ST 1.4

Students use technology resources to conduct research, demonstrate creative and critical thinking, and communicate and work collaboratively.

The 4 C's

Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, and Communication

At Munford Elementary School, all of our students are issued Chromebooks when they enter kindergarten. All students in kindergarten through fifth grade have 1:1 student/device access. Additionally, third through fifth grade students take their Chromebooks home daily to utilize them nights and weekends to extend their learning beyond the school day. Our after-school program also provides 1:1 technology access to students in all grades.

All classrooms incorporate blended learning with an instructional focus of the 4 C's of 21st Century Learning: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. All students at Munford Elementary have access to technology to facilitate their creative and critical thinking and learning skills. Utilization of learning platforms such as Google Classroom, Google Documents, Google Slides, Edmodo, SeeSaw, and FlipGrid, as well as, tutorial sites such as MobyMax, IXL, Smarty Ants allow for remediation, extension of learning, and research and collaboration. Teachers also use programs or platforms such as Kahoot, Padlet, NearPod, Quizlet, and many others that increase engagement through technology.

All of our teachers utilize effective teaching practices which focus on inquiry-based learning opportunities, allowing students to investigate real-world problems through research. After spending time in professional development working on the SAMR model, our teachers are intentional during their interdisciplinary unit planning as to how students use technology as an extension of their classroom activities.

Pre-K Leading the Way

Even in Pre-K, our students use technology in impactful ways. They use Studies Weekly online, BrainPop, MyOn, Nearpod, and Blendspace for daily lessons and enrichment.

Kindergarten SeeSaw

In kindergarten, students share their work with the larger community by using SeeSaw as their digital portfolio to record their writing on a regular basis. Students take a photo of their writing and record their voices reading their writing to share with their principal, teacher, classmates, and family members who can respond and give them feedback on their work.

First Grade Google Slides

For the 50th day of school, first grade students researched life in the 1950's and contrasted it with life today. They compiled their research on a Google Slide presentation and presented it to their classmates. Students ended this unit with a Sock Hop where they wore decade clothing from the 50s and later ate ice cream sundaes with their teachers.

Second Grade Hyperdoc

In second grade, students study insects,/bugs and their habitats. Using a hyperdoc, students had access to various articles to read about specific bugs. After they read the articles, they utilized a collaborative Google Doc to share their learning with others. Students used the collaborative document to craft questions in order to make a Kahoot! assessment.

Third Grade Research

Third grade students used kidrex.org to research animals and their habitats and characteristics. Students used graphic organizers to sort their information and wrote an informational writing piece about their animals. Students then typed their stories and recorded/read aloud their stories on Seesaw.

Making Math Connections

Third grade students worked to create arrays using blocks and fruit loops. Students made their arrays and shared them on SeeSaw. Students explained and labeled their arrays, and then they recorded themselves explaining their product.

Fourth Grade Focus on Sharing

In fourth grade, students have demonstrated this standard in a variety of ways. Students often utilize Flipgrid or SeeSaw as their digital portfolio so that they can record their thinking and work in ways that can be shared with their principal, teacher, classmates, and family members who can comment on their work.

Fifth Grade Utilizes Digital Tools

In fifth grade, some students have joined a tech team to create weekly recordings of their classroom reading assignments so that all students can have access to a recording of grade-level passages in Google Classroom, if needed. Students also use Google products to demonstrate their learning during research projects (i.e., Explorers: Google Slides, Recycled Pets: Google Docs)

Rolling Study Hall

Our students are even engaged with technology and advancing their education on the way to and from school each day.

One exciting development in the past year is our partnership with Google to create the Rolling Study Hall. Google provided the resources to allow wi-fi to be installed on two of our longest bus routes in the Munford community, Four of our elementary teachers are also paid by Google to work as tutors on the buses for the rolly study halls.

During every morning and afternoon route, students have access to their devices so that their travel time serves as a time to extend their learning beyond the traditional school day. Our tutors work to provide students with remediation and enrichment opportunities using their school-issued devices or school iPads.

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