Video Conferencing Etiquette {FREEBIE}

Hi there! I hope you're having a great week! We have Open House tonight and then THREE more days until our Spring Break!

I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!!!! I've got big plans to spend time with this not-so-little-anymore guy.

The CUE conference this year was amazing!!!! I presented with my dear friend and teaching partner, got to spend some awesome time collaborating with and catching up with old friends, and met some new friends too! Our presentation went well too (I think!)! 

I always leave CUE feeling inspired and energized and this year was no different. 

One of my big AH-HA's (aside from overcoming my Twitter fear) was the idea that we HAVE to get kids collaborating and communicating with others outside of our classroom walls. I want my kids to be able to share their work and thinking and learning with others- not just with me and each other. The world is a big place and what better way to get them to understand and collaborate than to video conference!? 

I've video conferenced before with my kids, and they always flip out the first time. When I say flip out, I mean the other classes probably think we have no rules in our classroom, and my kids seem to have forgotten all forms of common courtesy (just because they are so incredibly excited!). 

I'm hoping these posters will help!

{Click the picture to download} 

Do you Skype? Google Hangout? FaceTime with other classes? I'd love to connect my class with yours! Leave a comment or email me!!!!!!!!!! Maybe we can "meet up" soon!!! Mystery Skype? Mystery Number? Poetry reading? Just to say hi!? We're up for anything!   

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Learning About Adjectives with Flipagram {FREEBIES}

I've had so much fun getting ready to present at the CUE conference this year with my *amazing* teaching partner Kay! We're presenting a session on digital photography in the classroom, and this Flipagram project is one of the projects we'll be sharing!

My students always have a hard time distinguishing parts of speech- they can never remember what nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are. I was hoping this lesson will help adjectives "stick." To start off, we talk about how adjectives are describing words, and how adjectives describe a noun. I read a bunch of "baby" books ;-) to the kids like these ones and have the kids try and pick out the adjectives.

Then I focus on how feelings can be adjectives because they describe us. We talk about lots of different feelings and I pull up a chart like this one:

Then the fun part begins. :) Kids use this organizer:

{Click to download}

to write down the name of ten friends and ten different adjectives they will show. The only rule is they can't use the same friend or the same adjective twice.

Once their sheets have been checked off by me, they can start taking their photos of their friends using the photography skills we've learned in class (like holding the camera steady, being a good friend and not cutting off friend's foreheads, and using a simple background- that's what the random paper around the classroom is for).

Once they have their ten "head shots" complete, they use Skitch to label the picture with the matching adjective and save it to their camera rolls.

Then on to Flipagram where they compile the pictures together and add music (I have the latest KidzBop album for them to choose songs from).

{Oh my goodness- can you see the "sik" kiddo with the trash can!?!?!!?}

***In order to save the Flipagram files to the camera roll, you have to be logged in. I logged my students in and had them save to their camera roll, and then logged them back out.***

When our adjective Flipagrams are finished, we share them on our class blog, on our class Instagram account (@PattersonsClassD8), and our class Twitter account (@Patterson_D8).

We also use this rubric to evaluate our work:

{Click to download}

You can learn more about our digital photography session HERE and see some other great projects!

Will you be at CUE??? Will I see you there??? 

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Modern Calligraphy Class

I had so much fun yesterday with my sweet friend Molly from Lessons with Laughter!

We took a modern calligraphy class with Jenna from Mon Voir and we had such a wonderful time!!! It was inspiring, relaxing, and we got a chance to feel like real "artists" for a few hours. 

This definitely reminded me of the importance of incorporating creativity and expression into my classroom!

Now all I need....

are more hours in the day!!!!!! 

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