Next year Hamilton will begin the process of getting new playgrounds! To gather feedback from the students, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders had a Design Hunt. Students looked for parts of the playground system that could be improved to be more accessible, safe, usable, comfortable, and beautiful. Students took photos, edited their photos, and then wrote persuasive posts on their WordPress blogs about how to improve the playground. Next, we'll be building our own model playgrounds in the Maker Space.
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This week Kindergarten students did some animal research to prepare for our big trip to the Detroit Zoo. We read all about animals on PebbleGo. The Animals module is free from MeL.org. Students learned how to navigate from Destiny to MeL to PebbleGO and then read all about animals.
... when you've got a library card! Kindergarten has been learning how to use their QR code on their library card to log in to Clever and play Xello. Xello is a career-readiness program that makes learning about careers and career paths fun, even for our youngest students. Soon we'll learn how to log in to more library resources and then the K students will take their library cards home for the summer so they can keep using these great resources, even at home. 5th and 4th graders have been working hard for many weeks on their Scratch games to play with their buddies. This week we finally got to start playing with our buddies and the Kindergarten and 2nd grade students had a blast. I loved seeing the older students show the younger students how to live the core values. I'm also so impressed by their coding skills. These kids are ready for a future in STEM. The PTA purchased two MegaBrowz browsing bins to try out in our picture book area, which we call "Everybody Fiction". The bins made a beautiful impact on the library shelves and students were immediately drawn to them. To show just how successful and accessible these bins are, over HALF of the books in the bin (26 of 50) were checked out within 2 days of setting them up. These bins provide an opportunity to make books more visible and accessible to our young readers. I hope that there are more of them in our library's future!
On this beautiful Saturday, I had a wonderful time helping to run our first TSD Read-In at Troy High School. It was wonderful to see so many Hamilton families there. We enjoyed crafts, robots, STEM toys, mystery readers, virtual author visits, and of course... books! Thank you to everyone who came. We're hoping to make it an annual event, so maybe we'll see you there next year, too.
This week 4th and 5th graders have started working on creating their own, unique video game using Scratch. Scratch is a free, web-based coding site that allows users to create incredible animations and interactive games. It is user-friendly for new coders but can go very in-depth for experienced coders. I like that it has a little something for everyone, and makes coding engaging and fun. The 4th and 5th graders will get to set up an arcade of video games to play with their younger buddies at the end of May. I can't wait to see the games they create!
Did you know that April is national Poetry Month? Enjoy some of these lovely poetry books from the Hamilton Library this month.
Kindergarten, first and second grade students have been learning about the Digital Citizens from Common Sense Media. The Digital Citizens teach us important skills like being safe, responsible, and kind when we are online. The Kindergarteners were especially excited because this means their school iPads are coming soon! It is important to learn about media balance, device distraction, password safety, and all the many aspects of being a digital citizen. Even adults like me can learn a thing or two about being a better online citizen. Here's one of my favorite lessons and reminders about device distraction: Ask your student about the digital citizens, and what they learned about in Media. They are working hard to be the best users of technology! If you want to watch more videos and see more of the lessons we covered, they are from this site: Common Sense Media.
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AuthorMrs. Henderson is the School Library Media Specialist at Hamilton Elementary. In addition to being a book-lover, she is also a gamer, a crafter, and a mom. She also shares a lot on Twitter: twitter.com/lhendersonreads Archives
April 2024
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