Mrs. Kali Kyhl

SeeSaw

SeeSaw, isn't that just a piece of playground equipment?

Actually, it is so much more.

Seesaw is an online platform for student engagement. It's a place for students to create, reflect, share, and collaborate. Students “show what they know” using photos, videos, drawings, text, PDFs, and links.

Student Driven Digital Portfolios in 1st grade - such a change from homework on the fridge!

Daily 5 rounds

Mrs. Kyhl uses SeeSaw as a routine part of her 1st grade schedule. When I went to visit during the Literacy Block, I watched students using the app in two different parts of the Daily 5 rounds.

They used it independently during read to self to read a book out loud and then students would listen to themselves read.

They also used SeeSaw with Mrs. Kyhl during the small group teacher time. They worked on combining two small words into one compound word.

What is Daily 5?

For those of you that aren't familiar with it, Daily 5 is a literacy framework.

It encourages independence, helps to actively engage readers, writers, and learners, and provides teachers with the time to meet diverse student needs.

The basis of Daily 5 is the five tasks the students choose between during the literacy block; Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work, Listen to Reading and Work on Writing.

While students are engaged in a round of tasks, the teacher is able to work in small groups on specific skills.

During the Read to Self round students were asked to take a picture of one of the pages in their book. It had to have at least 10 words.

The students then recorded themselves reading that page.

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They listen to their recording to make sure that they like it and then submit it to Mrs. Kyhl for approval. Student work is not "published" until she views it and marks it approved.

Mrs. Kyhl was working with a small group on compound words. They took the green word first and matched it with a pink word to make a new, compound word.

One group read the words and then built compound words with Mrs. Kyhl. Another group was able to build words on their own and then they recorded themselves reading the new compound words.

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Here's Mrs. Kyhl explaining how she navigates through the teacher side of the site.
Parents can see the published student work, watch the videos and listen to their child learning. This leads to increased parent involvement.
She also uses it for parent communication. If a student needs to be picked up by someone different, parents can share it on SeeSaw.
Students are actively engaged in their learning and they feel a sense of ownership and pride in their work.
Developing 21st Century Skills