Tech Integration in GVSD

The second grade ATP students at Concord have been working on an exciting project with the Philadelphia Zoo called the UNLESS contest.  The goal of the project is to encourage as many people as possible to reduce their paper / junk mail use in order to save the red panda (and the planet).  The video is now on YouTube!   Check it out! Goal:  get as many people as possible to visit the Philadelphia Zoo website and sign up to stop their junk mail!  You may scan the QR code at the end of the video, or use the following link:  Just make sure to indicate "Concord Elementary School," so we get credit for our project. Please feel free to share this e-mail and our video.  A link to the video will also be available on Concord's website, Facebook page and Twitter feed.  We're trying to reach as many people as possible!  Thanks!!!

Garnet Valley Middle School teacher, Mr. David Burt, takes an opportunity to Skype with students in the Dominican Republic. A GVSD, family, the Delaney's, along with a few other students from GVMS, traveled to the Dominican Republic on a missionary trip. While visiting the Village of Ascension, populated by Haitian immigrants and poor Dominicans, GVMS, 7th grade students, had the opportunity to speak with students of the village.  They learned about the village population, education, and everyday life.  The students of GVMS learned that the missionary work consists of teaching English, Sporting activities such as lacrosse and tennis, sewing, and many other activities of daily living. This is Mrs. Delaney,Wilson, and Will talking about Wilson's experiences at the Ascension Village. GVMS students listening to Wilson Other GVMS students talking about their experience at the Dominican Republic

Genius Hour - 20% Time  Mrs. Rebecca Brown, ATP teacher at Bethel Springs Elementary School gave her 4th graders the opportunity to complete a Genius Hour Project. It was a 6 week project and the students each developed a question, did the research, and embraced stumbling blocks. The end products were each unique.  Below is the link to her Genius Hour Project site. Check out the amazing projects accomplished by these students.  Genius Hour Website

February 22, 2016 at the PETE & C 2016, Hershey, PA Kathryn Fiocchi and Courtney Durbin present iPads to Engage the Elementary Classroom . These teachers along with Greg Macer, Instructional Technology Specialist from the Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit, inspired teachers, administrators and technology specialists from across the state on engaging students with the integration of technology. The presentation was completed by using Nearpod. To view the presentation, click the link below. https://sites.google.com/site/ edtechintheelementaryclassroom / For more information contact: Kathryn Fiocchi: fiocchk@garnettvalley.org Courtney Durbin: durbinc@garnetvalley.org

Many 1st grade classes at Concord Elementary School researched Famous Black Americans. Students then used Green Screen to share the research they learned and teachers created class movies. Take a look at the amazing learning and use of technology used for this project. Teachers had a Gallery walk to share the amazing work going on in 1st grade. 1st Grade Teachers: Steve Talley, Megan Bruns, Val SanFelice and Tess Northey

Kevin Lu, one of Garnet Valley's high school students won the 2016 Congressional App Challenge A description of what the contest and guidelines were click the link below. https://www.challenge.gov/challenge/congressional-app-challenge-ky-05-rep-rogers/

Some of our 4th grade teachers are using Minecraft to teach about Pennsylvania. Teachers had their students research the regions, geographic features and landforms of PA to create Pennsylvania in the Minecraft world.  Think about? Would your students ever forget that you let them use a video game in school to learn a concept or skill?   Check out the projects below.  For more information on this project contact:  Mrs. Kate Fiocchi @ fiocchk@garnetvalley.org 

At GVMS, some of our 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes, took part in Canstruction, Jr. This project not only taught our students about collecting and donating to a local food bank but important lessons of engineering, math, technology and teamwork really got the job done. Students were challenged to build a structure that correlated with the theme "50 Years and Growing". The theme stems from our district's 50th anniversary. On January 29th, students built there structures and our entire administration team was there to vote on the structures. The following week, students had the opportunity to vote for the student choice award at their lunch time, using google forms. This amazing project was led by one of our  Math and Science teacher at GVMS.  Take a minute to check a few of the amazing structures below. 

                                          Mystery Skype  If you've never tried it, you really need to. Change your classroom and engage your students by connecting with classrooms across the globe. There are many ways to connect via Skype. Check out, Mystery Skype, Mystery Number and Virtual Field Trips. To see the enthusiasm it brings to the students, is incredible. Check out our experiences below.  Arkansas New Jersey  If you wish to connect with any of our classes, please contact, Julie Devine: devinej@garnetvalley.org Mike Simone: simonem@garnetvalley.org

We are three technology specialists that work for the Garnet Valley School District. Our job is to support teachers and students with integrating technology into their classrooms. We work with teachers K-12 by providing opportunities to use, infuse and create with technology. We have started this blog as way to share the amazing work our teachers and students have accomplished.  Please feel free to comment and share the amazing work going on in your classrooms. We hope to not only share but learn from among the blogging community.    Follow us on Twitter: @GVSD_ITS You can also email us @: techcoaches@garnetvalley.org