Don't forget to follow our library blog to see weekly updates on our library program - https://collaborationisthekey.wordpress.com
2019-2020 School year highlights - What a year!
2018-19 school year highlights!
2017-18 school year highlights - Enjoy!
2016-17 school year highlights - Enjoy!
2015-2016 had some great highlights - Check it out!
The Animoto below highlights a year of big changes...going from flexible scheduling to fixed. 2014-2015 was a great year - click below to see why!
Our library blog has detailed information on all of the projects and events that take place in Riverside IMC. Feel free to go to our blog at http://collaborationisthekey.wordpress.com and our Collaboration Success Stories at http://collaborationisthekey.wordpress.com/collaboration-success-stories/
You may also read below to find highlights of projects from this school year.
You may also read below to find highlights of projects from this school year.
Riverside Elementary Library Collaboration Project Highlights 2013-2014
Informational Writing displayed as Flipsnack book
Mrs. Schwan’s 3rd graders wrote informational writing pieces and we published them in an online book for all to enjoy – Click here to see it - http://www.flipsnack.com/568FAD6BDC9/fzu5of3m
Tellagami App and “Night of the Notables” with Mrs. Staff’s 3rd graders
Mrs. Staff’s 3rd graders have been working with me for the last week on recording introductions for their “Night of the Notables” biography project. We used the app Tellagami to create avatars that represent the students as they spoke about their famous person in 30 seconds or less.
Please click this link to view the entire movie (it takes less than 5 minutes). http://safeshare.tv/w/mDQxKXRWPN
The Tellagami app lets you create and share animated messages in 3 easy steps. 1) Customize your character and background. 2) Record your voice for your character to say. 3) Share the finished “Gami” to the camera roll. Once finished the recording can be previewed instantly and corrected, if necessary, by re-recording. The record features, combined with being able to change the background image from one from the Camera Roll, offers endless opportunities for students to share their knowledge on any given subject.
Thanks to Mrs. Staff and her 3rd graders for working with me on this project – They did a fantastic job!
Google Presentations with Ms. Wegner’s 2nd graders
Recently Ms. Wegner’s 2nd graders finished their Google presentations on the animal they researched. Using print and online resources such as PebbleGo, this research project turned out great and the students did a wonderful job of creating engaging presentations. See below for one example. Thanks for Ms Wegner for collaborating with me on this project!
Mrs. Dennis’s class Voicethreads…
Over the past few years we have used Voicethread to present book talks and non-fiction narratives of our students. This Web 2.0 application is a multimedia presentation of slides that allows for the sharing and collaboration of information. It provides a variety of ways for commentators to add their thoughts via text, voice and video. The potential uses for this application are endless….Please click here
http://voicethread.com/share/5531092/
to watch and listen to Mrs. Dennis’s first graders as they describe their animal they researched, accompanied by a picture each child drew. They did a great job!
Explain Everything Please…
Mrs. Reimer’s 2nd graders have worked very hard on researching their planets and after collecting information from both print and online resources, they each created models of their planets. They used the Explain Everything app to demonstrate their knowledge. Please view them below:
Aidan’s planet Uranus
Aiden’s planet Saturn
Andrue’s planet Venus
Anna’s planet Jupiter
D.J.’s planet Saturn
Drew’s planet Jupiter
Emily’s planet Uranus
Grace’s planet Neptune
Gracie’s planet Pluto
Gwen’s planet Earth
Kaira’s planet Earth
Lauren’s planet Pluto
Logan’s planet Jupiter
Lyn’s planet Neptune
Makenna’s planet Pluto
Max’s planet Uranus
Megan’s planet Mercury
Noah’s planet Saturn
Biographies with FaceJack
Mrs. Mergendahl’s class wrote summaries in the first person of the famous person they studied and then used to app FaceJack to record it.
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart
Albert Einstein
Jane Goodall
Ronald Reagan
Jackie Robinson
Babe Ruth
Sacajawea
Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss
Maria Tallchief
Harriet Tubman
George Washington
Online Classroom Books using Flipsnack
Want to share your students’ work online as a classroom or individual book? Try the online tool Flipsnack. Below is an example of Mrs. Staff’s 3rd grade Christmas stories, Mrs. Gauger’s 3rd grade Realistic Fiction Stories and Mrs. Reimer’s Gingerbread Stories from her 2nd graders.
Christmas Stories
Realistic Fiction
Gingerbread Stories
All we need is to save the student work as PDFs and upload them to the website. Mrs. D. has a personal account with Flipsnack. Once your classroom book is published, it can be shared on a teacher’s classroom website for parents and other students and teachers to view.
MLK and Skitch
During the week of Martin Luther King Day I met with Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade classes we used the app Skitch on my Ipad to come up with “powerful words” to describe how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. impacted our society. It was a very interesting experience listening to how these young children interpret Dr. King’s dream and their ideas were a testament to how far we have come since his death in 1968.
Skitch is great app that can be used in a variety of ways. Here are just a few ideas…taking a photo or image from the Internet or a textbook and expanding on student’s prior knowledge, using a science diagram and adding more vocabulary to it using the arrow feature on Skitch, taking photos of students on the Ipad and using them from your camera roll to add positive words to describe themselves or their classmates…the possibilities are endless…
Google brochures with 4th grade
Collaborating with Mrs. Goertz and Mrs. Mergendahl we ended up working with students in all five 4th grade classes on a Google brochure project where students worked with a partner to create a brochure “advertising” all of the features of the state they researched.
Besides using cooperative skills working with their partner, students practiced researching, both online and using a new set of state books from our library collection. Students also became active users of their Google accounts and learned how to take a template that I created, copy it and make it their own product. In other words, 21st century skills in action!
Blogging with Mrs. Treptow’s class
Mrs. D enjoyed working with Mrs. Treptow on setting up her classroom blog and teaching her students the importance of blogging skills. Before you share your thoughts on a classroom blog (or anywhere online for that matter), remember these important “Blogging Rules”
1. Remember, do not share personal information like your full name, email address, home address or phone number.
2. Stay on topic when you are blogging or commenting on other blogs.
3. Do your best work – Make sure you check your spelling, spacing, capitalization and overall grammar.
4. Be Kind or Be Quiet – in other words, stay positive in your posts and comments to other’s posts.
What you say leaves a “digital footprint” and will follow you for many years….Here is an excellent website that discusses this important topic - http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/digitalfootprints/
3rd grade Online Books
Mrs. Schwan’s and Mrs. Gauger’s 3rd graders finished working on their biographies using Kid-Friendly Search Engines, Pebble Go, World Book online and Ducksters Biographies. Here is a Flipsnack online book so you can learn some of the cool facts these students learned about their famous person – Enjoy!
http://www.flipsnack.com/568FAD6BDC9/fdtkshkh
http://www.flipsnack.com/568FAD6BDC9/fdp5ol0l
What are you Thankful for?
Mrs. Reimer’s 2nd graders created an online book about what they were thankful for. Click here to watch and listen!
Readers Theater Comes Alive in Ms. Wegner’s Room
Readers Theater is readers reading a script adapted from literature, and the audience picturing the action from hearing the script being read aloud. It requires no sets, costumes, props, or memorized lines. Instead of acting out literature as in a play, the performer’s goal is to read a script aloud effectively, enabling the audience to visualize the action. Performers bring the text alive by using voice, facial expressions, and some gestures.
For an example, check out Ms. Wegner’s class performing Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears:
Wegner Group 1 and Wegner Group 2
Kindergartners Show Their Appreciation…
Kindergartners are thankful for a great principal, Mrs. LesStrang – Click here to see how they thanked her for what she does for all of us!
Little Bird Tales – Mrs. Maahs’s 1st graders visit the School Forest!
Using the digital storytelling site Little Bird Tales, Mrs. Maahs’s 1st graders wrote an online book as a whole class and two individual students were recorded reading the book. Mrs. D. was impressed by their knowledge of bats! Click here to watch and listen!
Personal Narratives using Voicethread
Mrs. Staff’s 3rd graders drew their own self-portraits and wrote a personal narrative about an important life event. Click here to listen to each one!
Google Mail
Mrs. Reimer’s 2nd graders learned about their Google accounts, how to access them and how to send an email to their teacher. They sent Mrs. Reimer an email about their next Personal Narrative topic. How exciting!
Be a Buddy, Not a Bully
Mrs. D. and Mrs. Reinardy are working together to promote an awareness of cyberbullying and student safety online. Students in 1st through 5th grade had specific lessons on cyber safety and bullying, along with sharing resources through our school website to promote October’s Anti-Bullying Awareness.
Mrs. Lorge’s 5th grade Glogsters
We started off the project with a demonstration of the online poster website Glogster with Mrs. Lorge’s 5th graders. We went over many of the tools that can be used on this website, along with how to download images from Britanica Image Quest. Throughout the week students returned to the library to log into their own accounts and work on their glogster about their famous person. * Due to bandwidth issues students had to upload images in small groups. To see what Mrs. D showed students, please feel free to click here to see and hear my explanation using Screenr.
Steve Jobs Glogster
Maria Tallchief Glogster
Harry Houdini Glogster
Mozart Glogster
Intro to Macbook Air Laptops
21st century skills can be seen in action in the library and in classrooms throughout our school. Miss Jensen’s and Mrs. Reimer’s classes were introduced to the MacAir laptops this week by Mrs. D. It was exciting to see students using them for their latest research project and to explore their classroom teacher’s website.
2nd Grade Wordles Using Adjectives
All of the 2nd grade classes practiced using adjectives to describe themselves using the word cloud creator Wordle. Students loved adding these Wordles to the covers of their writing folders.
ABCya Pumpkins
Kindergartners had a ball practicing mouse skills and creating jack-o-lanterns with the website ABCya. New features have been added this site and we practiced using those newest tools.
Kindergarten Mouse Skills
Kindergartners also practiced identifying computer parts and how to use the mouse. All classes came to the computer lab and practiced their “mouse skills” using http://minimouse.us/
Touchcast Morning Announcements
Thanks to Miss Jensen, our Morning Announcements team has a new, exciting way to produce our daily morning announcements. This team effort is a great example of how collaboration with staff and students pays off for everyone involved. Visit our Morning Announcements page by clicking here.
Riverside Elementary Library Collaboration Project Highlights 2012-2013
Kindergartners Create Online Jack-o-lanterns
All students in Riverside’s kindergarten classes had a blast creating jack-o-lanterns using the website ABCya – All creations were printed in color and displayed so everyone could enjoy them.
Kindergartners Discover the E-book World of Tumblebooks!
Kindergartners practiced getting to the Tumblebooks link on our web page and listened to a variety of stories during their computer lab time. There were many smiling faces in the lab this week!
1st graders Love their Math Websites
1st graders were introduced to the math websites on the 1st grade websites link on our school web page. Great practice for math facts and computer mouse skills.
Mrs. Dennis’s Class Creates Voicethreads
Check out the recordings and illustrations of Mrs. Dennis’s 1st graders as they share facts they learned about the habitat they studied. http://voicethread.com/share/4192067/
Miss Adamus’ “Reading Rainbow” book talks
Ms. Adamus’s first graders put together some great book talks using the “Reading Rainbow” format – Check these out!
http://safeshare.tv/w/trsNwamPSM Adan
http://safeshare.tv/w/UEIoZzlTwp AJ
http://safeshare.tv/w/QJCkwuqAvo Anna
Mrs. Marquardt’s 1st graders Use iPads
First graders in Mrs. Marquardt’s class learned the “rules” for taking good care of iPads and practiced using literacy apps such as Storia during their reading time last week with Mrs. D. Many were excited to use an iPad for the first time as they worked in pairs or groups of three in their classroom. Mrs. Marquardt is now checking the library set of iPads out on a regular basis and working directly with Mrs. D. to figure out which apps we can add to them to enhance the curriculum.
2nd Grade Wordles Using Adjectives
All of the 2nd grade classes practiced using adjectives to describe themselves using the word cloud creator Wordle. Students loved adding these Wordles to the covers of their writing folders.
Mrs. Reimer’s 2nd grade Voicethread Book Talks
Click here to listen to this year’s 2nd graders in Mrs. Reimer’s class suggest their favorite books. We love their expression and enthusiasm about their favorite books!
Mrs. King’s Voicethread Personal Narratives
Click here to listen to the personal narrative stories of Mrs. King’s students as they share their stories of life events. Check out their awesome self-portraits too! Great job!
Mrs. Bauman’s and Mrs. Reimer’s classes Use Laptops
2nd graders were introduced to the laptops on Monday. They did their Reader Response on their teacher’s new webpages. They were so excited to share their knowledge of fairy tales and learn how to use the laptops at the same time!
Christmas Poems
Miss Wegner’s class used their keyboarding skills to type their Christmas poems and print them on special paper for their parents. They did a great job of working quietly and efficiently. Check out an example of their hard work!
Mrs. King’s Class Uses Voicethread for Reader’s Theatre
Checkout our Voicethread recording of Reader’s Theatre! Students did a great job with their vocal expression – click here http://voicethread.com/share/4198895/ to this to these presentations!
Mrs. Schwan’s and Miss Jensen’s Book Talks
Looking for a good book to read? Listen to recommendations from these 3rd graders – http://voicethread.com/share/4272928/
3rd Grade Personal Narratives
Mrs. Staff’s class wrote personal narratives and used Voicethread to record them. Check out the cool hand drawn self portraits that her students drew and listen to their unique narratives! Click here to watch and listen!
3rd graders Intro to Macbook Air Laptops
21st century skills can be seen in action in the library and in classrooms throughout our school. Mrs. Staff’s, Miss Jensen’s, Mrs. Gauger’s, Mrs. Mergendahl’s and Mrs. Schwan’s classes were introduced to the MacAir laptops the past few weeks by Mrs. D. It was exciting to see students using them for their latest research project.
3rd graders Use Publisher to create a Brochure
Mrs. Staff’s class learned in social studies how to create a brochure using a template from Microsoft Publisher. We reviewed from previous lessons, how to copy and paste a picture and insert text, change fonts and sizes, etc. Their brochures were about features of the Weston, WI area.
Google Maps
Mrs. Schwan and Mrs. D introduced Google maps to 3rd graders. They used it to learn how far away their national landmark or park is from Ringle, WI and also to practice map reading skills like directions.
Miss Jensen’s Fables – Check out this flipsnack book of the awesome fables these 3rd graders created after studying fables this year! http://www.bookemon.com/read-book/274558
Mrs. Staff’s 3rd graders “Explain Everything” Habitat Project
Click below to view each student in Mrs. Staff’s class as they used the app Explain Everything to tell you what facts they learned about their habitats that they researched.
Ryan – Ocean
Adeline – Fresh Water
Drew – Coniferous Forest
Alec – Desert
Mrs. Gauger’s 3rd grade Favorites
If you are searching for the next great book to read, check out favorites from this year’s class from Mrs. Gauger’s room – http://voicethread.com/share/4216318/
4th Graders Use Kerpoof
4th graders used Kerpoof to make animated pictures describing fascinating facts about their assigned state. Check out the display in the library!
5th graders use Bookemon
Students in Mr. Aleckson’s and Mr. Hughes’s classes used Bookemon to create online books about their experiences at the School Forest. Parents had the option to purchase a soft-cover copy of their child’s book through this company. Check out Riverside’s edCenter at http://www.bookemon.com/edcenter/riverside-elementary-school/2693091
5th graders research the Civil War
Students in Mr. Aleckson’s class reviewed with Mrs. D. how to use World Book online and Encyclopedia Britannica to research for information about their Civil War person/place/battle.
School-Wide Collaboration/Specialist Collaboration
Author Visit from Chris Rumble
Reading specialist Mrs. Puckett and Mrs. D. worked together on getting author Chris Rumble to visit Riverside to celebrate National Library Day on April 19th. He presented a “Reading Pep Rally” for grades K-2 and 3rd- 5th, along with meeting with the Writing Club.
Digital Learning Day
At Riverside, there were 28 students in total, some working independently and others with a partner, with displays set up throughout the Riverside Elementary School Library.
Our Digital Learning Day committee was made up of teachers Mrs. Rosewicz, Mrs. Dembowski, Mrs. Gauger and Mr. Podeweltz – with a special thank you to Mrs. Becker and Mrs. Fraaza for their assistance that day.
To see highlights of this special day, please visit the Animoto we made on this by clicking here. And don’t forget to check out the cool rap that Mr. Aleckson created by clicking here.
Battle of the Books Success
Congratulations to this year’s Battle of the Books group! Our team finished 14th statewide earning a place in the honors group. This competition included 161 teams across the state of Wisconsin. We are so proud of our group – Thank you to everyone who helped with this year’s Battle including Mr. Podeweltz, Mrs. Goertz, Mrs. Becker and parent volunteer Shara Allen.
We started out with 57 students and ended up with our final team which was Emily Sautebin, Lucas Allen, John Belton, Marina Schinker and alternate Robby Alston.
Poem in Your Pocket Day
On Tuesday, April 30th, we celebrated out 2nd annual Poem in Your Pocket Day and what a celebration it was! Students were reading poems on the playground, in the office, in classrooms, in the library, in hallways….poetry fever was contagious!
The idea was simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month (or write your own) – then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends.
Poems from pockets were unfolded throughout the day and shared. This is a fun, national activity that has been done annually since 2002.
Click here for highlights from this year! http://animoto.com/play/vx9Z3gW5hZIlXpz0k4JOLg
Informational Writing displayed as Flipsnack book
Mrs. Schwan’s 3rd graders wrote informational writing pieces and we published them in an online book for all to enjoy – Click here to see it - http://www.flipsnack.com/568FAD6BDC9/fzu5of3m
Tellagami App and “Night of the Notables” with Mrs. Staff’s 3rd graders
Mrs. Staff’s 3rd graders have been working with me for the last week on recording introductions for their “Night of the Notables” biography project. We used the app Tellagami to create avatars that represent the students as they spoke about their famous person in 30 seconds or less.
Please click this link to view the entire movie (it takes less than 5 minutes). http://safeshare.tv/w/mDQxKXRWPN
The Tellagami app lets you create and share animated messages in 3 easy steps. 1) Customize your character and background. 2) Record your voice for your character to say. 3) Share the finished “Gami” to the camera roll. Once finished the recording can be previewed instantly and corrected, if necessary, by re-recording. The record features, combined with being able to change the background image from one from the Camera Roll, offers endless opportunities for students to share their knowledge on any given subject.
Thanks to Mrs. Staff and her 3rd graders for working with me on this project – They did a fantastic job!
Google Presentations with Ms. Wegner’s 2nd graders
Recently Ms. Wegner’s 2nd graders finished their Google presentations on the animal they researched. Using print and online resources such as PebbleGo, this research project turned out great and the students did a wonderful job of creating engaging presentations. See below for one example. Thanks for Ms Wegner for collaborating with me on this project!
Mrs. Dennis’s class Voicethreads…
Over the past few years we have used Voicethread to present book talks and non-fiction narratives of our students. This Web 2.0 application is a multimedia presentation of slides that allows for the sharing and collaboration of information. It provides a variety of ways for commentators to add their thoughts via text, voice and video. The potential uses for this application are endless….Please click here
http://voicethread.com/share/5531092/
to watch and listen to Mrs. Dennis’s first graders as they describe their animal they researched, accompanied by a picture each child drew. They did a great job!
Explain Everything Please…
Mrs. Reimer’s 2nd graders have worked very hard on researching their planets and after collecting information from both print and online resources, they each created models of their planets. They used the Explain Everything app to demonstrate their knowledge. Please view them below:
Aidan’s planet Uranus
Aiden’s planet Saturn
Andrue’s planet Venus
Anna’s planet Jupiter
D.J.’s planet Saturn
Drew’s planet Jupiter
Emily’s planet Uranus
Grace’s planet Neptune
Gracie’s planet Pluto
Gwen’s planet Earth
Kaira’s planet Earth
Lauren’s planet Pluto
Logan’s planet Jupiter
Lyn’s planet Neptune
Makenna’s planet Pluto
Max’s planet Uranus
Megan’s planet Mercury
Noah’s planet Saturn
Biographies with FaceJack
Mrs. Mergendahl’s class wrote summaries in the first person of the famous person they studied and then used to app FaceJack to record it.
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart
Albert Einstein
Jane Goodall
Ronald Reagan
Jackie Robinson
Babe Ruth
Sacajawea
Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss
Maria Tallchief
Harriet Tubman
George Washington
Online Classroom Books using Flipsnack
Want to share your students’ work online as a classroom or individual book? Try the online tool Flipsnack. Below is an example of Mrs. Staff’s 3rd grade Christmas stories, Mrs. Gauger’s 3rd grade Realistic Fiction Stories and Mrs. Reimer’s Gingerbread Stories from her 2nd graders.
Christmas Stories
Realistic Fiction
Gingerbread Stories
All we need is to save the student work as PDFs and upload them to the website. Mrs. D. has a personal account with Flipsnack. Once your classroom book is published, it can be shared on a teacher’s classroom website for parents and other students and teachers to view.
MLK and Skitch
During the week of Martin Luther King Day I met with Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade classes we used the app Skitch on my Ipad to come up with “powerful words” to describe how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. impacted our society. It was a very interesting experience listening to how these young children interpret Dr. King’s dream and their ideas were a testament to how far we have come since his death in 1968.
Skitch is great app that can be used in a variety of ways. Here are just a few ideas…taking a photo or image from the Internet or a textbook and expanding on student’s prior knowledge, using a science diagram and adding more vocabulary to it using the arrow feature on Skitch, taking photos of students on the Ipad and using them from your camera roll to add positive words to describe themselves or their classmates…the possibilities are endless…
Google brochures with 4th grade
Collaborating with Mrs. Goertz and Mrs. Mergendahl we ended up working with students in all five 4th grade classes on a Google brochure project where students worked with a partner to create a brochure “advertising” all of the features of the state they researched.
Besides using cooperative skills working with their partner, students practiced researching, both online and using a new set of state books from our library collection. Students also became active users of their Google accounts and learned how to take a template that I created, copy it and make it their own product. In other words, 21st century skills in action!
Blogging with Mrs. Treptow’s class
Mrs. D enjoyed working with Mrs. Treptow on setting up her classroom blog and teaching her students the importance of blogging skills. Before you share your thoughts on a classroom blog (or anywhere online for that matter), remember these important “Blogging Rules”
1. Remember, do not share personal information like your full name, email address, home address or phone number.
2. Stay on topic when you are blogging or commenting on other blogs.
3. Do your best work – Make sure you check your spelling, spacing, capitalization and overall grammar.
4. Be Kind or Be Quiet – in other words, stay positive in your posts and comments to other’s posts.
What you say leaves a “digital footprint” and will follow you for many years….Here is an excellent website that discusses this important topic - http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/digitalfootprints/
3rd grade Online Books
Mrs. Schwan’s and Mrs. Gauger’s 3rd graders finished working on their biographies using Kid-Friendly Search Engines, Pebble Go, World Book online and Ducksters Biographies. Here is a Flipsnack online book so you can learn some of the cool facts these students learned about their famous person – Enjoy!
http://www.flipsnack.com/568FAD6BDC9/fdtkshkh
http://www.flipsnack.com/568FAD6BDC9/fdp5ol0l
What are you Thankful for?
Mrs. Reimer’s 2nd graders created an online book about what they were thankful for. Click here to watch and listen!
Readers Theater Comes Alive in Ms. Wegner’s Room
Readers Theater is readers reading a script adapted from literature, and the audience picturing the action from hearing the script being read aloud. It requires no sets, costumes, props, or memorized lines. Instead of acting out literature as in a play, the performer’s goal is to read a script aloud effectively, enabling the audience to visualize the action. Performers bring the text alive by using voice, facial expressions, and some gestures.
For an example, check out Ms. Wegner’s class performing Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears:
Wegner Group 1 and Wegner Group 2
Kindergartners Show Their Appreciation…
Kindergartners are thankful for a great principal, Mrs. LesStrang – Click here to see how they thanked her for what she does for all of us!
Little Bird Tales – Mrs. Maahs’s 1st graders visit the School Forest!
Using the digital storytelling site Little Bird Tales, Mrs. Maahs’s 1st graders wrote an online book as a whole class and two individual students were recorded reading the book. Mrs. D. was impressed by their knowledge of bats! Click here to watch and listen!
Personal Narratives using Voicethread
Mrs. Staff’s 3rd graders drew their own self-portraits and wrote a personal narrative about an important life event. Click here to listen to each one!
Google Mail
Mrs. Reimer’s 2nd graders learned about their Google accounts, how to access them and how to send an email to their teacher. They sent Mrs. Reimer an email about their next Personal Narrative topic. How exciting!
Be a Buddy, Not a Bully
Mrs. D. and Mrs. Reinardy are working together to promote an awareness of cyberbullying and student safety online. Students in 1st through 5th grade had specific lessons on cyber safety and bullying, along with sharing resources through our school website to promote October’s Anti-Bullying Awareness.
Mrs. Lorge’s 5th grade Glogsters
We started off the project with a demonstration of the online poster website Glogster with Mrs. Lorge’s 5th graders. We went over many of the tools that can be used on this website, along with how to download images from Britanica Image Quest. Throughout the week students returned to the library to log into their own accounts and work on their glogster about their famous person. * Due to bandwidth issues students had to upload images in small groups. To see what Mrs. D showed students, please feel free to click here to see and hear my explanation using Screenr.
Steve Jobs Glogster
Maria Tallchief Glogster
Harry Houdini Glogster
Mozart Glogster
Intro to Macbook Air Laptops
21st century skills can be seen in action in the library and in classrooms throughout our school. Miss Jensen’s and Mrs. Reimer’s classes were introduced to the MacAir laptops this week by Mrs. D. It was exciting to see students using them for their latest research project and to explore their classroom teacher’s website.
2nd Grade Wordles Using Adjectives
All of the 2nd grade classes practiced using adjectives to describe themselves using the word cloud creator Wordle. Students loved adding these Wordles to the covers of their writing folders.
ABCya Pumpkins
Kindergartners had a ball practicing mouse skills and creating jack-o-lanterns with the website ABCya. New features have been added this site and we practiced using those newest tools.
Kindergarten Mouse Skills
Kindergartners also practiced identifying computer parts and how to use the mouse. All classes came to the computer lab and practiced their “mouse skills” using http://minimouse.us/
Touchcast Morning Announcements
Thanks to Miss Jensen, our Morning Announcements team has a new, exciting way to produce our daily morning announcements. This team effort is a great example of how collaboration with staff and students pays off for everyone involved. Visit our Morning Announcements page by clicking here.
Riverside Elementary Library Collaboration Project Highlights 2012-2013
Kindergartners Create Online Jack-o-lanterns
All students in Riverside’s kindergarten classes had a blast creating jack-o-lanterns using the website ABCya – All creations were printed in color and displayed so everyone could enjoy them.
Kindergartners Discover the E-book World of Tumblebooks!
Kindergartners practiced getting to the Tumblebooks link on our web page and listened to a variety of stories during their computer lab time. There were many smiling faces in the lab this week!
1st graders Love their Math Websites
1st graders were introduced to the math websites on the 1st grade websites link on our school web page. Great practice for math facts and computer mouse skills.
Mrs. Dennis’s Class Creates Voicethreads
Check out the recordings and illustrations of Mrs. Dennis’s 1st graders as they share facts they learned about the habitat they studied. http://voicethread.com/share/4192067/
Miss Adamus’ “Reading Rainbow” book talks
Ms. Adamus’s first graders put together some great book talks using the “Reading Rainbow” format – Check these out!
http://safeshare.tv/w/trsNwamPSM Adan
http://safeshare.tv/w/UEIoZzlTwp AJ
http://safeshare.tv/w/QJCkwuqAvo Anna
Mrs. Marquardt’s 1st graders Use iPads
First graders in Mrs. Marquardt’s class learned the “rules” for taking good care of iPads and practiced using literacy apps such as Storia during their reading time last week with Mrs. D. Many were excited to use an iPad for the first time as they worked in pairs or groups of three in their classroom. Mrs. Marquardt is now checking the library set of iPads out on a regular basis and working directly with Mrs. D. to figure out which apps we can add to them to enhance the curriculum.
2nd Grade Wordles Using Adjectives
All of the 2nd grade classes practiced using adjectives to describe themselves using the word cloud creator Wordle. Students loved adding these Wordles to the covers of their writing folders.
Mrs. Reimer’s 2nd grade Voicethread Book Talks
Click here to listen to this year’s 2nd graders in Mrs. Reimer’s class suggest their favorite books. We love their expression and enthusiasm about their favorite books!
Mrs. King’s Voicethread Personal Narratives
Click here to listen to the personal narrative stories of Mrs. King’s students as they share their stories of life events. Check out their awesome self-portraits too! Great job!
Mrs. Bauman’s and Mrs. Reimer’s classes Use Laptops
2nd graders were introduced to the laptops on Monday. They did their Reader Response on their teacher’s new webpages. They were so excited to share their knowledge of fairy tales and learn how to use the laptops at the same time!
Christmas Poems
Miss Wegner’s class used their keyboarding skills to type their Christmas poems and print them on special paper for their parents. They did a great job of working quietly and efficiently. Check out an example of their hard work!
Mrs. King’s Class Uses Voicethread for Reader’s Theatre
Checkout our Voicethread recording of Reader’s Theatre! Students did a great job with their vocal expression – click here http://voicethread.com/share/4198895/ to this to these presentations!
Mrs. Schwan’s and Miss Jensen’s Book Talks
Looking for a good book to read? Listen to recommendations from these 3rd graders – http://voicethread.com/share/4272928/
3rd Grade Personal Narratives
Mrs. Staff’s class wrote personal narratives and used Voicethread to record them. Check out the cool hand drawn self portraits that her students drew and listen to their unique narratives! Click here to watch and listen!
3rd graders Intro to Macbook Air Laptops
21st century skills can be seen in action in the library and in classrooms throughout our school. Mrs. Staff’s, Miss Jensen’s, Mrs. Gauger’s, Mrs. Mergendahl’s and Mrs. Schwan’s classes were introduced to the MacAir laptops the past few weeks by Mrs. D. It was exciting to see students using them for their latest research project.
3rd graders Use Publisher to create a Brochure
Mrs. Staff’s class learned in social studies how to create a brochure using a template from Microsoft Publisher. We reviewed from previous lessons, how to copy and paste a picture and insert text, change fonts and sizes, etc. Their brochures were about features of the Weston, WI area.
Google Maps
Mrs. Schwan and Mrs. D introduced Google maps to 3rd graders. They used it to learn how far away their national landmark or park is from Ringle, WI and also to practice map reading skills like directions.
Miss Jensen’s Fables – Check out this flipsnack book of the awesome fables these 3rd graders created after studying fables this year! http://www.bookemon.com/read-book/274558
Mrs. Staff’s 3rd graders “Explain Everything” Habitat Project
Click below to view each student in Mrs. Staff’s class as they used the app Explain Everything to tell you what facts they learned about their habitats that they researched.
Ryan – Ocean
Adeline – Fresh Water
Drew – Coniferous Forest
Alec – Desert
Mrs. Gauger’s 3rd grade Favorites
If you are searching for the next great book to read, check out favorites from this year’s class from Mrs. Gauger’s room – http://voicethread.com/share/4216318/
4th Graders Use Kerpoof
4th graders used Kerpoof to make animated pictures describing fascinating facts about their assigned state. Check out the display in the library!
5th graders use Bookemon
Students in Mr. Aleckson’s and Mr. Hughes’s classes used Bookemon to create online books about their experiences at the School Forest. Parents had the option to purchase a soft-cover copy of their child’s book through this company. Check out Riverside’s edCenter at http://www.bookemon.com/edcenter/riverside-elementary-school/2693091
5th graders research the Civil War
Students in Mr. Aleckson’s class reviewed with Mrs. D. how to use World Book online and Encyclopedia Britannica to research for information about their Civil War person/place/battle.
School-Wide Collaboration/Specialist Collaboration
Author Visit from Chris Rumble
Reading specialist Mrs. Puckett and Mrs. D. worked together on getting author Chris Rumble to visit Riverside to celebrate National Library Day on April 19th. He presented a “Reading Pep Rally” for grades K-2 and 3rd- 5th, along with meeting with the Writing Club.
Digital Learning Day
At Riverside, there were 28 students in total, some working independently and others with a partner, with displays set up throughout the Riverside Elementary School Library.
Our Digital Learning Day committee was made up of teachers Mrs. Rosewicz, Mrs. Dembowski, Mrs. Gauger and Mr. Podeweltz – with a special thank you to Mrs. Becker and Mrs. Fraaza for their assistance that day.
To see highlights of this special day, please visit the Animoto we made on this by clicking here. And don’t forget to check out the cool rap that Mr. Aleckson created by clicking here.
Battle of the Books Success
Congratulations to this year’s Battle of the Books group! Our team finished 14th statewide earning a place in the honors group. This competition included 161 teams across the state of Wisconsin. We are so proud of our group – Thank you to everyone who helped with this year’s Battle including Mr. Podeweltz, Mrs. Goertz, Mrs. Becker and parent volunteer Shara Allen.
We started out with 57 students and ended up with our final team which was Emily Sautebin, Lucas Allen, John Belton, Marina Schinker and alternate Robby Alston.
Poem in Your Pocket Day
On Tuesday, April 30th, we celebrated out 2nd annual Poem in Your Pocket Day and what a celebration it was! Students were reading poems on the playground, in the office, in classrooms, in the library, in hallways….poetry fever was contagious!
The idea was simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month (or write your own) – then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends.
Poems from pockets were unfolded throughout the day and shared. This is a fun, national activity that has been done annually since 2002.
Click here for highlights from this year! http://animoto.com/play/vx9Z3gW5hZIlXpz0k4JOLg