Alexis, 5th grade student helper, assists “Garden Glam Gal”

Various 1st grade classes across the district participated in this year’s “Garden Glam” videconference project.  The objective of the collaboration was for students to work on creating a  visual of the parts of a plant and then sharing it with other classes from across the district that signed up.  It was an opportunity to see how students were learning about plants and how teachers integrated technology to help students create a visual.  The project was facilitated by Linda Garza, BVES campus technologist.  Ms. Amy Hilton, BES technologist,  & Mrs. Casey Jensen, 3rd grade BVES teacher, alternated offering technical assistance during the videoconferences.  The collaborations proved to be successful as they all shared creative projects depicting plant parts.

Mr. White's students observe a painting and gather details for a discussion

The BVES 5th grade students had the opportunity to participate in a videoconference about the Lewis & Clark expedition last week as part of their Social Studies instruction. The students connected with Ms. Bradfield, SHES campus technologist,and other 5th grade classes across the district to become familiar with this important topic of American history. Special thanks goes out to Mrs. Giambattista & Mrs. Odom, the 5th grade Social Studies teachers, for registering their classes for this distance learning event.

  Students that participated in the district’s 1st grade “Flower Power” videoconference project came together to share their knowledge of plants last Thursday & Friday.  There were three sessions in all, with three schools participating in each videoconference.  In each videoconference, a class presented a project that they created in their classrooms and the other participating schools in the session participated in a sharing activity over the presentation. It was a way to have each school share their understanding of the content being presented and also contribute what they learned during this six week’s unit of study over plants.  It was a “beautiful” display of learning because the students were able to share with others their understanding of plants, but also learn how other students interpreted the content.

Three students from Ms. Arriaga attempt to pet Oliver

The CRES 3rd grade teachers participating in the “Prove It” videoconference project could not have foreseen the excitement & nervousness that would arise from the mystery animal’s visit, “Oliver”.  As soon as “Oliver” arrived on the Camino Real campus, he was definitely a topic of conversation.  “What is that?’”, “Where did he come from?” , and “Where’s he going?” were common questions from students as they saw him being transported in the hallways.   Ms. Arriaga’s students had the following to share about the experience of taking observations of Oliver and then heading to the computer lab to research more about what type of animal he could be.

“It was interesting because we got to learn about more than one kind of animal. Each group member got to research a different animal and was in charge of a different link or website. It was a lot  of information to look at and that’s why we decided to  split responsibilities. It felt like we were scientists because we were trying to figure out what Oliver was and we had to first make predictions then research to make sure. We each took notes to find the best match.”

I’m sure we’ll be looking out to see if “Oliver” gets on Twitter.  If he does, then he’ll definitely have three classes at CRES “following” him. 

Videoconferencing Today

Roland Smith answers questions from Buda Elementary students.

Buda Elementary school librarian Jeanne Ditta continually looks for ways to enrich the reading experiences of Buda students. Recently she found that author Roland Smith (”Sasquatch; African Elephants; Sea Otter Rescue; I.Q.” and dozen’s more) was willing to visit with students over the Internet. Jeanne often uses technology as an integral part of her programs for students and wanted to offer this opportunity. Unfortunately, the only type of software Roland uses was incompatible with Hays CISD networks and software. Jean turned to campus technologist Richard Ingels and distance learning specialist Christie Rickert for help and a new way to connect was found that can be used for more conferences such as this. Thanks to Jeanne’s pioneering technology spirit Roland and several hundred Buda Elementary students were able to have a meaningful conversation about the writing process.

Author Roland Smith answered questions from students during two live sessions. He spoke about his experiences writing his many successful books and gave encouraging advice to the aspiring young authors at Buda Elementary.

Some examples of his comments:

“Every day there are problems in writing.  Writing is about problem solving.  But every day you have to show up and write, and work through those problems.”

“You need to write every single day.  You have to read and know what a story is about.  It doesn’t matter what it is.  If you want to keep a journal, keep a journal.  Find your own voice.”

“When I write, I write about what’s important to me. When you write, you need to write about what’s important to you.”

“If you want to be a football player, you have to practice.  If you want to be a singer, you have to practice.  If you want to be a piano player, you have to practice.  Every time you write, you get a little better at what you do. If you practice enough and write enough, you will become a writer. It’s as simple as that. You can all become authors if that is what you choose to do.”

Leticia explaining the parts of the ecosystem.

Students from Mrs. Orosco, Mrs. Spoon, and Miss Mayer’s class connected with other 4th grade classes in the district to share the amazing ecosystems they created during the month of February. Mrs. Orosco’s classes created ecosystems with hermit crabs, fish, a tree frog, and a lizard. A clawed frog was the main attraction in Mrs. Spoon and Miss Mayer’s classes. During the videoconference the students shared information about their ecosystems and answered questions from other classes. Our students enjoyed being part of a scientific community and enjoyed seeing the ecosystems created by other students.

A slide from a presentation in Mrs. Orosco’s room.