Look in the sky...it's a Storybird!

Storybird is a great website to encourage storytelling with your students.  The website has a collection of illustrations that can be combined in order to make a visual story.  The author can type in the words to a story as well as organize how the illustrations are presented.  The website also allows you to read many different stories that have been created by others.

Tonight in class, Liz, Jenn, and I created our first Storybird story.  There was a variety of artwork that caught our eye, but we decided to use the artwork of Hedgehog and Co.  We collaborated to create an if/then story similar to Laura Numeroff's If You Give a... series.  It was a lot of fun, but frustrating when we realized our story got deleted.  Despite our mishap, we were able to quickly recreate it.  You can check it out below.  I hope you like it!

An Animoto Adventure

Prior to this class, I was introduced to Animoto by one of my colleagues.  She collaborated with our Technology Leader to create an awesome video of her students sharing about love.  We are currently working on a video of our students sharing their thoughts on their year in kindergarten.  In the meantime, my students and I created an Animoto video that summed up their learning about aquariums.  They helped create the video by choosing their science journal page and sharing some facts that they learned.  The facts were compiled from their oral dictations and written work in their science journals. It was an exciting adventure for the children.  I am so proud of their work and knowledge!

Here's our Observing an Aquarium Animoto video...

Capturing a Year's Worth of Memories

Each year I love creating memory books for each child that captures their growth throughout the year.  Typically, I collect work samples from the beginning of the year until the end in a portfolio that I use during conference time to share student learning with parents.  I also hold on to a few keepsake projects that I think would fit nicely in their memory books.  This year I did a family project that wouldn't fit in the book so I took a photo of each child's before I sent it home so that I could include it. I also like to include photos of the school, our classroom, a class photo on the play scape, field trips, and other exciting events that may have occurred throughout the year. I also include an end of the year poem or letter from me.  This year I am thinking about including a reprinted version of the letter I sent home to the children over the summer.  Most importantly, each child's memory book tells the story of their year in learning from beginning to end.

I also like to invite families to celebrate their child's accomplishments with an end of the year celebration.  In the past, I have had a celebration with just my class as well as collaborated with other teachers on my grade level.  My celebrations typically include a song, a slideshow, an award that recognizes each child for an accomplishment, and an opportunity for the children to share some of their work with their families.  This year one of my colleagues and I are collaborating to have a family picnic lunch.  Our school is having a Sharing Assembly where each class shares some form of learning.  We will be singing a song and sharing a collaborative Animoto video that shares each child's thoughts about kindergarten.  We have invited families to join us for a picnic lunch after the Sharing Assembly.  Once the children have the opportunity to enjoy lunch with their families, we are inviting the families into our classrooms so that the children can share some of the work that they are working on collecting.  Each child is having an active part in selecting the work they will share!  We are all very excited about the upcoming event!

How do you celebrate the year with your students?

One Small Step...

Well, here I go!  This is my first blog entry, and I'm not sure where to begin.  I expect this to be an exciting adventure we will take together, and I hope you will help me along the way.  I am looking forward to share about my kindergarten students' yearly journey.  Stay tuned to learn more!