GooseChase!

Today was So. Much. Fun!  Fifth grade got to partake in a GooseChase this afternoon as a wrap to March is Reading Month!  It wasn't a typical Battle end, but-

Oops.  Gotta back up a moment here.

Every year, our fifth graders participate in a Battle of the Books.  They are placed in teams, given a stack of 21 books to read (everyone on the team must read a certain number of books, and the team must ensure all books are read), and a variety of tasks (team song, team colors, team cheer, team name, etc).  The month culminates in this huge battle that takes an entire afternoon and is So. Much. Fun.

Enter Covid.

But.... thanks to GooseChase, Battle didn't exit!

GooseChase is an online scavenger hunt platform that has a special edu version perfect for schools.  The teachers modified the questions so that they would work with the GooseChase Platform, turning questions into missions that the kids had to complete.  GooseChase is an app, so we added it to the iPads and gave each team an iPad.  We set up the teams on GooseChase in advance, so the kids only had to click "play as guest" and enter the game code and password.  Super simple!  (and since no information was collected, safe!)

Instead of the standard "write the answer and race to turn it in" the teachers modified the questions so that kids had to type answers, submit photos, and submit videos.  Instead of questions being one at a time, every group in the same place at the same time, GooseChase allows you to set up automations.  That meant that questions were released in groups at a set time interval, and teams worked through as many questions as they could during the battle.  Instead of everyone being in the cafeteria, each team at a table, judges sitting across from the teams, we used Zoom.  The teachers were in Battle Headquarters, each team was in their own room with a teacher supervisor.  And thanks to the set-up, even the kids at home (who had "battle buddies" on site) were able to be actively engaged in this year's Battle!

Every educator can set up a free GooseChase EDU account and create unlimited games.  You can only have one active game at a time, and no more than five teams.  If you need more than that, you need to upgrade your account.  (Note: We did the whole battle on a free account!)

Like I said earlier.  It was So. Much. Fun!

//

We Broke Out!

Last week, I had the privilege of being with each of the three fifth grade classes for one period.  I really wanted to revisit coding (on quite the Scratch kick right now!) but it's awfully challenging to code when there is a teacher in the room who knows how to code, it's nearly impossible to teach it remotely.

So my next thought was to teach the kids how to create their own BreakoutEDU rooms.  I mean, how cool would that be?!  To design your own virtual escape rooms?!  But then I realized that the kids haven't done a BreakoutEDU all year.

I had to change that.

Sticking with the coding theme, I created accounts for each student with BreakoutEDU (very cool feature, by the way!) and put three different choices in their class library.  It was super simple to set up, and even simpler for the kids to login.  All they have to do when they get to the BreakoutEDU site is click "login with Google Classroom" and they're in!

The concentration in this group was intense!

Then the kids got to pick a partner, and pick a box.  Each partnership (or trio) went into a breakout room in Google Meet (not to be confused with BreakoutEDU!) and worked together to escape.

Like in Scratch, these BreakoutEDU experiences require perseverance, grit, and determination.  I also like that they demand a different way of thinking, that deeper layer of problem-solving needed for puzzles like this.  

I am pleased to say that of the 12 groups, nine of them broke out, and all the other groups got really close!

P.S.  As the teacher/facilitator, it's always helpful to have the games open to provide clues!  Thank goodness for multiple monitors!

Reliable Sources

I'm starting to realize that I collect tech tools the same way I collect fonts.  I tend to have so many different tools, just in case...

PearDeck is not one of those tools.  PearDeck is used.  A lot.  It's not a "just in case" by any means.  

Be Internet Awesome collaborated with PearDeck to create this ready-to-go digital citizenship program.  It's organized into five different units covering a variety of Dig Cit topics.  And 5th grade kicked off 2021 with a focus on fake... well, really the focus was Don't Fall for Fake.

One of the things I really like about the collaboration is that the PearDeck slides make the content more interactive, especially for people teaching remotely.  The presentations use a variety of ways to get kids interacting with the content.  For example, some of the slides ask them to make a choice and drag an icon to one choice or the other.  Other slides ask them to respond to a question.  Still others ask them to draw or annotate the screen.

Using parts of the different lessons, we worked our way through the unit ending with the world of Interland, which is a Google game that is fantastic for reinforcing the lessons from the Be Internet Awesome program.  Did I mention all this is free?

A Proud Political Moment

Every year, our 5th graders partake in a unit on government and elections.  The unit always ends with some sort of social action project on the kids year.  When it's an election year, it's an even more exciting unit!  This year's monkey wrench, also known as CO19, didn't stop the teachers from pulling out all the stops!

Using Seesaw, students took the letters they wrote convincing people to vote and turned them into a video.  All the videos were then compiled, and the one class's results are below.  We all hope that it helped voter turnout!

5th Grade Book Creator

Every year our fifth graders investigate explorers.  They use a variety of resources (including GetEpic!) to research and, in the past, they have done things like created slides, written essays, or created posters.

This year, we're changing it up a bit.

This year, we're using BookCreator.

I love the ease of Book Creator - from the log-in process (thank you Google integration!) to the drag and drop features.  Students can add video, audio, and even have the book read to you, creating an interactive e-book.  It's a simple platform, yet it provides the opportunity to make books that are quite sophisticated.  It's easy enough for the lower grades to use, yet robust enough for middle school use and beyond.

The free version gives you one library that can have up to 40 books in it.  Paid versions offer the ability to have multiple libraries with up to 60 books in each.

We've done a few different projects with BookCreator - it's quickly become a favorite tool!

Got an itch? SCRATCH it!

Last week (or maybe it was a few weeks ago, with all the snow days I've lost track!) I got to do a workshop with the fifth graders.  We spent 50 glorious minutes with our Chromebooks.  What were we doing, you ask?

We were becoming game-makers.

I know, I know, the school days are already packed with activities and lessons and skills and concepts.  However, I am determined to integrate (or at minimum, fit into) coding skills into the curriculum at all grades.  So, with the understanding that they can use their new-found game-making skill to present their learning in any one of their classes, it was a great day to SCRATCH the game-making itch!

Using the Scratch website we walked step-by-step through creating a simple "tag" game.  Along the way, kids were using a plethora of skills that can always use additional practice....

collaboration ~ communication ~ critical thinking

problem solving ~ creativity ~ perseverance

For those of you saying "Nah, I could never do that!" or "Sounds interesting, but I have no idea how to do that!" guess what?  Scratch has it all set up for you.  As in, you can print step by step direction cards that walk you through the whole thing.  That's what I did!  I literally held the direction cards in my hand and flipped through them as we completed each step.

And you know what?  In 50 minutes, nearly every fifth grader had a working game!  Go check them out!

P.S.  When you, the teacher or facilitator, creates a Scratch account, make sure you sign up as a teacher - then you can see what the kids are doing!

P.P.S.  Working with the younger group?  Check out ScratchJr!

This Week's Adventures!

Each week is so full of learning adventures, I am going to get better at documenting them.  How?  Via this blog.  We'll see how that goes!

During their tech time this week, first and second graders will learn the art of error analysis, also known as debugging.  For the launch we're using math problems so they can get the idea of looking for mistakes that are kinda obvious.  From there, we'll launch into the one, the only, Angry Birds!  (Gotta love code.org!)

Third graders are wrapping up their most recent read-aloud by creating a reading strategies map on Explain Everything and then uploading it to Seesaw to share with their families.  This is the first time I've gotten to use Explain Everything with their community and it was awesome.  Seriously.  The ideas that started flowing from the teachers once they saw how EE worked was inspiring.

Toontastic debuted in fourth grade last week, and they're finishing it this week, as a means to tell their first fully finished short stories.  There was a unique twist, though, as some of these so-called short stories were a tad too long for Toontastic, so we're trying out a mashup of Tootnastic, Voice Recorder, and iMovie.  Keep you posted on that....

You have to check out the PSAs our 5th graders finished - they used a variety of tools to create said PSAs in an effort to convince people to vote.  Which at this point, if you're of voting age, should be a non-negotiable.  We introduced Adobe Spark and Telestory, and revisited Stop Motion Animation and DoInk for that project.

Go Vote!

Here.  Watch the PSAs.  You won't regret it!

Speaking of PSAs, our 8th graders are knee deep in one of the biggest projects of the year - raising awareness for local charitable and non-profit organizations.  Continuing this week is the work on creating PSAs, Infographics, and other multi-media tools to shine the spotlight on their chosen organizations.