PebbleGo Polar Animal Reports Finished!

They are done and my students (and I) couldn't be happier! The reports turned out better than I anticipated! Check out my previous posts about PebbleGo Polar Animal reports posts 1 & 2. After completing our reports my friend and technology in teaching inspiration Angie Kalthoff (@mrskalthoff) came to my classroom to help my students use various apps to record their reports. For every student she had them make a video using the ChatterPix Kids by Duck Duck Moose. They turned out super cool! Check them out below! She also had some students use YAKiT Kids and 30 Hands to see how they would work with Kinderfriends. Be on the lookout for more posts about those apps coming up!

For the final touches on our reports I created a QR (Quick Response) Code for each video so that my students and others can access the awesome work they did! I will write a post later detailing how to do that. I will post their reports with the QR Code on the cover page so that my students can use our iPods during reading and academic play to listen to the others' research reports. What a fantastic way to get my students hearing informational text full of vocabulary words while they are showcasing their author and speaking skills. But the BEST part...it is all independent! This is all them and they are taking such pride in their work. I can't wait to show the parents at conferences in a few weeks!

The front of a completed project with QR Code

 

The back of a completed project.
The students read what they wrote for the speaking part of ChatterPix Kids

But for now I wanted to share the final products so you can see for yourself how easily you can integrate research reports with technology (by my last count we used 3 different forms of technology here: Chromebooks-PebbleGo.com, ChatterPix, and QR Codes! in KINDERGARTEN nonetheless! If we can do it so can you, I promise!!!) I love when my brand new ideas work out....especially when they work out so well! From their ability to self direct their learning to recording facts and vocabulary words my students worked hard and had fun doing it! Great job Kinderkiddos!!!

Pebble Go Polar Animal Research Report

Bring on the research reports! I used to be TERRIFIED of our research report standards. Not because I don't love teaching students all about how to research something, as they truly enjoy merging being scientists and authors. But as a Kinderkiddo teacher it has always been difficult to find a way to provide the same high quality materials to all of my students, including my non-readers and new to country EL students who need significant vocabulary support. Well I am afraid no more because of my most recent find, and now favorite website for science and social studies, PebbleGo. Click here to learn about how I discovered it and how we used it for researching Needs vs. Wants in my Kindergarten classroom. I'm such a fan of this website that I wanted to use it again as the database for our polar animal research reports that I do every January. This is an introduction to nonfiction research reports, a way for us to start to understand what researching a specific topic means. Plus we get to work on our speaking and listening standards as well. In the Spring my students will complete a full length, in depth research report about various farm animals. But for now what better way to get started in the research project process than learning about something relevant here in cold Minnesota-polar animals!

PebbleGo has an entire section of polar mammals in their animal database. In years past I have limited my guided reading groups to learning about 1 animal per group, making it easier for me to focus their learning and keep everything organized. Tough, because as I mentioned before, finding appropriate on level nonfiction animal books with enough meat in them to write a project about is agonizing. And it limited my students ability to choose what they wanted to report on. By utilizing PebbleGo this year it will allow the students to each choose which animal they want to research....LOVING the choice factor here!!! In fact, they will get to investigate all of the polar animals on PebbleGo for a few days before choosing their favorite. Talk about maximizing learning and expanding our knowledge base! Remember that PebbleGo has audio built in for each subject, so the words are read aloud to the students while being highlighted. The students can click on vocabulary words in the text to hear a brief kid friendly definition. Many subjects have a short video clip, providing further understanding for visual learners. Perfect informational text for all of my Kinderkiddos, no matter what reading level they are at!

Here is my plan for the next few weeks to conduct our polar animal research reports:
1-Students will spend their independent time for the first week on the Chromebooks in my classroom (15 min a day) investigating all of the polar mammals on PebbleGo. I have the page linked to our SymbalooEDU page, making it easy for students to locate the correct site and maximize their learning time at the computer. Read more about how I use SymbalooEDU in my classroom here.
2-On Thursday of week 1 I will introduce the report sheet in guided reading groups and tell students that they need to think about what animal they want to complete their report for.
3-On Monday of week 2 I will ask each student which animal they will be reporting on. In our guided reading groups we will review the report sheet and discuss how good researchers gather information and listen for key words. I will then give each student their first copy of the report sheet to take notes on for the week as their rough draft. Because we are beginning writers I except mostly pictures with some sound spelling for labels and descriptions. FREEBIE! PEBBLEGO POLAR MAMMAL RESEARCH REPORT!
4-Students will fill out their report independently during Chromebook time throughout week 2.
5-On Friday of week 2 students will complete their final draft copy of their report, focusing on editing and adding details during our guided reading groups and whole group literacy times.

6-During week 3 I plan on having students create a presentation for the class using either Yakit Kids or Chatterkid. Haven't decided yet on which one,  but I will let you know when I do! Students will then get the chance to share their presentation with the entire class!

By utilizing an amazing online resource, adding a simple writing prompt and finishing with a fun creative app my students are taking their nonfiction learning into their own rockin' researcher hands! Check back to see how it goes and the final projects!

Day 3 Pebble Go and Needs vs Wants

Last weekend at TIES I had the pleasure of meeting with a Capstone Library vendor and they were showcasing Pebble Go. I fell in love with the product immediately! Pebble Go is described on their website as an emergent reader research solution. It is a website with science and social studies databases including Animals, Biographies, Social Studies and Earth & Space. Basically it is a one stop shop for information about a wide range of science and social studies topics, perfect for your research projects and information gathering needs. Here is why I'm a fan:

-the featured topics.  The variety of topics included in each database is extensive. The topics address many of the Kindergarten science and social studies standards, including needs vs wants and living vs non-living.  I'm also a sort of dinosaur geek so I LOVE that that's there as well!

-the appropriateness for my Kinderkiddos. At Pebble Go I don't need to worry about external ads or my students learning things that they shouldn't be (ummm hello not everyone needs to know the mating rituals of a praying mantis!) Each topic highlights basic information with easy to understand text and clear images.  There are videos that go along with many of the topics as well, providing my students with an extra layer of learning and engagement.

-the ease of use.  I love that there is a read aloud button for everything. In order to maximize their learning about non-fiction topics my students must have access to speakable text.  While we are working hard on our decoding and sight word acquisition, reading this type of material is difficult for even my highest of readers. Pebble Go allows my beginning readers to access meaty informational text by providing easy to use read to me features. And if students don't know a word they can click on it to have a kid friendly definition pop up (that has the read to me function as well) Another great feature is the automatic text highlighting,which is reinforcing their reading and tracking skills while providing quality materials.

-the motivation it provides.  By allowing my students free access to high quality informational text I'm encouraging a variety of literacy and science skills.  They are active researchers, engaging themselves in a world that can take them to so many places, and encourage them to go even further! Most of my students have never heard about ocean animals other than what is in Nemo. Now they can develop their sense of exploration and curiosity with many features of an ocean habitat. They are spending time researching and building their knowledge base about a part of his world that I wouldn't normally be able to take them to. They feel like experts and that does wonders for setting them up with academic confidence and success.

-the multi device capability.  Pebble Go works on desktops, Chromebooks and iOS devices. As far as I can tell all components of the website will work well, including the videos.  I like this as my students can log in with whatever device they have at home to keep on learning!

-the ease of adaptation into multiple standards. Using Pebble Go as a starting point for many classroom projects allows me to incorporate a variety of writing, speaking and listening standards along with the social studies & science standards that are naturally apart of the website.  For example, we are discussing our social studies standard of needs vs wants right now.  I created a writing page for my students to use as they accessed the Pebble Go databases. Students are applying what they are hearing and seeing by making text to world and text to self connections. After students completed their projects, we worked on our speaking standards when we shared our findings with the group. We made great connections to each other and the scientific process when we discovered that most of us located the same ideas for needs. Then we utilized our comparing and contrasting strategies to study what everyone recorded for their wants.  It was easy for me to see what level my students are at in the Blooms Taxonomy scale, as some recalled information from the website while others applied what they heard to their own lives.  By adding this simple writing prompt my students were engaged researchers gaining knowledge about not only social studies, but about the many similarities and differences that make up our classroom. I've posted some of their finished work in the pics (notice the reoccurring Frozen image in the wants section) and just click on the writing page below for your free copy!  Feel free to just print and log in to Pebble Go (they offer a free trial) to try it for yourselves! I don't think you'll be disappointed!

I'm in the process of creating a writing sheet for Holidays Around the World and adapting my Arctic Animal research project as well.   I'll be sure to post what we will be doing with that as I plan on incorporating some different apps as well to take our presentations to the next level! Be sure to follow my blog or on Twitter @teachernorman to make sure you don't miss anything!

PS I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with Pebble Go. They didn't compensate or pay me to write this.  This is just the ramblings of a Kindergarten teacher who likes to shout from the rooftops when I find something that I think can benefit my students. That said, if you or someone you know works for Capstone feel free to pass along my info and hook a teacher up!