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!