October 17 2014

Knights, Readers, Tweeters and Pre-Schoolers

Students in the Vanier Learning Commons have their own Twitter account. Follow us @VanierLC to see what we are up to. Here’s a sample:

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Take a look at these great reading areas in the Vanier Learning Commons. It’s enough to make you want to snuggle up and read a book!

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This week we were pleased to host the Strong Start program for some fun activities with the pre-schoolers and their families. We read some stories, we counted, we sang and we shared puzzles on the iPads. Yahoo!

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Be impressed! These Grade 1 and 2 students are learning to independently digitally show their learning. Students were able to locate apps, use in-app cameras to take a selfie, design a knights helmet (complete with the king’s colours), export to the camera roll and upload to Dropbox. Great work.

Designing Knight’s Helmets from Anna Crosland on Vimeo.

 

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April 17 2014

Getting a Strong Start in school

This week in the Learning Commons the Strong Start Pre-school came for a special activity morning. We learned all about pigs and showed our learning by creating a pig on a plate and using Magic Paint App. We also were pleased to invite pre-school children and their families to Ready, Set, Learn. We sang some songs and shared some stories. Thank you to all of the families and the visiting Strong Start facilitators who attended.

Some classes used Color Effects App to show the damage caused by natural disasters. We reviewed how to attach an image to a blog post and practiced using the district eBooks. Don’t forget, you can access this collection from your home. See Ms. Crosland if you are unable to access your account or if you have misplaced your password.

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April 5 2014

Chalkboard

Strong Start

Students in the ‘Natural Disasters Club’ began to use the fabric paint to create their T Shirts. They have been tweeting their progress on  https://twitter.com/VanierLC  There are 75 T Shirts hanging up to dry in the Learning Commons!  CLICK HERE to check out our latest STORIFY of student tweets.

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Ms. Dhaliwal’s class created Earth Day messages in the style of Todd Parr. We used more than one app (PicCollage and ProCreate) to create our work. This is called App Smashing. This favourite author even ‘favourited’ our tweet when we shared our work. Yahoo! Check out the student blogs for Division 5 at http://georgesvanierlibrary.edublogs.org

Plasticine App Smash

Division 9 AppSmashed ColorEffects and PicCollage to manipulate photos of their plasticine tsunami creations. We wanted to demonstrate the power and devastation of a Tsunami. Check out their blogs: http://georgesvanierlibrary.edublogs.org

Many students in Kindergarten to Grade 2 used chalkboards and Chalkboard App to respond to Bill Tomson’s picture book, Chalk. Students imagined what they would draw if their creations could come to life. Check out their great video:

Chalkboard from Anna Crosland on Vimeo.

 

 

Category: Digital Makers, Pirates | Comments Off on Chalkboard
February 14 2014

Avatars

Some Kindergarten to Grade 2 students created Avatars using the app IMadeFace. We also imported them into Doodle Buddy and turned our faces into Pirates.

Creating Avatars from Anna Crosland on Vimeo.

The Learning Commons has been celebrating how much Georges Vanier students LOVE learning. We learned about QR Codes and used the iPads to scan Valentine’s hearts. The QR Codes linked to examples of student creations. Some divisions took a screenshot and blogged “Celebrating Learning”.

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Strong Start Pre-School also joined in and the Love Bugs learned about caterpillars and made a Valentine’s butterfly. We had a full house and even had time to explore on the iPads.

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Our Natural Disasters club for Divisions 7, 8 and 9 is almost finished our novel, ‘I Survived the Japanese Tsunami’ and we will be next be creating with clay to make our own tsunami iMovies. Division 4 has been trying out the ProCreate App. Students are importing their art into PicCollage App and adding their poems.

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Did you know…?
Many students that bring their own devices to school are using the CardStar App to check out books from the Learning Commons. This is a free app that generates a bar code that can be read by the scanner on the Learning Commons computer. It works much like scanning a Starbucks card! The App uses the number on the front of the student’s planner. See Ms. Crosland if you would like help generating your own barcode.
Tip: Some students have taken a screen shot of the code so they do not have to open the App each time.

cardstar

Category: Book Circulation, Building Community, Digital Makers, Natural Disasters Club, Pirates | Comments Off on Avatars
January 30 2014

Experts at Uploading and Ted Harrison Art

 

Screen Shot 2014-04-13 at 3.59.44 PMWhat Do You Love? Come on by the Learning Commons and add to our banner. So far we love the beach, basketball, reading, our families, BFFs and much more. See Ms. Crosland for a marker and help us to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Stay up to date with student learning by following @VanierLC on twitter. Here’s the link to our latest stories: http://storify.com/Crosland_a

Division 5 and 9 learned about the art of Ted Harrison and used the Pro-Create App to make their own digital creations in the style of the famous Canadian artist. Check out their work on the student blogs.

Strong Start Pre-school celebrated Chinese New Year in the Learning Commons with a 3D horse colouring activity, horse pictures and videos. Grade One and Two students are learning how to use screenshots, photo editing, the camera and dropbox to save and share their work. Check out their 45 second video.

Gr 1 and 2 create from Anna Crosland on Vimeo.

Grade 1 and 2 students in the Learning Commons at Georges Vanier Elementary create using Doodle Buddy, screen shot their work and upload to Dropbox independently.
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November 13 2013

Strong Start / And more pirates…

Pre-schoolers and their families are able to visit the Learning Commons for early literacy activities. We share ideas for encouraging children to develop an interest in books and explore apps that promote skill development on the iPads. This week, for example, we read ‘The Wheels on The Bus’ and made all the sounds for ‘And the Train Goes…’. We watched a video and sang along with ‘Five Little Monkeys’ and used an alphabet app to practise letters. It is a great opportunity for children and their caregivers to celebrate learning together.

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It’s a Multi-Step Process…

Several classes have been demonstrating their learning about pirates using the Pic Collage App. This is a multi step app that gives students another way of sharing what they have been exploring in the Learning Commons. In creating an image, students first locate pictures from one of our pirate books that they feel reflects their ideas. To use the app, students must be able to locate the app icon, select the camera, frame the photo and take the picture, decide if the picture is clear or retake it, manipulate the image size and orientation, select the text option, add their words, decide on a font, size, colour and background, arrange their images and save to the photo album. It’s a lot of steps and students are proud of their accomplishments. The projects are either uploaded to the individual student’s blog or later added to a video featuring the work of multiple classes.

Div 14 Pic Collage from Anna Crosland on Vimeo.

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November 12 2013

Pre School Library / Extreme Weather Text Features

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Families in the Georges Vanier community are now able to access new books for Pre-Schoolers! We have a new library of excellent books for sharing with the little ones in your family. The children do not have to be enrolled in Strong Start or the Day Care to use this library. This is a free program. Student leaders or Ms. Crosland will be available at lunch time to assist families with borrowing books. We hope that soon, families will sign out the books independently. Just put your name on a card, take out the picture card from the back of the book and put both cards in the sleeve on the wall. Easy. Take as many as four at a time, bring them back, and get four more. Books are a perfect excuse to cuddle your little ones and share a story. If you enjoy the little library, please tell your neighbours in our community and let’s get the pre-schoolers enjoying books at home.

Text Features and Tellagami from Anna Crosland on Vimeo.

Division 8 at Georges Vanier Elementary School used the Tellagami App to explain how text features help to understand information about Extreme Weather.

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November 4 2013

Books For Families

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Families in the Georges Vanier community are now able to access new books for Pre-Schoolers! We have a new library of excellent books for sharing with the little ones in your family. Student leaders or Ms. Crosland will be on hand at lunch time to assist families with borrowing books. We hope that soon, families will sign out the books independently. Just put your name on a card, take out the picture card from  the back of the book and put both cards in the sleeve on the wall. Easy. Take as many as four at a time, bring them back, and get four more. Books are a perfect excuse to cuddle your little ones and share a story. If you enjoy the little library, please tell your neighbours in our community and let’s get the pre-schoolers enjoying books at home.

 

 

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November 19 2012

Strong Start

Georges Vanier School houses a Strong Start parent participation pre-school. Families often visit the Learning Commons to share stories and songs and to practice listening and learning together. Today was another full house as we listened to Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons.

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