Recently I was going through my coding Symbaloo and making sure that all links were working. Of course, in fixing some broken links I found some more awesome websites. Which started me thinking about the fact that I haven't created a coding choice board yet, so that had to be fixed! As many schools are still in remote learning or are trying to avoid sharing materials, I thought a choice board with just digital options would be a good starting point. In setting up this choice board, I tried to include options that would appeal to different learning styles. Hopefully students will find an activity that appeals to them! |
0 Comments
Recently, I watched Disney/Pixar's latest movie, Soul, with my family. It was such a cute movie that made you think deeper about yourself. I loved how it talked about finding purpose and how your purpose doesn't matter much if you don't find the time to live while pursuing it. Such a great message for kiddos about how they can be something bigger than themselves through their personality, purpose, and living life as your best self.
As I was watching the movie and seeing how my own kiddos were drawn into the story, I thought it would be a great theme motivator for digital activities. Although 2020 may be coming to a close, we still aren't in the clear and distance learning is still part of our reality. I love when I can put a spin on something that students are interested in to draw them into the learning. I put together some of my favorite types of activities below using Soul as the theme. Feel free to use (if you share, please give credit)! How about we start out with a Google Slide as a welcome agenda? Google Jamboard Warm Up
Why not start a day/lesson off with a little warm up? I love using Google Jamboard for activities like this where I want students to think creatively. With this prompt, students are to place themselves in the shoes of Joe and think about what he might be writing on the board to share with his students. Simply have students add text or a sticky note, and you can start collecting responses!
Pixel Art Review
To say I have been a bit obsessed with pixel art lately would be an understatement. I love pairing the pixel art concept with Google Sheets to make interactive review/question and answer type sheets. Possibly just a glorified worksheet, but it engages students and self-checks along the way. It can open up communication among students when they reach a question/problem that they are having difficulty with, as it provides instant feedback on if the answer is correct or not. These type of activities could be great for students to be paired up online and complete together.
Below are two different links - one to the blank template and one to an example of content inserted (using multiplication facts). Choice Board
For the online version, I created a digital Maker Mat using digital building blocks. Students can select any of the bricks and copy and paste them to make new bricks. This is a great way for students to practice keyboard shortcuts, manipulating objects, and being creative.
SPARK (Bingo) Game Boards
Let's be honest, we all have one of those games we play on our phone that is a bit of a guilty addiction. I will admit, I have played Disney Emoji Blitz for longer than I would like to admit. ;)
With the release of the movie, the game had a special event in which you can earn characters and keyboard items. So why not a fun, bingo (let's call it SPARK as this is Soul-themed after all) game! I created this game using flippity.net, as they have an easy bingo template that works with Google Slides. If you click on the button below for the "Online SPARK Boards," you not only have the option to print boards, but you can also have students access an online bingo board as well as a wheel to spin for the teacher (under the "Play" tab). Some ways to use this SPARK board:
These are just some ideas for how I might use the theme of the movie to get started with some STEAM/EdTechy activities for students. But really, the possibilities are endless? How would you integrate the movie/theme of the movie into your curriculum?
I guess you could say this is a new twist on an old thing. Previously, I had shared winter-themed task cards. They were ones I had used with students when we were building with LEGOs for a STEAM activity. To be honest though, sometimes I like task cards and sometimes I like Maker Mats. It depends on how I am running the activity, what is available for building, and how students are collaborating together.
As I had volunteered to provide an activity for my son's holiday party before break, I thought I would send my Winter Maker Mat and some pipe cleaners for students to create. As many of the maker mats I create are targeted towards an elementary audience with English Language Learners and other special populations, I try to incorporate an English version, a Spanish version, and one with both English and Spanish as well as pictures on all. I want to make sure the activity is accessible to all learnings. The great thing is that in my experience, students rarely recreate the picture as is when they are creating! They use their creativity to take their background knowledge and design something new and amazing! |
Like What You See? Show Me Some Love!Follow MeWould you like e-mail notifications? Enter your e-mail address below to subscribe.
Categories
All
Archives
December 2022
|