Learning in Progress

At the end of the year I decided to change things up a bit with first grade and conduct an author study through a project based learning inspired format (CCSS RL.1.3, W.1.7).  I had been working with first graders on science standards through most of the late winter and early Spring, and wanted to give them the opportunity to capitalize on some of the research and collaboration skills they had developed through the course of that study. After looking at the resources available to us, I settled on Tomie dePaola for our author of choice.  He is featured on our favorite database, PebbleGo , and we had a number of books by him that we would be able to choose from to compare and contrast. I prepped the students by introducing them to the Super 3 research model using a YouTube video I found.  The video is concise, visual and really helps even the youngest student understand what they need to do to complete a project. The author study was essentially divided into two big...

I should start out by saying - I am not a science teacher, nor do I play one on TV...I'm my school's teacher librarian, and I'm seriously trying to support our school's adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Last summer when I met with our first grade team to review programming needs for the year and to explore options for collaboration in the library, a big need that we identified was the implementation of the NGSS.  We also wanted to be able to work in something for CCSS W.1.7 "participate in shared research and writing projects". After some discussion, we settled on working with the NGSS standards that fall under the "Waves and their Applications" heading.  The first grade teachers were already working with other first grade teachers across our district to develop their science lessons and investigations, so I really only had to reinforce the learning that was happening in the classrooms until it was time to conduct the inv...

My library's makerspace is a little underwhelming at first for visitors.  There is currently no 3D-printer (maybe someday?), no poster printer, and no fancy, electronic cutting machines.  You won't find power tools or sewing machines or soldering irons.   What you will find are big ideas, things the elementary students in my school are familiar with, and a few things they are using to inspire learning.  We have basic arts and craft materials that you'll find in any classroom: pipe cleaners, craft sticks, construction paper, markers, and a million crayons.  There's also some inspiring electronics: a raspberry pi, makey-makey, snap circuits, and little bits. And let's not forget the free computer programs and apps we can use for coding, 3d modeling, and photo, film and audio editing .  Links to most of what we work with on a daily basis can be found below on the Symbaloo . This is what our makerspace looks like Makerspace basics So what i...

A Few Words on Copyright and Fair Use Even though educators often have some freedom in using different things for educational purposes, we must be respectful of copyright and adhere to the principles of fair use. Any original work produced by someone is protected under copyright.  Columbia University Libraries offers an excellent resource about copyright { here }  if you want to learn more about it. Fair use offers educators the opportunity to share copyrighted material under certain conditions.  Learn more about Fair Use from Columbia University Libraries { here }. Before you use excerpts of material, popular songs, images, and videos for school or for communicating with the school community, I suggest that you use Columbia University's Fair Use Checklist to help you think through whether or not you are allowed to use that media.  You can find the direct link to the checklist { here }. When possible, it is important to focus on searching for and usi...