Road Trip Fun

Christmas vacation road trip and I'm spending my day with this...

I know I'm weird...but I love this stuff. 

The students in Mrs. Huff's 4th grade love to play "Vocab in a Bucket". Watch out 4th grade, new and exciting vocab activities are headed your way. 

Math Problem Exchange with Class in South Dakota

I know I've blogged about the power of social media in the past but wanted to give a quick post about the power of Twitter.  Last week a teacher from South Dakota asked me if my class would be willing to tweet with her class.  I jumped on the idea.  

This week we completed a math problem exchange.

 @MrsHuffs4th can you solve this geometry question? pic.twitter.com/tx0rnJA7Zj
— 4I (@Team4Iken) December 18, 2013

@Team4Iken The angles that go together to make 90 degrees are 45 degrees.
— Mrs. Huff's Class (@MrsHuffs4th) December 19, 2013

@Team4Iken Can you explain the mistake? #wc4th pic.twitter.com/UCXS4CH30T
— Mrs. Huff's Class (@MrsHuffs4th) December 19, 2013 

@MrsHuffs4th He didn't line up the decimal. Nice job solving our geometry problem.
— 4I (@Team4Iken) December 19, 2013

@Team4Iken Great job! Happy Holidays!
— Mrs. Huff's Class (@MrsHuffs4th) December 20, 2013

This short activity is engaging and fun!  

Mystery Hangout

We did it!  We completed our first Mystery Hangout.  View @MrsHuffs4th and our district Twitter Post for more details.  Today's blog post is from a guest blogger in Mrs. Huff's 4th grade.

Mrs. Huff’s Mystery Hangout

By: Connor

    Mrs. Huff's 4th grade class had a mystery hangout with another class in Essex Junction, Vermont.  A hangout is where two classes talk to each other on the Internet.  It is like Facetime or Skype.  One day Mrs. Huff decided that it would be fun to have a mystery hangout with another class room and sent out a twitter post to some teachers.  A couple of them accepted and thought it would be educational for their class.  They were right!  The students in Mrs. Huff's class loved the idea.  

    During the hangout Mrs. Huff's class asked about 7 questions until they got the state right.  Some of the questions asked were: Are you in the United States? Are you east of the Mississippi River? Does your state border Canada?  

 One of the groups in Mrs. Huff's class researched on mapquest and learned that it would take 23 hours and 37 minutes to drive to Essex Junction, Vermont. They also learned that it would cost about $294.64 to get there and back.

    These are a few comments from Mrs. Huff's class:

Bailey- "I think the hangout was really fun because we got to learn new things."

Alex- "I liked that we actually got to speak to them and see them from a long distance."

Isaac- "I liked how we could communicate with someone from a different state."

Global Learning Begins

As I reflect on the past month I am amazed at the power of social networking.  First, I created a classroom twitter page @MrsHuffs4th. I use this account to post happenings in our classroom and encourage my students to create their own posts.

Through Twitter my class sent out a survey.  The survey received over 300 replies from over 30 states and 5 countries.  Our class was filled with excitement. We used the information we gathered during math, social studies, and writing.

Our next excitement began last week.  During our snow day on Friday I invested some time on Google+. I inquired on +EduHangout if anyone would be interested in reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper aloud to students. I was interested in completing a virtual book study.  Four teachers replied to my inquiry.  The excitement will continue in January when the classes from Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Arkansas join up to complete the virtual book club via Google Hangout.

Then during my snow day boredom, I inquired about a Mystery Hangout on Google+.  This time a teacher from (oh yeah, it's a surprise) replied to my post.  We will be connecting with this class online NEXT WEEK for our first Mystery Hangout.  During the Hangout we will use our maps, Google, and prior knowledge to figure out where the other classroom is located.  It's going to be so much fun.  I hope I don't leak any clues this week and tell my students the state we are calling. Reminds me of all the Christmas secrets that happen this time of year.

Tonight, I completed my first Twitter chat with a group of 4th grade teachers in Texas.  Thanks #mck4thchat! I'm now on a mission to create a Graffiti Board for our next Lit unit. It was an awesome idea!

I would highly recommend using social networking to:

• connect with other educators 
• learn ways to make learning fun

Check back soon...FUN learning headed our way.

Let the Collaboration Begin

Today our 4th grade class began a new adventure.  We are embarking on a maiden voyage that will no doubt lead to a lot of excitement for our 4th grade class.

You might say, "What is all the excitement about?"  Our class began a project with another classroom in our district. The excitement is because the other classroom is in a building 3 miles from our building.
Although I could use the exercise, we are not going to walk to their classroom OR ride a bus. Our class will collaborate with students in the other classroom using Google Drive and Google Hangout.

The students will individually:

• write a persuasive letter
• write a first person report
• create an iMovie presentation

The students will collaborate to:

• research a Famous Missourian
• create a Lucidpress poster or Google presentation 
• create a wax museum using iMovie

Here is a link to our Smore Flyer.  

This flyer includes our goals, directions, instructional videos, and expectations.

Students will use the QR code below or the URL to easily find the flyer.

Our project will be complete in January.  We can't wait to share.