Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Facetime Chat with...

Today Integrated Technology students had another opportunity to practice their online communication skills through another Mystery Skype.  Well, maybe it should be called a "Mystery Facetime."  We used Facetime on the iPads for the first time to connect with a school in North Reading, MA.  This one was a challenge to guess!  The students did a great job practicing their questioning and Google Map skills too!





Tuesday, February 26, 2013

5th Grade Mystery Skypes

Fifth graders in Integrated Technology classes are practicing their online communication skills through Mystery Skypes with other schools. Today, each class called another school in a different part of the United States and guessed where it was located by using Google Maps and asking yes or no questions. Today's Mystery Skype schools were located in Calabasas, CA and El Campo, TX. The students had a great time learning about another part of the country and talking with students from other regions.










5th Grade American Revolution Capzles

What have our 5th graders learned about the American Revolution?  Watch their interactive timelines created using Capzles to find out.  Click on "show details" above the pictures to learn more about each event.












Read to Succeed


Congratulations to 31 of our 5th and 6th grade students who each earned a free ticket to Six Flags Great America after logging six hours of reading between December and February.  These students elected to participate in Six Flags' Read to Succeed program, which offers a free ticket to one of their parks just for making reading a priority.  Great job to everyone who participated and enjoy your day at the park!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Solve our Math Stories!

Last month, sixth grade math students wrote and produced their own animated math stories using GoAnimate 4 Schools. We are now looking for some math problem solvers!

 If you are interested in viewing our math stories and solving the problems in them, click on this link to learn more. Be creative in how you share your solution with us. You can make a screencast of your solution using a whiteboard app such as Educreations or Show Me. You could create a Google Drawing with your answer. You could even make a video sharing your solution. Or, you can simply send your solution in a document. Regardless of the tool used, we want you to become one of our math super sleuths!

 Instructions for sending us your solutions are also on the link above. Thanks for participating, and we can't wait to see if you can solve our math stories!

Monday, February 11, 2013

What Digital Citizenship Means to Us!

What does it mean to be a digital citizen?  We understand what it means to be a citizen of a physical community, but you are all also digital citizens, or participants in online communities.  As digital citizens, it is important to understand how to responsibly and safely be a part of these online environments.

Fifth graders in Integrated Technology have been learning about what it means to be digital citizens.  To show their understanding of this idea, and to help others understand what this means, they created word clouds emphasizing the meaning of digital citizenship.  Take a look at some examples below to learn how you can be a responsible digital citizen.







Friday, February 1, 2013

7th Grade Olympic Videos




The 7th grade students demonstrated their knowledge of different world countries and their persuasive writing skills through this fun, innovative project.  Students worked as a group to create a video persuading "the Olympic Committee Chair" to choose its country as host for the next Olympics.  The website Animoto was used to produce the videos.  

The committee narrowed the videos to the top 10.  View each of the videos by clicking here and vote for your favorite using the poll on the right. (This link can also be accessed by going to the MSIS webpage, clicking on Library Media Center, and scrolling toward the bottom of the page).  Let's see if you agree with the video that was chosen as the ultimate winner by the Olympic Committee Chair.  The voting will close on March 1, 2013, and both the winner chosen by you and the Olympic Committee Chair will be revealed the following week via our Posterous site and our blog.

Good luck and happy voting!

Photo credit: Olympic Rings And Vancouver Skyline. Photo.Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 1 Feb 2013. http://quest.eb.com/images/167_3993863