Study Island, PSD Key, and Manufacturing Contest

1. Study Island Group Sessions

Grades 3-5 teachers, if you have been wanting to give "Group Sessions" a try and just haven't had a chance to learn about this new feature, please let us know!   There are 3 ways to go about a group session:

A. Checkpoint

Teacher-led whole group noncompetitive session.

B.  Challenge

Students compete against their classmates in a teacher led session, earning points for correct answers, quick responses, and correct answer streaks.  Students are able to provide an anonymous name, so only the teacher sees the student's real name and data.

C. Race

Students race against each other to answer as many questions as possible as quickly as possible!

If you'd like, you can customize your session on the fly by selecting the exact questions you want your students to see. This means you can pull items from multiple topics, subjects, and even grade-levels into one Group Session tailored just for your students.

For all of these modes, all performance data is available immediately and saved for later review through Study Island’s reporting features.

2.  What's So Cool About Manufacturing? video contest

If you haven't had a chance to vote yet, please vote as often and as much as possible between March 20-March 22 here.  The votes are unlimited.  Feel free to share these videos with your students if it fits into your schedule and/or curriculum.  Students are welcome to vote, too!  Thanks for your support of our Pennridge Students and this beneficial program.  Each video is less than 2.5 minutes!

If you're able to share this flyer via Seesaw or another avenue, we would greatly appreciate it.

3.  PSD Key is Coming

On March 27 Pennridge will launch its Single Sign On Portal called PSD Key, which will allow students and teachers to unlock district and web resources using a single password.  PSD Key has been tested in 12 classrooms this month and has seen very positive results with students and teachers alike.  While many of the resources will not need a username or password to be inputted, some will need you and your students to input this information just one more time and PSD Key will take care of the rest.  On March 27th each elementary school will be trained on PSD Key, and the trainer will model storing a password using your PowerSchool login.   Please be prepared with your username and password for PowerSchool, and consider collecting all of your passwords in one place so they can be logged in PSD Key, which will follow you to any computer you are using. 

Activities, Stories from Space, and PBS writing contest

1.  Seesaw Activities

For Seesaw Users who are creating activities - these templates are amazing and easy to use!  Brought to us by Kris Szajner (@KSzajner) and Beth Leighton (@Leighton_Beth), these slides are incredibly easy to integrate into Seesaw.

New to using the Activities library?  Want to try your first activity, but want an extra set of hands when you do? Email us- we would be happy to help!

Seesaw Activity Library Creations

2.  Story Time from Space

We have posted about Stories from Space before, but we were excited when we saw one of our favorites Rosie Revere, Engineer as part of their library.  Check out Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty and many others on the site here!

3.  Writing Contest

A great way for your students to share what they've learned during their SEL studies or while using the new writing curriculum, the PBS writing contest is happening now.  The PBS Kids Writer's Contest is available for students K-5 and more information can be found here.  Maybe your students could use some of their directed drawings in their creative illustrations?  Let us know how we can help!

We need your help!  
Whats So Cool About Manufacturing

          Next week, we will be sharing a live link for you (and if possible, your students) to vote for our Pennridge "What's So Cool About Manufacturing" video contest teams.  All three of the Pennridge Middle schools have a team of 8^th grade students participating in the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” video contest.  We are competing against 27 other teams in the area (Philadelphia Region), so we are asking that you view the videos and vote for our Pennridge students between March 20-March 22 to help us earn the "Viewer's Choice Award".  You will be able to vote as much and as often as possible! 

          Students at South Middle School, team JEMBA, traveled to Hyline Offroad which is part of Daria Metal Fabricators in Perkasie.  Central Middle School, team named, Out of the Box Productions, traveled to Secant Group in Quakertown and learned all about biomaterials that facilitate the repair, recovery, and regeneration in the human body.  And finally, in early January, North Mission Impossible team from North Middle School traveled to PennEngineering in Danboro to learn about the fastening industry and new product development technologies. 

          Thank you in advance for your support of these talented students.  We are sure you will see some familiar faces that you most likely had in class or know a sibling of!  To learn more about our teams, and/or if you have any questions, please look for the What’s So Cool icon on the Pennridge School District homepage at https://sites.google.com/a/pennridge.us/pennridge-school-district/ and follow us on Twitter at #capturingmanufacturing.

Innovative Designers

February's ISTE Standard is Innovative Designer.  Our focus continues to be on tools that foster critical thinking to create a process for testing theories and solving problems!   

1.  President Macaroni Monument Design Challenge

A monument is a statue, building, or other structure built to commemorate a famous or notable person or event!

In honor of this special month, have students design a monument in honor of their favorite president or another special person in history.  Maybe it will be the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial?

Using macaroni is one option, but you can also have students bring various materials from home or use the materials you already have in your classroom such as tongue depressors, note cards, pattern blocks, pipe cleaners, etc.

When done, have your students reflect using paper or pencil, or FlipGrid and/or Seesaw!

2. Dr. Seuss- Read Across America

Click here for 25 QR coded Dr. Seuss book read-alouds.

Lorax directed drawings using Skype have been a big hit in the district!  Let us know if you'd like to Skype too.  We have a frog and leprechaun drawing option, as well!

3.  Respect

March's word of the month is respect.  Just a reminder to visit the SEL website for ideas and resources.  In addition, a reminder there are grade level presentations that Pennridge teachers have made that can be found in the District Library of Nearpod.

That's Write

A great way for your students to share what they've learned during their SEL studies or while using the new writing curriculum, the PBS writing contest is happening now!
The PBS Kids Writer's Contest is available for students K-5 and more information can be found here! Maybe your students could use some of their directed drawings in their creative illustrations?  Let us know how we can help!

Ozobots

Ozobots (Oh-Zo-Bots) have continued to be popular in all grade levels.  We have added a few new lessons to the Pennridge Ozobot folder included one for summarizing stories using Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then, as well as a life cycle activity.   Coming soon will be Dr. Seuss activities and a way to review coin values, and by request- practice with Multiplication!  Ozobots can be tied into many curricular areas.  If you have an idea and would like us to design it, let us know!  Or, let us know a unit or topic and we can brainstorm and create ways you can use them, too!

Fairy Tale Day, Skype Drawings and Dr. Seuss Day

February's ISTE Standard is Innovative Designer.  Our focus continues to be on tools that foster critical thinking to create a process for testing theories and solving problems!   Design Challenges are engaging ways for students to problem solve, collaborate, persevere, and can be great Buddy Class activities, too.

STEM Challenge #1 - Fairy Tale Day is Feb. 26

As you know, there are MANY versions of the "Three Little Pigs" fairy tale out there!  This week study point-of-view, or compare/contrast 2 or 3 of your favorites and have students complete a fairy tale engineering challenge to accompany the story.  Can your team design and build a house that the big, bad wolf cannot blow down?  Click here for editable lesson plan! For added excitement, bring in a shop vac to blow the houses down when testing!

Here are a few recommended titles to compare/contrast and please see your librarian for other recommendations! 

True Story of the 3 Little Pigs- by John Scieszka, Click here to watch the video on EPIC!
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas
The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell

*Pennridge Librarians' top picks:

The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara
Tell the Truth, B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra
The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz
The Three Little Pigs and the Somewhat Bad Wolf by Mark Teague

2. Directed Drawing with Skype 

During the month of March, we would love to Skype with your students and help them draw something unique for the month of March. We will show them where we are located (this could vary), and explain to them how Skype can allow us to communicate all over the world!  If you're new to Skype, this is a stress-free and easy opportunity to practice.  All your students will need is a blank piece of paper and a pencil!  

Drawings can include a leprechaun, Lorax (pictured on right), or frog!

3. STEM Challenge #2 - Dr. Seuss Day

Read Across America is held annually on March 2nd and encourages children in every community to read and also encourages parents and teachers to celebrate the joy of reading. It’s a holiday that has been celebrated since 1998 and falls on the same day as children’s book author Dr. Seuss.  We suggest reading one of your favorites and completing a challenge similar to those listed below:

Ten Apples Up on Top- Paper Tower OR Edible Structure

Using recycled paper students will create the tallest possible structure in 5 minutes.  After a few minutes, discuss how rolling or folding the paper might help.  Optional- have students add a certain amount of weight to their structure.
OR
Using marshmallows, spaghetti, gumdrops, etc, students will create the tallest possible structure.

Oh the Places You'll Go-  Ball Bridge 

Materials- recycled papers, 10 mailing labels, 2 cups, 4 pipe cleaners, 8 straws, and a ping pong ball
Procedure:  Place 2 chairs 14 inches apart.  Using the materials given, teams must build a bridge between the chairs that transport the ping pong ball from one side to the other.

Green Eggs and Ham ("In a boat or with a goat?")-  Buoyancy Boats

Materials- 12 x 12 inch foil square, coins or small pebbles
Procedure- Teams will work together to form the foil into a boat and see how many coins or pebbles it can hold while floating on water.  Students can record and reflect on which designs hold the most weight.

Save the Date -  21st Century Learning Night!

21st CLN is 5 years old and will take place on May 28th and we are looking forward to a great evening.  This year's theme will be "Before, During, and After the Screen," as we look to showcase all the elements that build up-to and stem from student learning with technology.  Look for a formal sign-up announcement coming soon!

February- Innovative Designer

Innovative Designer

February's ISTE Standard is Innovative Designer. We will focus on tools that foster critical thinking to create a process for testing theories and solving problems!  Specifically we will be focusing on Design Challenges that involve little or NO technology!  Design Challenges are engaging ways for students to problem solve, collaborate, persevere, and can be great Buddy Class activities, too!

1. STEM Challenge #1 -Candy Heart Challenges

We like the challenges listed here, but we particularly love this simple engineering challenge.  Give each student or group an index card, and see who can build the strongest bridge that will span the gap between 2 plastic cups.  See how many hearts (or other small items) the bridge can hold!  There are many bridge designs and the shape of the hearts makes balancing tricky, so the students will have to problem solve to get them to balance!

2.  STEM Challenge #2- 100th Day 2D and 3D Designs

Have your students create designs and buildings using materials you have in your classroom. Students receive 100 of a certain building material to plan, create, and perhaps work together to build. Suggestions:

Pattern blocks or LEGOS (Add some math components with these simple activities)

Base 10 blocks  

K'Nex

PomPoms or Cotton Balls
Buttons
Play Money- coins and bills
Snap Cubes

Once completed, have them snap a picture and share on Seesaw or create a 100th day slideshow!

3. Kid Safe Search Engines  

For many students, prior to beginning a design challenge, research is involved!  We recommend these kid-friendly search-engines found under the student tab of the eLibrary here!

Kiddle

KidRex

These safe search engines offer prescreened sites and age-appropriate filters and content, so your students can have the freedom to browse the internet while staying safe online!  They can be clicked below, but you can also found them under the student tab of the eLibrary.

A Few Early-February Holidays and Special Events

Goodbye January

As we wrap up the month, we will finish up our focus on Knowledge Constructors!  This month we focused on tools that organized effective content knowledge and leveraged a student's ability to share that knowledge! 

1.  Groundhog Day

Seesaw Activity Library

K-2:  Will the Groundhog See His Shadow?  Check out this interviewing and graphing activity in the Seesaw Activity Library as well as this Prediction Activity (great for Seesaw beginners).  If these don't tempt you, there are many others posted as well!


Grades 3-5:  Questioning Activity by Michelle Smelser- This activity allows the students to include text and/or recordings to write 2 questions for the groundhog, 2 sentences they would say to him, and an area for them to write if they hope he does/doesn't see his shadow!
Text Evidence Paragraph Activity- This activity allows students to color code their evidence in a short paragraph about Groundhog Day!

2. 100th Day of School

Here are a few reading and math ideas you might try to celebrate this HUGE event!

• EPIC!  Search 100th Day of School (or Groundhog Day, or Super Bowl, or most anything)  and then click on collections to find collections others have created!

• Padlet - Students can then respond to the books they read via Padlet.  Padlet is a free, online bulletin board!  Padlet can be used for most any subject and any topic!  Students can type their responses, include pictures and attachments, and more! Padlet is easy to create and we also have this tutorial created by Chris if it helps!

• Looking for some "spice" in your math class?  Try Esti-Mystery!  Through the site, students are shown an image and each image invites students to wonder what number is represented by the image.  As you click through, clues will appear that will allow the students to use math concepts to narrow the set of possibilities to a small set of numbers.  In the end, the students will need their estimation skills to solve the mystery and figure out the missing number! We recommend allowing students to use a laminated 100s board (like these) to cross-off numbers as clues are revealed!  What we love about this is that it has aspects that tie nicely into ALL grade level lessons in Everyday Math!  Everything you need to use this with your students TODAY can be found here!  And when you're students are ready, we recommend Skyping with another class in the district and "playing" Mystery number using the same concept, as seen here on the Pennridge Skype site!

3.  Super Bowl Sunday-  

While we know there are many disappointed Eagles fans, we have 2 activities we thought your students might enjoy!

• Mystery Science- Who Invented Football?

• Google Earth- Show students the hometown location of both teams, Gillette Stadium (Patriots home field) and LA Memorial Coliseum (Rams), as well as where the game will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.  You can calculate the mileage between, can take a look at the weather differences, and more!  Use street view (see picture) to show what the towns look like, what the stadium looks like...the possibilities are endless!  How can you tie this into what you're already teaching this week!

Knowledge Constructor

January's ISTE Standard is Knowledge Constructor

Happy National Compliment Day!

1.  Have you been looking for a resource for:

Students to type their responses and, as a teacher, be able to see them instantly?

Students to organize their work all in one place? 

Does making notecards impossible to lose sound like wishful thinking?

Sharing templates, resources, and links in a quick and efficient way?

If you answered yes to to any of these, then creating a OneNote Class Notebook might be right for you!  This is the perfect time of the year to introduce your students to a digital notebook for organization of projects, research, pictures, and more!  And don't forget, if you're the leader of a newspaper club, after-school club, or other extra-curricular club, a Class Notebook can be a wonderful tool in those areas, too!  Just let Chris or Erin know and we'd be happy to help you and your students get started.  Or, if you would like to try it yourself, view this step by step tutorial to get started and this information page on how to use the class notebook.

2.  World Read Aloud Day is February 1!

Every year, on World Read Aloud Day, people all around the globe read aloud together and share stories to advocate for literacy!

On this day, we encourage you to Skype with an author, a teacher-friend in another state, or perhaps a teacher-friend right here in Pennridge!   Pick a favorite book and take turns reading pages across the globe, state, or across Pennridge and share your love of reading with your students!    If you need help accessing regular Skype or Skype for Business, please contact us at ANY time!
Here are a few authors you might contact through the Microsoft Educator Community:

Duck Sock Hop author Jane Kohuth
Circle Needs a Ball Gown author Lisa Rose  (as availability Mondays and Fridays)
Children's Author and Illustrator Gina Perry

OR perhaps you'll read the same book as another teacher and share your love of reading via FlipGrid, Padlet, or another piece of technology!

3.  Chatterpix (iPads only)

Chatterpix is a wonderful tool for your students to share their knowledge of a research topic, MLK project (perhaps one that the students already created last week), their point of view as a character in a story, and MORE!  Chatterpix allows your students to take a picture (or a screenshot of an online picture), draw a line for a mouth, and record their voices for up to 30 seconds while they share their knowledge of that topic in a quick and fun way! Here's an example!

If you're a Seesaw user, you can simply upload right to Seesaw, or your kids can save it to their Google Drive. 
*Bonus- Chatterpix is on ALL district iPads already!
Need an extra set of hands to pull this one off?  Email us!