Tag: Keynote

Geometry in 1st Grade

mthorne0503Leave a comment

One of the benefits that I have liked best about student centered coaching, is getting to know the teachers better that I work with and their curriculum. The relationship that I build with the teachers and their students during those 4-6 weeks is priceless.

For this particular unit, we were focusing on the standards for 1st grade geometry. State standards pack in quite a bit with their expectations on determining the difference between 2D and 3D shapes. One of my favorite things about geometry units, are the many possibilities for hands on learning.

We began our unit with a shape scavenger hunt in Pic Collage, reviewing content that they had previously learned about in kindergarten. This served as a quick pre-assessment. We also pre-assessed the students in an “I-Can” class that was setup in Seesaw just for assessments. Reviewing how to add standards to Seesaw activities and exporting the data to drive instruction.

Some other fun activities we completed include:
Mystery shape sort group discussion games
Labeling shapes and their attributes in Keynote
3D talking shape attributes in Chatter Kids
Hands on center rotations that captured their learning in Seesaw

Two or more minds are definitely more powerful than one when it comes to planning. This will always be one of my favorite units.






Apple Vanguard 4.0 Day 2

mthorne0503Leave a comment

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

Confucious

I work with an amazing team. I recommend following Lindsay Zilly (@iCoachLindsay) and Kara McFarlin (@mrstechfarlin) on Twitter. We just finished wrapping up Day 2 of our Apple Vanguard 4.0 group. If you have missed previous posts, Apple Vanguard is a series of professional development workshops held in our district for teachers that applied. We have 3 groups; primary, intermediate and jr. high. Each group consists of about 16-20 teachers from multiple buildings.

Today’s focus was emphasizing Apple’s “For the love of learning” motto. A day set around our teaching passions and for some, rekindling an old romance with curriculum resources or starting a new journey together.

While we provide plenty of opportunities for teachers to share and be hands on with various learning practices, there was something that set this particular vanguard day apart from others. I mean, who wouldn’t want to take a staff field trip to the local Apple Store and participate in a scavenger hunt around the mall? This is exactly what we did, even though it felt a bit rebellious for some!

We were lucky enough to partner with our local Apple Store, which is within very close proximity to our district office. They welcomed each of our Apple Vanguard groups into the store before opening hours, where they received a personalized lesson on a resource that was selected by the instructional coaches form their Today at Apple Sessions. We primarily decided to focus on story telling with the use of Apple Clips and Keynote. Staff loved the change of scenery, and I highly recommend this if you have the opportunity.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Following the Today at Apple session, we wanted our teachers to collect evidence that could be used in a story, so that they could bring it back to our session after lunch. We sent them on a scavenger hunt through the mall! Yes, you read that right! In advance, we shared a template with our teachers that utilized Numbers. Teachers had a choice to work with a partner, in small groups or individually on a topic of their choice. Later on, they would then incorporate this evidence into a story using Book Creator.

This was an extremely fun day full of love for learning.