Big Event Fundraising $1000 Giveaway!

Big Event Fundraising has launched a $1,000 giveaway! 1 lucky school will win $1,000 worth of student prizes! Each package contains an assortment of prizes that are great for school stores, academic awards, fairs, carnivals, or special school events. 

Check out their giveaway page. Hurry! The giveaway ends on October 15^th.

Dot Day-ish

 

International Dot Day is celebrated on or about September 15th....ish. Thank goodness for the "ish" because this year we couldn't stick to just one day. We celebrated for a whole week! 

Betsye Sargeant of The Phoenix School in Salem, Mass. and I collaborated on the Dot Day Recipe Project. Originally created by librarian Matthew Winner, this project allowed for us to really delve deep into art, technology, and language arts. 

In a nutshell:

• Read the books The Dot and Ish by Peter H. Reynolds. 

• Students explore with paint and create color recipes using primary colors and white.

• Students exchange recipes with another school and use the color to create a work of art. 

• Students view each other's work, post on their blogs, and write thank-you notes to each other. 

• example of a "thank you" blog post: click HERE

For the full lesson plan click HERE

Please enjoy our Dot Day 2014 video!

The Dot Big Screen Book - click HERE for more info

        

Netsmartz Online Safety Lesson

This is our 3rd week of school and the students are ready to start blogging and exploring other web-based platforms. To prepare for our online activity, we have been using NetsmartzKids.org to learn about digital citizenship, netiquette, and online safety. Our first two visits to the computer lab were spent exploring the Netsmartz website which has great videos and activities that are geared toward a younger audience. Students can safely explore the site and play the games while learning what it is to be a digital citizen. 

Today we watched “Router’s Birthday Surprise” together and reviewed all of the safety rules that we have learned. We ended our lesson by signing an internet safety pledge. We are ready to be safe online and offline! This afternoon the students wrote their first blog post. Many of them wrote about what they have learned. Please visit our student blogs HERE. They did a great job for first time bloggers!

The videos and activities are fun and engaging so it makes learning about online safety fun!

Watching “Router’s Birthday Surprise”

Making our learning and thinking visible.

Signing the Internet Safety Pledge.

UYN - Use Your Netsmartz! 

Tangled Web Team-Building Activity

photo credit: Louise Morgan

I love doing this activity the first week and throughout the year. It's fun to see how much better the students get at making the web and undoing it. They really have to work together as a team for it to be successful. 

Materials - 1 ball of yarn

Directions - To start, the group sits in a circle. From here you will give one of the members in your group a ball of string. This person will then say their name and one thing about themselves. E.g. “I have a brother” or “I like playing football”. Then any member of your group who has that thing in common puts their hand up. The person with the yarn chooses a person and rolls the ball of yarn to him/her. When the person receives the ball of yarn, they must hold on to the yarn before rolling it to the next person. The cycle then repeats. Continue until each person has had a turn and the class has created a huge web.  Talk about all of the different ways in which your group is interconnected. This will hopefully create a sense of unity between your members, as it visually depicts a number of commonalities that your group shares. 

Tip - Keep it moving. Some students will get tired of holding their string and will pull on it or mess with it. This is a great activity for demonstrating self control and how important it is work together.

Extension - After we have made our web a few times during the first few weeks, then we go backwards and try to undo the web by rolling the yarn in reverse order. It is very challenging but when they do it successfully, it is very rewarding. 

Reform Symposium Free Web Conference July 11-13

Join 1000+ teachers online for an inspirting event showcasing "wow" learning worldwide! Featuring 2 plenaries, 60+ presentations, 11 keynotes, panel discussions, tech/app/lessons swaps, and more! 

I am looking forward to this weekend's Reform Symposium Free Web Conference. It will be 3 days packed with learning and inspiration from the educators from around the world. For more information please follow the #RSCON5 hashtag on Twitter and visit The Future of Education page for a complete listing of sessions, presenters, and times. 

I will be doing two sessions plus participating in an app smackdown where I will be talking about Write About This . Here is the information for my sessions:

The Global Classroom Project 

When: Friday July 11, 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm (central time)

Description: Learn how a great idea and a simple tweet turned into a dynamic network of international educators who collaborate and participate in global projects. This session will highlight some of our projects and how you can get involved.

Tech and App Swapalooza

When: Saturday July 12, 9:00 - 10:00 am (central time)

Desription: Anyone can join in with a 2 minute presentation of their favorite app or web tool.

Reduce the Paper! Student-Created Digital Portfolios

When: Saturday July 12, 10:00 - 10:30 am (central time)

Description: Discover how your students can document their learning and thinking while reducing the amount of paper used in your classroom. Learn how students can create digital portfolios using ipad apps and Kidblog.

Globally Connected at #ISTE2014

We started our journey to #ISTE2014 on Friday by driving from Texas to Alabama where we stayed with my dear #2ndchat friend Carol McLaughin. We have worked together for several years on #2ndchat and have collaborated on a few projects. It was so fun getting to sit on her couch and just chat!

Saturday morning we arrived, checked in, got our peach popcicle and got busy. What an exciting first day at #ISTE2014! We started out in the Bloggers Cafe where I met many new people as we shared our Networking Game Codes. It's pretty cool how the game "forces" you to talk to people and pulls you out of the comfort zone. I met so many great people today while exchanging codes. 

One of the highlights of my day was seeing Monte Tatom again (I met him last year at #ISTE13), Shelley Terrell, and John Spencer. I have participated in so many of Shelley's webinars and it was nice to finally meet her in person.

Monte Tatom and Shelley Terrell

 
I also met Brad Wilson - the creator of the Write About This app. This is a really great app for elementary-age students and I can't wait to see what else he comes up with. I love his Twitter handle: @dreambition. I think that many ISTE attendees have big dreams and lots of ambition for our classrooms. Entrpreneurs like Brad help make that happen.

Brad Wilson of www.21innovate.com

I finally met some of my #globalclassroom colleagues face-to-face and I loved how it we already felt so comfortable with each other because of the time we have spent working together virtually over the past several years.

Hugh MacDonald and Robyn Thiessen, and Karen Stadler

I attended the Global Education Conference Summit in the afternoon and enjoyed the round table discussions and ignite sessions. I actually got up there and presented an ignite session for the Global Classroom Project! Wow! Fun and scary all at the same time!

I also got to meet the amazing Kitty Tripp!

Listening to Aaron Brzowski explain Project Purus and how he brought clean water to the SAV School in Nepal. 

We went over to the CNN Center to grab a quick dinner before the keynote and because it was so busy we sat with a young man we didn't know, but was wearing an ISTE tag. We had a great time getting to know Edxavier from Puerto Rico and then Popy from Canada joined us! Wonder if we would ever do that at the mall at home?

Edxavier, Popy, and my hubby!

After the keynote, we worked together at the Global Classroom poster session sharing our amazing stories and encouraging others to get globally connected. It was also a great time to meet more people.

Preston Morgan, Anne Mirtschin, Theresa Allen, Karen Stadler, Robyn Thiessen, Louise Morgan, David Karnoscak

David Karnoscak and Elvira (Elle_Gifted)

Summer Diamond and Karen Stadler

Molly Risewick-Zeno

It was a long day, but truly memorable. Can't wait for tomorrow!

TCEA Tots and Tech 2014 Presentations

I am very excited about attending TCEA Tots and Technology Conference in Galveston, TX. It will be two days of learning from the very best educators! I love this conference and am looking forward to presentations and hands-on learning that I can use in my 2nd grade classroom. Check out the complete schedule!

My Presentations

Tuesday June 17th at 8:00 am

You CAN do it ALL! Transform your classroom into a 21st Century Learning Environment

You CAN do it ALL! from Louise Morgan

Tuesday June 17th at 2:00 pm
Reduce the Paper! Student-Created Digital Portfolios with iPads

Reduce the paper! Student Created Digital Portfolios from Louise Morgan

Click HERE for link to Google Presentation

See you there!