Capitalizing on Text Messaging

Writing with Text Messages

I found these great text message exchange writing templates online earlier today and was inspired to make my own. They would be great for teaching point of view, reviewing grammar rules or figurative language, or for having students practice writing traits like voice and organization. 
Students could write persuasive messages to Santa convincing them that they deserve to be on the nice list or explaining what they are hoping to get this year for Christmas. 

Or use a snowman themed text exchange to retell "Snowmen at Night" one of my favorite books. Or have students use the texts to explain a new concept or review an old idea. You could forego the holiday theme and use a standard phone background throughout the year. 

It gives an interesting twist to a standard writing assignment. 

I made the background using Google Drawings. I saved them as a jpeg file and uploaded them as backgrounds in Google Slides. Then I inserted the call out boxes for the text. 

Tech For Parents

This year at Parent-Teacher Conferences we wanted to bring a little bit of our tech to our parents. As parents we have a lot of information about kids available to us now. One easy way to stay on top of your child's progress is through out STI gradebook program. Parents and students each get their own accounts. Once you log in, you can see the child's grades in each class, you can see what assignments are missing, what work was turned in late, and how many points assignments are worth. 

If you need a username and password stop by the school office and Mrs. Smith our school secretary will get you all set up. Here is a link to the STI InformationNOW Parent Portal Instruction Guide.  

We also have some ideas for parent help with our math series GO Math! In each lesson there is a QR code that will take you to a sample problem and walk parents through the steps of how to find a solution. It's a great tip for nights when you're not 100% sure what the problem means or how to go about solving it. Watch a presentation on it below.

Watch here

Look for the bar code in the lesson. Use your phone to scan the QR code and then follow the link.

Finally, we have a lot of great things going on with our Accelerated Reader program (affectionately called STAR reading here). You can always log in from home to check on how many books your child has read or how they did on a test or how many points they have earned.

Here's a screencast I created that shows you how to log in and what the page looks like. 

Computer Science, Coding & Scratch

I've been developing several lessons using Scratch recently. I am hoping to offer an after school program to start to develop student interest in computer science and programming fields. There are more than 1 million unfilled programming jobs available in the US right now and that number is only going to continue to climb. 

It's an incredibly important area of study for students. First because so many jobs (well-paying jobs!) are going to be in this field. Second because even if aren't a programmer, computers, and therefore computer programming, will probably be a still be a part of your job. Third learning computer science teaches kids how to think logically, create multi-step plans, problem solve, collaborate and research all while hopefully having fun. Programming allows kids to have a creative, concrete outlet for some of the most abstract, difficult thinking we ask them to do. 

Scratch

Image Source

Scratch is a computer programming language designed by MIT for students. It allows students to easily create interactive art, stories, simulations, and games. Students can create their own projects or remix samples from Scratch. They can share their Scratch projects and take inspiration from others. Students program sprites to move across their screens using snap together blocks that make coding fun, easy, and accessible.

The video below shows a wide overview of the types of projects you can create using Scratch. It was published by people at ScratchEd which provides ideas, lesson plans, and a community for teachers who are using or learning to use Scratch in their classrooms. However, it shows an older version so the website will look different than it appears in the video and there's no longer a download needed when working on a PC. 

Video Source from ScratchEd

Below is a video I made that goes over how to create a True/False game. Students researched animals as part of a science unit and then they can create a game using facts from that research. 

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