Other Activities
Self-Portraits
We created self-portraits using the camera app on our Chromebooks. OK, this was an easy project as far as the computer goes, but hey, I don't have 21 mirrors in my classroom, so the webcam came to our rescue!
The students opened up the camera app and adjusted the screen so that they could see themselves. To get them motivated and get the sillies out, I told them they had 2 minutes to make funny faces. When the 2 minutes were up, they had to really look at themselves carefully. We discussed what we saw: teeth (some missing!), eyebrows & eyelashes, ears & earrings, nostrils, even eyecolor and tongues were noticed!
Next I passed out paper, and the students got to work using only pencil to draw what they saw. I was so pleased to see many drawings include so much detail! When they finished drawing with pencil, they traced the pencil lines with black sharpies.
At this point, we closed the Chromebooks and put them in the cart for safety - we were ready to watercolor our portraits! (A few students chose to use crayon instead of painting) Check out how adorable they turned out!
The students opened up the camera app and adjusted the screen so that they could see themselves. To get them motivated and get the sillies out, I told them they had 2 minutes to make funny faces. When the 2 minutes were up, they had to really look at themselves carefully. We discussed what we saw: teeth (some missing!), eyebrows & eyelashes, ears & earrings, nostrils, even eyecolor and tongues were noticed!
Next I passed out paper, and the students got to work using only pencil to draw what they saw. I was so pleased to see many drawings include so much detail! When they finished drawing with pencil, they traced the pencil lines with black sharpies.
At this point, we closed the Chromebooks and put them in the cart for safety - we were ready to watercolor our portraits! (A few students chose to use crayon instead of painting) Check out how adorable they turned out!
Pencils Down
Today we were having quite a lot of problems with students playing around in Sketchpad while they were supposed to be drawing their math problem. They were playing with the different tools, erasing and re-drawing, etc., even after I had given them ample time to play around on the app when we first got it. I decided to implement a "Pencils Down" procedure to alleviate this.
First we had a talk about how our work is being saved online so we can show our parents, and how it is our "work" that they want to see, not us "playing around". Then we practiced our new procedure. I told them they only had a very short time to draw what I instructed, and that when I say, "Pencils down", they are to stop drawing, whether they are finished or not, and put their hands in their lap - no touching the screen at all! I told them to "draw three cookies," and I watched them closely. When a couple were done, but most were still working, I gave the command, "Pencils down!" Most did very well; a couple needed one final reminder that their computer would be taken away if they didn't follow directions immediately. We practiced again. "Draw 2 cars" ... pause ... "Pencils down!" This time everyone listened immediately. We did this a couple more times to cement the procedure for now. I suspect we'll need to practice this every couple of days for a while under it becomes second nature.
First we had a talk about how our work is being saved online so we can show our parents, and how it is our "work" that they want to see, not us "playing around". Then we practiced our new procedure. I told them they only had a very short time to draw what I instructed, and that when I say, "Pencils down", they are to stop drawing, whether they are finished or not, and put their hands in their lap - no touching the screen at all! I told them to "draw three cookies," and I watched them closely. When a couple were done, but most were still working, I gave the command, "Pencils down!" Most did very well; a couple needed one final reminder that their computer would be taken away if they didn't follow directions immediately. We practiced again. "Draw 2 cars" ... pause ... "Pencils down!" This time everyone listened immediately. We did this a couple more times to cement the procedure for now. I suspect we'll need to practice this every couple of days for a while under it becomes second nature.
Rules for Our Computers
As a class, we brainstormed several rules that we should follow when using our computers. The students were very smart in knowing already how they should treat their chromebooks!