SBTS EdTech

I have been working with the autistic classes at Sleepy Hollow for four years. Once the teacher and I decided on a routine, it now runs so smoothly and the kids can’t wait for “Computer Lab”. Each week we devise lessons for the students based on need and curricular level. Lessons begin with one or two clips from “Discovery Streaming”. This past week, the kids watched movies on Simple Machines. The children have learned to watch on their own, enlarge the screen and close up for the next activity. Following the “movies”, each student works with us on a particular unit of study. We have used many websites including http://www.ixl.com/ for math work. This site is particulary useful to the teacher because we can find activities for all of her students at the various grade levels. Because her students have VAAP binders, we love Pixie and the activities provided in the software. If we find the activity is too hard, I modify it and save it as a template. We always print two copies of the student’s work; one for the student and one for the files. It is the highlight of my week to work with these kids.

2nd and 3rd graders at Brookfield Elementary have been busy making movies and podcasts with Pixie. 2nd grade students learned how to use online databases to gather research about desert animals. The students drew pictures in Pixie and recorded their research. All of the pictures and recordings are being compiled for parents to view.

3rd graders wrote their own fairy tales and drew pictures to match their stories. Their artwork was scanned on a color scanner and uploaded into Pixie. The students recorderded their stories over their pictures.

All of the students had an awesome time recording their voices. The teachers were amazed at how little time the project actually took and are eager to share and try this again!

Neighborhood D had a very successful After-School Special last week on the topic of blended media.  The Global Awareness Technology Project requires students to create technology projects that involve blended media and SBTS in Neighborhood D realized that there were several teachers on the 5^th grade team that did not really understand what that meant.  Patty Peterson and April Cascio developed a training that explained the term blended media and gave teachers an opportunity to make a PowerPoint that involves numerous types of media.  Teachers were able to go to 3 stations of their choice that included Audacity, Pixie, Excel, Digital Cameras, Imageblender and even Snagit.  After making something with each tool, teachers then saved the file and imported the files into a PowerPoint.  Each station was staffed with an SBTS from Neighborhood D to assist the teachers at every step of the way.  All the teachers that attended the training soon felt more comfortable with the term blended and also about trying a few of these projects with their students assuming they have the help of their SBTS.

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Hayfield ES students used shamrock clip art with numbers labeled as PART/PART=WHOLE, fact family addition and subtraction templates, and leprechauns linked to .mp3 files recorded in Audacity. The activity began with a video clip from Discovery Streaming and then students moved on to independent practice. After students used the pen tool to fill in the blanks, they had the opportunity to click on the leprechaun to listen to the correct answers.

Monday, January 11, 11 SBTS from Neighborhood H presented a SMARTboard conference for 220 teachers in Western Fairfax County at Greenbriar East Elementary School. The conference allowed teachers to register for up to 3 breakout sessions facilitated by teachers, SBTS, and representatives from AVI and SMART that integrated curriculum with SMARTboards and Notebook software. Topics included Reading in the Primary Grades, Elementary Math on the SMARTboard, and Daily Math and Science just to name a few.

Stacy Kirkpatrick, SBTS Deer Park ES, spearheaded this fantastic event. AVI and SMART were gracious enough to present sessions and donate door prizes including a SMARTboard with an integrated projector. A grant was also awarded by North Tier Consortium. The money from this grant was used to purchase a SMART wireless slate and document camera for door prizes in addition to SMARTboard for Dummies books that were given to all participants. Funds provided from the grant will also be used for more staff development opportunities for participants presented by the SBTS throughout the spring. Fairfax Education Association donated money for snacks and eLearnIT donated highlighters and notepads.

This event was a huge success and has been well received as evident from the comments that have already been collected: “Thank you so much for putting this workshop together, it was wonderful,” “Awesome!!! I think you did a great job!,” “Please make this a regular offering.”

The 11 SBTS that organized and facilitated this event are: Lori Purvis, Brookfield ES; Kimberly Perri, Bull Run; Pat Wilson, Centre Ridge;  Nichole Plummer, Colin Powell; Jonathan Magwire, Cub Run; Stacy Kirkpatrick, Deer Park; Reggie Kopecky, Greenbriar East; Cathy McDonald, Greenbriar West; Rama Avadhanam, London Towne; Scott Thimons, Poplar Tree; Kathy Roberts, Virginia Run.

Students in sixth grade art classes at Cameron ES created their most recent masterpieces by drawing not with their pencils but with their computer mice. Art teacher, Katie Jarvis, shared with the students the iconic iPod advertisements from a few years back. Students then brainstormed and used a graphic organizer to help them select a meaningful pose. Student photos were taken digitally and imported into the drawing program Pixie. In Pixie students added a solid color background and created a silhouette of themselves. To complete the artwork they added text and a unique “iphrase” to describe the picture.
Click here to see images

5th Graders at Oakton Elementary are gearing up for the Global Awareness Project by learning to use Inspiration.  Students created mind maps about Mesopotamia and Ancient China. They included pictures, notes and hyperlinked to websites and other files.   Once finished, they will export their files into Power Point and then build a slide show.  They are excited to use this tool for brainstorming their ideas and organizing their information. They are also seeing the possibility that Inspiration could even be used to create their final product.

Neighborhood H in Western Fairfax is holding a SMARTboard Users Conference for 200 participants. Registration is limited to the staff at Brookfield, Bull Run, Centre Ridge, Colin Powell, Cub Run, Deer Park, Greenbrier East, Greenbrier West, London Towne, Poplar Tree, and Virginia Run. The conference will be held at Greenbrier East January 11 from 2:00-5:00. Three 45 minute training sessions will be offered covering 14 topics from basic to advance use of SMART technologies.  Door prizes including a SMARTboard with an integrated projector, document camera, and Airliner will be given away. Support for this event is provided by AVI, FEA and a grant from North Tier. Special thanks to Stacy Kirkpatrick, SBTS at Deer Park for leading this event!  

After an introduction to Mapmaker’s Toolkit, 2^ndand 3^rd grade students at Bull Run Elementary have created their own map projects.  Students were taught how to add text boxes and stamps to their documents.  The students labeled the continents and oceans and then added stamps to their maps.

At Lane Elementary, Fifth Grade special education students are learning to speak math as they teach their fellow classmates strategies for multiplication. The students are using the Smart Recorder to demonstrate their learning. They plan their “lesson” and demonstrate their learning as the other students observe, listen and learn. Their recordings are then posted on the teacher’s Blackboard site so parents can better understand the new strategies they are learning.