Chromebooks | Learning with Mrs. Leonardo

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Way back in late September and early October, my students got their first experience with DoInk’s Green Screen app. I mentioned here that the kids read Jim Murphy’s informational text, “The Great Fire”, and talked about a project they were going to complete, but I never posted an update about the project!

The Task: After reading Jim Murphy’s text, students had to use toys and DoInk’s Green Screen App to create a video summary of the text.

The Technology:

iPads: students used the DoInk Green Screen, iMovie, Explain Everything, Google Classroom, and Google Drive apps
Chromebooks: students used the Chromebooks to access Google Classroom for their assignments and to write their script. They worked on their script with their group, and Google Docs allowed them to work on the script simultaneously

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The Materials:

Through DonorsChoose, I was able to secure funding to purchase this chroma key, or green screen, backdrop and stand.
I purchased about 15 tri-fold Elmer’s cardboard project display boards for $1 each at Dollar Tree, and my husband and I spent about two to three hours on a Saturday spray painting the boards various colors. The DoInk Green Screen app let’s students film on any color background.
I also found green folders, construction paper, and wrapping paper at Dollar Tree. I was also able to purchase several green muslin backgrounds on Amazon. through DonorsChoose.
I went to multiple thrift stores over the course of two weeks and purchased as many different types of toys as possible; buying the toys was easy. Sanitizing everything was another story! Students brought in their own Lincoln Logs, Legos, Barbies, and other toys.

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The Time Frame:

Whewph! From start to finish this took about ten class periods. I have four ELA classes, and my smallest class has 27 students (my largest had 35 at the time of the project). I encouraged students to work in groups, but I did have four or five students per class period who really wanted to work alone.

Troubleshooting:

I always tell my students, “There’s one of me, and over 30 of you!” We follow the 3B4T rule in class: use your brain, browse the web, ask three buddies, then ask the teacher!

I also created tutorials for FAQs, and created a Hyperdoc with links to YouTube videos for students to watch.

Here are a few of videos from the project:

It was a great experience! Now, it’s almost time for round two; stay tuned!

A couple of weeks ago, RCSD‘s staff development department sent out an email to all district teachers about an upcoming optional professional development day at Krause Center for Innovation. Redwood City Education Foundation was going to make it possible for at least 10 teachers to attend the mini Google Summit event; I went to the larger Google Summit event at Gunn High School in Palo Alto two years ago, so I knew I had to make sure to be at the KCI event. The catch? Teachers had to apply for a chance to go.

As soon as I got home from our staff meeting, I typed up my answers, submitted them, and waited. A few days later I got an email and it said, “CONGRATULATIONS! YOU GET TO GO TO GOOGLE SUMMIT!” Woohoo! I enjoy learning about new ways to enhance my teaching, so I was excited to learn about new computer applications, ways to better my workflow (and my students’ workflow), and how to enhance student learning through my current blended learning model.

Yesterday (Saturday) I spent the entire day at Krause Center for Innovation learning about ways to use Google Apps for Education in the classroom. In the next few days I plan to implement a few new strategies, and I’ll write about the new sites I learned about, too.

Thank you, Redwood City Education Foundation!

Last week I introduced students to answering text-dependent questions using evidence from the text. This seemed to be a difficult task for many students because they wanted to write their answers using their opinions and thoughts.

I had an evidenced based poster I created last year, but when I went to look for it on my computer, I couldn’t find it! I ended up finding this poster on Teachers Pay Teachers, and while it isn’t the best way for students to write with evidence, it helped many students last week.

This week I am sharing Carlos’s work. Carlos did a great job using evidence to answer text-dependent questions. On Friday students watched CNN Student News and typed answers to three questions answered in the newscast. Carlos did a great job answering question number three.

Carlos, thank you for your effort!

Learning with Mrs. Leonardo

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.–George Washington Carver

Tag Archives: Chromebooks

Toy Tales: A Green Screen Project

Google Summit and Student Work