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"Yesterday was my last class with my 2nd grade GT students. I like them to do some sort of reflection at the end of the year, and we usually spend a lot of time reviewing the events of the past 9 months. (Otherwise, their favorite memory tends to be the very last thing we did.) This year, I decided to try something different. I showed the students how to access the categories of our class blog so they could view all of the posts for 2nd grade for this year. Then they went through the posts, and chose pictures that were meaningful to them. As they were on iPads, I taught them how to hold their finger on an image to save it to the Camera Roll (fair warning - this is a tricky skill for 2nd graders). After about 30 minutes, I showed them the Pic Collage app. They were allowed to add any pictures that they wanted to their collages. Many added text (and stickers, of course!) They loved the activity. When they were finished, each student had a personal poster to remind him or her of the year in GT. If we had more time, we would have made ThingLinks with reflections, similar to last year."

"It's no secret that fractions are a very difficult concept for students to understand. But why is that? Fractions are an extremely abstract concept, and without adequate concrete and representational experiences, students do not develop mental images of what the abstract symbols mean.   In Texas, students begin formal fraction instruction in 2nd grade under our newly adopted TEKS, but the symbolic notation for fractions (1/4, 2/3, etc.) is not taught until 3rd grade. The 2nd grade standards include: partition objects into equal parts and name the parts, including halves, fourths, and eighths, using words explain that the more fractional parts used to make a whole, the smaller the part; and the fewer the fractional parts, the larger the part use concrete models to count fractional parts beyond one whole using words and recognize how many parts it takes to equal one whole Let's take a closer look at each."

"Learn how to make LEGO Stop Motion Videos with the LEGO Movie Maker Application on your smart phone! The same skills are applicable for other Stop Motion applications on iPhone and Android! I recommend trying the 'iMotion application'. It has a lot of good features like focus lock, and if you have a 2nd device, you can also get 'imotion remote'. This allows you to use the 2nd device as a shutter button!"

As a school librarian, I try to offer spaces where students can create, make, and innovate. Trying to offer a makerspace to 100% of the student population can quickly become limiting due to space. Offering a mobile classroom makerspace solves this problem. A mobile classroom makerspace library program allows classroom teachers to check out 6 to 8 makerspace activities with the needed supplies packed together in one cart. Teachers can check-out a cart for their classroom for a week. During that week teachers can unpack the activities, and create a pop-up makerspace in their classroom when it fits into their schedule.      Last year I tried this at Ed White E-STEM with kindergarten and first grade classes. The teachers and students loved the mobile classroom makerspace carts so much we added a cart for 2nd grade this school year. The 2nd grade teachers want to take it a step farther. They want the library to supply a book with each activity, so they can use the cart as part of a Literacy Station. The students will explore, make, read, and then write about their experience.   The second year of this program has been a learning experience. This year we were able to fine tune the offerings in each cart by teachers expressing what worked, and what didn't work last year. We used teacher input as one measure to create this year's inventory list for the mobile classroom makerspace carts. 5 things to think about when creating a mobile classroom makerspace."

"This year I have been focusing on design challenges and design thinking with my gifted elementary students, grades 2nd through 6th. Last semester I introduced a series of activities to have them explore, learn about, and interact with design thinking principles and strategies. For a description of those activities, see https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2016/09/25/introducing-design-thinking-to-elementary-learners/ To re-introduce design thinking again for this spring semester, this week I asked them to do the Extraordinaire Design Studio:"

"A few weeks ago, I introduced some of our 2nd grade elementary students to some iPad apps that let you work in 3D! Sometimes it is difficult to do 3D art projects in the art room because you need so much room to store projects from week to week. Working on the iPad lets students have some interesting virtual art experiences without the need for storage, mess, and in some cases dangerous tools."

"I loving using Keynote, both on the Mac and the iPad. Keynote is a powerful presentation tool where students can show off knowledge of a subject. There are many web-based presentation tools I love, but Keynote has some really cool features that really resonate with students. For this project, 2nd graders used Keynote to illustrate and animate the letters in their first names. Here are some helpful tips if you do this project with your kiddos!"

"The summer is a great time to explore new-to-you iPad apps that you might want to add to the iPads that you have in your classroom. Each day this week I'm going to share a selection of apps appropriate for four ranges of pre-K-12 grades. Yesterday, I shared 21 apps for Pre-K through 2nd grade. Today, I have apps 3rd through 5th grade students. Apps for grades six through eight will be shared tomorrow. Apps for 9th through 12th grade will be shared on Thursday. "

"The summer is a great time to explore new-to-you iPad apps that you might want to add to the iPads that you have in your classroom. Each day this week I'm going to share a selection of apps appropriate for four ranges of pre-K-12 grades. On Monday I shared 21 apps for Pre-K through 2nd grade. Yesterday, I shared apps 3rd through 5th grade students. Today's list features apps for grades six through eight. "

"In the spirit of thanks we're wrapping our 2nd Annual Smart Lists with 24 sites, foundations, leaders, companies and organizations we appreciate doing great work. During October and November we released about 20 'Best of' lists, not in order, not exhaustive, just people we appreciate doing innovative work."

"Technology has not always been my strong point. In fact, for six years I was so terrified of it that when given a SMART board for my classroom I politely turned it away. Technology cannot be forced upon teachers. They have to have their A-HA moment. Mine was spring of 2013. I begrudgingly checked my Twitter account one night (did not like Twitter) and ran across a teacher named Erin Klein. She was doing something called Augmented Reality with her 2nd graders, and I was amazed. I started looking at all of the other engaging activities that teachers were doing with students via technology, and I knew that I needed to get my tail in gear. My students deserved the same type of education. The type of education that fosters life long learners. The type of education that provokes children to question and really use those deep critical thinking skills. So late that night I taught myself how to make images come to life in my classroom using Aurasma. Aurasma is an app that creates Augmented Reality. It absolutely changed my classroom. Flipped it upside down."

"In my previous post I featured Financial Football. That's a good game if you're looking for a social studies resource related to the Super Bowl. For math and science resources related to the Super Bowl, take a look at NBC Learn's Science of Football. NBC's Science of Football is a series of ten videos from NBC Learn explaining and demonstrating math and science concepts as they relate to football. The list of topics covered in the Science of NFL Football includes Torque & Center of Mass, Pythagorean Theorem, Geometric Shapes, Projectile Motion & Parabolas, Vectors, Kinematics, Nutrition, and Newton's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Laws of Motion."

The eGov magazine enjoys the distinction of being Asia's first magazine on e-Governance. Founded in 2005, the monthly magazine is published in both print and online formats, and is focussed exclusively on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for bringing efficiency, accountability and transparency to various citizen and business related initiatives of the government.

"t's been my dream to make my 2nd grade classroom look more like a "Starbucks for kids", and less like, well, a classroom. Think about when you go to Starbucks to complete some work. Why do you choose to work there? Where do you choose to sit? I usually gravitate towards the comfy seating choices like the couches and big chairs, and yet, I see people choose the tables and chairs over and over again. Regardless, when you walk into Starbucks, you have choice. You get to choose where you sit. No one checks you in and directs you to a spot, telling you that you must sit there for the remainder of the day to do your work. If you need to get up, walk around, or choose a different seat, you are free to do so. As I sat in our local Starbucks this past summer, I looked around and thought-why can't my classroom look like this? After several weeks of planning and a little bit of faith, what resulted was this"

"At CES 2016, Lego Education announced Wedo 2.0, which combines Legos, software, and real world projects to teach 2nd to 4th grade students about science and technology. Among other new features, updates include compatibility with more platforms, a move from USB to BLE connected robots, and tools for documentation and sharing. "

"In honor of #PiDay 3/14/16 we are releasing our latest edition of this ebook at 3:14 pm ET .    The 2nd Edition is now filled with 250+ MakerEd & Makerspace Resources"

"There have been complaints leveraged against out of the box robots like Dash and Dot, Ozobot, Hummingbird, Sphero. The complaints usually revolve around the canned and prescriptive nature of their uses and programs, that they lack creative engagement by the younger users. I personally love the excitement my learners have using these robots. As with all tools and technologies and with creative framing, though, they can be used in creative and imaginative ways. Mention robots to many English teachers and they'll immediately point down the hall to the science classroom or to the makerspace, if they have one. At many schools, if there's a robot at all, it's located in a science or math classroom or is being built by an after-school robotics club. It's not usually a fixture in English classrooms. But as teachers continue to work at finding new entry points to old material for their students, robots are proving to be a great interdisciplinary tool that builds collaboration and literacy skills. (How Robots in English Class Can Spark Empathy and Improve Writing) This past term, I had my 2nd through 4th grade students work on their robot-enhanced creative writing and stories. In small groups, students were asked to create a fictional storyline and use StoryboardThat.com to create both the physical scenes and the accompanying narrative. As part of their directions, they were told that they were going to create a 3D setting out of cardboard boxes, foam board, LED lights, and other craft materials; and that they would use Wonder's Dot with the Blocky App and Ozobot as the characters in their stories. Preparation time was divided between storyboarding, creating the scene, and learning how to use/code the robots. Because of all of the preparation and practice, the recording actually went quite quick and smoothly. Here is a break down of the learning events that learners were asked to complete:"