We are so excited to welcome another class from Rootstown Elementary to the AT&T Classroom. Over the next two weeks, Mrs. Stackpole and her second graders will be exploring several digital tools and applications to support their learning across the curriculum. The students starting their morning by logging on to their Symbaloo to access the websites they will be using. Symbaloo is a free bookmarking tool and is particularly useful with younger grades as the icons provide an effective visual cue to help students recognize the site they need to access for a particular activity. You can access the second graders' Symbaloo webmix at the following url:
This morning during their Writer’s Workshop, Mrs. Stackpole introduced the students to ABCya Story Maker, a free web-based writing application. The application offers a writing canvas on which students can type text to create their writing project. The application also offers a variety of drawing tools that can be used for creating pictures and scenes to illustrate the written text. Story projects can encompass one page or multiple pages. This morning the second graders used ABCya Story Maker to write a character review of their favorite Dr. Seuss character.
Later this morning the students used two websites bookmarked in their Symbaloo for practice with math facts. At Funbrain.com, the second graders played Guess the Number, a math activity that engages students in working with the concepts of “less than” and “greater than”, concepts that are key to understanding addition and subtraction. To play the game, students are given a specific number range (e.g., 1 and 100) and the game selects a “secret number” which the student is challenged to guess. Once the student enters his/her first guess, the game tells the player whether the their guess is higher or lower than the “secret number”. The player must keep guessing until the secret number is discovered.
The students also practiced their math facts using the Puzzle Pics Addition game at the Math Playground website. Within the Puzzle Pics Addition game, students are given an addition equation and must solve for the missing addend. Students can select the missing addend from a puzzle grid with each square displaying a different number/addend. As students successfully solve each equation, the numbers in the grid are replaced by a puzzle piece that contributes to a larger image. As the students successfully solve each equation the puzzle pieces combine to reveal a hidden mystery picture.
