Digital Story - Tim Horton Children's Ranch

A couple weeks ago we had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Tim Horton's Children's Ranch out in Kananaskis. Although our plans had to change due to unforeseen weather circumstances, we were still able to do some really fun and engaging activities. Through this experience, I have a new appreciation for inquiry and getting students to actively participate in their learning. This can absolutely be done through classroom experiences; however, giving them opportunities like what the Children's Ranch provides, are lessons that they won't soon forget.

If you'd like to hear more about the Tim Horton's Children's Ranch, my experience there, and how this has inspired my future teaching practices, please click the picture above and check it out!

**Note: to view the video, ensure the blue switch is on movie, not slideshow, as shown above**

Apps and Technology

Technology has many positives and negatives when used in the classroom. My peers and I experienced this last day as we taught one another a lesson based off of an app or website. We had planned to use our website on the SMART Board but unfortunately it wasn't working so we had to adapt and modify our lesson. Instead we just used a laptop; however, in an actual classroom setting using a projector would have been more optimal. The website we used is called Science for Kids and we focused on the game called "Changing State of Water." This is a fun, interactive simulator that shows how varying temperature changes effect the state of water.

During our lesson we got our students to make predictions (hypothesis) on what they thought the water was going to do while following the prompts in the game. This worked very effectively for what we wanted our students to learn as trying to do this process in real life would take much longer and they wouldn't be able to see the changes as rapidly as they did in the simulator. I think this would be a fun way to either introduce a new concept or wrap up and clarify an existing one. Obviously, doing experiments in person and having that hands on experience is often more valuable; however, that is not always possible to do and this can still be a fun and engaging experience for students to learn. I also like that they can be done individually, in groups, or as a whole class. I could definitely see myself using these sorts of games and other apps in my future classrooms as they can be great tools for students to practice and get engaged with a variety of concepts and ideas.

Here's a link to our lesson plan if you want to check it out!

 

 

States of Water

SMART Board Lessons

Last week in class we had the opportunity to teach our classmates a mini-lesson utilizing the SMART Board. My fellow peers and I used a mini-lesson template from the SMART Board called Cookie Crunch to help us teach our lesson. I think overall it went very well and the lesson was a great way to review or introduce sight words in a more fun and engaging format. We found that some of the levels were too easy for our "students" but we were able to increase the difficulty which was really cool. It was also neat to see how engaged each student was, even when they weren't the one being asked to move the cookie to reveal the sight word. I think with any piece of technology, there are negatives and positives to using it in the classroom; however, this experience helped to highlight some of the more positive aspects.

Here's a link to the lesson plan if you want to check it out! 

 

 CLICK HERE

Looking forward into the future, I could definitely see myself using SMART Boards in my classroom. I used to think they were just a fancy whiteboard because that's the only way they were used when I was in school; however, after seeing all the different templates for so many subjects and topics, I now see how fun and engaging they can be too. On the other hand, I'm not sure how engaging they would be if the classes were larger, as I know for our particular activity, it was definitely better suited for a smaller group so everyone could have a turn and not get distracted as easily. This would be something I would like to test out or be able to learn from someone who has used the technology with a larger number of students. Due to this concern, I think I would mostly use the SMART Board for small groups that need to practice certain topics, centers, or maybe as a warm-up or wrap-up activity. Now a days, these are a more common piece of technology found in most schools; therefore, I think at the very least teachers should be educated on how to use them and explore what possibilities they have for integration in the classroom. Overall, I think they are a fun technology to have and I hope to learn more ways of utilizing them for my future classrooms.