love it!

 

Mindstorm Lego Electric Guitar

In preparation for the Robotics Showcase, Aida and Delilah constructed and programmed an electric guitar using NXT Mindstorms featuring an ultrasonic sensor that causes the speakers to play different tones when it senses a Lego slide/wall has moved to a new distance.  Well done Riderbots!"

Prezis to Culminate Projects

Our ISP, Independent Study Projects, directed by our Talented and Gifted teacher, Ms. Melissa Jacks, were based on personal interest areas, called "Pursuit of Passion."  Some students chose to culminate their interest project with a presentation created using Prezis.  Please go to each of the links and click on the right arrow to view.

http://prezi.com/xsoixob34chu/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

http://prezi.com/mt5mad6fnm-h/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

http://prezi.com/kz0cnmlledq7/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Ms. Jacks also had students presenting the "storyline" of self-selected books by presenting their comprehension in a presentation.  Again, students chose Prezis to display their understanding of their chosen book. Please check out these links.

http://prezi.com/wwcygqjrvst6/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

http://prezi.com/p339ugbltpxy/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

PebbleGo

PebbleGo is one of our library online programs for preK to 3rd grade researchers. "PebbleGo databases support literacy and build a foundation for a lifetime of learning."  It is leveled text that is fully narrated designed for the emerging reader and includes visual searching.  Here are pictures of our kindergarten using our computer lab to experience reading,researching and writing about animals using PebbleGo as their resource.

Kindergarten Uses IStation

Kindergarten is going strong using Istation, our State provided computer-based language arts learning system. It is an  individualized instructed program that provides research based reading instruction and  richly interactive and animated computer adaptive assessments and differentiated interventions.  This is the sixth assessment and the students are learning phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and so much more.  

Max Is At It Again!

Max, our energetic fourth grader, has created another great Google Presentation.  This time he has created a Math Presentation of the basic math processes: adding, subtracting, decimals, and fractions.  Please view and learn.  He has started our brains rolling because students are going to start creating other Google Presentations displaying visuals for students to learn other basic math skills.  These will help as they practice for the STAAR testing this spring.
Max's Math Presentation 

Student Shares a Personal Project with ITS

Max is a fourth grader who just received his Google account for email and Google Drive, along with a very quick training on Thursday by the Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS), Mrs. Barnard.  Over the weekend, he used his knowledge of the Water Cycle to practice all the features of creating a Google Presentation on his own.  The ITS has been corresponding with Max in Google Mail to be sure he always cites his resources, as well as sharing a new place in the Google Image Search where he can be sure to get copyright safe images. His teacher, Mrs. Waddill, and Mrs. Barnard are very proud of his tenacity and independence to complete this assignment by himself after receiving training only a day before!  Max's Water Cycle Google Presentation

Students Receive GMail Accounts

This year RRISD has introduced Google Apps for Education, GAFE, for elementary students in grades 2-5. These accounts give students access to an email account and Gooogle Apps that include Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Sites, and the Chrome Store. 

At school, student activity is monitored using a tool called Gaggle which will let teachers and administrators know if problems arise. Student accounts are for educational purposes only.
 
Students may use their Google Drive accounts to work on some of their assignments at home and to work collaboratively with their peers. Teachers can communicate easily with students and give them specific and timely feedback.
 
Here are some of the capabilities:

• Gmail: Students may email their teachers. Currently, student to student email is disabled, and students cannot be emailed by anyone outside RRISD.

• Google Drive: Students can create, edit, and collaborate on documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and drawings with their teachers and peers. Google Drive is available anywhere the student has access to the internet.

• Google Calendar: Students may create and use electronic calendars.

• Google Sites: Students may create web sites that are managed by RRISD.

• Chrome Store: District approved apps and extensions are available in the Chrome Store. These educational apps may be added to enhance productivity and student achievement.

The fun part of all this is to see the students' total involvement when we introduce it to them.

Math Measuring Concepts Demonstrated by Kindergarten

" Scavenger Hunt" and "Sole Mates" videos go with the following Kindergarten Math Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS):

K.10A Compare and order two or three concrete objects according to length (longer/shorter than, or the same)

K.7B Compare two objects with a common measurable attribute to see which object has more of/less of the attribute and describe the difference

K.10C Compare two containers according to capacity (holds more, holds less, holds the same)

Kindergarten classes worked on Measuring, how and why we measure and had two activities.  First they went around the school on a scavenger hunt to find things to measure by comparing.  Next they compared their feet with others in the class to find a foot that was shorter, longer, and the same size.  This is what they shared.  
Mooney's Class / Rivera's Class

Mooney's Class / Miller's Class

Reflecting Through Writing

Our kindergarten class this past fall learned about the Thanksgiving Holiday and why we celebrate. Kindergartners wrote about why they were thankful and displayed through PaperSlides using their class document camera.
Mooney's Class


They also started out this new year and learned about Martin Luther King and how he made a difference. Again the students were writing on how the world could be a better place.  Both of these activities go with their Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills on History K.2:
The student understands how historical figures, patriots, and good citizens helped shape the community, state, and nation.
Kindergarten loves to share with families and friends through videotaping the kindergartners to see their growth in learning.
Mooney's Class / Rivera's Class

Taking a Stand

Catherine Jones, Purple Sage's librarian, read the book One by Kathryn Otoshi To Ms. Miller's kindergarten class before the holidays.  As a follow up activity and to incorporate writing, the students completed this statement, "I can 'take a stand' by saying" and drew a picture to accompany the statement.  Then Ms. Jones joined all the students' work into one class Movie Maker video to share.  
The focus with One was to encourage kindness and provide students with the tools they need to stand up for themselves and others.  This book is a great companion to Wonder which the intermediate grades are reading. Ms. Jones will be collaborating with other teachers using other activities associated with One.