Dot Day Celebrations, 2016

Today is International Dot Day, and we've been celebrating all week long! Some of our South Prairie students participated in Google Hangouts with students at Dallas Center Elementary, sharing the alouds Mix It Up and The Adventures of Beekle the Unimaginary Friend.

After reading Mix It Up, Dallas Center Elementary students also read The Dot and "made their marks" with the app QuiverVision and the Dot Day coloring page.

To access the PDF, click here.

Students colored their dots, and with the app were able to see their dots become three dimensional. The app also creates images using their dots.

After reading about Beekle, our new partner classes--Mrs. Washington's 2nd graders and Mrs. Grant's 5th graders--created their own new unimaginary friends to share through the mail, and both groups are eager to read and work together again in future Google Hangouts!

Other first grade classes celebrated Dot Day by pairing Press Here with The Dot and then making their marks creating their own dot books.

Dallas Center Elementary fifth graders also celebrated Dot Day and made their marks digitally. After reading The Dot, students searched for dots all around the library, taking pictures of their finds. 

Then, using the app PicCollage, students created collages featuring all of their library dots. 

So much fun celebrating Dot Day again--be sure to look at our SnapChat and Instagram accounts (DCGLibraries) to see more pictures!

Celebrating Earth Day

Friday was Earth Day, and Dallas Center Elementary first graders celebrated in unusual style with a Google Hangout with Miss Jordan, an animal expert and educator with Animal Kingdom Florida!

Students have recently begun animal research using articles from PebbleGO, and our conversation with Miss Jordan gave students a unique opportunity to ask about their own research topics as well as any other animal about which they were curious! We also learned about Miss Jordan's day as she educates visitors to the park about the animals there. Even though Miss Jordan had our questions in advance--and answered many of them for us!--students were very eager to ask more questions during our Hangout.

Students' projects are still in process, but Miss Jordan let us know she'd love to see their work when they finish! So stay tuned--student work will follow!

Mystery Book Character Google Hangout

Before Christmas our friends in Mrs. Washington's 2nd grade class participated in a Google Hangout with their 5th grade buddies in Mrs. Updike's class for the second time. (You can read about our first Hangout here.) This time we held a Mystery Book Character Google Hangout!

Before the Hangout each class worked in small groups to choose a well-known book character and establish three clues to share with the other class. Mrs. Updike's classes' clues appear below:

On the day of the Hangout, a 5th grade small group met a 2nd grade small group, introducing themselves and sharing their group's clues. The other group then made a guess; if they were unsure, the group could ask one clarifying question before making a guess. 

Once groups shared their clues and made their guesses, students in both classes returned to their tables to work on the handout "My Favorite Book Character."

You can access the handout HERE.

Below are a few examples showing some of the 5th graders' favorite book characters:

Students' handouts were delivered to one another's classrooms so we could talk about favorite book characters. Our second Google Hangout was another success, and we're eager to continue our friendships with our friends at South Prairie Elementary!

We Did a Google Hangout!

Mrs. Updike's 5th grade class recently participated in a Google Hangout with Mrs. Washington's 2nd graders at South Prairie. It was a great morning for all of us--especially some of the 5th graders who'd had Mrs. Washington as a 2nd grade teacher. Our plan for the lesson was to read a book together, meet a partner & share two things we liked, and design and create a robot based on our partners' likes.

We began by sharing the book Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman in a read aloud. This was one of our Iowa Goldfinch Award books last year, so some of the 2nd graders recognized the story.

Students then introduced themselves to one another, giving their names and two things that they liked. Frequent, common likes were Minecraft, pizza, basketball & football, and chocolate. Students recorded this information onto a handout.

CLICK HERE to access the handout.

Finally, the completed robots are ready to send to our new 2nd grade friends! We're eager to continue our collaboration and look forward to "hanging out" again!