Wednesday, December 12, 2012

5th Grade Graphing

5th Grade math classes are using etools from our Pearson Math online textbook, to create different types of graphs that they are required to know. Students are engaged and really gaining a deeper understanding of how charts and graphs work while all the time having Fun! Fun! Fun!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Play 60 is Getting Teravista Active!

Club Play 60 is working together to plan, direct, and record workout videos for the school. The club divided themselves into small groups and recorded the videos together. These videos are played every Thursday on the school's morning announcements. We are getting Teravista active and having fun while we're doing it!!  Click the title of this post to check out one of our videos.

TAG and Technology

All TAG Math and Independent Study Classes  3-5 are actively using Edmodo. Students are synergizing on homework outside of class through discussion threads, using the "Backpack" to store all of their work, being assigned and submitting assignments via Edmodo, developing online polls, and expanding their social network to include all TAG students 3-5.

TAG 1st Grade
1st Grade TAG students have been working on the RRISD Research Resources to learn about how to conduct research. They have participate in online scavenger hunts and spent a great deal of time on Pebble Go and Worldbook Kids researching a variety of animals. Students have also utilized KidSpiration to turn their research notes into a concept map. They have learned how to save a file into their network folders and to open that same file to continue their work.


TAG 2nd Grade
Second Grade TAG students have been using Edmodo as a base of operations for everything we do in class. They use the group folder to access all research information, respond to posts about the topic of the day, and synergize on classroom assignments. 

Currently, 2nd graders are working to Blabberize their Living Museum person. They had to find an online image of the person that they studied, save the image to their network folder, upload the image to Blabberze.com, set their "Blabber" so their photo could talk, and record their speech online.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

1st Grade Research

First Grade has been studying soil and using their laptops to conduct research. They are doing a full hands on investigation to further their understanding of the soil layers and what the soil is comprised of.  They are also discussing and sharing the information with their classmates. Our students are engaged and they are retaining the information they are discovering.
Keep up the good research 1st Grade!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

A Real Broadcast Team!




Broadcast Crew
Our broadcast team daily writes, directs, anchors, and produces a high quality news broadcast.
Our writers are assigned specific days of the week that they are responsible for. They work hard at writing the script, gathering appropriate pictures to go along with the script.
Writer / Director

Our writers also fulfill other roles such as technical engineers, backup anchors and directors. This group of students work cohesively together like a well oiled machine! If you want to see leaders in action come by and take a look at what this crew produces every day.
Sports Caster
     
Writers / Engineers
From our sports caster to our sound engineer each student fulfills his or her obligations with pride, quality and joy.  I'm proud of this crew!
Anchors





Lead Director
 

 

2nd Grade is Animating Research

Ms. Bailey's second grade class has been working on their Historical Figures research project. After completing their research and writing their essays they have been given the task of creating an animation, with Xtranormal, of the most important information of their research.


The students are learning the details of how to conduct research, important information about their historical figure, and decoding what information is vital to share from their research. Their animations are approximately 30 seconds and must contain only important information.

We can't wait to see some final projects! This is awesome Ms. Bailey.


Friday, November 30, 2012

Just Dance in the Gym!

The week of Thanksgiving our students participated in a “Just Dance” party in the gym. It was so great to see our Tigers working up such a sweat and showing off their dance moves while getting healthy and having fun!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

2nd Grade Science and Techology Day

This year Second Grade had ALL students engaged in technology during our First Annual Science and Technology Day.  Students rotated to different teachers rooms to learn different types of technology to help meet our Science, Math, and Writing TEKS.
  • Mrs. Sheridan taught students how to do a Webquest through Stemscopes.  Students researched rocks on three different websites.  They showed evidence of their work through answering open-ended questions.
  • Mrs. Garrett taught the students how to create a typed document to write about what they are thankful for.  They used clip art to match their words.
  • Mrs. McGhee had all students playing Math games on laptops practicing Place Value, Time, and counting Coins.
We are also using Pebblogo.com to learn about Famous Americans.  Students are independtly researching their Famous American and writing a research report.

5th Grade Researching Science Fair Info

5th grade has been using the laptops to go online and do background research for the upcoming science fair. They are using the library links for research resources and have been practicing siting sources.

Edmodo

5th Grade is now using Edmodo in their classrooms as a social media tool, and a safe way for students, teachers, and parents to communicate with one another.
Teachers are able to assign tasks to students and students can complete the work and turn it in online all while parents can take a peak at what's going on in class. This is a fantastic way for our students to become modern learners all while in a safe environment.
Nice work 5th Grade! We are looking forward to hearing more about this as it grows.
Woohoo!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Kindergartners Getting Acquainted with Laptops

Kindergartners here at TVE have been learning how to log on to their laptops. Each student has their own log in card that they practice logging on with. When the students are able to log on successfully by themselves, they are then taught to navigate their way to the online math learning games and Tumblebooks. Student technology leaders are also assigned in the classes. These leaders are in charge of getting the laptops from the cart and returning them to the cart correctly.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Using Digital Magazines to Teach Leveled Questioning



Our 5th grade team's Mrs. Pound is using digital magazines from National Geographic Explorers for student to conduct research and to teach students how to create leveled questions for group discussion. 

Students received a guide to the levels of questions from Blooms Taxonomy to help direct their reading. Now they are each creating questions from their digital magazines for their groups to discus and learn from each other and their reading.

It is nice to see the level of engagement from these students. It is also amazing to see the level of questions that they are writing. Many of her student’s are reaching the “Evaluation” and “Synthesis” level questions.

Mrs. Pound, Nice work! This is engaging and students are learning to solve real world problems. You are taking your students out of the box! 

Friday, November 9, 2012

Science and Technology in First Grade

First grade has been studying magnets in science.
To assess the students understanding of attracting and repelling, the students used Kidspiration to demonstrate their knowledge of which poles and attract and repel magnets. While at the same time learning to drag, save and print.
The final product was a poster with their diagram from the computer and a fact that they learned from the unit.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

5th Grade Using Digital Thermometers










Our 5th grade students are just learning about Science of temperature, but they are learning to use modern day digital tools like our Digital Thermometers. Our students are being prepared for the modern medical and science fields as they learn to use these digital tools in real world situations.

These students are able to take these thermal readings to chart their findings and compare the outcome to their theories. You should hear their excitement as many of them are surprised by their findings! This was a wonderful activity, 5th Grade Science Team!

First Grade Letter Sound Mastery

1st Grade Mastering Their Letter Sounds
After conducting small group assessments with students, the First Grade Teachers are able to focus students attention to particular letters and sounds that they are struggling with. Ms. Allen was able to engage her students with interactive activities that had students repeating sounds, discovering words and mastering their skills.
This was awesome to see, Ms. Allen!

Monday, September 17, 2012

5th grade Nutrition Webquest

In our science classes, we have been studying about Nutrition and how to read Nutrition Facts labels.  We conducted a webquest on nutrition as a review for our Nutrition quiz. The webquest allowed students to experiment with technology and solidify their understanding of Nutritional Facts. The students were engaged in the activity while gaining an extended knowledge of the content.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

2nd grade in art

The 2nd grade students from Ms Bailey's and Ms Stewart's during art class created stories after making an agriculture landscape along with a small Popsicle scarecrow puppet.  They learned about agriculture through watching a PowerPoint presentation and having a discussion about agriculture, where food comes from, etc. They placed their art background on the document camera and groups came up with stories to present to the class using their puppets. The students were able to feel comfortable speaking to the class and had a great time creating their stories using their imagination.  The document camera made the art work look great on the screen and the puppets made the whole screen look 3-D.

STAAR Science Practice

In 5th grade we are using Stemscopes and Turning Point voters to practice and review for our upcoming STAAR Science test.  This gives students a chance for immediate feedback and teachers an idea of which concepts still need work.

4th grade uses Technology To Promote Leadership

Ms. Hellyar's class is creating a Leadership book using the laptops.  Students get ideas and pictures from The Leader In Me website. Each student gets to explain the 7 habits and how they personally have used each one in their lives to become Leaders.
Students have learned to encourage others in being a Leader and recognize when each other exhibit these habits.

Second Grade Creates Creative Presentations

Our second graders have been researching a selected animal for a few weeks. The students are using online resources to find facts and images of their animal. With all of their research each student is creating a power point presentation to share with the class. This project has allowed the students to explore the research sites to become familiar with other research resources and present it in a more creative way compared to the common paper format.

TAG

Third Grade TAG Math students are using Google Earth to gather data about natural and man-made wonders to use in a graphing activity.

Using Google Earth had a huge impact on student motivation. They were eager to gather data and to learn about self-selected items. They were excited about being able to zoom in on the actual wonder that they were curious about in real time.

Kindergarten

some kinder classes are working with Pebblego on Living and Non Living
Tuxpaint to paint and stamp living and non living or morning, afternoon, evening activities
Working on Printing files

Monday, March 26, 2012

Media Literacy

In our Media Literacy unit, first grade students are have the opportunity to do a supervised search on reliable resources. The resources we looked at were Dictionary.com, and Wikipedia. We talked about their believability and sources. Students were then able to look up information on a topic of interest and find a reputable source. One student went home to research our chicken eggs that we are hatching and found out the breed, noting that he found the information on Wikipedia, so he was "almost" sure that it was correct. Students have also been exposed to pre-viewed sites with ads and talk about what those ads are trying to get them to buy or do. We discussed how the ads can also help you tell if it is a reputable website. They work on this in a whole group setting, and small groups when I have enough adult monitors. 
Our students are embracing the knowledge of what makes a reputable web site and one that can actually be used as a research tool. They have started referring to sites as being "OK for research." 

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Teravista Students Use Turning Point for the Battle of the Bluebonnet.

Teravista students use Turning Point for their Battle of the Bluebonnet competition. This is the driving force behind the combined hundreds of books the students read. Winning this competition pushed our students to read as many books as possible. They even use a web portal to vote on your favorite books. Technology was a huge asset to insure learning the necessary information for this competition!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Using Power Point to Focus on Reading Comprehension

Students in Mrs. Hobby's class are working on Book Reports for extra credit.  They are making PowerPoints on their own over a book of their choosing.  Some students add clip art, summaries, google images, etc.
Students are not only reading the book but they are reading the book for understanding due to the project at hand. They are having to focus on Characters, Plots and the Outcome. This PowerPoint project has pushed the students to a new level of  reading with comprehension.

5th Grade Science

5th graders are researching animal adaptations and creating a poster to share with the class.  They are also using Glogster to create interactive teaching posters for others to learn from.
This project has insured that the students have a deeper understanding of the Science TEKS in this unit. The students were also able to create a product that other students can learn from.

3rd Grade Media Literacy

In third grade, the students will be studying media literacy in Language Arts.  They will be creating a travel brochure on a landform they would like to visit using Glogster.com.  Students will have to use pictures and design a "glog" that will persuade readers to visit their landform.  This project integrates technology, persuasive texts, advertising, art, science, and literature.
Update: This project was a huge SUCCESS! The students were engaged and we were able to insure the learning of multiple core TEKS in this one project.

5th Grade Biographies

Students are researching different famous people using various search engines.  They are creating a report and timeline using different media such as PowerPoint, Word, and Publisher.

TAG Update

4th Grade students are filming a documentary using the Flip Cameras and creating a Movie Maker movie.

5th Grade Math students are using the TI-73 and TI-83 graphing calculators and learning about various functions of each calculator. One limitation to using the graphing calculators is that I don't have enough of either type for each student to have one at the same time. Although they are both graphing calculators, they do not function in exactly the same way.

Second Grade

Second grade is making Book Trailers using Animotos. They will be persuading other students to check out their favorite library books.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Mrs. Santiago has been busy...

Here is how Mrs. Santiago has been using technology in her classroom. Way to go~
  • Students are using Word to publish their stories helping to insure that they are meeting their writing TEKS.
  • Students are using Brainpopjr.com to learn more about rocks, soil, landforms and minerals. This learning tool has increased understanding to a new level.
  • Students are using Bookflix to listen to fiction and nonfiction books increasing their reading comprehension.
  • Students are using Tumblebooks to listen to various literature exposing them to new reading materials that may peak their interests. This also meets our TEKS by exposing them to various literature.
  • Students use the document camera to show their work to the rest of the class insuring that they know the materials that they have been taught.
  • Students use the listening stations to listen to various literature. This insures that we are meeting the needs of various learning styles of our diverse learning population.
  • Students are accessing Kidspiration to make various webs and create stories of their own increasing their understanding of the writing process.
  • Students watch various clips and videos about math, inventors, famous Americans, science, etc. on KLRU. This digital tool has helped to solidify the understanding of the concepts being taught.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

4th Grade Language Arts

The 4th grade language arts team has been using Media Literacy for students to create advertisements.
They have also been using power point presentations during their poetry research.

Using Video to Teach Social Skills

In ACHIEVE we teach social skills using video cameras. We tape student role playing expected and unexpected behaviors. While the students watch the video's they discuss their choices and consequences for their actions.

We have also taped students interviewing teachers for our service learning projects. In the interview they asked the teachers how they could help out our school. Then they watched the video to get ideas on how they can make our school a better place. For example, they pick up trash, provide donuts and coffee for the teachers, help sort papers, sharpen pencils, etc. The students love seeing themselves on video cameras which encourages them to become involved in our lesson.

As a result of this project our students have become more eager to become leaders and make better choices.

Physical Education "Energizer Videos"

Videos with classroom activities to physically stimulate students

Physical Education "Capt. Carrot"

We are using a weekly video about a "Food of the Week" to help challenge students to become more aware of the foods they eat. We also challenge them to try new foods that they may have never heard of.

As a result of this we hear students conversations about the foods they eat. "Hey, you should have more go foods!" or "Hey Coach, I asked my mom to fix the food of the week so I can try it last night!"

The students have been very responsive to these videos on our broadcast!

Science Fair Research

5th Grade students have been using technology to search science fair topics and to do background research on their topic.  Science Buddies was a favorite website to guide students in their topic selection.

Me on the Map

In third grade, we have been focusing on our place on the map in Social Studies.  We have been using Google Earth to show our world, then we zoom in to our continent, country, state, and even city.  Students finished a project showing the relationship between the earth, continent, country, state, and city using pictures from Google Earth.

5th Grade-Researching Climate and Weather

The students researched climate and weather. Using real world scenarios to create a travel brochure. The students also researched about travel activities. They were surprised how expensive it was to travel.

Achieve

We use laptops and alphasmarts in class to produce content.

Technology used in art room

I use technology constantly in the art room. It helps me help students visually to have a better understanding of what we are discussing or what I am wanting from the students.  It helps the students to produce better work by seeing examples.  I use tech to gather information to present to the students whether it is history, science, etc to integrate into lessons.  

Fourth Grade Technology

Fourth Grade has been using Stemscopes for science and Pearson Envision for math.  Students may access their textbooks online and play fun interactive games to help students gain a better understanding of all concepts.  Ms. Hellyar also Skyped a parent in Afghanistan.  Students were very excited and curious to see what life is like in Afghanistan.

TAG Math Technology Update

All TAG Math classes are going green(er)!

Technology Additions:

All homework is now online. Students connect to Khan's Academy academic video links and watch educational videos about a math review skill. After watching their designated video, they do a self-selected, interactive math practice to go over that skill. Parents initial agendas to show completion. The week ends with the students submitting a word problem that they have written and solved that has the potential to be used on the weekly quiz.

Weekly quizzes are created through Google Docs using a Google Form. The link to the grade level test is posted to my webiste. Students take the test online and the results are sent instantly to the spreadsheet that accompanies the form. Students are still required to show all of their work, but they can do this on the back of a previously used paper, math journal, etc.

Pros to Addions:

Students love the change to the homework. Since this change has been implemented, I have only one student that is not turing in his homwork consistently. Now, students are turing in their work on time or early. The friendly competition and the 10% bonus awarded to those that have their question used has driven the students to write high quality and challenging questions. They love the recognition and the fact that they have one fewer question to answer on the quiz. Having the homework/quizzes posted allows students that are absent to easily catch up.

Homework and grading the quiz has become extremely manageable for me and the students. Students always have access to former homework assignments and old quizzes to go back and review or study as needed.

Cons to the Additions:

Technology resources can be difficult to come by at times. As my TAG classes grow, this will become an issue and using the computer to take quizzes might not be a time-friendly option.

First Grade Technology-January

In January, the first graders at TVES have improved with their login skills. Almost every student can log in without looking at their username and password card. Mrs. Maggart's class practiced their letter writing skills to compose a letter to Wadi.  Miss Allen's class has been using their online portfolios and math games to reinforce previously taught skills.

Kindergarten

The kinder team has been using the laptops weekly for log in practice. Some teachers have students work in Tux Paint, Star Fall, or Pebble Go. It is getting faster and easier for the students to log in and get to their designated location. Practice makes perfect.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Second Grade Research Project

Second graders researched Famous Americans using laptops set up in the classroom. The students were able to visit encyclopedia websites and research sites to find information about their Famous America. Students were also able to type their research reports into word documents to display at our Living Museum.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Miss Allen's Class is Using Google Docs for an Online Portfolio

The students in Miss Allen's first grade class have their own google document where they write journal entries, create math problems, write stories, etc. This makes it easy to share student work with the parents and easy for Miss Allen to check up on them from the convenience of her home or cell phone. Miss Allen has implemented basic technology skills lessons into their journal entries.

First Grade Flat Stanley Project

Students created a flat self and sent it off via email or US Postal service to family and friends around the world to learn more about customs and traditions. It was requested to send pictures and letters back to the classroom. Most of the classes have received at least a few emails with pictures and letters. First graders look forward to hearing more!