Resources
Seesaw
We will be using Seesaw this year. You can see your child's work and watch them explain their thinking.
Click on this link:
Choose your child from the list
Create your account
Once I approve you, you can see content from your child
After you sign up, download the free Seesaw Family app and signin.
Here you will find applications and websites that I will be using to help support your child this year.
The school has purchased SuccessMaker. It is an award-winning educational software program that delivers supplemental instruction in English/language arts and mathematics.
SuccessMaker provides students with individualized instruction, helpful tools, and targeted practice. Now you can provide your child with personalized learning experiences at home with SuccessMaker @ Home.
Here is the classroom management system, ClassDojo I will use this to inform you what I am teaching in class and weekly information.
Students are able to download the application Achieve3000 or go to the website.
Students know their log ins.
Coding
According to Teaching Computer Coding (2013), “By 2020, there will be about a million more computer jobs than computer science students.” This not only gets them prepared for a job that doesn’t exist yet, but also teaches them “complex thinking.” Johnson, Becker, Estrada, & Freeman (2014) describe it “as an application of systems thinking, which is the capacity to decipher how individual components work together as a part of a whole, dynamic unit that creates patterns over time.” This all takes place as students are learning how to code, they learn command prompts, and sequence the commands to create a program.
I started using the application Scratch Jr. with my second graders last year and using it this year with my 5th graders. It has not been very structured and treated it more like enrichment when students finished their assignments. We currently do not have a technology class that teaches coding, so I squeeze it in my Science/Technology time. After reading the research, I have gained ideas on how to teach it in a more structured format.
I explored the content on www.code.org and created a class. I did the “Minecraft Hour of Code” and actually had fun! I ended up doing about 45 minutes of the coding, so I could answer any questions my students might have during the lesson. I believe that this will appeal to my students, because I do have several students that are always talking about a new world they built with the game. Students will be able to see behind the curtain and actually understand how all the prompts work together to make their character move. It will be a great way to get students to start complex thinking. Steve Jobs said it best, “Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer… because it teaches you how to think.”
References
Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A. (2014). NMC Horizon Report: 2014 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. p. 24-25
Teaching Computer Coding in K-12. (2013, March 05). Retrieved October 09, 2017, from https://blog.ed.gov/2013/03/teaching-computer-coding-in-k-12/
