iPad Minis!

Today we dove head first into the iPad minis! Although we had to go over a few 'ground rules' before we took the plunge, the kids finally got to explore those shiny new iPads that have been plugged in and calling our names from the back counter since the first week of school. What a teaser, how cruel of me! As teachers, we're supposed to build anticipation, right?!

The grade 3/4 class began their reading workshop with a 5 minute read to self period. They're still building stamina ... but they're really good at 5 minutes! Tomorrow we might try 6 minutes ;) After our read to self, I introduced them to the iPad minis. We have 10 of them for the school to share and teachers can sign them out in sets of 5. Conveniently enough, they're stored in my room ... For a small fee, of course. I spent hours registering them, updating the apps, setting up the iCloud accounts and keeping them charged :)

The kids were extremely excited to use them. The iPad minis have a way of inspiring creativity and maintaining interest - they're a tool that kids actually want to use! I had them log into the RazKids app (Click here for link), sign into our class and read with a partner. I was amazed. Each partnership was paired according to reading level and they went straight to work.

 

Information about RazKids will be sent home soon - it's an incredible reading program that has been purchased by our school for students to use either at school or at home!

 

The 3/4 French class also got to explore the minis today! They had an important job ... they were French app critics. Since all of the minis are synced together, they all have the same apps but I wasn't sure if the students would actually be interested in the French apps. Were they too babyish? Too boring? Not hard enough? Just not interesting? They did a wonderful job because they (not surprisingly) were brutally honest. It was great to hear their perspective.

 

So serious - they even wanted headphones!

 

 

Can't wait to dive a little deeper into the use of technology in the classroom! On the lesson plan for tomorrow ... Using the minis to videotape one another using simple French greetings and salutations.

 

:)

 





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First Week Fun!

Wow!!

It is so hard to believe that it is the third week of school already!! Didn't we JUST start?!

To sum it all up ... so far, so good! It's going to be a GREAT year!

The past few weeks have been spent learning all about one another, getting settled into routines and schedules, speaking FRENCH and taking tons of pictures along the way.

Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to:

In Grade 3/4 French, we talked lots about school rules and expectations. What better way to do this then to read "David va a l'ecole". That David is always up to no good!

Check out the following link to a cute (and free) David Craftivity from Fall into First ... I used it as a springboard, but decided that at a Grade 3/4 level, they would be able to make their own David's. You be the judge, but I think they're cute!

 

 

We brainstormed all the naughty things David did and then decided to turn it around to write about the things that he could do - to teach him right from wrong. The writing activity attached to it was "Oui, David! Tu peux ..." We had sentences starters (a discussion about verbs - yay!) on the board and students chose which one they would act out and write about. Too cute. They also completed a 'sort' "oui tu peux" or "non tu ne peux pas" activity from the following website: http://clin.ac-mayotte.fr/spip.php?article56 This website had TONS of resources - including a modified/shorter scanned version of the story in French.

The 1/2 Core French group also did the David activity - but in a shorter, more age appropriate kind of way. For instance, we read the story, talked about what not to do, made the David crafts (from Fall into First) and then wrote "Non David" on a sentence strip. It was so cute to see their ideas of David - some made David exactly the way he looks, striped blue shirt and all, and others went wayyyy outside the box and made him all different colours, holding one hand in the air and the other on his pants to duplicate the page where David keeps asking to go to the bathroom!!

This week, we've been integrating technology (whooohooo - 10 new Ipad Minis for the school). Stay tuned to what we've been learning!

TTFN,

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