SBTS EdTech

Fifth graders at Colvin Run Elementary are one of four FCPS schools participating in a Global Classroom project as part of their social studies curriculum. Students in one 5th grade class have been participating in a special part of the project, using video conferencing to connect with students from Oldbury Wells School, Shropshire, U.K., sharing and learning about each other’s cultures.  This collaborative learning experience was highlighted at the Governor’s Luncheon on October 26th as the 300 luncheon guests, including Gov. Tim Kane, shared in a live video conference between Colvin Run 5th graders and the students from Oldbury Wells School in Shropshire U.K. The video linked here was shown at the luncheon and outlines the Global Classroom Project.

Building Community through Technology

As part of a Language Arts lesson, first grade students at Cunningham Park Elementary used Pixie to write sentences introducing themselves to their classmates. They said, for example, “My name is Johnny, and I like to ride my skateboard.” Next, they drew pictures of themselves doing the activity they selected and then they imported a photograph of themselves into their Pixie drawing. The final step was for students to record themselves reading their sentences (with great care taken to be sure there was one-to-one correspondence between the spoken and the written words.) The final project was assembled and posted to Blackboard. The audio from the project was recorded to CD, and one set was printed and bound. These books and CDs circulate among the first grade classrooms, and now all first graders know a little bit about each other. This was a perfect way to begin teaching writing to first graders while building community and making personal connections!

At Cameron ES, a September training was conducted on Photo Story and Movie Maker. The goal was to get cameras into the hands of teachers who in turn would do the same for kids. The results have been fabulous! Students and teachers at various grade levels are creating photo stories and mini movies that are posted to Blackboard for all to see. The principal spotlights some of them on Cameron Morning News.

Grade 1
School Bus Stop Safety
Students created a mini movie to discuss the importance and procedures for exercising good safety tips for the bus and walkers. Students created posters in groups with various tips and then generated their scripts from the posters.

Grade 5
Social Studies
Students created timelines of their lives, including pictures and memorabilia, on poster board. They took photos of each timeline and narrated them using Photo Story. Students enjoyed sharing their videos with family on Blackboard.

Grade 6
Language Arts
The principal works with a small reading group daily. After reading about the solar system and the planets, kids created posters and a script to create a Photo Story about the Solar System. The kids were engaged and loved the entire process from start to finish.

5th Graders at Island Creek ES told the story of Pangea and continental drift by animating Google Earth screen shots of continents in Scratch. Click link to see a sample: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/6ghokie/723479

At Hayfield ES, a fifth grade teacher and SBTS worked together to create persuasive commercials in Movie Maker. Students worked in cooperative groups and used a classroom set of digital cameras to practice the art of video recording. After the final videos were created and downloaded to the school server by the students, the SBTS trained the class in using Movie Maker. Students successfully added a title and credits, edited the video and created separate clips with transitions and video effects, and added music from a free music production site. The videos may be posted to Blackboard so that students can access them anytime/anywhere.