Technology Centers

Implementing technology centers was a big goal for me this year and I couldn't be happier with the way they have worked out! Last week I created math centers to help the third graders review for their big state test coming up. It is amazing how engaged, motivated and silent students are while participating in technology centers! One of the areas of concern from the third grade teachers was solving word problems so this was the focus area. I am ALL about less paper but I am also from the school of thought that students need to have accountability for their work so here is the recording sheet they were responsible for. I will update with the recording paper since I cannot seem to put my fingers on it at the moment. I thought I had sent it to myself from my work computer but it doesn't appear that way so I guess it is saved at school :)!

Center 1- Educreations with Mrs. Jones- At this center I worked with small groups and reviewed the steps to solving a word problem. We completed one together and then I gave them their own word problem which I printed various levels on labels which they worked out on their paper. Once they had their problem checked and were comfortable explaining they used the iPad to create an educreation! If you have not downloaded this FREE iPad app you definitely should. It is MUCH like Show Me which you all know I am in love with but you are able to add more than one slide, TYPE, and change colors :)! I love how easy it is to save work and that it is sent to the web for easy viewing! Here is one example of a completed educreation!

 

Center 2- iPad Games- Math Quiz Game Show 1-3 was a quick grab from Apps Gone Free. It is an awesome LakeShore Learning app that plays much like jeopardy! You pick 4 categories and between 1-4 teams. I love that the questions are higher level and you can use work space on the iPad to solve the problems. It also keeps track of your score and gives feedback! 

QuickMath is a free app that makes practicing math facts fun! You can do addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or all four operations combined on three different levels! The best part is that the iPad uses handwriting recognition to record your answer not just a multiple choice or type in :)! The kids L O V E it! The intermediate level also switches the order of the equations which is also love because it makes them really think (i.e. 6 X __ = 48). It also forces them to use neat(er) handwriting because they get really frustrated when the iPad doesn't recognize their crazy looking numbers which impacts their score and time! They get super competitive trying to beat their own high score as well as others fastest times!

Center 3- Teacher Center- Students worked in small groups with their classroom teacher to review a particular objective! Each group was working on something different which really allowed for differentiation. It was a great time to remediate and extend with those who needed it.

Center 4- edcanvas- I know I have shared a little bit about edanvas before but it continues to amaze me! I learned about edcanvas at FETC this year and have been obsessed with it ever since! It is a perfect way to organize a completely independent lesson with a ton of structure. The kids LOVE it too and because it is super engaging. It has everything they need all in one block without having to click around and remember what to do next! Edcanvas has added a few new features and I know it will be a Web 2.0 tool that I use year after year! Check out the edcanvas that they worked from.

Center 5- TEI SOL Practice Items- Last year Virginia introduced TEI, technology enhanced items on the SOLs which has really increased the rigor of the test. Third grade is the first grade in our state that take standardized tests so we are trying to give them as much exposure to the type of questions that will be asked and the format of the test. We also want to get them familiar with using the tools independently. We have done lots of practice already but this was a great review! Check out the questions here.

I would love to hear what you think :)!

5th Grade Technology Centers

Technology centers have really taken off with the 5th graders! Now that we are in our fourth rotation of centers the students know the routine and the room runs itself which is something that I love to see happen. Students are so engaged during these centers that you can hear a pin drop in the room and transitions are seamless. The social studies curriculum of US regions is an awesome springboard for our centers. Each center was introduced as a whole class lesson before we completed it in the center rotation. 

Center #1 QR Codes/Google Earth

We began the year introducing the QR Code Landmark/Google Earth scavenger hunt! Each region has important landmarks that they are responsible for learning and they have so much fun doing this activity. Rather than memorizing landmarks and cities this allows them to use different smarts and actually see a picture of the landmark (picture smart), visit the landmark on Google Earth (body smart) and refer to the curriculum (word smart). This is a great review of absolute (latitude and longitude) and relative location. Below you can see one side of the Southeast Region. 

Center #2 Clicker Quiz 

First I created the Clicker Quiz based on the curriculum but then it hit me that the students should do it so now they use Google Drive to access a class document on one screen and the 5th grade social studies curriculum on another screen to create questions with a buddy! This not only cut my work in half but also gave the students ownership of their test. They were really excited to see each others questions and the document that they created was used as a study guide although not all of the questions were on the quiz what a great way to review!

Center # 3 iPad - Discovery Education US Geography App

This app is not free but it has been worth every penny! Students plug in their ear buds and can watch several short video clips about a particular region while answering questions!

Center #4 QR Code Creation

Students created QR Codes for a huge map ( from the Dollar Tree that they colored) which is now hanging in the hallway and makes an awesome year-long bulletin board! Since this was their first QR Code we kept it simple with text. Each student selected a state and created a QR Code with the state, capital, abbreviation and region. A parent volunteer put the map together and attached all 50 QR Codes! We will continue to make QR Codes for the map and add pictures, videos and eventually podcasts or commercials for each state, etc. ! Since the states are a little smaller than I thought when I had the brilliant idea of adding different QR Codes throughout the year we decided to center the map on a bulletin board and then add strings (like with the postcard project) for additional QR Codes!

The 5th graders were so excited to see this hanging in the hall it actually caused a bit of a traffic jam in the hallway as they stopped to check out each state and see if their QR Code made it to the map (78 students and only 50 states).  As other grade levels are working on geography I am hoping that they will be able to use our map and scan the QR Codes to learn more about each state!

Technology Centers

Technology centers seem to be one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever had although I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this ingenious idea! 2nd and 5th grade seem to be my rockstar grade levels with consistency and awesome collaboration taking place!

2nd graders worked on weather centers last week and teachers walked away with FOUR science grades which as a former classroom teacher is awesome!

Center #1- Students worked in pairs to scan QR Codes with new academic vocabulary words and seasonal pictures. For 3 questions had to determine the word, 3 questions what a plant or animal was doing in the picture (hibernation, migration, dormancy) and 3 questions were identifying the season based on a picture of a tree.

Center #2 - Students went to PebbleGo and researched Extreme Weather (Blizzard, Hurricanes, Drought, Thunder and Lightning, Tornados) and record 8-10 key words. Then they created word clouds using ABCYa. Here is one example!

Center #3- Students accessed 4 graphs on the iPad in Adobe Reader (created in Word and saved as PDF) and answered 10 questions on Google Forms! If you have not used Google Forms yet they are amazing and you don't have to grade a stack of papers which is a huge bonus! The ONLY complaint I have after using them with 2nd graders is that if they bump the back button or refresh the page they loose all of their answers and have to start over. This was our first time using Google Forms in 2nd grade and it worked so great besides that little glitch and a few friends had to redo their forms! Although this was a science grade center it could also be taken as a math grade getting us up to 5 grades!

Center #4- Students watched a Brainpop video about Climate and then completed this Clicker Quiz. They love watching Brainpop videos but most of the quiz was interpreting weather maps which also integrated social studies and math. Since this could be considered a social studies map interpretation this could get us up to 6 grades! WOW- two one hour sessions and six grades which students were highly engaged! Gotta love it!

Have you tried technology centers? Share your experience! New to technology centers? I suggest starting small at first just like you would when introducing literacy centers! Introduce one center and complete it as a whole class, move on to introduce a second the same way and then do two centers, etc. We have gotten up to four centers and it is really working perfectly!

Technology Centers

I am absolutely LOVING technology centers which I have worked collaboratively on with MOST grade levels (1st - 8th) ! Initially it took some extra work on my part to get the "buy in" because it can be time consuming and there is a lot of preparation up front. Once I convinced them that it wasn't "something else" to do or more time away from instruction and it could be their science lesson (or whatever subject) with a ton of integration of content and technology they were in! I have worked the centers a little differently with each grade level and experimented with setup! One thing that is kind of fun about teaching the same lesson three times is that by the third class you have worked out all of the "glitches"!

The 2nd grade team has fallen in love with centers and they now come to me asking to schedule time together which is a-w-e-so-m-e! This was our first round of centers (above) to help them prepare for a unit ia (interactive achievement) test and to begin researching ecosystems.

Laptop/Clicker Center:

At the Laptop/Clicker Center students watched the Solid Shape BrainPopJr  and then took a 10 question Clicker Quiz to review the areas they were having trouble with! Our school has had "Clickers" (SMART Response LE System) for years and have been taking whole group assessments but this allows for students to work at their own pace, read the quiz on their own and refer back to the video for help. It was also a great opportunity for the teacher and myself to help anyone who was struggling. All of the data was nicely collected as usual and made an easy grade for the teacher!!! The SMART Notebook file was housed on the computer lab page which made for an easy download.

Laptop Center:

At the second laptop center students accessed PebbleGo which is a phenomenal resource where students began researching an ecosystem of their choice (looking for three living things, three nonliving things and three interesting facts). If you are not familiar with PebbleGo it is a website that has leveled nonfiction/content text and will read out loud. It is a bit pricey but the students love it and it seems to be a favorite new site for my kiddos in 1st and 2nd grade! I love that it is bright, colorful, easy to read, easy to use, has great pictures and graphics, highlights academic vocabulary words and provides definitions, etc. Check out one of the demos.

iPad Center:

The third center was the iPad center where students used an app called Ecosystem HD to continue finding out information about their chosen ecosystem. The app is paid but it is well worth the $1.99 as it will read to the students and has awesome facts, pictures and videos.

At a later session we used the ecosystem research from the app and PebbleGo to create a Prezi! Since this was 2nd graders first time with Prezi they worked in pairs. First they watched a screencast I made using Screenr (I am also in love with this tool). Then they got to work! Check out a few Prezi's that they created and aren't they so much better than a POSTER?!