We Celebrated Digital Learning Day at Van Meter Today!

Today was Digital Learning Day.  "Digital Learning Day is a nationwide celebration of innovative teaching and learning through digital media and technology that engages students and provides them with a rich, personalized educational experience," as the site states.  

At Van Meter, we celebrate creating, connecting and collaborating digitally every day. Today was no exception.....except for the fact that we were celebrating with over 2 million other students from around the world.  How exciting is that!  

In the morning I spent the day with Ann Volk's 3rd graders in the computer lab.  They have been creating digital projects highlighting the books they read with their Lit Circles.  We let them choose from digital tools such as GlogsterEdu, Animoto, ComicLife, FlipSnack and Wordle to create their book project.  

We created the Volk's Reading Project wiki to hold this project and others throughout the school year.  

And here are a few of the projects.....

Next I helped the 5th graders work on their wonderful science fair presentations.

I thought it was so much fun seeing them bring the laptops to the computer lab as well.  They were using the desktops to research and the laptops to complete their Keynote or Powerpoint.

Next week they will learn how to upload their presentations into SlideSnack to share with our school community and globally.  I cannot wait to see their final presentations and attend the science fair.

In the afternoon, Staci Braun's 4th graders Skyped with Steve Gagnon's 4th graders in New Hampshire. Steve's students asked me on Twitter last week if they could teach one of our grades about Multiplication Spiroleterals.  So we planned a time, sent a few tweets back and forth, and planned a fun math activity in the lab.  

 

 

 We also got a little help from Mr. Gagnon himself.  It is always great having him visit us at Van Meter. 

And they taught not just our students, but our teachers too.  

What amazing teachers they were.  

Our students are going to continue the project in their classroom.  When finished, they will Skype with Mr. G's class again and show them the Spiroleterals they created too.


You can also read Steve's post about our connection at his blog, Mr G Class. 


What a FUN day to lift up digital learning within our school, throughout our state and into the world.


We are excited to see how others celebrated digital learning too.