Mystery Skyping
This was the BEST experience I ever had with students and plan to do it again next year! We Skyped with other classes around the country (and a couple from another country as well) to ask yes or no questions to find their location. My students loved seeing this on our schedule for the day and couldn't wait to find out their jobs for the upcoming one! We learned together what worked best and over a few Skypes created a list of jobs and roles to make our calls run smoother. By the end of the year, my students had Skyping down to a fine art. I can't wait to explore the globe with a new class next year! Here are some pictures of my students during our Skype calls (one job was a photographer).
We also had a map we colored in so I'll try to add that picture as well so you can see everywhere we connected! This was a great way to get my students familiar with map skills as well as let them experience collaboration!
PBL (Project-Based Learning)
Last school year I went through some professional development for PBL or Project-Based Learning. This type of learning gives students questions to guide their learning but becomes very student centered and directed. They are experiencing learning hands on and even were able to fins ways to connect learning to their own passions. While I don't claim to be an expert (or any good at it really), I do enjoy incorporating PBL into my lessons when I can. While at the elementary level with curriculum that needs to be covered, it doesn't happen frequently but I like to put it in there when I have the chance. This tends to lend itself best to science and social studies at the elementary level but it is a great way to incorporate reading, writing, and sometimes math into those subjects. This is also a great time to work on group skills! I'm still refining my PBL lesson skills so here are some pictures of some of the projects we did!
We did way more projects than that but I wasn't great about taking pictures, and that's going to change because this blog will be filled with videos and pictures next year!
Skype in the Classroom
I already mentioned how we used Skype to Mystery Skype with other classes but we used Skype for some other things as well! We had a Skype call with a museum in North Carolina after an animal adaptation project. The lady was great and showed them some great animals with interesting facts! Look at how engaged my students were!
My goal is to use the opportunities on Skype in the Classroom more often next year. If you haven't checked it out before, go here. Just look at all the teachers trying to connect! I did a lesson this year, but I'm going to try and make a more specific on next year to hopefully draw some people in! I have some ideas, and am still refining them.
iPads in the Classroom
I am extremely fortunate to have 1:1 iPads in my classroom. I will dedicate another post to discussing all the ways I use them in classroom. Hopefully highlighting my favorites in individual posts. Until then, check out my slideshow under my Twitter feed to see my favorite apps.
