World Education Games

  Bon Air Students are getting ready for the World Education Games next week! Practice has started and our student ambassadors are anxiously awaiting Day One of competition. Of course we have very important mornings next week with ISTEP and our main focus will be doing well on our tests. However in the afternoons ....LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Mark your calendars and join us!

The World Education Games have been created for students aged 4 - 18 years. The age categories for students and teachers are:

Junior Primary/Elementary: Ages 4 to 7
Primary/Elementary: Ages 8 to 10
Middle: Ages 11 to 13
Senior/High: Ages 14 to 18

The competition dates are March 5th World Literacy Day, March 6th World Maths Day, and March 7th World Science Day.

Still not convinced? Watch the videos below.......hopefully we will see you online on competition day!

Register today at http://www.worldeducationgames.com!

How to Split Screen or SNAP in Windows 7

Students in Mrs. Sale's room learned some new features of Windows 7 during their class. Their assignment was delivered to them via their teacher's Blackboard course. The assignment requested that they explore the topic of Pearl Harbor using a web article, an infographic, and a Safari online video. During their research they were to type a half page summary about all the information they had learned. To make this project more manageable students were introduced to the skill of split screening also called the SNAP feature. Split screening is a feature available to any users on Windows 7. Split screening gives the ability to work in two windows at one time. Students could have their video playing on the left hand side of the screen while simultanesouly typing their summary on the right side. See photos below.

To use the split screen/Snap feature follow the steps below.

1. Open two applications you'd like to work with and maximize both screens.
2. Click the title bar of one of the windows, hold down your left mouse button and drag the window to the left side of the screen (towards the corner). When the window reaches the location, you'll see a faint rectangular outline.
3. Release your mouse button. This application will fill in the left side of your screen.
4. Move to your other application, click the title bar and drag the window to the screen's right side corner. Do this until the outline appears again.
5. Release the button and the second application will fill the window.
6. Both applications now appear side by side allowing the freedom to work in both screens.

Google Maps

Google Maps provides teachers a way to eliminate the restrictions of their classroom walls and take their lessons to another level. Google Maps is a web mapping application that offers satellite pictures, 360 degree street views, road maps, distance mapping, location photos, live webcams and weather information.  There is even a feature where you can walk directly from place to place as if you are currently standing in that location. Ever wonder what it is like to walk the streets of Italy, try it in Google Maps! Want your students to see Disneyland? Google Maps! Wish you could take your class to the White House? Visit it for free on Google Maps! This free application is a virtual field trip to anywhere in the world at the click of a button and much, much more!

This fifth grader is "traveling"through his country of choice during an exploration activity. He chose the Middle East to investigate. He is shown here viewing the "street view" and is walking down the boardwalk near a lake.

Ideas for using Google Maps in your classroom

• Measure distances between places
• Practice learning directions
• Visit a location before you go on a field trip
• Compare various types of landforms
• Visit a place of interest as a virtual fieldtrip
• Navigate roads in street view to get to specific locations
• Look up the weather in other places around the world
• Compare two places
• Look up the setting of the books you are reading
• Visit famous landmarks
• Look up places where famous people lived or were born
• Travel famous explorer routes
• Build background knowledge on unfamiliar topics
• Investigate areas very different than where we live

Kokomo Center Schools Fair

The recent Education Fair at Memorial Gym was a huge success! Bon Air Elementary and the future Bon Air Middle School were represented with surrounding neighborhood schools, magnet schools, and preschool programs at the event. Bon Air shared with visitors our views on 1:1 computing and technology integration initiatives. Parents who wish to have more information can attend school tours or informational parent night meetings throughout the month of February. See schedule below.

School Tour Week- Come see our students and teachers in action at 9:30am or 1:00 pm each of the following days. No reservations necessary.
Tuesday February 19th
Wednesday February 20th
Thursday February 21st

Parent Night Meetings
Thursday February 7th from 6:00-7:00 pm
Tuesday February 12th from 6:00-7:00 pm (elementary)
Thursday February 21st from 6:00-7:00 pm (middle school)

Any further questions please contact Paula Concus- 765-454-7030

 SWAT Student tech team answering questions and showing student devices.

 Check out the crowd!

 SWAT-Students With Access to Technology-Student Tech Team

 Troubleshooting an IPAD

Our booths from above

QR Code Scavenger Hunt

Ever wonder what these crazy black and white icons are on products and advertisements? These funny looking pictures are called QR Codes (Quick Response Codes), and they can be scanned to directly link to websites, videos, photos, or information of your choice. Armed with a QR Code scanner on your device, you can take a picture of these codes to save items to your phone, computer, etc. The QR Code eliminates the need to write down things or try to remember them for later. Whatever you scan is automatically bookmarked and saved to your device. Try it out! Download a scanner and try scanning the code on the right side of our blog or above. It will save this blog to your device!

Scanning a QR Code with his QR Code reader.

 

First graders in Mrs. Ralstin's room recently used QR Codes and their scanners to complete a digital scavenger hunt to review their nouns and verbs. Students scanned codes posted around the room. Each code was directly linked to a word. The students then took the words they scanned and categorized them into nouns or verbs. The lesson also helped them practice reading sight words and using phonics skills to sound out words that were unfamiliar.

 

Scanning QR Codes around the room.

 

Checking the scanning history.

Looking through his scanning history to categorize words into nouns and verbs.

 

Other ideas to use QR Codes in your classroom:

• Put QR codes on your read alouds and link that QR Code to the author's website or a video of the book.
• Put QR codes on biographys and link the code to more information about that person.
• Put QR codes on parent letters you send home that link directly to your webpage or email.
• Put QR codes on items around the room to help younger students learn the words associated with the objects when they are scanned.
• Put QR codes on items around the room and link them to the Spanish word for that object for students to enhance their second language skills.
• Put QR codes on homework, and when scanned the code would link to a helpful video tutorial to assist the kids in solving that problem.
• Put the answers to problems in a QR Code. When finished with a problem, have students scan and check their work.
• Have QR codes give hints or clues to solve a mystery.
• Have QR codes link to photos, place them around the school to help new students learn their way around.

Digital Learning Day!

HAPPY DIGITAL LEARNING DAY!

Please join us as we celebrate National Digital Learning Day with thousands of students across the country. We have a packed schedule of digital lessons from 9:00-3:00 in all grade levels 3-5.  Come check out lessons using webtools like Classroom Dojo, QR Scavenger Hunts, Virtual Manipulatives, Blackboard, Video and Audio Recordings, Animoto Photo Collages, Skype, ActivEngage, and much much more! See you soon!

Skype

Nine of our elementary classrooms are partnered with ePals surrounding the globe. Together we communicate with nine different countries/areas. (You can see our partnerships below.) Our teachers exchange emails back and forth monthly with their Epal friends using the ePals online learning community. Some teachers communicate as a group and others have individual partners. We have shared information about our culture in Indiana and the United States, found similiarities in our classrooms, and shared fun thoughts about our field trips and hobbies. We have also swapped many pictures back and forth.

Recently, Mrs. Parent's class met their Epals during a video conference using Skype. On a sunny winter day we held a short question and answer session with each other online. It happened to be raining outside in Columbia where their Epals lived. They were worried the heavy rain and winds would cancel their recess for the day. You can see where students posed questions into the camera to each other and waited for responses.

Check out some pictures from our Skype session and the rest of our ePal matchups.

Epals Matchups
Mrs.Houston's Kindergarten------> Mrs. Quintanilla in Mexico
Ms. Barr 1st grade-------> Mrs. Goulding in Australia
Mrs. Keck 2nd grade-------> Mrs. Jones in the United Kingdom
Mrs. Parent 2nd grade-------> Mr. Levinson in Colombia
Mrs. York 3rd grade--------> Mrs. Poliseno in Italy
Mrs. Fulk 3rd grade --------> Mr. Lozhkin in Russia
Mrs. Catt 3 grade -------> Mr. Kodjo Tetteh in Ghana
Mrs. Crites 5th grade------> Mrs. deVilliers in South Africa
Mrs. Heinig 5th grade-------> Mrs. Shan Shan in China