I visited Mr. Marchyok's class on Friday afternoon and noticed some students huddled together in the corner with their iPads. They were using their iPads to play a geography game called Stack the States. They had parked themselves under the map so that if necessary they could use it as a reference… Resourceful...
[embed size=m]http://instagr.am/p/Hbt_0Gq_kv/[/embed] Woke up to some snow showers this morning...
Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Instructional Technology Strategies Conference in Portland. During that time I was able to attend a session called Constructing Mindfulness: An Invitation to See. The presenters were Pam Moran and Ira Socol. It was a great session dealing with learning spaces and what they can look like. This is something I have long been interested in and enjoyed being able to have the opportunity to learn from Pam and Ira.
On Tuesday, Pam and Ira visited my school and I enjoyed spending time with them and discussing how we can make our classrooms more welcoming and inviting places for learning.
On Thursday at Lewis, we welcomed Do Jump Theater to perform for our students and families.
It's nice to have a sign in front of the school to inform people of upcoming events… It would be even better if I didn't have update it… :-)
I was visiting one of our 3rd grade classroom and spied this image. The students inside are working on reading, while just beyond them, outside the window, 4th grade students are taking in a garden lesson...
3rd grade student recording herself while reading her writing draft….
This year we are working with Songwriters in Residence Rick Weiss and Kate Finn. They have been working with our 4th and 5th grade students. Each class has worked collaboratively to write and then record a song. They also have been working to create album art and liner notes for a CD that will be produced. If we get additional funding, we will also provide this experience to our 3rd grade students.
http://instagr.am/p/lOJzy/
New benches at Lewis Elementary...
Via Flickr:
In Mrs. Pechette's 1st grade classroom the last day of school before winter break is stuffed animal day. Students bring their favorite stuffed animal to class. They are asked to leave the animal on their desk when the leave for lunch recess. When they return they find their friend wrapped in a blanket that Mrs. Pechette's has knitted for them. A pretty nice day...
Social media doesn’t “make it easier” for teachers to form “boundary-crossing relationships with students.” It makes COMMUNICATION easier, period. If teachers have poor judgment about communicating appropriately, that’s a different story.
Let’s be clear: social media isn’t the enemy. Poor judgment is. - apropos of Adrienne on tumblr: http://timlauer.tumblr.com/post/14416719796/social-media-doesnt-make-it-easier-for-teachers
Taken with a Canon S95 using the miniature effect… Was a beautiful afternoon in Eugene...
Tonight the iOS 5.0.1 update arrived, which means a chance to test the new over-the-air update system introduced in iOS 5. Over-the-air updates are one of the most important sanity-saving features of iOS 5 for people managing large installs of iOS devices. Instead of having to connect to iTunes, download a 700MB+ restore image and connect your iPads one by one, you can install the update directly on the device.
Even on a rainy day, we still get quite a few bike riders...
What is elementary, worldly wisdom? Well, the first rule is that you can’t really know anything if you just remember isolated facts and try and bang ‘em back. If the facts don’t hang together on a latticework of theory, you don’t have them in a usable form. You’ve got to have models in your head. And you’ve got to array your experience—both vicarious and direct—on this latticework of models. You may have noticed students who just try to remember and pound back what is remembered. Well, they fail in school and in life. You’ve got to hang experience on a latticework of models in your head.
om.co » Why connecting the dots is important too
The quote is by Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway…
on tumblr: http://timlauer.tumblr.com/post/13024336163/what-is-elementary-worldly-wisdom-well-the
Reed College student Li Zha leads a chemistry lesson with Ms. Jen's 5th grade students. Li is the leader of the Reed College Chemistry Outreach program. The program is modeled after the Reed Biology Outreach program. Both programs provide Lewis students with the opportunity to learn science with Reed students. We thank Reed College for their continued support of these programs.
On Monday, Lewis parent Professor Dana Katz visited room 10 to help with an art history lesson. Dana is a professor at Reed College in the Art History department. She helped lead the students in an art lesson focused on portraits. Look for their work posted in the hallway.
Ms. Kennedy's classroom has a new reading bench, compliments of her husband Craig. Over the past two weekends he built the bench and it is now placed in Room 17. He did a great job with the finish work, and he experimented a bit to get just the right shade of stain so that it matches the existing 50's era woodwork. Ms. Kennedy plans to utilize the area as a reading corner providing a comfortable area to get lost in a good book.
One of the best features of iOS 5 on the iPad is the ability to project your iPad 2 screen wirelessly to a display via AppleTV. This is accomplished via Apple's Airplay technology. The AppleTV has an HDMI connector so, basically you just plug your AppleTV into an HDTV and your can wirelessly project your iPad 2 screen on the TV. 
This is great if you have an HDTV, but most classrooms do not. This is where the HP HDMI to VGA converter comes in. It is a small attachment that has an HDMI connector on one side, and a VGA adapter on the other. This allows you to plug an AppleTV into a data projector that does not have an HDMI connection. The connector will pass the video, but audio will not pass through. We only have one projector in our building with HDMI and ideally this is the best way to do this, since you get video and audio, but for most of what teachers want to share, being able to pass the video image will be very helpful. The HP HDMI to VGA converter is about $40 and available from HP. An AppleTV will set you back bout $100.
