Cannan 5th. grade reading teachers 😎 ROCK 😎 Google Classroom! Take a look 👀 in my iCoach Blog at the great work these students can do! #iCoachesConnect @WISDCannan #GoogleClassroom

Hampton's and Flippo's students are writing research papers using their Google Classroom accounts. I am so proud and honored that these two teachers have shared their Classrooms with me and I can see all the advanced options these teachers are incorporating into their lessons. I see so many GREAT learning apps smashed into the students' GCs!
It helps to have Chromebook carts in the classrooms, motivated students, and truly innovative teachers to make this work!

Some of the learning resources within GC that this iCoach LOVES to see as a guest snooping around in their GClassrooms 👀 are listed below:

Students learn to "make a copy" of Google Docs 

Instructional Videos pulled from TXGuides

Quizizz

Quizlet

Book Trailers

Merriam Webster Dictionary Website

Reading passages and assessments in Google Forms

Google Sheets presentations

Flipgrid assessments

We had a great T3 this week on Edpuzzle, and I am hoping to see this amazing resource in some GCs as well!

Here are some edited screenshots 

of what a Google Classroom in action 

looks like from the students' POV:

Kindergarten teachers engage students with blended learning in their classrooms. Burnett introduces Chatterpix Kids to extend reading and writing on iPads. Celis uses the ABC Mouse Kinder app for reading and math practice. #icoachesconnect @WISDCannan @ChatterPixIt @ABCmouse

Burnett introduces her Kinder student to ChatterPix Kids. ChatterPix Kids is perfect for elementary students as it is simple to use, can be used with any topic to add blended learning, and is safe because social sharing features are disabled. Burnett demonstrated the steps by screen mirroring the app for her students from her iPad on the whiteboard. Then students practiced by making a toy elf say "Merry Christmas". Of course, this was a rollicking good time for these little ones! Burnett's Kindergarten-teacher wheels were turning as she thought about ways to blend the app with books that "read" and other activities that support learning.
Burnett also thought of all the ways to share these students' activities with parents and campus partners.

As I observed this devoted and experienced Kindergarten teacher interact with her kids as she introduced a new innovative technology activity, I reflected upon the word "access". Access to meaningful technology is important to our Cannan students, as many of them live in a rural setting with little "access" to wifi. They may be experienced with playing with their parents' phones, but access to technology as a learning tool may be rare for some of our kids. Just as our district devotes time and money to give our kids access to books, reading, and educational resources, we have a district-mandated mission to support our students' "access" to meaningful technology in their classrooms. Our students will be moving into a technology-based economy when they are grown, and we take our responsibility very seriously to give them access to everything we can offer to help them grow and thrive.

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Another amazing Kindergarten teacher, Celis, uses ABC Mouse on her iPads to practice and reinforce reading and math. The ABCmouse company has a Kindergarten curriculum that is leveled, personalized, and grows with the students as they work. For example, this student has worked up to level 5, Deciduous Forests. ABC Mouse is designed to support widely accepted best practices with respect to the use of educational technology. The program is free for educators on iPads.

As more research publications cloud rather than clarify the issue of too much screen time vs. authentic learning in the classroom, it is important to keep up with the latest findings. According to Saro Mohammed Ph.D. of the Brookings Institute (2019), “When technology is integrated into lessons in ways that are aligned with good in-person teaching pedagogy, learning can be better than without technology.” Mohammed states technology in an educational setting that is paced to the individualized student is very promising for the education of our children. She says this is important because access to technology outside of learning environments is still very unevenly distributed across ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic lines. Students who are exposed to educational technology in the school setting ensures that no student experiences a “21st-century skills and opportunity” gap.

Cannan Elementary Book Fair 2019! We had a great time with students, parents, PTO Volunteers, and grandparents! @WISDCannan #CannanMVPs

The first-place winner of the Cheese Ball Challenge was Mr. Farrow! He guessed the closest number of cheese balls and won every book in his Teacher Wish List Bin! He also won the cheese balls! 🤗

Congrats to our resident USA / Texas history buff and soon-to-be first time Dad!

Cannan Elementary truly appreciates our students, parents, PTO volunteers, and grandparents! Most of our teachers were gifted books for their classrooms through the Teacher Wish List program! Teachers chose the books in the book fair they wished to have in their classroom libraries, placed them in their "borrowed" testing tubs, (thank you, Mr. Copley), and many had their wishes fulfilled beyond their dreams! Thank you to our Cannan Family, we love you!💖😊💕

Mrs. Savell won 2nd place in the Cheese Ball Challenge! She poses with her own little man in front of her Gratitude Turkey. 🦃 Every student created a feather telling us what they are grateful for this Thanksgiving. We love our Counselor, she keeps us all on track with KINDNESS! 💛

We LOVE contests at Cannan, and the Book Fair contests are the best! For every book a student purchases, they get to put in one ticket for the daily drawing, announced each day during the book fair. Our 4th-grader, Miss M. here, won the daily drawing of a free small book, a pencil, and some candy treats. We make our book fair super fun for everyone!

We love the excitement of our students visiting the book fair, looking at the books and making their wish lists. Our book fair is a great opportunity for our students to experience many different and diverse books. It opens the students to an amazing world of reading!

It is sad to say goodbye to our beautiful book fair, but there will always be another one! In the meantime, please remember to read to your children every day! 📚😘

Cannan's book trailer project advances! Fifth grade Portal Team members share book talk ideas with Williams @super_n_seconds. @WISDCannan #CannanMVPs #iCoachesConnect

The fifth-grade Portal team has been working diligently on their book trailers and taking "how-to" notes for students who want to extend their reading with this wonderful tool. A rainy-day indoor recess for a class of lively second-graders led to an unexpected and delightful visit to the Cannan Portal! 😎
Mrs. Williams wants to use Flipgrid as a tool for her second graders' book talks. This would be the initial presentation project for the younger grades, and these motivated 7-year-olds would advance to more ambitious projects in the future. Currently, the 5th graders are making book trailers using iMovie on iPads and Animoto on Chromebooks. Flipgrid can be used to make book-related videos on any device. Just look at how mesmerized these students are! I can't wait to see what they create!📚

5th Grade Portal Team plans book trailer project. @WISDCannan #CannanMVPs #WillisISD #iCoachesConnect

Watching student-created book trailers on Youtube

Cannan's 5th grade Portal Team is embarking on a student creativity project that will be shared with teachers and their students. My goal for these students is to explore different video-creation software that can be utilized by elementary students on our various devices, including our ASUS, Dell Venue, Dell 3150 Windows tablets, Chromebooks, and iPads.

Brainstorming storyboard layouts

The team uses the Notes app on the iPads to make a collaborative list of storyboard ideas, editing software, photo download ideas, and video creation software. They are unanimous in choosing our Cannan News Crew Youtube Channel that they created as the presentation platform for the book trailers. Privacy considerations are paramount and parental permission is a must, as student names must not be used on the web.

Collaborative brainstorming in the Notes app on the iPads

Teachers are ready to get started with book-trailer reading extensions! We are super excited about this project. Stay tuned for more news about the Cannan Book-Trailer Project!

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Burnett uses @ReflectorApp and @KhanAcademy to screen mirror iPad learning apps @WISDCannan #CannanMVPs #WillisISD #iCoachesConnect

Khan Academy Kids' free learning IOS app is a great way to reach our super-visual Kindergarten learners. 

Burnett gives a series of tutorials on the big screen for future learning stations.

 Check out these awesome read-aloud books about emotions!

Kahn Academy Kids includes learning games in both Reading and Math, National Geographic science videos, leveled reading, nonfiction read-aloud books, writing informational text, and the program includes reports. Kahn Academy Kids truly stands by their mission to work to make free, world-class education available for anyone, anywhere. 

Celis explains a fun Community Helpers lesson for future stations via @GynzyUS and her interactive whiteboard. @WISDCannan #CannanMVPs #WillisISD #iCoachesConnect

Cannan teachers promoted community helpers this week with a visit from our local firefighters, who demonstrated fire-fighting equipment and fire safety guidelines. In our classrooms, students learned the various other kinds of community helpers, including medical personnel, mechanics, safety personnel, EMTs, police officers, and those who serve in the military. Mrs. Celis is an Army wife, and we are proud of her husband who serves as the local Army recruiter! Our own Cannan Family includes firefighters, emergency personnel, doctors, nurses, road workers, food service, maintenance workers, and of course teachers! We are blessed to be part of a community that values our helpers!