Clough Blog

Today kindergarten students at Holladay Elementary thought about what they could give George Washington or Abraham Lincoln for Presidents Day. We talked about how they lived in the past so we couldn’t give them presents that we would want, like Xbox or Legos. We also discussed presents that would be meaningful for them, relating to what they did or what they enjoyed. The students did a great job coming up with ideas: books, axes, top hats, and a big 16 for Abraham Lincoln; a horse, new teeth, a lantern, and a big #1 for George Washington. Next students drew their ideas in Pixie and exported the picture as a PNG file so that it would have a transparent background. We helped them put the picture into a Keynote template that you can download by clicking here. Then the students filmed themselves giving a birthday message to the president, explaining why they gave him that gift. They placed the video in the template as well. You can see some finished projects here:
Daisy giving a horse to Lincoln
Harrison giving an axe to Lincoln
Jack giving a tricorn hat to Washington

Today 2nd graders at Laburnum Elementary made Winter Adaptation Ads. I gave them a Pixie template that you can download by clicking here. They decided which character they wanted to be and dressed the character up for winter. Next they chose an animal that has some sort of winter adaptation such as hibernation or migration. They had to create a product to sell that animal in order to help them survive the winter and/or make their adaptation easier. They drew the object using the paint tools and showed the price using the money stickers. Finally they recorded their voice selling the product like a commercial. The results were very creative (and you can tell these students have seen plenty of commercials). Here are a few student samples:
Lucy – extra wings for geese to migrate
Gabrielle – charity caves for bears to hibernate
Dominique – jet packs for bears to get to their caves faster (he’s quite a salesman!)

Today at Holladay, Ms. Favale’s first grade class made math word problems using their iPads. First they created their own addition problem using objects in the classroom. They made two groups, one for each addend and figured out the sum. Then used an app called Story Kit to create their word problems. They took a photo of their objects and typed the word problem. Finally, they recorded their voice explaining the answer. That way, other students could try to figure out the problem and check their answer by pressing the audio button. The students had a great time solving each others’ word problems, and it was a fun way to review a difficult concept! Thanks for sharing this idea Ms. Favale!

The solar system is an exciting new SOL for fourth grade (4.7, 4.8). There are lots of cool projects that you can do. Fourth grade students at Chamberlayne Elementary School made online comic books today. Pairs chose an object in the solar system to research. I have created a site of kid-friendly links for learning more about the solar system here. I also made a quick Keynote animation here. Then I showed them how to create a page in Comic Life. I gave them a template and a folder of pictures to use that you can download by clicking the links. They created their comic, then I combined all of them into a Pages document, saved it as a PDF (go to File > Print > Save As PDF), and uploaded it to Youblisher which automatically turns it into a cool flip book! I have embedded one below, but you can see each class’s books: Filer, Albis, Hand, Covington.

Today 2nd Graders in Ms. Stewart’s class at Laburnum Elementary made Keynotes about fossils (SOL 2.5). Since this was their first time using Keynote, I wanted to teach them some of the special features of making a slideshow like how to play it back and how to add photos, transitions, and animations. So I gave them a template and a folder of pictures that you can download by clicking here. First I played the sample which you can see by clicking here. Then I showed them how to add the photos and animations to each of their own slides. A good idea would have been to allow the students to record a voiceover for their slideshow, but we didn’t have time to do that. You could also instruct your students to do their own research. I have created a page of great interactive fossil links here.

Today 1st grade students at Holladay Elementary did a multi-step technology lesson and they finished in just an hour! First they had to draw a picture of themselves in their favorite season using Pixie. We saved the pictures as JPG images and uploaded them to Keepsy. In Keepsy, students could add sentences with different fonts and change the background color. All the pictures together make a book that you can view online here. The next step in the project was to count all the students who liked each season. We tallied the results and graphed them using a template in Keynote that you can download here. Once the data is entered (directions are included in the template), the graph is automatically generated, and if you press the play button you will see some cool 3-D animation effects.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and several kindergarten classes have been working on technology projects (K.1b). Today at Holladay, they put themselves back in time at the first Thanksgiving and set food on the table in Pixie. They also recorded their voices telling about their Thanksgiving traditions and what they are thankful for. Click to watch a few student samples: Cameron, Fatima, Jace. Next week at Johnson we will be working on Thanksgiving Past & Present using Comic Life and a folder of pictures that you can download by clicking here. You can actually use those photos for a variety of projects… use them as a background in Photobooth, create a Keynote, or make a Thanksgiving video in iMovie. Did you know the first official Thanksgiving was actually held right here in Virginia? I filmed a video for the Virginia Trekkers at Berkeley Plantation where you can find out all about it. I also included several kid-friendly links for your students to research Thanksgiving. Hope you enjoy your holiday next week!

Flash cards are a great way to help your students review. There are several sites that allow you to create online flash cards. Some allow you to add images, audio, and even video. Many also allow you to embed the flash cards on your website or view them on an iPod or iPad. Your students could even create their own flash cards. I joined several of these sites and created a sample flash card set to explore the advantages and disadvantages of each site.

Funnel Brain http://funnelbrain.com (allows you to include photos, audio, video, and embed)


FlashcardDB http://flashcarddb.com (no images, just text, but allows you to score yourself using keyboard, embed code does not allow you to resize the cards so it may not fit on your blog, like here, but you can click the link at the bottom to see it in another window)

Virginia Regions flashcards from dclough on FlashcardDB.

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ProProfs http://proprofs.com (allows you to add images, embed, but no scoring)

Quizzlet http://quizzlet.com (just text for free version, but has special features like speaking the text and turning flash cards into quizzes and games, click the “Choose a Study Mode” button to try out some of the other features)

Choose a Study Mode Scatter Learn Flashcards

Study these flash cards | Study social flash cards

Finally, here are some that you can’t embed but are still pretty cool:

StudyBlue http://studyblue.com (allows you to add images and audio, use keyboard to score yourself, no embed)
See a sample here http://s.tudy.it/tw1ike

FauxFlash http://fauxflash.com (allows you to add images, nice interface, no embed)
See a sample here http://fauxflash.com/learn/virginia-regions/1

Today 5th grade students in Ms. Allison’s music class at Laburnum Elementary created raps about different topics they have been studying. They could work alone or with a group, and they could choose the topic they wanted to rap about. Some students make social studies raps, others made math raps, and here’s a sample science rap: The Layers of the Earth. Making raps is a fun, easy way to motivate your students to review. It also provides an opportunity for writing since students must write out their lyrics ahead of time (and try to make them rhyme like a poem). Students created their raps by using a simple beat in Garage Band and recording their voices with the beat. If you want to learn more about making raps with your students check out my tutorial page.

Mrs. Favale, a 1st grade teacher at Holladay Elementary, had the Reflective Friends team come to her class and observe her lesson today, so I wanted to share it with you! Her students have been learning about American Symbols: the Statue of Liberty, the bald eagle, the Washington Monument, and the U.S. Flag (SOL 1.11). Since Holladay has a high ESL population, they thought it would be a great idea to publish a magazine that the ESL teachers, students, and their families could use to learn about American symbols. Students worked with partners to choose a symbol and create a page describing the symbol using art materials (markers, construction paper, glue), the laptops (Pixie), or the iPads (StoryKit). They researched their symbols using books, websites, videos, and classroom posters. When they were finished, we combined all the projects together into one book that you can view online here. A hard copy of the book will be given to the ESL teachers to use with their students. Mrs. Favale is publishing the digital copy on her blog so that families can view it at home.