Watch Out Discovery Channel! We're Space Experts!

Let me start by saying, this was one of those projects where I wasn't really sure what was going to happen. I knew what standards I was teaching and gave each of my students a solid rubric - but from there I was anxious to see the direction it went. I can honestly say I learned a valuable lesson about trust and being willing to try - even when you think it may be too much to handle.  I was so amazed by what the students created together. It was a swift reminder that I don't always have to be in control of every little detail. Hop over to our YouTube channel to see what I mean. 

Now, let's get down to business. Who can get me in touch with Discovery Channel so we can start broadcasting our knowledge of the universe? Email me. :)

--------------------

This project was broken into three different phases. Overall, it took us about 5 days total (or five class periods of 50-min each). The last day was more of a catch up/clean up/submit to YouTube. 

First, we broke out to in expert groups based on interest. Students were able to choose if they wanted to research the Sun, Moon, or Earth. On Google Classroom, I provided a "research guide" with specific questions about the Sun, Moon, or Earth (depending on their topic of research). I tailored the questions to our specific standards to ensure students were researching the appropriate facts. Plus, I provided specific links because I didn't want my students to get lost in the world wide web - it can happen you know!

The next step was to create informative movie clips about their respective topic. You can view those on Google Drive here. This is where the fun began! Students collaborated in their expert groups with a partner to develop a script for their movie clip. They were informed their movie clip would be used in a collaborative iMovie in the following days. In our school Maker Space, we have a green screen available - so we decided to do some filming in outer space thanks to the DoInk app!

Once partners had filmed a movie clip, they AirDropped it to their partner. The final step of the project was to form a collaborative group with one Moon expert, one Sun expert, and one Earth expert. From there, students put all of their movie clips together and began the editing process. Students had access to their rubric/checklist via Google Docs at all times. Prior to each class, we would review the rubric to remind students of what was expected for the video. You can check out the rubric here. 

Today, students were quite giddy when they heard their videos were officially published to YouTube (with parent permission!).  They were so excited to go home and subscribe to our classroom YouTube Channel. 

Photographing our Morning Procedure

Tuesday of this week began my SIXTH year of teaching! As each new year approaches, I find myself slightly changing our back to school routine. I imagine I'm not the only one who changes their plans from day-to-day and year-to-year. :)

One very important procedure we have to have down is our morning procedure.  Students begin coming into our room at 7:50 and we are out the door for specials by 8:12! Students have to check in, write assignments, get unpacked, etc. etc. There's a lot to do in that short period of time!

Last year, I wrote about using the "My Job, Your Job, Our Job" model to create our morning procedure. It worked wonderfully - my kids loved it. They knew the routine very well. 

This year, I decided to switch things up a bit. My kids were eager to start using our classroom iPads and I felt the morning routine would be the perfect opportunity to start. 

I grouped students by birthday (original, I know!) and asked them to take photographs of their morning responsibilities. This would include using the restroom (no bathroom pics please!, writing assignments, sharpening pencils, etc. 

After a quick tutorial on taking pictures, I sent the students on their merry way. 

This lesson also provided an opportunity for me to teach students more about our Connected Classroom. Using the Apple TV, I was able to demonstrate the "AirPlay" function and how to "AirDrop" images from one device to another. 

Once students had taken photographs around the room, we gathered together on the carpet and shared our ideas. While students were sharing, I assumed the role as the "Note Taker" and told students I would collect all of their information in a fancy document. 

Honestly, they thought of things I didn't even think of! 

It was a great way to incorporate technology into an often "boring" part of the back to school routine. 

Tell me... how do you teach routines in the classroom?

Why Do I Tweet?

Venspired

I've been a member of the Twitter community since the summer of 2009. I was in college and my roommates and I jumped on the Twitter bandwagon and spent waaay too long one afternoon thinking of clever usernames. Luckily for me, a sweet friend had nicknamed me "Furnelly" and I felt like it would be the perfect Twitter handle for my new social media adventure. 

Speaking of which... hey Lauren, I'll need a new handle soon! Get to thinkin', sister!

Now, if you were to back channel through my tweets and read what I was up to from 2009-2011... you would be unimpressed. We'll just jump ahead to when I found the true value of Twitter as an educator. 

Before I continue I must confess: my Twitter feed is a random collection of all things related to my life. I choose to have my Twitter be a reflection of my personality and my thoughts - even if they are strange and rather goofy at times. 

Exhibit A:

Looking at the forecast makes me think of @Oprah saying, "YOU get outdoor recess! YOU get outdoor recess! YOU TOO! Outdoor recess!"
— Jordon (@furnelly) March 9, 2015

I tweet about my favorite TV shows, what's happening in room 52, what my dog's internal thoughts are, and I share anything and everything I feel someone else can find to be relevant to their life. That's the great thing about Twitter - you control who you follow. You control what information is flooding your timeline. If you're a big fan of March Madness... then your timeline probably looks much different than mine right now. Mine is flooding with Scandal tweets and Edchats.  

Back to my question - Why do I Tweet?

For me, I tweet to be connected. I tweet to find out what other great teachers are doing so I can do those things too. I tweet to share great ideas with MY teacher friends. I tweet to learn new teaching strategies and new trends in education. I tweet to find out answers to things I just can't figure out. I tweet for the professional development in my sweatpants.  I tweet to catch up on my favorite celebrities and live vicariously through the lives of my favorite Housewives. I tweet to find out how I can be a better teacher, better person, and more encouraging educator. I tweet to learn how other teachers are enriching their curriculum with technology. I tweet to share what incredible things people in my world at Osage are doing. I tweet to share what we are experimenting with in room 52.  I tweet to show people that kids really do say the dardnest things.

Student, "I hope it someone's birthday today because I'm prepared." Me, "oh really?" Student, "I brought my kazoo just in case."
— Jordon (@furnelly) January 15, 2015

I've found there is always someone willing to share their expertise on Twitter. Whether it's about removing wallpaper in the house we just bought, where to eat in New Orleans, a new recipe I must try, or how to navigate through the app Explain Everything for the first time. Strangers - fellow Tweeters - are willing and ready to offer their assistance in 140 characters or less. 

I tweet to bring the world outside of Osage into my classroom. Last year, my classroom connected with five different classrooms around the country through Skype. All of this happened through a simple hashtag #MysterySkype. From there, my kids were video chatting with students in New Jersey, Texas, and California to name a few. I tweet to bring authors and writers into my classroom without making a formal field trip. I tweet to show my students how it's possible to communicate with astronauts living on the International Space Station.

Welp, those are my two cents on the Twitter bandwagon. If you've been thinking about jumping on board, maybe this is the little inspiration to get started. Good luck!


You can find me @furnelly (you've been warned about my Twitter feed....)!

How Does Light Color Affect Plant Growth? We're Going to Find OUT!

I'm positive I've mentioned on my blog that I do have a few subjects in science that aren't exactly my favorite..... 

Anyone else have those moments in teaching?

Oh just me, huh?

The silver lining in having a least favorite subject to teach is the fuel it gives you to find engaging and interactive teaching materials. Last year, I purchased a "Seed Investigation" on TeachersPayTeachers from HelloLearning and it totally rocked our classroom. We were planting seeds, designing our own investigations, and having the best time studying plants. Who knew it was possible? (I totally recommend checking out HelloLearning's shop on TpT. You won't regret it!)

A few weeks ago, I started mentally preparing for our classification unit because it was on the horizon. It's all about the attitude, right? If the kids can see I'm not happy... then no one is happy! So by golly, we were going to make this unit rock two years in a row! After collaborating with a high school teacher and friend, he suggested a fantastic plant experiment for my kids. What if we tested how the color of light affects plant growth? Using the resources I purchased last year from HelloLearning, we set up another experiment testing light color and plant growth. Let's just say... this experiment is the cat's pajamas. 

Literally a cat wearing pajamas.

Here are few of my "live" tweets about setting up the experiment on Tuesday. 

We are ready to answer the testable question, how does changing the color of light affect plant growth? @shawnfowler pic.twitter.com/CHEEkxSzY2
— Jordon (@furnelly) February 10, 2015

Planting radish seeds for our seed investigation! Will changing the color of light affect plant growth? @shawnfowler pic.twitter.com/nN2wB3y7bY
— Jordon (@furnelly) February 10, 2015

First class has planted radish seeds under our colorful lights thanks to @shawnfowler! pic.twitter.com/mc2Dn373wL
— Jordon (@furnelly) February 10, 2015

Share with me! What are your best lesson for teaching classification? 

Classifying Vertebrates Pre-Test Through Socrative!

It's amazing how, when I'm relaxing on my couch, my to-do list seems so bare... then the moment school kicks off, things are rolling at full speed again! Whew.. deep breaths!

This year, our 5th grade has been fortunate to have 6 iPads put into every class as a replacement for our laptops. As each day passes, we are finding more and more ways to utilize our iPads to impact our instruction. One of the apps I'm a BIG fan of is Socrative. One of my colleagues wrote an awesome post on our "Tech Tidbits" blog at my school about using Socrative. Check it out here ----> UETechTidbits. In the post, she gives an overview of Socrative and how to use it in the classroom.

If you're curious about Socrative, I would watch this informational video or simply follow their posts on Twitter. I'm always gaining ideas just from their tweets!

Access Socrative Twitter Profile

One of the huge benefits of Socrative is that it is not limited to just one device - even if my classroom wasn't equipped with iPads, I could still utilize this response system in my classroom. Pretty fancy, huh? 

In science, we are starting our animal classification unit. Based on a consensagram from the beginning of the year, this is the unit my students are HIGHLY anticipating and they haven't let me forget about it. Which means.. I've got to up the anty and make it worth the wait!

Pretty remarkable stuff here: my least favorite subject to teach is the one my kids are most interested in. pic.twitter.com/ZHZk4lSBxp
— Jordon (@furnelly) August 22, 2014

Now, all of my blabbing and going on and on leads me to an eight digit number. This post was was simply a ploy to get to you snag this number and use my "Shared Socrative Quiz". If you are a teacher in need of a pre-test over the five classes of vertebrates - look no more! I've got you covered!

Vertebrates Pre-Test:

SOC #:

14406769

Now... share with me find educators! How have you utilized Socrative in the classroom? I'm eager to learn more! 

Some More of What?

Source

What better way to wrap up a great year in science class then eating s'mores on the high school lawn? We are fortunate to our have our high school and elementary school within walking distance of one another.  I am not sure why it took me three years to start collaborating with high school teachers - c'mon Jordon! Get it together! Luckily, I had two teachers more than willing to let my students learn a thing or two from their high schoolers. 

After chatting with a friend and high school teacher, we decided it would be a great idea to have our kids construct solar ovens in our respective classrooms and then share our designs with one another.  Once I told my students they would be collaborating with high schoolers and eating s'mores - they were hooked! 

For almost two hours (yes! It's true!) my kids were hard at work on their ovens. Using pizza boxes donated from a local Italian restaurant, Lil Rizzos , and materials borrowed from the kitchen.. my students began constructing. 

On an exceptionally sunny day that week, we set out our ovens, crossed our fingers, and hoped for the best. In case you're wondering - yes - I made myself a s'more too. 

A few hours later, we came back to find our chocolate had melted into an ooey-gooey delightful afternoon treat. We enjoyed our s'mores, chatted about why our solar ovens were successful, and checked on the progress of our high school friends' ovens as well. Great conversations paired with learning and a delicious treat sound like a great afternoon to me!

This video was a great resource for my kids in the planning stages of their solar ovens - especially for those with little to no experience (cough - me included - cough). 

"I CAN SEE THEM TYPING!" Collaboration Through Google Drive!

I wish I could bottle the excitement and pure joy that was had in my classroom this afternoon. Honestly, at one point I was standing in the middle of the room watching as my students' eyes widened with excitement and wonder as their new pen pals typed a story along with them. 

Now, let me back up! Yesterday, I shared how a friend and I had our students "meet" one another through a Mystery Missouri Skype. Read more on that experience here. 

At the conclusion of our Mystery Skype last week, we (the teachers) informed our classes we would be collaborating on a little writing project through Google Drive. The anticipation set in and we had to wait a few more days until our schedules would allow us to log on at the same time. 

Miss Kazanowski did a little leg work going into the project: chatting about partnerships, logistics of how it work, topics to write about, etc. This morning, Miss K sent me a list of her student's individual Google Drive accounts. Right after lunch, students logged onto our classroom Google account (we only have one for the whole class) and I taught the entire group how to share a document with a new user on Google Drive. Next, students were sharing blank documents and quickly adding snapshots of their cute little smiles to give their new digital pen pal a visual of who they were chatting with. 

While my class was waiting for Miss K's class to return from recess and log on, we were teaching eachother - wait... let me rephrase that sentence, my students were teaching one another tricks with Google Drive and from there the ball was rolling! Students were typing bios about themselves and sharing information for their buddies to get to know them a little better. I even learned the phrase, "my selfie game is strong on IG" - this apparently means you take good selfies. Good thing I have my 5th graders to keep me hip. ;)

Then....

the moment happened. 

The first 5th grader -in another city - in another school district - logged on and started typing. A student shouted, "THEY ARE ONLINE!" Then another student shrieks, "THEY POSTED A PICTURE!" As more students shouted updates around the room, other students were dashing to their computer screens to check out the live update. Within minutes, everyone was chatting live with their new pal. I even threw out a few live tweets myself. I was inspired by Miss K's live tweeter during our Missouri Skype. 

"THEY ARE TYPING! I CAN SEE THEM TYPING MS. FURNELL!" Shrieks of excitement as students are collaborating through Docs with kids in KC!
— Jordon (@furnelly) May 14, 2014

We collaborated with @furnelly class in order to create poetry today. Thanks @googledrive! pic.twitter.com/S9Zj144j8F

— Micaela Kazanowski (@MissKazanowski) May 14, 2014

With the help from Miss K, managing students in her classroom, and myself bopping around to computers in my own classroom, we were able to get students writing in a no time. Honestly, they were so excited to get started I didn't have to remind them twice! Overall, we had students writing wacky stories line by line, limericks, haikus, and even a story about tacos.  

I'm certain the number one question I will be asked in the morning is, "When can write with Miss K's class again?" 

Our First Mystery Skype

 

Click here to visit our Skype profile. 

As of this morning, our class has officially participated in their first MYSTERY SKYPE! My twitter feed is constantly buzzing about classrooms participating in the mystery of skype, so we jumped on the band wagon today and it was fantastic!

Kudos to Ms. Sandgren from Wisconnsin who reached out to me through our Skype profile. She also provided this link to help us get our feet wet with the process. 

After we ended our conversation, we completed a Plus/Delta as a class. The majority of aspects students wanted to change from the process were technologically related. (i.e. webcam, sound, etc.) A few positives that were noted: fun, neat to see students researching US while we were researching THEM, and we could see them (hehe).

Would you like to participate in a Mystery Skype with us? Contact me!

A Peek at our Week Video Series

Slowly by surely, I am searching for practical ways to use one iPad (without an internet connection) with 19 students. Let me tell you, this has been rather tricky. 

Source

At the start of our new semester, I introduced a new project to my students where we would use my iPad to record video clips of our week. Each week, two students are in charge of filming and editing our "Peek at our Week" video. At the end of the week, I upload the video to YouTube and share it with families and post it on our class webpage. We are three weeks in and I've gotten a huge response from parents so far. My goal for the videos are to give parents another vision of our classroom - seeing it through the eyes of their child. What is really going on while we are at school all day? Yes, video clips of us dancing have been included in all three videos so far. Fine by me!

This year, I've really been taking advantage of all of the goodies Google has to offer. For example, my classroom has a Google Drive account where we create and keep our documents and create presentations. This has been a HUGE relief for many reasons. Now students aren't saving things in random folders, losing documents, messing with read-only files, etc. etc. Through YouTube (and Google), I started a YouTube channel for my classroom. Not only can I upload our classroom videos to this location, but I can create playlists for different subjects, events, or our favorite 5th grade things. 

Below you will find week one's video. This was our demo video and created by yours truly. I promised the parents more creativity in the future because their children would be in control. Needless to say, each week gets a little more wacky - and creative! 

Do you create movies in your classroom? Right now we are using iMovie and I'm hoping to find a different application with more editing options (text, music, themes, etc.) I would love to hear suggestions on how you incorporate movie making into the classroom, too!

Pop Rockin' in Science

What happens when you dump pop rocks into a bottle of soda pop? Ask one of my 5th graders and they should be able able to tell you what happens and why! Thanks to a little Pop Rocks Expander experiment from Steve Spangler (click here for more information). 

This experiment was the perfect addition to our Matter unit and after our inquiry, it left students asking questions about why different flavors had different effects on the pop. Today we are continuing our thinking on physical changes and melting ice cubes with blow dryers. Cross your fingers I don't blow a breaker! No, really... cross your fingers. 

Sacrificed in the name of SCIENCE

How do Text Features Help Me?

'Twas the question of the day! err.. I mean, yesterday. 

Before we dive into actually using text features as a resource when reading informational text, I felt it was important to refresh our memories on the different types of features. To do this, my students created their own anchor charts in small groups with examples of text features snipped from magazines. 

First, we compiled a list of the features we already knew - which was quite a bit! Then, with prompting, we generated a decent list of features. After tossing around dozens of magazines, I sent students on their merry way to cut, snip, and glue examples of text features. 

To start our reading block today, small groups shared their posters with the whole group. Now, our posters are hanging in the wall for all to see - and to gain a bit of refresher before reading their informational text. 

What tricks do you have up your sleeve for text features? Share with me!

Teachers! Share Your Thoughts With Me!

My brain has started spinning into school mode, slowly... but it is certainly starting to spin. I've started lists in my phone, sent myself emails of things to remember when I get back to school, and constantly checked to see if my class list has been posted. I can't be the only one right? 

This afternoon, as I've been enjoying Sleepless in Seattle on E! this afternoon, I started thinking about routines and procedures and specifically signals for my classroom. I use a few different chants to get the attention of my class, but this year I felt bored with my go-to chants. 

Here are a few of mine:

Teacher:

M-I-Z

Student:

Z-O-U

Clapping Patterns (on tables and desks too!)

Teacher:

Holy Moly!

Student:

Guacamole!

Teacher:

Macaroni and Cheese!

Student:

Everybody FREEZE!

I found cute posters and printables of chants on Pinterest, but I'm curious about what YOU are doing in your classroom. What do you do to get the attention of 20+ busy children? What nonverbal and verbal tricks do you use to shift the focus and attention in your room? What is your go to signal? 

Share your secrets with me!

Pen Pals: Step One

My blog has managed to open up several opportunities for me in the classroom. This summer, a wonderful teacher from the Chicago suburbs emailed me about collaboration work. I said, "why not!?" Now, we are in the beginning stages of our pen pal exchange. Except, this is no ordinary run of the mill snail mail exchange. Well, we're starting with snail mail but moving towards more technological interfaces. 

Today, my students were given the name of their pen pal. Then, as a class we found their school using Google Earth. All of our school computers have Google Earth downloaded already, so most of my students were familiar with the program. First, we found our school in Missouri then zoooooomed over to Illinois to find out pals. Of course, everyone wanted to show me their house, their Grandma's house, what pool they swam at this summer, and where they want to go on vacation. BUT, that has to wait for Wednesday.

Generic Shot of Google Earth via Google. 

We began scoping out the area of our pen pals neighborhood. Side note: this is a random google image of Google Earth. This is not our pen pal's location!! Anyway, we were checking out the area of our pen pals and the students were firing off several similarities and differences of our schools. One being that THEIR school is surrounded by houses. Which means students are more likely to possibly walk to school? In our community, all students have to ride a bus or be dropped off. Walking isn't an option because of our location. The students were amazed! 

Then, the question was asked, "can we visit our pen pals?" I mean the kids were ready to jump into these friendships head first. They barely had their names written down and they were packing their bags for a road trip.  I pulled up Google maps and got directions to their school. We found that it would take us about 6 hours to get there. The class was super excited - I'm pretty sure they think I'm going to load up a van and drive them all there. I'll break the news to them tomorrow. 

Random Generic Map. 

Next, each student was given a checklist for writing their letter. Mrs. Larson and I decided to start with regular snail mail. We wanted to show a comparison between mail through the postal service and electronic mail (aka e-mail). The kids don't know this part yet. Shhh! It's a secret. I could barely stop the kids from writing their letters. I was reviewing them tonight and most of them told their entire life story. I had to caution a few to only include necessary information.

After we receive our letters, I'm probably going to have to rent a bus and drive my kids to Chicago. Just kidding. Actually, we plan on *hopefully* skyping with one another and/or creating Gaggle.net accounts. I'm looking forward to this experience!!

Have you ever had pen pals? How about electronic pen pals? Do share!