I'm Katie Lyon and I'm a 2nd grade teacher, VP and blogger at Mrs. Lyon - Teaching: The Art of Possibility. On my blog, I share classroom tips, teaching ideas, and classroom resources. I'm a big fan of technology, and am in charge of our school's 1:1 iPad program. I share tech tips that can be applied to the classroom.
As a Catholic School Teacher I am able to incorporate in our Catholic holidays within the curriculum and Easter is no exception. One of my favorite activities that I do with my kids is our QR Code Easter Egg Hunt. However, if you aren't able to celebrate "Easter" this could easily be adapted without using that word. :-)
Making the QR Codes with riddles and the final prizes.
I begin the day by grouping my students into groups of four. After that, they are given a puzzle or activity of some sort that they need to solve. Once they have figured out the answer, they bring it up for me to check. If the answer is correct, I give them a QR Code that I created. When they scan the QR Code, they are given a riddle of sorts which will lead them to another teacher's room. When they get to that room, one student goes in and tells the teacher what the password is that they were given on the riddle. If the password matches what I told that particular teacher, they are given their groups colored egg (each group is assigned a color so they only get their eggs). If it doesn't the teacher tells them they have the wrong teacher. Within the plastic egg are letters which they will use for the final puzzle. After getting their egg, the group comes back to me for the next puzzle. Once they solve that, they get another QR Code from me with a riddle and it continues through six puzzles or activities. They collect six eggs total (some contain more than one letter). The final puzzle requires them to unscramble the letters they got in the eggs, which spell out the final location of the prize - PRINCIPAL. :-)
The students truly enjoy this activity and it's pretty simple to set up.
Here is what you will need:
My clues - each leads to a different teacher
and the final to the Principal
6 plastic colored eggs in 4-5 different colors (depending on how many groups you want. I usually do groups of 4 or 5 kids)
Letters to put in the eggs which will spell out the final location of the prize when unscrambled.
7 different riddles - the last one should lead them to the prize.
7 QR Codes (I color code mine) that when scanned give the students the riddle
7 different puzzles or worksheets that need to be completed accurately
Prizes for the winners (I do class cash, free homework pass, and fun pencils. Depending on the place the group comes in, it gets less and less for each one)
I do 4-5 new QR Codes that when scanned tell the group what their prize is. So one code is for 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place and so on.
QR Codes for the riddles
My favorite activities are usually freebies from Teachers Pay Teachers. However, rule of thumb - if you grab a freebie from TpT, be kind and leave some feedback. :-) My all time puzzles that I do are the Hink Pinks and Hinky Pinkys. I particularly loved these ones: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easter-Hink-Pinks-Hinky-Pinkies-223996
I used them for three of my puzzles and the students would solve four at a time. They are challenging but fun! For the other activities I would usually do an unscramble of sorts, a brain puzzle, and a math worksheet.
Leave me a comment if you give this a try. I would love to hear how you adapted it for your classroom.
Last year around Easter I did an activity with my students in which
they had to solve riddles that would lead them to an activity they had
to complete. The riddles would bring them to another part of the school
(usually another teacher) and they would receive a plastic egg that
would either contain the activity or would contain the name of the
activity and they would get the sheet they needed from me when they
returned. Once they complete it and I checked it over, I would give
them another riddle and off they would go. The winning team was that
who solved all the riddles first and completed all the activities
correctly.
Multi-colored QR Codes
My students absolutely LOVED it! However,
since this year I'll actually be on maternity leave during Easter (only
3 more weeks before my due date!!!) I wanted to do something similar
with my current class. And of course, since we are addicted to QR Codes
in my classroom right now, I knew I wanted to involve those as well.
So, in honor of Valentine's Day my students completed The Valentine's
Day QR Code Hunt.
First, I created eight sets of QR
codes using QRStuff.com so I could make them in different colors. Each
QR Code was encrypted with a riddle that would lead the students to
another teacher or faculty member at the school. After I created the QR
Codes, I printed out enough of each one for my students and visited
each staff member to give them a copy of the QR code and the activity
they would give my student. It was important that I gave the other
teachers a copy of the QR Code that would lead the students to them so
they could make sure it was the correct color. If a student arrived
with a QR Code with a different color, the teacher would send them on
their way because they solved the riddle wrong. (It did happen a few
times.)
I started the hunt out by giving my students the following sheet. It explained what they would be doing, gave them a hint as to what the activities were and finally a place to put the QR Codes after they had solved each riddle. This also helped me because when a student completed an activity, they would bring it up to me, I would QUICKLY check it and if all was done to my expectations, I would give them a new QR Code. I could easily scan what QR Codes they had already been given because they were all in different colors.
This allowed me to randomly hand out the QR Codes so my students weren't all going to the same teacher at the same time. Now regarding the activities that the students were completing they all contained the same theme of Valentine's Day. I mixed together puzzles with math and language arts. And the best part about all of them - they were FREE!! (Not signed up for TpT??? - what are you waiting for - click here to do so now and find out what you've been missing!) I was able to download all the activities off Teachers Pay Teachers without spending a dime. However, I did make sure that I went back and left feedback thanking each of the teachers for putting in their time and effort in creating the products and listing them for free. Here is a list of the activities I used.
This type of hunt could be done at anytime of the year or for any holiday. It took me less than 20 minutes to get it all set-up (as a matter of fact I did it that morning). It kept the students engaged for a couple of hours while still having them learn. A win-win for us all in my book!
What did you do for Valentine's Day? Have you ever done a hunt like this before with your kids?
Last week we celebrated Catholic School's Week at our small but awesome school. Each day had a different theme that we focused on.
Monday was Jeans for Jesus Day. Students were allowed to wear jeans instead of their traditional uniform and school t-shirt. If students chose to participate they brought a $1 which we donated to the Missionary Childhood Association.
Tuesday was Service Day which is where each classroom focused their activities for the day around their Service Learning Project. In case you missed my post last year on our Service Learning, you can see it here.
Wednesday was Career Day and each teacher arranged to have parents or alumni come and talk to the students about their jobs. Students also got to dress up like their future profession and explain to the class what that was.
Thursday was Holy Men and Women Day. Students chose either a biblical character or a Saint to dress up as. Or they could just bring something to symbolize that person. The students spoke to the class about who they chose and why.
And finally, Friday was our mass celebration where the entire school went to church.
Overall, it's a fun (but exhausting week) for all involved. In addition to the daily activities, each teacher also had to complete two extra projects with their class. One was to lead our classes in writing a letter to their parents thanking them for the sacrifices they make to send their child to a private school. Most of the classes just wrote handwritten thank you letters for their parents. But since my kids and I am addicted to QR Codes, we incorporated that into our cards. First, students had to write a rough draft of the letter they wanted to give their parents. After I reviewed their draft, students used the App "Show Me" on their iPad to record an audio of their letter to their parents. Here is an example of one that my students completed:
After students completed their audio video, they then went to QRStuff to create the QR Code they would put into the thank you card they made. The QR Code was linked to the web address that their video was hosted on. They then copy and pasted that QR Code into the thank you card template we created in Pages. The front of the card had the words "Thank you" and a picture of the student and inside the card was the QR Code with a message to scan it with their smartphone (or their child's iPad) to see a video. The kids really enjoyed the whole process. One of my students compared it to the greeting cards you can buy at the store and record a message inside it. They are exactly right - except this card is hand created saving you about $6! :-)
In addition, they learned how to create the same codes I was creating for their math videos. One students even took this learning experience and applied it to their Science Fair project which they presented this week. On their presentation board they put a QR Code which when scanned showed them actually conducting the experiment. How clever!!
Front Side of Card
Inside of Card
The other project each class had to complete was an art project. The only guidelines that we were given was it had to tie into Religion. The project I chose could be used with ANY topic and the students were really proud of their final product. I found and printed out an outline of a cross with a dove that the students had to cut out. Next, they were given a piece of white construction paper and were instructed to paint it with their watercolors. While the watercolors were wet, they then sprinkled salt over it to produce a unique look. I was really happy with how they turned out. Here's some examples:
We had a great week but I'll admit it's nice to be back into our regular routine.
Do you celebrate Catholic School's Week? If so, what did you do?
February is coming up and you know what that means!! Love is in the air - and since one of my all time favorite loves is Math I decided to make a freebie for all of you. If you haven't already heard, Laura Candler over at Corkboard Connections is having a February Freebies Linky Party. Be sure to check out all the other awesome freebies that are available!
Okay back to what I have available. :-) Have your students practice their multiple digit multiplication with this fun little activity. And for those of you who have the ability to scan QR Codes in your classroom, I created the activity with the ability to use those too.
So pick your love potion and download this neat little freebie today!
We've all seen them. Those black and white square boxes that remind us of barcodes on tags, books, etc. Now we find them all over! And in case you didn't know, they are called QR Codes. They can be found on movie posters, on the back of books, in magazines, on products we buy - simply every where! Every once in awhile you may scan one and find it takes you to a website which will show you perhaps an advertisement of some sort, a movie trailer or perhaps something different altogether.
The more I saw these boxes in the world around me, I tried to think of ways I could use them effectively in my classroom. As many of you already know, my students are piloting a 1:1 iPad program, so having a device that could read the QR Code was not an issue. I've started with just one class and eventually will use them in more subjects once the ideas hit me.
We've started with math class. So often I will teach a lesson and walk through multiple examples with my students only for them to go home and for whatever reason blank on what was taught. They'll come back the next day, I'll go over more examples and the light bulb (hopefully) goes off! I thought, wouldn't it be more effective for them to see examples the evening they are working on their homework? Absolutely (in my humble opinion)!
With that being said, I have now started to create short videos (I try to keep them 5 minutes or less) that are filled with examples from that day's lesson. Now, I know that I can find plenty of videos already created with the skills I'm teaching, however, our particular math program is very vocabulary heavy. So I make sure that when I'm creating the video, I'm using the vocabulary the students are also learning in class. Plus, the kids get a kick out of hearing my voice compared to someone they don't know. This way, I also know the videos won't one day be gone unless I get rid of them. I'm organizing all of my math QR Codes in a notebook where I glue in a
copy of the sheet I hand out to the students. This way, I will only
have to make a copy each year and not completely recreate them.
Creating the videos IS EASY! I use an app called ShowMe which is free but there are tons of other ones out there you can use. The nice thing about ShowMe is that I can easily record my video and upload it and it will immediately post it on the internet for me. From there, I take the web address they provided and go to Kaywa QR Code Creator. I simply cut and paste the web address in and click on Generate Free. It automatically makes me a QR Code which I then take a screen shot of and create a document of it (just copying and pasting it over and over so I have an entire sheetful). I print and cut out the QR Codes and the students glue them into their math notebook with their notes from that lesson.
Kaywa QR Code Creator Website
Students have on their iPad the App called Scan and when they want to see the video, they simply open up their notebooks and scan the QR Code. It will automatically take them directly to the video where they can watch it. The videos are nothing fancy and don't take long to make at all.
I've had a great response since I began doing this (only starting on Monday). And for students who were absent for some reason, this helps them too since they can still see examples being completed by me. I look forward to figuring out even more uses for this nifty little codes. I really think there are a ton of possibilities out there.
I even created sets of QR Code Task Cards for students to practice math and language arts. Check them out at my TpT store.
Do you use QR Codes in the classroom? Share below!
After diligently working all year in our Social Studies book, I like to end the school year with our State Study Unit. During this time, students learn the location of all 50 states, their abbreviation and capital (including proper spelling). This is also when I find many of my past students (we are a PreK-8 school) walking extremely slowly by my classroom. Not because they are trying to get out of whatever is going on in their own classroom but because they hear a familiar tune. Many will even stop outside my door to sing the song with my class......what song? The Animaniacs Capital Song!!!! I kick the unit off every year by giving my students a copy of the lyrics to this extremely catchy song to help aid my kids in memorizing the capitals. If you have not heard this one yet, you need to listen to it!!!! My kids absolutely LOVE this song and many times during their tests on the capitals I can hear them humming the tune. It works!
I break the total unit into five weeks, with the aid of maps from Eduplace.com. This website has divided the country into four regions: Northeastern, Midwest, Southern and Western. I print out a copy of each map for my students and together we properly label the map for them to use as a study guide. Each week we work on a new region. Here is my breakdown:
Week 1: Northeastern States
Week 2: Quiz on NE States and begin Southern States
Week 3: Quiz on the Southern States and begin the Midwest States
Week 4: Quiz on the Midwest States and begin the Western States
Week 5: Quiz on the Western States and final tests on the capitals, abbreviations and location of all 50 states
Final state location test
I created weekly quizzes for the students to complete for each region. One quiz is for the abbreviations, another for capitals and yet another for location. While it seems like a lot, my students have actually said they like it because they usually are successful on one or another (if not all three!) During this time, I also print out some review sheets from Edhelper to create a packet that the students need to have completed by the end of the unit. Superteachersworksheets.com also has great packets and sheets.
NE Quiz
I also assign the State Project which is broken into two parts. One part is a report that the students complete using Google Presentation, where they research an assigned state. In addition to the report, students create a state float (think of a parade) which represents symbols and other things that state is known for. These are SO MUCH fun to see and listen to the students present. They get really creative.
This is one unit the students really enjoy! We play State Capital Bingo, a flashcard game and so much more. Even my students who typically struggle in Social Studies, typically find success with this unit and enjoy all the hands on activities and games we play.
In addition, I have my students use my QR Code Task Cards to practice identifying the states based on outlines and the state capitals. See them here in my TpT store.
.jpg)
Posts
