Tech Integration in GVSD

In the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to visit many classrooms across my district that were participating in Global Day of Design. (For those of you that aren't familiar with Global Day of Design,  click here ).  As I visited different classrooms there were three things that really stood out to me:  smiles on students' faces, perseverance as a common behavior and collaboration as a consistent theme. As I resonated on what I observed a question came to mind: What are we teaching our students through the opportunity of participating in a Global Day of Design?  The answer is simple, all the  right stuff . Just imagine if we provided our students with more than just a day. By providing students with an understanding and framework of design thinking and allowing them to identify problems and work to seek solutions, we are creating thinkers, problem-solvers, and individuals that can make real life changes. Students attitudes towards learning also ...

Ms. Lorusso was thinking of another way for her students to express themselves using poetry.  After some exploration, she came across a poetry lesson using  SCRATCH .  She instructed her students to pick a poem, read through the poem and find 4 major parts, and express it with computer programming through Scratch.   Here are the AMAZING results along with some pictures!  Great job 6th grade!! Raj Bronson Erin Casey Ms. Lorusso instructing the boys what is needed in their scratch project! A labeled "SCRATCH GURU" getting ready to help out a classmate 6th Graders are thoroughly engaged in making their Scratch Poetry come alive! 

Hands-on Approach to Celebrating Earth Day   What better way to teach 1st graders about the Earth than to have them experience what it means to reduce, reuse and recycle. In one of the elementary schools in which I teach I created stations for hands-on learning to teach important concepts to the students in hopes that by providing concrete examples they would walk away with a stronger knowledge of why we celebrate the Earth and how each of them can care for it. There were four stations set up in the Makerspace. Each student completed each station by the end of the class period. Students used recycled water bottles to build planters. Each student added soil and planted seeds to start the growth of a new plant. This activity not only showed students how they can repurpose materials but gave them something to care for. When students create things themselves it gives a deeper meaning to their learning. Students also created cheerio bird feeders. Using pipe cleaners, they st...