Green Screen Weather Reports

Grade 2 level II mandarin students have been applying their new vocabulary and speaking skills to record weather reports for other countries.  Teachers used the app Green Screen by Do Ink to accomplish this learning 'apptivity' using an iPad.

Connecting with Shekou International School

Kindergarten students in Sun Laoshi's class had a Google Hangout with 2nd grade students at Shekou International School in China.  They were very excited to be able to share a song and stories with each other.  The children are making connections and practicing their mandarin at the same time!  

"Counting By Elevens Song" Fan Video

Take a Tour of SAS in Mandarin

Ms. Yang's 2nd grade classes have been busy making iMovies of SAS.  Check out their wonderful work!
  

Mai Laoshi's (Lan Ying McQueen) 2nd graders explored the new clip-n-clip feature on the iMovie iOS.  They have done an excellent job giving a tour of SAS in mandarin!
 

Zhang Laoshi's (Pauli Haakenson) 2nd graders used iMovie to give a guided tour of SAS. What a great application of their mandarin speaking skills! 

QR Code Book Reviews

Last week, grade 1 students finished their Writer's Workshop Unit on Opinion Writing and recorded a video persuading readers to check out their favorite book.  Then, students created QR code posters for their book review video. A sample can be seen below. Ultimately, the QR codes of books that can be found in our PS library will be taped directly onto the library book.  This way, students can use iPads in the library to watch a review of the book to help them decide if they want to check it out to read or not. 

A New Take on an Old Idea

Plenty of teachers have either heard of or tried having a stuffed classroom pet that travels home with students and asking children to write about the animal's adventure away from school.  Some commonly used ideas that tie in with class read-alouds are: Flat Stanley, Tacky the Penguin, or The World According to Humphrey.  Mrs. Woody has put a 21st century spin on a journal going home with students and she is asking that kids blog about the animal's experience.  Her first grade students take a photo of themselves with the pet and then email the photo along with a message to the student-run blog.  What a fantastic way for students to see a real purpose for blogging!

MS Photo Booth in the Capture Studio - Gong Xi Fa Cai

On January 24 the MS Library/Ed Tech team put the “Capture” design studio to use during our monthly MS breakfast.  Check out our photos!

The Capture Studio

Our Capture Studio is equipped with green, white and black screens as well as some photography lights.  The studio is available for teachers and students alike.  It is a cinch to set up.  All you need to do is turn on the lights, pull down the preferred screen and start snapping photos or shooting videos with your phone, ipad, or camera.

The Capture Studio tools work well for teacher directed projects, or individual student projects that might require a more professional look.  Additionally, the green screen allows for inserting a “fake” background later as is done in the following video to make it look like it was shot in Paris.

Our Library staff is happy to give a quick intro to the Capture Studio - just stop by.  We are excited to see our students and faculty come up with innovative uses for the Capture Studio tools.