IPods in 5th Grade Science

The following post comes from Kay Antley, one of our 5th grade IPod teachers.  You can contact her directly at kantley@bcps.org

My students have been using the IPods this year a lot during science class.  Our unit of study this quarter is geology.  Many of our lessons have been completed on the IPods. We are using interactive games to reinforce the core skills for the unit.  For example I found a website that has an interactive rock cycle where the kids can actually see the rock cycle occurring.

 http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/diagram.html  

Students can click on each of the rock examples to identify the type and what kind of rock it is.  We also have used the IPods for inquiry during science.  The students have seen through the NASA APP our Earth in action.  Using this app, they can identify the layers, as well as the composition of each layer.  We are still learning all the important concepts our school system wants us to know but doing it in a much more interactive and fun way!

Cell Phones in the Classroom - That's What I'm Talking About!

So let's stop just talking about it and do something about it.  I take my hat off to Liz Kolb and ISTE before even having a chance to read this book, Cell Phones in the Classroom.  I just ordered it and can’t wait for it to arrive.  In these lean economic times, why not put the power of kid’s personal devices to work for us and more importantly them!  Check it out:  

http://www.iste.org/store/product.aspx?ID=2108&utm_source=Books%2BEmail&utm_medium=Books%2BEmail&utm_campaign=Books%2BEmail%2B(CELLUSE)%2B9-14-2011

6,000 Page Views!!!

A big thank you goes out to everyone who has followed our blog over the past 6 months.  I never thought when I did the first post this blog would average 1,000 page views a month.  I know many of my recent posts have been the soapbox variety, rants and raves about how we need to increase the use of technology in our schools.  Obviously I have been preaching to the choir. In the coming months you will see more posts from our teachers highlighting some of the exciting stuff happening in our classrooms.  We are in our second year of our IPod project and have much to share.  Stay tuned.  If you are in the Maryland area, our next conference presentation will be at the Maryland State Conference on Gifted and Talented Education to be held on October 21^st in Greenbelt Maryland.  If you attend, please plan to come to our session. 

Hello World! I’m Reconnected!!!!

After a week of living in the dark, literally, now I know how my students must feel.   Losing power, like many of you along the Eastern Seaboard of the US, I found my connection to the outside world disabled.  My ability to get online and get information I needed in real time was being determined by others not by me.  I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to log on only to realize I had no power to my desktop and my laptop was useless as my wireless was also without power.  Now think about our students with their burning questions or need to find information right at that moment.  Those same kids that when they are out of school are able to connect 17/7 (that’s minus the 7 hours they are in school).  In a one or two computer classroom, their fate is much the same as mine last week, forced to get their information from a single source or during those rare opportunities to log on to the internet.  Talk about a curiosity, inquiry, and innovation killer.  No wonder the first thing they do when they exit the school building each day is fire up their mobile devices.  If you have not experienced a week without power and connectivity and think I am being a little overdramatic, try it for yourself.   I doubt you will be able to go a day or two.  As if I wasn’t a big fan of 24/7 mobile connectivity for our kids already, last week sealed the deal for me.