Day 177 - Small Actions With a Big Impact at the Book Fair - Mr. Murphy - Fox Hill Teacher Librarian

This post first appeared on the BPS EdTech Blog

A cornerstone of the Fox Hill Learning Commons is to promote scientific exploration and understanding of our natural world and we believe that even our youngest students can have a huge positive impact on our planet through simple actions. We just wrapped up our Spring Book Fair and for the first time we went completely plastic bag free and asked students to bring their own reusable bag for their purchases. Plastic is wreaking havoc on animal life, especially marine life, and creates unsightly litter that can take hundreds of years to biodegrade. I’m so proud of our young scientists who worked to end plastic pollution in our oceans and in our communities by simply bringing their own bag to the book fair. A perfect example of how we can all work together to make a big impact with a simple small action!

Day 167 - The American Revolution Comes to Life with Chatter Pix - Fox Hill Grade 3

This post first appeared on the BPS EdTech Blog

Ms. Saia’s third-grade social studies students recently conducted research about famous Patriots from the American Revolution including John Hancock, Abigail Adams, Benjamin Franklin and more. Through their research, students learned about their Patriot’s childhood, the contributions they made to our country which made them famous, and other interesting facts. In addition to their written research, Ms. Saia had her students create portraits of their famous Patriots. Students used crayons, markers, and colored pencils to make their portraits and their amazing finished products are proudly displayed outside of Ms. Saia’s classroom door.

Ms. Saia was so impressed by her students’ drawings, she decided to add a digital component to this unit. Specifically, Ms. Saia wanted her students to bring the portraits to life using Chatter Pix and compile their research in a book using Book Creator. The digital component of this unit allowed students to gain additional practice with keyboarding, oral reading fluency, and digital design principles. I was able to co-teach with Ms. Saia on this unit and coach students through the “app smashing” process which combined Chatter Pix and Book Creator. Taking this project to a digital level gave students the opportunity to share their voice with a larger, authentic audience, exercise their creativity in the design process, and demonstrate their competency in using technology. The finished Book Creator projects, featuring their Chatter Pix, were shared with parents through Seesaw. Below are several examples of students’ finished Book Creator projects and we hope you enjoy viewing them as much as we did!

Day 164 - Grade 4 Community Circles - Mr. Daley - Fox Hill Grade 4

This post first appeared on Mr. Daley's Blog

Throughout the school year, Mrs. Johnson has facilitated grade-level community circles with students. These social and emotional-focused get-togethers provide students with opportunities to share “what’s going well” and “any challenges” they may be facing with their peers. Students are refreshingly honest in sharing their feelings at community circles. Mrs. Johnson held the last Grade 4 community circle of the year this week with students. She read the book What Does it Mean to be Global? by Rana DiOrio to the kids. According to Ms. DiOrio, "being global means being a citizen of the world." To be a good citizen of the world means to be open-minded to learn about others throughout the world. We can learn about others' languages, foods, religions, traditions, and values. We can be respectful and peaceful to others, and open our minds to new possibilities. The best time to start "being global" is not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today! Why are you waiting? Let's go!!!!!

Day 156 - A Fox Hill First Grader Explains Folders in Seesaw - Ms. Scheffer - BPS EdTech Team

This post first appeared on the BPS EdTech Blog

This past week, first-grade teacher Nicole Ray reached out to me looking for a way to have her students create a digital reading log for her ELA class. She explained that she wanted students to take pictures of the books they read during independent reading time and put them in an organized place. She then wanted a way to quickly and easily check in on their reading logs. After listening to what she wanted to accomplish, I instantly recommended Seesaw and specifically Seesaw’s folder feature. She agreed to give Seesaw folders a try and determine whether or not it would meet her needs.

To create a folder in Seesaw, Mrs. Ray went to her class settings located in the upper right corner of her ELA class (the little wrench icon). From there, she scrolled down to “Folders” and clicked on “Manage Folders.” She then clicked “Create New Folder.” She named the folder “Reading Log” and kept the default color red. This process took about thirty seconds!

After creating the Reading Log folder in her ELA class, I visited Mrs. Ray class and walked her students the simple process of:

1. Selecting their ELA class in Seesaw

2. Taking a photo of the cover of their book

3. Selecting the Reading Log folder

4. Uploading the photo to their journals.

Students verified they uploaded the photos to the correct place by seeing a red Reading Log folder label at the bottom of their post. After students were shown these steps, they began practicing independently and after a few tries, all students were successful at independently uploading their photos to the Reading Log folder. I asked if any students wanted to demonstrate the process they had just learned on YouTube and the BPS Edtech blog. I had many students “audition” to showcase their technical knowledge and skills, and I am so proud of each and every one of them. They are definitely Seesaw superstars!

Mrs. Ray, Mrs. Carew, and the Seesaw Superstar first graders of Room 26

Below is a video of first-grader Raphael explaining how to take a photo and upload it to his Reading Log folder. Mrs. Ray is definitely interested in trying this with her new first-grade class at the start of the 2018-2019 school year. She likes that she can look at each student’s folder individually and see, at a glance, and on a specific date, everything they have uploaded. Over time, Mrs. Ray may have students add additional folders, audio recordings to their journal items, videos, and more. She also liked that she was able to turn off approving posts before uploading so she could view student work as quickly as possible.

During our meeting, while students were independently practicing their skills, I had the opportunity to show Seesaw’s Activity feature to Mrs. Ray. She seemed impressed by all she could do with activities, and I think this might be another feature in Seesaw she will explore in more detail for the 2018-2019 school year. It’s wonderful to work with teachers on integrating technology into their curriculum, especially as we approach the end of the school year, and when it’s technology that meets the needs of teachers and students. I’d like to thank Mrs. Ray for trying my Seesaw suggestion. It was a rewarding experience to see students develop a new skill that they will use throughout their time as students at Fox Hill!

Day 145 - May Update - Mr. Norman - Fox Hill Grade 5

This is more like it! Now it's spring.

In math, we covered the most important concepts in several different units in order to best prepare for the math MCAS.  After MCAS we will return to many of these topics to cover them in more depth.  Topics include classifying 2d figures, analyzing patterns and relationships, algebra, graphing points on the coordinate plane, and representing and interpreting data and measurement.  

In language arts, we completed reading Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.  Some of the activities we are involved in include: writing book reviews, answering essential questions about the text, and writing scripts about what might have happened between different characters in the story.  We wrote healthy eating commercials and made infomercials that we shared in class. Look for these in Seesaw!  We are also working on our narrative writing skills and are actively planning stories through the use of two-column notes.

In science, we completed our animal enclosure projects.  Last Friday we presented our enclosures to the 2nd grade.  They were eager to visit and ask us questions about the design process since they are working on a habitat unit in science.  Now we are preparing for the Science MCAS test which will take place next Wednesday and Friday, May 16-17.

5th graders explain how they designed their animal
enclosure to meet the needs of its inhabitant.

Day 138 - 2nd Annual Fox Hill Science and Stewardship Earth Day Celebration - Mr. Daley - Grade 4

This post originally appeared on Mr.  Daley's blog

Yesterday, the Fox Hill Learning Commons hosted our second annual Science and Stewardship Earth Day Celebration. The theme of the day, Small Actions With a Big Impact, showed students simple ways they can be stewards of the planet, help wildlife, connect with nature, combat climate change, grow a garden, help save bees, support Burlington recycling, and help make Fox Hill a green school.

Day 136 - Traveling the World at Fox Hill Family Geography Night

This post first appeared on the BPSEdTech Blog

On Thursday, April 12th Fox Hill students and their families experienced the first ever Family Geography Night. This student-centered event exemplified three core values of Burlington Public Schools; teacher leadership, collaboration, and family engagement. The entire organizational team was thrilled to see over 100 people in attendance and we’d like to extend our sincere thanks to all the Fox Hill families who supported our inaugural event.

Fox Hill Family Geography Night Organization Team (pictured left to right) Elementary Social Studies Coach Katie Bercury, second grade teacher Michelle Tigges, third grade teachers Heather Lisano, Elana Snyder, Instructional Technology Specialist Jenn Scheffer, third grade teacher Karen Saia, and Librarian/Media Specialist Patrick Murphy.

The idea for Family Geography Night was shared with Elementary Social Studies Coach Katie Bercury by third grade teacher Karen Saia when she returned from the 97th Annual National Council for the Social Studies conference in San Francisco, California. Ms. Saia had attended the workshop, “How To Plan a Family Geography Night,” an event developed by Robert P. Poirier of North Andover Middle School, and thought Fox Hill could create a similar event that could be tailored specifically to the elementary social studies curriculum. After an initial meeting with Katie Bercury, an organizational team was formed and planning for the Fox Hill Family Geography Night began. The team engaged in extensive planning and created a blueprint for the event not only for Fox Hill, but for other schools throughout the district to use a guide in planning their own Geography Nights in the future. The team brainstormed to create seven original and interactive continent stations. These hands-on stations gave students the opportunity to “travel around the world in a day” and explore a variety of grade-level appropriate geography topics with an emphasis on mapping skills, continents, and landforms. The team made it a priority to develop stations that would allow students to learn alongside their peers and families, making this a truly inclusive educational experience. Each station was facilitated by a member of the Fox Hill Family Geography Night organizational team and students were completely engaged throughout the night. The creation of Family Geography Night was the epitome of teacher leadership, and we are fortunate to work in a district that supports and promotes teacher leadership initiatives. We look forward to next year’s Family Geography Night and giving Fox Hill students and their families the opportunity to once again travel the world in a day!

Family Geography Night Continent Stations
Europe: Karen Saia

Our first station, run by Ms. Saia, was Europe. This station allowed students to obtain their passports for the evening and indicate either their place of birth or a country that was important to them, on our world map. Passports featured an image of each continent which corresponded to a particular activity. After completing each activity, the continent on the passport was stamped by the station facilitator. The completed passport was turned in at the end of the evening and students received a mini globe to take home as a souvenir.

South America: Katie Bercury
Our South America station was our giant National Geographic map of South America. This station was facilitated by Katie Bercury and gave students the opportunity to walk across the map and explore the entire continent of South America. Earlier this year, Fox Hill hosted a creativity and curiosity assembly and this station definitely evoked curiosity in the minds of our young learners. Students were intrigued by what they discovered on the map and were able to ask questions to gain more knowledge about the continent of South America. Since this station was such a unique experience for students, it will make subsequent lessons about mapping and geography more motivating and engaging. Additionally, students will remember what they learned from this experience and apply it to gaining new knowledge and skills in the social studies curriculum.

Asia & Antarctica: Patrick Murphy and Jenn Scheffer

The Learning Commons offered students and their families two stations, Antarctica and Asia. The Antarctica station offered students and their families the chance to test their knowledge of countries and states by playing the iPad games Stack the States and Stack the Countries. In this area of the Learning Commons we also displayed Google Earth on our Apple TV and flew from Rome, Italy to Jerusalem, Israel. Students and families were able to view these places in 3D and parents seemed especially impressed by the Google Earth technology. The Asia station was our family photo green screen station. Students had their photos taken in front of the Grand Canyon, Eiffel Tower, Great Barrier Reef, The Vatican, Taj Majal, and the Statue of Liberty. It was wonderful to see parents and students engaged in collaborative learning experiences and we look forward to developing more events that will foster a strong home/school connection and increase parent involvement in the educational process.

Africa: Elana Snyder
Our Africa station was facilitated by Mrs. Snyder. This was a highly interactive, hands-on station where students were able to create many geographic landforms with everyone’s favorite…playdough! Students used topographical globes to identify where different landforms are located on all seven continents and were able to select a continent to create a landform. This activity gave students the chance to demonstrate their artistic talents and share their creations with their parents.

Australia: Heather Lisano
Mrs. Lisano did a fantastic job facilitating a wide variety of geography games including geography bingo, Countries and Capitals, and a world puzzle. Students enjoyed multiple rounds of Global Bingo that allowed them to practice their oral language skills, as Mrs. Lisano asked students to state the names of various countries from around the world. Students identified the continent where the country was located on their Bingo boards and had an absolute blast while learning more about geography.

North America: Michelle Tigges

The North America station was organized by second grade teacher Michelle Tigges. This station consisted of mystery pictures from around the world. Students and parents tested their geography knowledge by trying to identify the country of the landmarks that were pictured on the cards. This station was challenging and fun for both students and parents!

 As you can clearly see from the photos in this post, Family Geography Night at Fox Hill was a huge success. The evening could not have been the success it was had it not been for the efforts of the leadership team and their commitment to the planning and promotion of our inaugural Family Geography Night. We know that the Burlington Public Schools administration advocates and supports events that strengthen the connection between home and school. We will continue to brainstorm unique educational opportunities for all Burlington families so stayed tuned!

Day 107 - Room 12 Happenings - Mr. Norman - Fox Hill Grade 5

This post first appeared on Mr. Norman's blog

We recently completed our study of the Earth and its place in the Universe.  Students completed digital notebooks in which they recorded videos, took pictures and made reflections.  They also took an assessment that asked them to edit a short book on the earth, moon, sun, and stars.  This has been an exciting unit that has made use of models and motion to demonstrate basic earth science principles. On the playground, we created a model of the solar system to help us understand the relative distances of the planets from each other and the sun.  On a different day, students, representing the Earth, rotated and revolved around a light source in the center of our classroom. These are just two examples of the many interactive science lessons in which the children participated.

In Language Arts, we completed our research on planets and learned how to craft our own sentences from research notes.  We drafted paragraphs that will be published as book creator projects.  We also began our preparation for MCAS by comparing and contrasting poetry through essay writing.  Additionally, we are studying point of view in non-fiction and fiction writing.  We wrote brief research reports on the flu, writing about the causes of the flu and how to prevent it.  This is a timely topic!

Students doing research on the planets using the two column note method.

A student uses a whiteboard to turn research notes into running text.

In math, we completed the addition and subtraction of fractions and are now learning how to multiply fractions. An important component to understanding fractions is being able to demonstrate your math thinking through pictures.  We are actively engaged in this effort on a daily basis through the use of class presentations. During the Solve and Share each table group solves a real-world math problem and sketches their work on the whiteboard. Group members then explain their thinking to the class. 

Students prepare math thinking to share during the Solve and Share.

Day 103 - Fox Hill Sphero Olympics - Mr. Murphy - Fox Hill Library Tech Team

This post originally appeared on the BPS EdTech Team Blog

As a computer science challenge, Ms. Scheffer and I will be hosting the Sphero Olympics in the Fox Hill Learning Commons starting the Monday we come back from February vacation. Inspired by the middle school, we’ll be doing our own robotics programming Olympic challenge at the elementary level. For this programming challenge, various tracks and events will be set up that mirror the sports of the Winter Olympics. Students are already working on their coding for a number of events. Check out this video of Sphero curling. It’s our first successful programming of a Sphero that will hit the mark every time! Great job fifth graders!

Day 102 - BRIDGES TOGETHER-LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER - Mrs. Nolte - Fox Hill Grade 4

This post first appeared on Mrs. Nolte's Blog 

Every Wednesday, we had volunteers come into our classroom and participate in Bridges Together lessons. Our most recent visit involved "Lifelong Teaching and Learning." All Room 16 students and senior volunteers prepared and delivered five-minute lessons to their group members, or shared interesting facts to their group members about a topic meaningful to them. I was amazed at the effort and delivery demonstrated by both the kids and volunteers during this lesson. Some of the teaching and learning included:

• making fortune tellers
• proper teach cleaning
• playing lacrosse
• ice skating
• how to knit and sew
• how to play various card games
• learning about space
• how to draw

Enjoy these photos from today's Bridges Together lesson!