The beginning of the year means a focus on expectations and procedures, even in the library! To spice up this timeworn topic, Ms. Ricter added in some new technology to the third, fourth, and fifth grade lessons this year. In third grade, students went on a QR code Scavenger Hunt around the library to review the library expectations. Fourth and fifth graders brainstormed ideas about different library rules with a group and then used the Quizizz app to test their knowledge. They had lots of fun using this app, which is similar to Kahoot, especially since it shows a silly meme picture after each right or wrong answer!
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Today's blog entry is a guest post from Ms. Ricketson, originally written for the BPE Bobcat Blog:
Bloxels' spin on game programming brings us a blast from the past that pays homage to old- school 32 and 64-bit gaming classics like Pac-Man, Frogger and Super Mario Bros. Pixel art was a huge part of the arcade generation's appeal and Bloxels has found a way to combine retro pixel art with new-school programming. In this lesson, the Librarian and Ed Tech teamed up again to invite Ms. Matus' 3rd graders to build, capture, design, and program their own games. After Ms. Ricter introduced the basics of how to use Bloxels, teams of three used sketch grids to plan their game. Each student was initially assigned as a board builder, designer, and play tester, roles that rotated throughout the lesson. After calibrating their boards, teams of students built their beginning platform design on the 13 x 13 grid with differently colored cubes. After zapping the board with their the free Bloxels' app, students changed the cubes into pixel art that could be programmed as animations, coins, environmental features, and enemies. Watch out arcade enthusiasts, old-school gaming is back and better than ever! Locks, hidden messages and invisible clues couldn't stop our third grade escape artists as they worked together by activating their critical thinking skills to save our school from evil doers! Using the Breakout EDU boxes generously donated by Booster Club, each class was given forty five diabolical minutes to solve puzzles that unveiled combinations to a series of locks on their Breakout boxes. These Houdinis watched video clues, decoded secret messages in Morse Code, and even discovered a clue written in invisible ink! Breakout EDU is an educational twist on an escape room scenario that can be customized to fit curricular material. Our ed tech, Ms. Ricketson, and our librarian, Ms. Ricter, teamed up in April to co-teach a modified BreakoutEDU lesson focused on the important skill of digital citizenship by Nancy Minicozzi. The ultimate goal was for students to use their new knowledge to save Captain Digital Citizen's (played by Ms. Ricketson) passwords, which had been stolen by evil genius Noncop E. Right (played by Ms. Ricter). All of the third graders demonstrated teamwork, flexibility, and determination as they raced against the clock to help Captain Digital Citizen. They jumped into this new learning opportunity with great enthusiasm and ended up having a blast! Today's blog entry is a guest post from Ms. Ricketson, originally written for the BPE Bobcat Blog: Imagine if you were a pirate with a knack for pet sitting who just needed a better designed cooking utensil to make your favorite stew without poking yourself in the eye? Well, in the design-thinking lesson, BPE 3rd-5th graders were asked to work collaboratively in teams of 3-4 to experience a Shark-Tank style design-thinking challenge inspired by a Extraordinaires Design Studio kit. Ms. McLaughlin, our Instructional Partner, Ms. Ricter, our librarian, and Ms. Ricketson, our Educational Technologist, created this lesson to work students through a few of the steps of the design-thinking process. Each group was given a client (evil genius, pirate, fairy, military man, merman, vampire, and more) and an object (cooking utensil, toy, time keeper, container, vehicle, etc.) to design for their client. On the back of each card there were several vignettes of the client's life that invited students to make inferences about their client's life and empathize with their client. Students then worked together to come up with a design and pitched it to another team to illicit feedback. Check out just a few of the amazing creations below from our fantastical designers! On April 18th, fourth and fifth graders had the opportunity to meet authors Karen Rivers and this year's Newbery winner, Kelly Barnhill. The authors talked about their writing process, the inspiration behind their many novels, and answered students' questions. They even took the time to sign personalized copies of their books. Students came away from the presentation with the recognition that even the smallest, seemingly silly idea can evolve into a full-blown (potentially award-winning) book! We are so thankful to Book People for partnering with us to provide this wonderful experience. In connection with our social skill for the month of March (perseverance), Ms. Ricter read the book Beautiful Oops to all kindergarten classes. In this book, the author demonstrates that with a bit of creativity, mistakes can spark new ideas. After reading this book, students got a chance to participate in an art activity. Each student was given a different squiggle on a piece of paper and was tasked with transforming it into something new. It was amazing to see all the unique ideas that came from a single squiggle! Over the last few weeks, second graders have been working on a design challenge inspired by the book Horton Hatches the Egg. In that story, there is an elephant who sits on top of an egg waiting for the mother bird to return. The students' challenge was to build a nest that could protect an plastic Easter egg when "Horton" (a gallon jug of water) sat down on top of it. They came up with many creative ideas and demonstrated great teamwork! In first grade, we read the book Rosie Revere, Engineer and talked about this month's life skill, perseverance. In the story, Rosie gets discouraged when her flying machine crashes, but her aunt teaches her that "the only true failure comes if you quit." This week, first graders were shown how to create their own flying machine. Ms. Ricter demonstrated how to build the base model and then encouraged them to make modifications to the design.
Today's blog entry is a guest post from Ms. Ricketson, originally written for the BPE Bobcat Blog:
I'd have to say that our library is louder than ever these days! And one of the reasons for that is our amazingly adventurous and creative new librarian, Kate Ricter. In a 4th grade lesson about a virtual twist on digital storytelling, she explained how virtual reality has transformed certain books. Imagine that! Books that require programming, staging, and loads of creativity beyond writing and illustrating! Using the book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, an Apple TV, an iPad stand, and the app IMAG-N-O-TRON, Ms. Ricter showcased this award-winning story about people who absolutely love books. As she hovered her iPad over the book, animations magically escaped the printed page to jump about right out at her audience! Thanks for making reading even more magical, Ms. Ricter! This year's BookSpring Read-a-Thon was a huge success. We had 231 students participate in 33 classes, and we managed to raise a total of $25,451.58! Forty schools in Austin participated, raising $170,532.39 overall. That means that Bridge Point raised 15% of the overall total!
I want to thank everyone who read and donated money to support this worthy cause. Your generosity will enable BookSpring to purchase around 8,500 books for kids in Austin. That is amazing! While everyone who registered online received prizes for participating, we also had some extra special prizes awarded for our top readers, top fundraising class, and top fundraising student. Congratulations to these winners!
Thank you again for all of your help making Read-a-Thon a success. I know that next year will be even more incredible! Last month, kindergarteners and first graders had the opportunity to attend a presentation by local author, Kat Kronenberg. Her debut picture book, Dream Big, was released in January. The story follows various jungle creatures, who achieve their dreams by believing in themselves. During her visit, Mrs. Kronenberg talked about her own dream of some day publishing a picture book and then led students in an interactive retelling of Dream Big. It was a great experience and we are so thankful that Mrs. Kronenberg was willing to visit BPE! |
Library BlogMs. Ricter uses this blog to share information and photos of recent library activities and events. She updates it frequently, so be sure to check back regularly for new posts! Archives
April 2018
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