We Brought Our 2nd Graders On A Virtual Trip To Bloomsbury Farm In Iowa! You Can Too!

On Friday, we hosted our first virtual field trip with our 2nd graders and their families.  

We go on dozens and dozens of Skype in the Classroom field trips each year at Van Meter, but this time it was different because all of us were at home.  

In fact, as the end of the year comes to end for us in May and that is the time they take a lot of field trips to places like farms, zoos, science centers and other places around Iowa, we are taking all of our students on special virtual field trips throughout the month.  

To organize our ideas and plans for field trips, I put together a Google Document for teachers to add requests and for me to fill in with the details as I got them planned. This worked out really well and it was nice for them to see what the other grades were planning too. 

Our first virtual field trip was to beautiful Bloomsbury Farm about two hours away from Van Meter in Atkins, Iowa. 

As they shared on the Bloomsbury website,

At Bloomsbury Farm, we are taking the classroom to the corn!  

First, they have kicked off a new series of virtual field trip.  On the Bloomsbury Farm YouTube channel, you will find the first video,

Corn Farming #1 Planting the Corn Crop.  It is such a wonderful introduction to the farm and this series that Sammy Peterson hosts and created, along with her family who own and run Bloomsbury.

They are also hosting live virtual field trips right now so I signed up our 2nd graders to be part of one.

As the students and families got ready for our virtual field trip, I brought together lots of special things together on this Let's Learn About Bloomsbury Farm Choice Board where they can learn more about farms, planting, animals and butterflies. 

At the end, they can even go to Buncee to share what they learned and loved about the field trip. 

Check out the one that Mrs. Ferguson, one of our 2nd grade teachers, created as an example.  It is so cute and such a wonderful way to share what they learned through PebbleGo, eBooks and of course, with Sammy on their field trip. 

We had almost 80 students, along with their families, join the virtual trip. Sammy showed us so many amazing things on the farm.  She talked about the grain bins and farm equipment, 

explained how her dad, Farmer David, planted the fields with corn and...

...shared what they planted in the butterfly garden...

...and how to water and care for it. 

As Sammy headed to show us the animals, she stopped to get some feed for them and...

... talked about all of the ways corn is used. 

And the kids loved seeing all of the animals!  

It was definitely one of the best field trips and we are so lucky we all were able to go virtually. 

Thank you Sammy, Karen and David.  Bloomsbury Farm is such a special place and we loved spending time with all of you.  We can't wait to come back soon. 

You can follow them on the new Bloomsbury Farm Virtual Field Trip Adventures Facebook page too. 

NEW! Add Audio To Your Pear Decks To Enhance Remote Learning & So Much More!

As I work on a few new Pear Decks to go along with the PebbleGo Adventures for next week, I wanted to share something I am super excited about.  

Last week, our friends at Pear Deck announced...

 

...we can now Add Audio to any of our slides!  

This is going to be such a game changer for our students and teachers, and families as we currently focus on remote learning and as we think about returning to the classroom too. It will enhance learning in so many ways. 

I love that I can add a message to the slides to invite them to learn, do a social emotional check, explain directions, share a celebration, state learning targets, read a passage, guide pronunciation and so much more. 

By attaching audio, I will also be able to use this feature in professional development with teachers and librarians, adding directions, tips, step-by-step instructions on how to use Pear Deck and other digital tools and app, messages of encouragement and other fun.  

And what about families?  It will be so special adding audio to Pear Decks that encourage, support and give them helpful tips on using resources; support their children in remote learning; to share school news and announcements and even things like the Van Meter Virtual Book Club we are kicking off this weekend in our community. 

The possibilities are endless! 

It is super easy to add audio to your Pear Decks.  All you do is click on the Add Audio button in the right hand corner, as shown in the image at the top. 

The Add Audio box will pop up.  This lets you record or upload an audio file.  Students can listen to the audio within the Pear Deck or download it on their device. 

You can visit the Pear Deck site to read more about it here. 

My NEW PebbleGo Webinar Recording Is Here! And All Of The Resources Too!

On April 30, I had so much fun sharing ideas and resources for using PebbleGo in distance learning and all year long. 

I shared some handy tips for setting up PebbleGo within these projects too! 

And guess what?

The recording is now available for you to watch if you haven't or watch again if you have additional questions. You will find it here, friends.