ABC Notes

Apostolic Briefings and Communications Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Villa Maria House of Studies Immaculata, Pennsylvania 19345-0200

Teachers who are indeed wise do not bid you to enter the house of their wisdom but rather they lead you to the threshold of your own mind.

-Khalil Gibran

IN THIS ISSUE Spring , 2013 Cover

Sister Monica Therese Sicilia, IHM

IHM Best Practices

Sister Margaret Rose Adams, IHM

For Teachers: Sister Adrienne Saybolt, IHM “Helping K-2 Students Struggling with Reading and Writing” Prime Times

Sister Elaine deChantal Brookes, IHM Sister Diane Richner, IHM Sister Sarah Ellen McGuire, IHM Sister Mary Elizabeth Gailey, IHM

Good Writer’s Club Good Writer’s Club Certificates

Sister Theresa Duffy, IHM

Technology: “IPad or “IFad”

Sister Jo-Ann Abate, IHM

“K-5 iPad Apps According to Bloom’s Taxonomy” “Remembering” “Understanding” “Applying” “Analyzing” “Evaluating” “Creating” Religious Education Section

Love

Creative Hope

Fidelity

Sister Helene Thomas Connolly, IHM Sister Marie Garman, IHM Sister Kathleen Marie Metz, IHM Sister Barbara Anne Browne, IHM Sister Carolyn Ann Bennett, IHM Sister Patricia M. McCormack, IHM

Love

Creative Hope

Fidelity

Love

Creative Hope

Fidelity

IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices

Making Your Content Stick in Your Students’ Minds Chip and Dan Heath came out with a wonderful book titled, Made to Stick in which they identify six key qualities of an idea that is made to stick. While the book was written to show why some ideas survive and others do not, it is well worth examining the six key qualities. Teachers always want every child to remember what they were taught, so consider the points listed here.

1. Simplicity. A concept that existed for a long time was that teachers who taught a primary grade at one point in their career really knew how to teach. Stop and think about this. Primary teachers know how to make something simple so young children can understand. Did you ever notice someone doing something really well and it looked so simple? The individual took something that was difficult and made it easy. How can you simplify your content for your students?

2. Unexpectedness. If you want to capture someone’s attention and keep it, do the unexpected.

Some teachers come dressed for the day’s lesson. Some teachers create a surprise in each lesson.

Think about the cliff hangers on TV shows that get you tuning in next week. What can you do in your classroom that is unexpected to get and maintain the students’ attention.

3. Concreteness. In education, you always want to drive the learning home. In math, always use those manipulatives even though they take so much extra time to prepare and distribute. If you use manipulatives effectively, you will cut the instruction time because students learn more quickly. Other teachers may come up with ideas such as creating a local town in your class with various jobs assigned to children.

Give them a salary and then have the public workers go and collect taxes in order that they may be paid.

4. Credibility. If they believe in you, they will believe in what you say. Be careful always to speak and live the truth. Teachers have great influence over the children in the classroom. Always act in a way that is credible to help your children in their learning.

5. Emotional. The saying goes, You can’t teach kids you don’t know. By this time in the year, you should have established an appropriate emotional attachment with each child in your class. Let the children know how much you care about them. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, People may forget what you say or do, but they won’t forget how you made them feel.

How will your class remember you?

6. Stories. Think about a homily you heard in church that you remember. Most likely, a story was attached to the homily and you remembered the story and then the message.

Teachers are story tellers. When the children are having a difficult time getting the concept, use a story to enhance the learning. If you need guidance in this, check out the parables in the bible and ask Jesus the master story teller to send his Spirit to enlighten your mind with a story for your class. Believe it or not, it will work more often than you think.

Do you want to remember one of the six key qualities to make things stick? Steven Covey, as well as Benjamin Bloom, states that what we teach we remember. Select one of the concepts above and teach a friend. Give them an example of how it worked in your classroom. Made to Stick is well worth the read.

IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices

IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices

Save Those Forwards There are many thought provoking video clips out there on the Internet.

Frequently people forward these and that can become annoying. As a teacher, perhaps it may be worth opening some of them to see if they contain teachable moments. Look for the three to four minute clips that caught your attention. Save it to your favorites and show it at an appropriate time. As Catholic School teachers, be on watch for the videos that contain a Catholic message. Be mindful that many Christian messages are appropriate in our schools; however, make sure that there is nothing contained in the video that would contradict any of our beliefs. Be sure to add time for a follow up class activity such as a class or group discussion or a short journal essay on the clip. Remember to always preview everything before showing it to a group of students. Here is one such example that you may find useful.

The Beauty of Mathematics http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=h60r2HPsiuM&feature=youtube_gdata_player Use Your Time Wisely The universal cry from teachers seems to be that they do not have enough time to teach. Whether you are in a school with limited preparation periods or a school with as many as seven, finding time to teach your content may be challenging. Some people would like to add time to the school day which might not be a bad solution; however, bussing and other activities may prove this impossible. The solution may rest in using the time that you have.

Being prepared for the day with papers run off for every child prior to the class, instructions written on the board or Smart Board, and making sure that the technology is working before students enter your class will make the class period go smoothly.

Research has proven time and time again that reading aloud to your students, regardless of their age level, improves the quality of student learning. You may read a short story or shorter novel over time.

Ask your colleagues or school librarian if they have any suggestions for read alouds for your age level.

Often teachers are found with 5 or 10 minutes at the end of a class period are waiting for students to arrive or for everyone to have the work completed. For these times, prepare instructional and fun activities. Consider doing some Catholic Trivia with your students. The following Catholic Trivia websites that are worth visiting. If you like them, save them to your favorites for easy access when you have limited time. http://www.livingourfaith.net/CatholicTriviaQuestion.htm http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Religion/Catholic-Trivia-8699.html http://stillcatholic.com/catholic_teachings.htm http://gwcatholicforum.blogspot.com/2010/01/catholic-trivia.html Consider having your students come up with their own Catholic Trivia game. You may use https://jeopardylabs.com/ to create jeopardy games for any academic subject. It is well worth your time exploring the jeopardy labs website and best of all, there is no cost involved.

Sources: Heath, Chip and Heath, Dan (2007). Made to Stick. New York: Random House.

Internet websites used are contained within the body of this article.

For additional information regarding the IHM Best Practices contact Sister Margaret Rose Adams, IHM at smgtadams@gmail.com.

IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices IHM Best Practices

HELPING K-2 STUDENTS STRUGGLING WITH READING AND WRITING Sister Adrienne Saybolt, I.H.M. The Common Core State Standards for primary grade Reading state that students will demonstrate accuracy (phonics and strategies), comprehension and fluency.

Unfortunately, fluency receives the least attention. So here are some suggestions from Joan Aldrich Knight (Bureau of Education and Research) that may help to improve that skill in primary students.

1) Praise children when they self-correct. Tell them that their reading should “sound like talking”.

2) If a child makes a mistake that doesn’t make sense, prompt with a clue from the story.

3) If the mistake does make sense (e.g. substituting a logical word for the actual word), prompt with clues about the way the word looks.

4) If a child stops altogether while reading, have him/her go back to the beginning of the sentence and try to figure out what word would make sense, look right and “sound like talking”.

5) After two failed attempts, tell the child the word.

Resist the temptation to turn the promptings into a lesson. The point of prompts is to keep the reading going smoothly. If the prompts become drudgery, they interrupt comprehension and could destroy the love of reading. (That’s another reason why number 5 above is very important.) Fluency can act as an assessment of comprehension, so you want the students to read smoothly and with expression. Therefore, keep prompts quick and to a minimum. Encourage the children to make their reading sound like talking. They should also try to keep eyes and mouth together at first rather than look too far ahead in the sentence. As emergent/struggling readers progress during the year, they should not point to each word as they read. This detracts from making it sound like talking.

Teachers can facilitate fluency by using a technique called “self-talk”. Read a passage aloud yourself, stop, and pretend that you’re not satisfied. Say things like, “That didn’t make sense. I should read it again.” Or say, “I never heard that word. I’ll have to remember to find out what it means.” This teaches the children that reading doesn’t have to be interrupted every time they are confused or meet a new word. Sometimes a context clue will clear up the confusion as they continue reading. “Self-talk” also models the strategy for them and teaches them that all readers (even good ones) have to reread and self-correct. Once you’re satisfied with the way you’ve read the passage say, “Now I get it!” A further caveat: do not confuse speed with fluency.

Comprehension can be assessed through fluency. It’s not wasted time to reread a passage aloud as a class (first with the teacher, then without the teacher). When you sense that fluency has improved ask students to read individually. Be sure to call on a struggling reader or two in order to check their progress. Don’t hesitate to correct a wrong word or mispronunciation. Otherwise a child could learn incorrectly. After emergent/struggling readers show improvement, wean them off pointing to each word as they read. This isn’t really reading. It’s calling out words!

Rhyming words Emergent or struggling readers often have trouble with the concept of rhyming. Therefore, avoid using words that have the same initial sound when teaching rhymes. Students could confuse alliteration with rhyming. Use pairs of words (some that rhyme, some that don’t). Children give a “thumbs up” if the pair rhymes; “thumbs down” if the pair does not.

Syllables Since syllabication can be another stumbling block for struggling readers, Joan Aldrich Knight offers the following tips: 1) Names: Begin by pronouncing the names of children in your class, and clap for each syllable.

2) Chin drop: Place a strip of brightly colored paper under your own jaw. Say a word of 2 or 3 syllables and let the children see your chin drop with each syllable. “Let’s count the number of times my chin drops. That’s the number of syllables in the word.” (Later you could print those words on cards, give a child the strip of paper and turn the activity into a center!)

3) Syllable Cheerleader: (This one also allows little ones to move during the lesson.)

Raise your right hand for the first syllable, your left for the second (e.g. pop-corn, sun-shine, out-side, cup-cake). Then raise your hands over your head and clap while saying the whole word.

4) Body taps: (This one is especially good for multi- syllable words.) For each syllable in the word, tap your body in this order: wrist, elbow, shoulder, head, (opposite) shoulder.

So hippopotamus goes like this: hip - wrist po - elbow pot - shoulder a - head mus - shoulder You could connect this later to the “chin drops” after the children understand the technique.

Word Wall One last plug for word walls this year. I have become increasingly convinced, not only of the value of word walls but of their flexibility. Non-traditional uses of these walls are so beneficial to primary children. By that I mean introducing clusters of words for family members, color words printed in their respective colors, holiday words (see previous article Winter ABCs). How about themed words walls?

This is where you cluster words that have to do with a science concept, religion topic, math vocabulary or a celebration. If you’ve been teaching the parts of a flower, post the words stem, roots, and leaves. If the class has been writing about Halloween post spooky, haunt, ghost, and candy. To avoid clutter, when these words have been displayed past their usefulness, take them down and glue them in folders decorated with stickers that give clues to their contents. These now become centers!

Blessings on all your preparation, patience and creativity as you continue to develop many techniques for helping children to become good readers and to love reading.

Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Immaculata, Pennsylvania 19345

February, 2013

Stations of the Cross Box

Leprechaun Hair

Have the children bring in and decorate a small box.

Each child will receive the following to put inside their box as you teach each station.

Station 1 Jesus is Condemned to Death ‐ string to represent the rope used to tie Jesus’ hands Station 2 Jesus Carries His Cross ‐ a small cross

Station 3 Jesus Falls the First Time

‐ a band‐aid Station 4 Jesus Meets His Mother Mary ‐ a plastic rosary to represent the Blessed Mother Station 5 Simon Helps Jesus ‐ a small heart to represent Simon’s generous help in carrying the cross Station 6 Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus ‐ a rectangular piece of white fabric on which

the children drew the face of Jesus Station 7 Jesus Falls the Second Time ‐ a band‐aid Station 8 Jesus Comforts the Women of Jerusalem ‐ a tissue for their tears Station 9 Jesus Falls the Third Time ‐ a band‐aid Station 10 Jesus is Stripped of His Garments ‐a small square of purple felt to represent His purple cloak Station 11 Jesus is Nailed to the Cross ‐ a felt or paper nail Station 12 Jesus Dies on the Cross ‐a crucifix Station 13 Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross ‐ a holy card depicting Michelangelo’s Pieta Station 14 Jesus is Buried ‐ a stone to represent the stone rolled in front of the tomb

This fun gardening activity will have your students “growing” with excitement! Give each child a small white cup. Using any medium, have them draw a leprechaun’s face on the cup. Fill the cup with dirt and plant grass seed in the cup. Water well and watch the seeds grow. You will see your leprechaun grow hair! You need to begin the activity about three weeks before St. Patrick’s Day in order to have enough “hair” in the cup!

He Lived Under a Rainbow (tune of B – I – N – G – O ) There was a little leprechaun, He lived under a rainbow.

R – A – I – N – ‘bow’ R – A – I – N – ‘bow’ R – A – I – N – ‘bow’ He lived under a rainbow.

There was a little leprechaun, He lived uner a rainbow.

Clap – A – I – N – ‘bow’ Clap – A – I – N – ‘bow’ Clap – A – I – N – ‘bow’ He lived under a rainbow.

Continue verses eliminating a letter in each verse until the last verse as follows:

There was a little leprechaun, He lived under a rainbow.

Clap – clap – clap – clap – clap Clap – clap – clap – clap – clap Clap – clap – clap – clap – clap He lived under a rainbow.

Adding My Words

This activity incorporates spelling and math. Assign consonants a numeric value appropriate to your grade level and do the same for vowels.

For example: Consonants are worth 3 and vowels are worth 2. Write the spelling words.

Then, total the value of each spelling word.

Example: said 3 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 10

THINK First

To encourage students to think about what they say, use the word THINK.

T = Is it True?

H = Is it Helpful?

I = Is it Inspiring?

N = Is it Necessary?

K = Is it Kind?

Math Minds Using the blackboard, whiteboard or chart, write different mathematical equations. Ask the students to identify expressions that are true and to explain how they know.

Example: 3 + 8 = 11

3 + 8 = 8 + 3

3 + 8 = 38

11 = 3 + 8

3 + 8 = 4 + 7

Change the numeral and equations for a quick mental math activity.

Website Word Activities Use the following website to type 10 spelling words.

It will create a scrambled list. Students work to unscramble the words. Students can also do this at home and challenge another student to unscramble words.

Using the same website a word search can be created for spelling words. This can be given as a classroom activity or homework assignment.

My Sentence Shamrock

www.scholastic.com/kids/homework/spelling.htm

Trace a shamrock on lined white paper. On the lines around the picture, print sentences that tell about the shamrock, St. Patrick, March, the color green, etc.

This activity can be used on any simple outline that children can print on, for example, flowers, flag, a famous person.

Silhouette can be used and facts about a person or place can be printed in pencil around the silhouette.

Butterfly Life Cycle Bracelets

Health Count

For a quick exercise, a student is chosen each day to decide on the exercise for the teacher and the class.

The teacher and the class will skip count during the exercise. Exercise the mind and the body and have some fun.

For example: touch your toes and count by twos

After teaching the life cycle of the butterfly, the following activity engages the student in a visual/tactile experience while reviewing the process.

Use different types of macaroni to make a bracelet to celebrate the life cycle of a butterfly. Use laminated strips of construction paper for the bracelet. Attach a small piece of Velcro to close it. Give each child a piece of pastina or a grain of rice which represents the egg, a type of squiggly pasta for the caterpillar, a type of shell pasta for the chrysalis and a bow tie pasta for the butterfly. Have the students use markers to color the pasta. Glue to the bracelets.

Name It

Dots Game

Write a word beginning with a letter in SPRING under each category. (The word can change and the categories can change)

This is an easy rainy day activity or just fun with spelling. Make a square of 4 rows of dots with 4 dots in a row. Before taking a turn, the player must spell a word correctly. If the word is correct, the player can connect two dots.

When a player forms a square by connecting dots, he/she can write his/her initials in the box. The player with the most squares at the end of the game is the winner!

This can also be done as a team game. The team that connects and forms a square puts the team name in the square.

Example: . . . .

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

Picture

A flower

Something you can eat or drink

Something you can buy at a store

L (ex.)

S P R I N G

Lily

Lemon Lock

Lumpy Leon

An adjective

Boy’/girl’s name

A Strategy Game for Two Students

Needed: 2 players, 9 objects, e.g. blocks, counters, etc.

The 9 objects are laid out between the two players.

Each player, when it is his/her turn, may remove 1, 2, or 3 objects. The winner is the player who, by their moves, forces the other player to pick up the last object.

Have the students write how their moves can force their partner to pick up the last object.

How can you change the game to include three players? Would the strategy change? Would you need more objects?

Printing Pots Each child has a paper pot. Each day that his/her copybook work is neatly done, the child draws a brown seed on the paper pot. When five seeds are accumulated, the student inserts a paper flower, made by the child and attached to a straw or pipe cleaner, into the pot. It is a great way to celebrate spring!

Arbor Day Activity

Have the children name as many different kinds of trees that they have seen or heard about. Teach the children about other trees they may not have seen or heard about using pictures and description.

Using the list of trees, have the children put them in alphabetical order.

Highlight the name of any tree that grows in your area.

Name the different ways that trees are valuable in our world.

How can I tell the age of a tree?

Where do certain trees grow?

What would happen if we had no trees?

What do trees give us that we need?

Other activities may include writing or drawing about what was learned.

Acrostic Poem

Choose three spelling or vocabulary words. Write an acrostic poem using those words.

Example: Fun in the sky

Laps around clouds

Yes! I am free.

Meaningful Manners

Summer Preparation

Encourage Kindness

Read to your class: “How Full is Your Bucket” for Kids

By Tom Rath ‐2009

Each of us has an invisible bucket. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it is empty, we feel awful.

What makes this book so special is the focus on a boy, Felix, and what happens to his bucket throughout his day. This charming book explains to children how being kind not only helps others, it helps them, too.

Felix begins to realize that everything he says or does to other people fills or empties their buckets as well as his.

Purchase an inexpensive bucket and shovel and have it displayed in your classroom to encourage your students to fill their buckets and others by being kind, generous, thoughtful, patient, and forgiving. The book can be re‐read during the course of the year to see how full their buckets are.

The children can have an outline of a bucket taped to their desks. At the end of the day, when it’s pack up time, talk about how they feel about the day and whose bucket did they help fill.

Create a bulletin board with little buckets and a child’s name on each bucket. At the beginning of the day, name a child who will be asked at the end of the day to point his bucket and a classmate’s and tell how he/she filled those two buckets during the day.

Make a list of all the ways a bucket can be filled with input from the children.

Examples: Sharing, kind word, playing with someone who has no one to play with, keeping your area clean, desks that are in order, helping someone stay on task, being a buddy at lunchtime or snack time.

Manners are a universal need. What better way to start the school year than reading Munro Leaf’s book, Manners Can Be Fun. This delightful book demonstrates that good manners do not have to be learned with nagging and more nagging. The irresistibly funny pictures and charming text make the elementary rules of courtesy and thoughtfulness easy to remember. Children can laugh while absorbing the rules of thoughtfulness and etiquette. To listen, cooperate, act graciously, and share, are invaluable lessons that should make children happy, well‐ adjusted, and secure.

Create a bulletin board “Grow a Garden of Good Manners.” Have manner words such as: Please, Thank you, You are welcome, May I, I’m sorry, displayed throughout the garden.

Have a flower pot in your classroom. An inexpensive plastic pot works well.

Print manner words on the outside of the pot and glue a few flowers around it. Each week the students can nominate classmates who have consistently used manner words and place their names in the flower pot. At the end of the week or month, whichever works for you, choose a name and place that name on your manners bulletin board.

Doing these activities on a regular basis should assist you in creating a classroom where good manners are nurtured and valued!

Websites

  



www.classroomjr.com – great activities for all occasions www.CatholicIcing –great Lenten ideas Holy Heroes Lent Adventures: Follow Lent with Holy Heroes! If you sign up for their free program, you will receive a daily e‐mail for each day of Lent. These are activities and great instructional videos. www.Catholictoolbox has Lenten lesson plans, activities, and links.

Blessings on all of your work with God’s children!

BrainPOP Featured Movie app for the iPad, Watch a different animated movie every day, then test your new knowledge with an interactive quiz – free! *“BrainPOP Explorer Subscription” – The free Featured Movie and its quiz plus four additional related movies and quizzes, rotating every day. $1.99 per month *“BrainPOP Full Access Subscription” – The free Featured Movie and its quiz plus unlimited access to all of BrainPOP’s 750+ movies and quizzes. $6.99 per month (A School could share one subscription.)

Futaba This is an engaging multiple player app for fast paced games These games, can be set to a specific skill or set to randomly display a mix. They have a pre‐k section with animals, shapes, transportation, and “things.”

There is a K‐3rd grade math section, geography, and Dolch sight words.

Also, they offer First Spanish Words and Japanese for beginners to learn the language. You can also add your own content and create your own game based on any theme you choose. $4.99

Toontastic is a storytelling and creative learning tool that enables kids to draw, animate, and record their own voice. This app is great for learning the story arch as well as enriching written pieces. Students can share their work electronically with their parents and classmates. The free version is enough to enjoy this app. I bought the full version ($9.99) as I intend on using with many assignments.

Too Noisy This is a simple classroom management app. If the noise level in a classroom increases beyond an acceptable level the noise level meter dynamically indicates the level of noise, and the background graphics within the app change to reflect the noise levels. Sensitivity levels are adjustable. Just turn the ipad toward the children and watch them glance at it and change their voice level. Also great when projected on the smart board during indoor recess!

ScreenChomp Share a great idea, explain a tricky concept, help kids with their homework...and do it from anywhere in three simple steps!

1. Touch RECORD to capture your touch interactions and audio instructions on a plain background, or an image from your iPad camera roll.

2. SKETCH out your ideas and talk the viewer through the "how" and "why".

3. Stop and SHARE your video snack to ScreenChomp.com to generate a simple web link you can paste anywhere.

Sushi Monster Scholastic’s new game to practice, reinforce, and extend math fact fluency is completely engaging and appropriately challenging.

The Pick Me! app is the perfect tool for teachers searching for a way to track formative assessment. Pick Me! will randomly pull a student’s name for you to call on and after they answer the question you record whether or not it was correct using the thumbs up or incorrect using thumbs down. The data is saved and ready to export to your email account at the end of class. With different settings, you can set Pick Me! to remove students that answer questions correctly or leave them in for additional chances.

MotionMath‐ Hungry Fish encourages mastery of basic addition and subtraction math facts and true number sense through a simple yet catchy game.

You are given a fish that can only eat certain numbers at certain times. Very young children need only to match the correct number to the number on the fish. In more advanced levels children will need to add numbers together to make sure the fish can eat them (5=1+4, 2+3, 5+0). The most advanced levels include larger numbers, subtraction, negative numbers and a faster pace (‐16= ‐4+‐12, ‐9+‐7 etc).

Splash Math games can be selected by grade level and covers math facts, money and time. The full version is $9.99 with over 200 lesson. The lite versions are good for enrichment during regular class time and is free.

Storia adds to the fun of scholastic book clubs. Free books are given at the time of download, and as gifts from the company at other times. Bonus point can be used to purchase ebooks. Storia features a built‐in children’s dictionary and pronunciation guide appropriate to each child’s age and reading level. Enriched ebooks – designated by a lightning bolt icon – complement the book’s theme, reading level, and developmental concepts and skills using such options as Scratch & See, Word Match, Sequencing, Multiple Choice with Text, Highlighting, and Note‐Taking.

Additional information:

Apps can be projected onto the smartboard with a connector cord that costs less than $30.00. At this time Apple does not have the technology available to make the apps interactive with the smartboard. To use an app for whole group instruction, either the teacher would be the one controlling the ipad or the children would have to come to the ipad to interact.

The iPad educational apps can also be used directly on the ipad as a “center” or shared within a small group.

These resources are excellent for one on one tutoring and/or to share with parents, especially as a fun way for a struggling student to practice at home

Grades 3 & 4 APRIL

MAY

Jelly beans are...

As red a tomatoes As green as trees As black as night, As yellow as cheese.

Mary, Mother of Jesus Be with us today.

Mary, our mother, Guide us on our way.

Grades 5 & 6 APRIL Reputation is what other people know about you.

Honor is what you know about yourself.

MAY Be alert to give service.

What counts a great deal in life Is what we do for others.

Louis McMaster Bujold

Grades 7 & 8 APRIL It is most important that we strive to develop an attitude of gratitude.

MAY We build character piece by piece: by thought, choice, character And determination John Luther

Spring, 2013

It is still too early for us to know what impact the iPad is having on teaching and learning. Learning does not take place when the device comes out of the box! As educators explore its potential the documentation will also develop. Meanwhile, teachers have to do their homework. I wonder how many teachers look for apps that support Bloom’s Taxonomy. Yes, I said Bloom’s Taxonomy. How educators approach iPad integration in their classrooms is essential. My intention is not to determine the benefits or the absence of benefits using iPads in the classroom, but to encourage educators to vet the apps they select more carefully. There are effective approaches in deploying the iPad. Yet, many have missed the mark for effectiveness and erroneously think that an iPad in the hands of every student is all that is necessary to elevate their school to a twenty‐first century institution. It is this misconception that makes it an IFAD school and not an iPAD school.

If you were to travel to one or more states in America, and visit any school district, you would most likely find iPads in the classrooms. Everyday we hear another story about a school purchasing iPads for a 1‐1 student program. Ian Quillan, who writes for Edweek, suggests, “...such rapid adoption of a device with such a short history means that figuring out the best educational use can involve a lot of trial and error. That reality has some educators wondering whether the investment is wise.” 1 Rob Residori, Literacy and Technology Coordinator of Chicago’s Striving Reader Program, expresses the same thought with on target clarity, “Is this the best use of our funds, or is it simply a tool to engage and motivate our students?” 2

WHAT’S THE RUSH? ‐ iPAD ONE – TWO – THREE – FOUR – MINI The first generation iPad was released 03 April 2010. The second generation iPad was released eleven months later on 11 March 2011. The third generation iPad was released one year later on 19 March 2012. The fourth generation iPad was released eight months later, with its new MINI, on 02 November 2012. 3 Four generations of a device in a short two years and eight months. Incredible!

EDUCATIONAL INTEREST ‐ The iPad has a battery life of eight to ten hours. Its light weight, just a little over a pound, makes it very mobile. It takes less time to boot up than a laptop, Netbooks or desktop. It is easier than an iPhone to input information. Its touch‐screen capabilities facilitate ease of navigation. It makes available the ability to check calendars and email while on the run. 4 An iPad can shoot video, take photos, play music, and perform online functions such as web‐browsing. Other functions, such as, games, reference, GPS navigation, social networking, etc., can be enabled by downloading and installing apps. 5 Its earlier versions are now comparable in cost to Netbooks. Quite impressive in this day and age of instant gratification! Even so, “The current approach of just throwing tablets into the classrooms and seeing what happens is poor and will have negative consequences,” 6 writes Mike Selagadze of Betanews.

I am inclined to concur with Selagadze’s assessment. A large number of schools have funded using the iPads with eTextbooks. Many others use them with interactive games, drills, spelling games, reinforcing history facts, practicing math computations, or just browsing the web, etc. BUT...where is the systematic,

academic, integrated approach to learning content???? Has learning improved because of the use of iPads or are they just for “engaging and motivating the student?” believes Rob Residori.

A GOOD IDEA....but...Tom Daccord writes for Edudemic, “While we’ve witnessed many effective approaches to incorporating iPads successfully in the classroom, we’re struck by the common mistakes many schools are making with iPads, mistakes that are in some cases crippling the success of these initiatives...” 7 I will briefly capsulize these mistakes:

1) Focusing on Content apps 8 – focus on the full range of possibilities rather than subject‐specific apps.

2) Lack of Teacher Preparation in Classroom Management of iPads 9 ‐ teachers need instruction on how to use and integrate the device. Too often it is the technology teacher that has the knowledge and experience. Without staff development teachers are reluctant to incorporate the new technology.

3) Treating the iPad as a Computer and expecting it to serve as a laptop 10 ‐ Tom Daccord feels teachers should focus on what the iPad does best rather than expecting it to perform as a laptop.

This stifles its ability.

4) Treating iPads like Multi‐user devices 11 – Daccord believes in the 1:1 student program as opposed to housing them in a cart for sharing among many classes. In my estimation, this may be the ideal but there are many schools that are financially strapped and sharing is the only way of putting the device into the hands of students.

5) Failure to Communicate a compelling answer to “Why, iPads?” 12 – Many administrators fail to communicate to their teachers why they invested such a large amount of funds in iPads and what their expectations for them are. As a result they may meet some resistance.

APPS ACCORDING TO BLOOM’S TAXONOMY ‐ Diane Darrow recommends we should be looking for “...apps that connect to various stages on Bloom’s continuum of learning.” 13 She proposes teachers look for apps for REMEMBERING, apps for UNDERSTANDING, apps for APPLYING, apps for ANALYZING, apps for EVALUATING, and apps for CREATING. 14 Teachers need to plan how they use the iPad. If the iPad is to earn its place in the classroom it must be used for more than reading an eTextbook, or taking notes, or doing research, or blogging about the book they just read, or playing interactive educational games, or watching a video, or making a video of their school. All curriculum planning should be aimed at developing higher order thinking skills in all subject areas and for all activities. For Diane’s apps on Bloom’s Taxonomy see the ABCs Website page in this issue.

IN CONCLUSION – Devices do not inspire. Teachers inspire! Putting iPads into the hands of the students does not automatically challenge, create or demonstrate anything. If educators want to inspire, make an impact, challenge, impress, motivate and engage their students there must be an end goal to the planning and use of the iPad in the classroom. Determine what you want to accomplish and if the iPad is

the best tool for this goal. Vet the apps you select according to content, to CCSS and always to higher order thinking skills. And when the lesson is complete the students should be able to demonstrate, or discuss, or explain, or analyze or create to/with their peers. Does it take work on the part of the teacher?

Definitely, but most teachers find that kind of work exciting. Very often it is done without the aid of Professional Development or administrative guidance. If educators keep this in mind when deploying the iPad I guarantee their classrooms will be iPad not iFad!!!!!!!!!!!!!

or

References and Footnotes 1

2

“Educators Evaluate Learning Benefits of iPad” by Ian Quillan. http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/06/15/03mobile.h04.html “iPad” http://www.ask.com/wiki/IPad?o=3986&qsrc=999

3

Rob Residori http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/ipad‐responses‐needed‐asap?xg_source=activity

4 “Educators Evaluate Learning Benefits of iPad” by Ian Quillan.

http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/06/15/03mobile.h04.html

5 “iPad” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad

6 Mike Selagadze, “5 Problems with iPads in Education.”

http://betanews.com/2012/10/24/5‐problems‐with‐ipads‐in‐education/

7 Tom Daccord, 5 Critical Mistakes Schools Make With iPads (And How To Correct Them), article. Read it in full on

http://edudemic.com/2012/09/5‐critical‐mistakes‐schools‐ipads‐and‐correct‐them/ 8

ibid.

9

ibid.

10

ibid.

11

ibid.

12

ibid.

13

Diane Darrow is an elementary library media specialist. “K‐5 iPad Apps According to Bloom’s Taxonomy,” http://www.edutopia.org/ipad‐apps‐elementary‐blooms‐taxomony‐diane‐darrow 14 ibid.

The following 6 sections are taken from Diane Darrow’s, “K-5 iPad Apps According to Bloom’s Taxonomy.” This article was a six part series highlighting apps that connect with Bloom’s revised continuum of learning. 1

Remembering App Reviews for Remembering - Apps that fit into the "remembering" stage improve the user's ability to define terms, identify facts, and recall and locate information. Verbs commonly used to describe this phase include naming; finding, labeling, listing, selecting, retaining, naming, retrieving, recognizing, registering or realizing. Many educational apps fall into the "remembering" phase of learning. They ask users to select an answer out of a line-up, find matches, and sequence content or input answers.

App Reviews for Remembering (3)Word BINGO (4) Word BINGO helps beginning readers recognize and locate more than 300 sight words. The words originate from pre‐primer, primer, first grade, second grade, and third grade Dolch word lists.

Using a Bingo game format, the child taps each word read aloud. When they score a "BINGO," they collect a cute animated bug. Other features include spelling practice, an interactive word block tower, and engaging opportunities to fling bugs into a warp zone when a child identifies a word correctly. The settings are adjustable and the report card reflects a transcript of the child's performance. The app can hold to five accounts and one open slot for a visiting "guest." This definitely is a fun alternative to flash cards.

(5) Rocket Math (6) Last winter, while overseeing the library during recess, I noticed a large number of boys crammed around an iPad. I was immediately suspicious. Why were they all swarming together and furthermore what could possibly be attracting a large number of boys to the library during recess? They were playing Rocket Math! This app cleverly integrates learning math with experimenting with rocket design. Students can practice reciting math facts, counting money, telling time, recognizing fractions, decimals, geometric shapes, number patterns and even square roots. Every time a child completes a task, they earn money that can purchase rocket parts. This appears to be an exceptional motivator!

(7) Shake a Phrase (8) Very often, apps ask children to recognize information in isolation and fail to connect the learning experience to a meaningful purpose. Shake a Phrase is a bit different. This app asks students to identify adjectives, nouns, and verbs within the context of a sentence. This slight adjustment makes this grammar app stand out from the others. Other features include silly sentences that have a built in dictionary. Hold a finger on a new vocabulary word and a definition appears. There are also "Story Starters" meant to serve as inspiration for creative writing. Shake a Phrase is perfect for second or third grade students.

(9) Splash Math Summer Math Workbook (10) Splash Math is designed to help second (11) and third (12) grade students retain math knowledge over the long summer months. As a result, its contents are extremely comprehensive. There are countless opportunities to recall math facts, recognize fractions, identify place value, money, and develop number sense. Individualizing instruction is as easy as adjusting the play mode settings. The app also has a very comprehensive report card that tracks student performance. A separate activity card acts as a journal of daily progress. There are five user accounts to one app. The profile settings include an option to enter an email address. Having this information enables the sharing of performance reports. Children collect points as they complete tasks that will buy cute ocean characters for a virtual aquarium.

(13) MindSnacks French, Italian, and Spanish (14) The MindSnacks language learning apps help users memorize and retain French, Italian, or Spanish words and phrases. The integration of video clips provides a model for pronunciation. The characters and game format is fun and engaging. MindSnacks also responds to the user's performance and alters the difficulty level. Using a spiral method of teaching, they constantly review previously taught vocabulary. The account profile reports on the user’s current level, weekly activity, accuracy, and the number of challenges and items mastered. There can be only one user account per app. In order to create a profile it is necessary to enter an email address. This feature could be problematic for elementary schools but the quality of the app makes it worth investigating.

(15) Word Cub (16) This is a great app to help young children learn letter names and sounds. It also nicely models the blending of letter sounds to make words. Children can listen and then match the correct letter names or sounds, or practice reading across a word. Adjust the settings and the blocks display either upper case or lower case letters. The words all use short vowels. Select the consonant letter blends for the initial sounds and the task just got a bit more difficult. With a left to right sweep of the finger, children can hear how letter sound blend to create a word. This app helps children recognize letter names and sounds and recognize directionality and blending.

(17) Rootology (18) Rootology can help upper elementary students recognize common Prefixes, Suffixes, as well as Greek and Latin word roots. Using a flashcard and multiple choice format students can drill themselves for hours. It includes a progress report that gives the user an overall performance GPA. What makes this app stand out is that the sequence of the questions develops the ability to decipher the meaning of a word. The questions address each segment of a word separately, and then the final question confronts the word's definition.

Students will walk away from this app able to recall the meaning of word roots and the skills to define new vocabulary.

(19) Mental Case Classroom Edition (20) Mental Case is a flashcard app on steroids. The reason why I am highlighting this particular flashcard app is the diverse forms of media it embraces and the wonderful way it organizes your files. Take a photograph with your iPad or iPhone and place it directly onto a card. It is also possible to embed or record audio, import images from iPhoto, and present flashcards to others as a slideshow. Possibly navigating this app is too much of a stretch for an elementary age student. Then consider creating your own deck for students to upload directly from iTunes. Mental Case will help students remember anything.

1

Diane Darrow, Edutopia Staff member. This article originally published on 10/25/2011. http://www.edutopia.org/ipad-apps-elementary-blooms-taxomony-diane-darrow

The following 6 sections are taken from Diane Darrow’s, “K-5 iPad Apps According to Bloom’s Taxonomy.” This article was a six part series highlighting apps that connect with Bloom’s revised continuum of learning. 1

Understanding Apps that fit into this "understanding" stage provide opportunities for students to explain ideas or concepts. Verbs commonly used to describe this phase include interpreting; restating, retelling, summarizing, inferring, generalizing, comparing, rephrasing, translating, reporting, clarifying, and paraphrasing. Understanding apps step away from the selection of a "right" answer and introduce a more open-ended format for students to summarize content and translate meaning.

The Reviews

(1) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photostory-hd/id441438012?mt=8 photostory HD (2) The original purpose of Photostory was to develop babies' receptive and oral language skills. However, possibly it also holds promise as an app for second language students. In many ways, this is a traditional "remembering" app. The child selects the right answer by tapping the picture, but the simple integration of a story recording function notches the higher-level thinking up a bit. The voice recording option provides an opportunity for students to paraphrase what they are learning in their own words. The teacher can also personalize the learning experience by uploading photographs of classroom-shared learning experiences, creating hot spots for students to select, and developing unique questions for each child to answer. Since the teacher is in control of the exact phrasing of each question, it is easy to target understanding skills directly.

For example, instead of asking students to find a certain object, ask them to pick an object that is the best answer out of several suitable choices. This app's ingenious integration of voice recording is a great way to offer students a chance to articulate personal understanding. The embedding audio/video recording or a response journal within a learning app is a promising feature.

(3) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lifecards-postcards/id304401787?mt=8 Lifecards - Postcards (4) Translating the meaning of a graphic into writing and vice versa is another example of "understanding." With the Lifecards app, students can import a graph, chart, historic photograph, symbols, diagram, or even political cartoons onto one side of a postcard and then use a letter-writing format to explain the graphic on the other side. The limited space for writing will demand that communication immediately address the content's main idea and force students to determine what information is the most significant. Teachers can also choose to provide the writing instead and ask students to create a visual representation of the letter's contents. Students can use photographs taken with a mobile device or graphics saved in the iPhoto library. I am sure the creators of Lifecards had different intentions for their app but their beautifully designed, one-ended app proves to have many possible uses.

http://www.ihomeeducator.com/ilive-series/ilivemath The iLiveMath apps present word problems that are full of rich vocabulary and gorgeous photographs. Each app contains three levels of difficulty and includes basic questions directed at adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying. They each also address a separate subset of skills such as speed, distance, time, fractions, counting, geometry, money, mean, median, mode, and range. Instead of selecting an answer from a multiple-choice line-up, iLiveMath employs the use of a number wheel that has the potential of holding 12 or more possible answers. At the end of a session, it is possible to review performance results and email them. The themes of each app connect to other subject areas such as science, history, or technology. Each app's unique subject matter comes with supportive links to educational sites and short video clips. This is a rich series of educational apps that will assist a child's understanding of how to solve a word problem and connect to subjects found in the real world, and will also spark curiosity.

(6) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/showme-interactive-whiteboard/id445066279?mt=8 ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard (7) ShowMe is an interactive whiteboard that can record a screencast on the iPad. It will import photos or graphics from iPhoto, has simple drawing tools, an eraser, and voice recording. Having a tool that incorporates graphics with voice recordings provides a wonderful opportunity for students to translate material they have read. Consider asking students to narrate a map of a character's journey, create a timeline, sketch diagrams, animate a recording of the water cycle, or explain the results from a class poll. Teachers will need to create an account in order for users to save work to showme.com. Uploading content to this site will provide an embed code, and enable the ability to email the file or post it to Twitter or Facebook.

(8) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion-math/id392489333?mt=8 Motion Math HD (9)Learn fractions and decimals while tilting and turning the iPad. This app definitely wins the Fun Factor Award! Perfect for the kinesthetic and visual learner, Motion Math intermingles a variety of ways to recognize fractions. The graphic representations of the fractions alternate between numerator over denominator, pie charts, decimals, and percents. The goal of the game is to identify the

correct answer by bouncing a flaming star at the correct point on a number line. Users need to constantly correlate a wide selection of fractions to a continually varying sequence of numbers. The diverse representation of fractions is a great way for children to make connections between separate areas of prior knowledge. With its constant translation of one symbolic form of a fraction to another, this app is prompting users to develop a deeper understanding of fractions. The app also responds to user performance and will automatically increase or decrease the level of difficulty.

(10)Strip Designer (11) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/strip-designer/id314780738?mt=8 Ask students to retell the sequence of events in a Revolutionary War battle, folktale, science experiment, or the states of matter in the context of a graphic novel. Strip Designer can import maps, images from iPhoto, or photographs taken with a mobile device directly into a comic strip template. There is a wonderful selection of fonts, colors, text balloons, stickers, paper backgrounds, frames, and filters from which to pick. Students will need to choose a page template that best matches the number of events they plan to retell. With all these wonderful graphic features, it will be a challenge for students to explain events succinctly while sticking to the facts. When the graphic novels are complete, simply save the comics to iPhoto, print them out, or email as a JPEG, PNG, or PDF file. The app will also connect to Facebook, Flickr, or Twitpic. Retelling events in comic strip format is definitely a great way to build understanding skills and spice up a traditional paper and pencil report.

(12) Question Builder for the iPad (13) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/question-builder-for-ipad/id364823150?mt=8 Mobile Education Tools make a wonderful series of apps meant to help elementary age children with special needs develop language skills. Question builder targets a child's ability to use inference to answer an abstract question. The questions come in five formats (what, how, why, where, and random) and function at three different levels of difficulty. Many users can share accounts within the same app and still receive a complete summary report. These reports detail performance in each question category and level. This app models how Bloom imagined inference operating at the "understanding" level. Question Builder is asking young children to carefully consider the explicit information given in an illustration and then predict the intended meaning.

Every elementary student will benefit from developing this thinking skill.

(14) Bluster! (15) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bluster%21/id416160693?mt=8 Bluster helps students develop vocabulary skills while learning to recognize word patterns. In order to answer a question, students need to select three words from a list that share a common relationship. For example: locate three rhyming words, words with common prefixes or suffixes, synonyms, homophones, adjectives, or word roots. The passing parade of words becomes shorter each time a student selects a new

trio. Adjust the Bluster settings to meet the instructional needs of students between second and fourth grade.

Students can play the game alone, as a team member, or choose to take on a head to head competition.

(16) Confer (17) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/confer/id387777553?mt=8 The most informative assessment occurs when teachers have an opportunity to conference individually with a student.

These are the precious moments when a teacher can listen attentively to a child explain how to do a math problem, engage in discussions with her about her writing, or hear her predictions about a book's outcome.

Classroom teachers are constantly asking students to articulate what they are learning. The Confer app is useful for teacher documentation of these conversations. The mobility of this technology makes it easy to jot down quick, yet informative notes about an individual or small group of students. For example, teachers are able to list student learning strengths, enter a reading level, keep track of conference dates, and plan for the next teaching point. It is possible to export or import records through email and sort files by conference dates, groups, or tags. With a gmail account, data can upload as a spreadsheet. The juggling of a teacher's busy day just got a little bit easier.

1

Diane Darrow, Edutopia Staff member. This article originally publishes on 10/25/2011. http://www.edutopia.org/ipad-apps-elementary-blooms-taxomony-diane-darrow

The following 6 sections are taken from Diane Darrow’s, “K-5 iPad Apps According to Bloom’s Taxonomy.” This article was a six part series highlighting apps that connect with Bloom’s revised continuum of learning. 1

Applying Apps that fit into the applying stage provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their ability to implement learned procedures and methods. They also highlight the ability to apply concepts in unfamiliar circumstances. Verbs commonly used to describe this phase include showing; executing, calculating, solving, dramatizing, demonstrating, discovering, employing, manipulating, illustrating, implementing, exhibiting, operating, producing, adapting, using, and experimenting.

Reviews

(6) Slice It! (7) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slice-it%21/id388116298?mt=8 Students may not realize it, but this app is full of opportunities to apply knowledge of geometry, area, fractions, and percentages. The goal is to slice a given shape equally into a specified number of pieces. The shapes, number of cuts, and pieces change with each new turn. The puzzles vary in complexity and become progressively challenging. Invite students to play and then listen carefully to their conversations. Without prompting, look for evidence of math concepts previously taught. Ask students to take a screen shot of a solved puzzle and then have them discuss the reasoning behind the placement of their cuts. Have the class write step-by-step directions to solve a given problem. What math terminology is necessary in order to do this? How many students will independently choose to use these mathematical terms? This addictive app at the outset appears completely different from the traditional geometry textbook or worksheet, and yet it will provide a reason for students to access knowledge from prior math lessons.

(8) Project Noah (9) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/project-noah/id417339475?mt=8 Project Noah connects students to real world learning while promoting environmental stewardship. With this app, students can join the forces of other nature lovers across the world and collect photographs of local plants and animals. Students can collect photographic evidence on their own or for organized projects, or "missions," set up by scientists. Each time students take a photograph; they are documenting that particular species. They will need to be able to classify, describe, and create search tags for every image they submit.

Project Noah can automatically access a mobile device's location and include that data with each sighting or students can choose to enter it manually. Geography studies quickly transform from an exercise in memorization, to purposeful understanding of how different locations support unique life forms. With this project, students will need an understanding of Life Science classification systems and be able to observe and describe the similarities and differences of a species.

(10) ABC - Magnetic Alphabet (11) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-magnetic-alphabet-hd-learn/id379404787?mt=8 Here is an openended letter app where students can independently build words without prompting. As a former Reading Recovery teacher, I am accustomed to asking children to "show me" what they can spell. When I sit back and watch students demonstrate their spelling, I can immediately recognize what letter/word knowledge they already have. Letter tile apps without game restraints are useful when teachers need to evaluate how well students can make analogies between words and transfer their understanding of spelling patterns.

Teachers of primary age students will find the Magnetic Alphabet app a "must have" app. I especially like the fact that when I transport an alphabet app in the trunk of my car its contents will not spill!

(12) Numbers League (13) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/numbers-league/id444781544?mt=8 Kathy Burdick, app reviewer for iear (14), suggests Numbers League as an "applying" app and she was right on! What originally was a card game by Castle Bent Workshops is now an engaging interactive media app. This phenomenal math app invites students into a comic book world that uses super heroes to fight evil number villains. The ability levels within the game range from minion (basic addition) to superhero level (multiplication with positive and negative numbers). The design of Number League is unlike the format of traditional algorithm on a worksheet and initially students may not realize they are practicing math facts. In order to succeed in this game, students will need to have the ability to perform mental math and apply number knowledge in creative ways.

(15) KickBox (16) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kickbox/id438373028?mt=8 The MIND Research Institute (17) is creating apps! In this game a cute little penguin named JiJi needs help crossing the edge of a blocked grid. Students need to open the path by properly placing laser beam reflectors on a gird. When a light beam hits the angle of a reflector panel, it can bend, and hit a target that will open the path for the penguin. KickBox requires procedural thinking and develops student ability to read points within a graph. The MIND Research Institute also created ST Math速 whose games are based on the premise that math understanding can be developed through a student's "spatial temporal reasoning abilities (18)".

The learning environment of this app is completely different and offers a refreshing alternative to learn and apply math knowledge. So far, the Mind Research Institute has created only one app but I am hoping that a much larger library of games is in the works.

(19) ScreenChomp (20) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/screenchomp/id442415881?mt=8 Invite students to document the steps and procedures necessary to solve math equations with ScreenChomp videos. Within minutes, this app will have students creating their own Kahn Academy style screencasts.

Students write a given math problem onto the screen, press the button, and record the steps needed to solve an equation. ScreenChomp records both an audio narration and can film events happening on the screen.

This app also has the ability to import images from the camera roll. When the video is complete, upload it to ScreenChomp.com and they will provide a URL. It is also possible to directly post the video to Twitter.

Every screencast made on ScreenChomp is stored on a file within the app itself.

1

Diane Darrow, Edutopia Staff member. This article originally published on 10/25/2011. http://www.edutopia.org/ipad-apps-elementary-blooms-taxomony-diane-darrow

The following 6 sections are taken from Diane Darrow’s, “K-5 iPad Apps According to Bloom’s Taxonomy.” This article was a six part series highlighting apps that connect with Bloom’s revised continuum of learning. 1

Analysis of the Elements: Differentiating This component requires the ability to dissect content, identify its parts, and differentiate between them.

This is the skill used to determine what information is relevant and irrelevant.

Analysis of Relationships: Attributing The relationship between the parts is what forms content. This skill helps a student deconstruct elements and determine how they function in relation to one another. It refers to the ability to recognize the underlying motive, detect bias, and identify the point-of-view.

Analysis of Organizational Principles: Organizing All content has structure and organization. Analyzing how ideas are organized will help students their purpose or intent. It is the system used to organize the elements that makes it content coherent.

Analyzing Apps that fit into the "analyzing" stage improve the user's ability to differentiate between the relevant and irrelevant, determine relationships, and recognize the organization of content. Verbs commonly used to describe this phase include differentiating, discriminating, selecting, distinguishing, focusing, attributing, deconstructing, structuring, integrating, outlining, and parsing.

Reviews

(1) VideoScience (2) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/videoscience/id333284085?mt=8 Formed in partnership with the Science House Foundation, teacher Dan Menelly has created over 100 short video clips of science experiments. These films are not only fascinating but contain the elements of the scientific method. When students create a science fair project, they design their experiment around an outline of these principles. The teachers present the appropriate procedures and the children follow the formula. Consider reversing this teaching process. Use VideoScience to present an experiment and have students identify the scientific method. This will increase their understanding of the scientific method, and ask them to start analyzing the content in films.

(3) sling Note (4) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sling-note/id385068849?mt=8 sling Note lets users extract portions of digital content and re-organize them in a notebook. By putting a

web-browser and notebook side by side, students can highlight, cut, and paste content directly onto a blank page. The notebook's drawing tools are useful for quickly sketching graphic organizers that contain relevant information pulled from an article. These diagrams can reveal the organization and hierarchy of content.

Consider having the class annotate evidence of bias, an article's point-of-view, or an author's intent directly onto a website. Write comments on top of photographs from the web, camera roll, or taken with built in camera. Usually text is fixed and static, but using an app like this promotes the digital deconstruction and manipulation of ideas.

(5) MindMash (6) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mindmash/id364617744?mt=8 Like sling Note, this notebook lets users insert content and "mash-up" a new form. This is great for selecting the important elements of an image, or piece of writing. The interface is less complicated and may be easier for elementary students to use. There is a drawing tool, option to type, take and import photos. It does not house an accompanying browser page. It does let students organize ideas visually with their finger.

(7) Popplet (8) http://popplet.com/ This is a MUST HAVE app! Popplet is a graphic organizing tool that is uncomplicated and straightforward. The interface is so clear and intuitive kindergarteners will be able to use it. It lets children organize ideas by drawing, writing, or importing imagery. This app is perfect for creating diagrams, flowcharts, mind-maps, webs, and outlines. Students can select the most important events from a story or historical event, and present them on a timeline made with Popplet. They could also insert photos of the parts of a plant, or of a simple machine, and then create a flowchart about how the parts function together. The online feature lets students collaborate on the same organizer at the same time and share their work with others.

(9) iCardSort (10) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icardsort/id384552728?mt=8 iCardSort takes individual ideas and places them on notecards for sorting Teachers can pre-create a deck of note cards from a text file and share them through WIFI or download them from the iCard website. This is a great tool to help students' examine the relationship between ideas from a reading passage or separate a thesis statement from supporting details. Invite students to work in teams and discuss how they discriminate between given elements. Having the ability to move and manipulate ideas with your finger will help students to understand that this same process occurs when we are thinking.

(11) Notability (12) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/notability/id360593530?mt=8 This notetaking app does it all! It imports photos, takes pictures, records audio, types, sketches, and inserts webclips. The interface is clean and intuitive to use. When typing, an option to create an outline with either bulleted points or numbers shows up on the toolbar. Students can use this to create an outline of concepts when they are researching, analyzing a video, or observing a science experiment. Within an outline, students can insert writing, imagery, drawings, or auditory notes. Notability makes it possible to merge and organize material form multiple sources. Having a variety of media options for students to choose from is a great way to differentiate students learning and honor their product preferences.

(13) ReplayNote (14) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/replaynote/id419786855?mt=8 Create screencasts with PDF files imported through the GoodReader app. Once a document is loaded onto the screen, students can record a narration of themselves commenting on the text. Their screencast can discuss elements within the file that reveal the author's point of view, point out evidence of bias, or uncover the underlying motive behind an article. ReplayNote can also display images and drawings. When the screencast is complete, save it and then share the show with the class. Upload the video clips to YouTube and then embed them on your class website or blog. Watching and commenting on student created screencasts will not only develop critical thinking skills, it will spice up class discussions.

1

Diane Darrow, Edutopia Staff member. This article originally publishes on 10/25/2011. http://www.edutopia.org/ipad-apps-elementary-blooms-taxomony-diane-darrow

The following 6 sections are taken from Diane Darrow’s, “K-5 iPad Apps According to Bloom’s Taxonomy.” This article was a six part series highlighting apps that connect with Bloom’s revised continuum of learning. 1

The cognitive domain Evaluating focuses on skills necessary to judge the value of ideas, techniques, products, or solutions. Students must evaluate the credibility or functionality of given content with clearly defined criteria and standards. "Only those evaluations which are or can be made with distinct criteria in mind can be considered."1 A student can set their own evaluation criteria or use standards given to them. In order for students to exercise this thinking, skill they need have command of strategies that help them set criteria and implement evaluation procedures. Several apps are useful for developing evaluative thinking or aide the evaluation process.

Evaluating Apps that fit into the "evaluating" stage improve the user's ability to judge material or methods based on criteria set by themselves or external sources. They help students judge content reliability, accuracy, quality, effectiveness, and reach informed decisions. Verbs commonly used to describe this phase include testing; detecting, monitoring, coordinating, critiquing, judging, checking, evaluating, assessing, choosing, defending, contrasting, and appraising.

(3) Side by Side (4) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/side-by-side-dropbox-support/id386528623?mt=8 Side by Side is a free app that allows for simultaneous viewing of multiple browser windows and documents files. Having resource materials directly placed next to one another offers opportunities to compare and contrast content.

By using this method, students can practice detecting inconsistencies within source material. The ability to use thoughtful comparisons to judge content is an important evaluation skill. This app can help students learn how detect inconsistencies, question the reliability of a source, and check for accuracy in a document.

Managing multiple windows at the same time may not be appropriate for primary age students but is certainly possible in fourth or fifth grade.

(5) Moment Diary (6) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/momentdiary/id352263913?mt=8 Moment Diary is a free app that creates time stamped notes. Students can choose to create notes with words, photos, audio-recordings, video, or camera. This app is useful for documenting observations that test a hypothesis, or determine whether scientific conclusions are correct. The time stamp feature records the date and the precise moment of the note. The timing component will be very useful when judging the effectiveness of procedures or methods. For example, incremental documentation of lunch line procedures can help students evaluate the effectiveness of the process used to hand out milk. These observations can then inform the conclusions made as to whether or not the current system is efficient. They can also provide insight and evidence that will inform the criteria necessary for possible changes. Granted lunch line science may not a subject most classrooms teach, it is an example of how a journal app can provide observations useful for forming judgments.

(9) TallyPad (10) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tallypad/id369757111?mt=8 TallyPad is a counting app that can track performance or create surveys. There are four customizable counting areas, multiplying and subtracting features, and an option to use whole numbers or decimals. A simple tap of a finger will record a tally. The value of each tally can be incrementally set. Save data recorded on Tally pad for future reference or to add onto later. Use this app to build quantifiable evidence that can prove of disprove scientific assumptions, track behavior patterns or evaluate performance. The recorded data will also be useful when appraising possible solutions to a problem.

(11) SurveyBoy (12) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/surveyboy/id433982717?mt=8 SurveyBoy is mobile surveying tool that students can use while on the go. The app provides pre-made questions and answers but students will benefit from constructing their own questions. When the survey is complete, view data results as pie charts, or email them as an Excel spreadsheet. The interface is clear and intuitive. Part of problem solving needs include a post-evaluative process. Surveys are a great way to do just this. After students have made the necessary changes that they believe will resolve the given problem, they need to return evaluate effectiveness of their decisions. Surveys are useful for this purpose or when trying to pinpoint the cause of a problem.

(13) Time Timer (14) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-timer-ipad-edition/id434081367?mt=8 Time Timer is an app that can turn the passage of time into a picture. Asking children to monitor the effective use of abstract concepts such as time is tricky to say the least. Time timer offers a visual explanation of what efficiency looks like.

Students can observe the red shape slowly disappear as they monitor the progress of clean up time. They can also evaluate what clean up procedures are the most effective or check assumptions about how slow a snail truly is. There are several different graphic representations of clocks and time increments from which to choose.

(15) Lemonade Tycoon (16) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lemonade-tycoon/id320467439?mt=8 Lemonade Tycoon is an example of a game environment that demands the use of evaluative thinking. The goal is to produce quality lemonade that satisfies customers and makes a profit. The problem is that the daily weather conditions demand continual adjustment to the lemonade recipe. Failure to properly modify the recipe will have a negative effect on profit margins. Throughout the game, students are constantly weighing their choices, finding alternative courses of action, and appraising every decision they make. There are possible tools and strategies to choose from such as advertising; machinery, staffing and stand locations that may or may not help improve sale revenues. Invite your class to participate in a 30-day virtual lemonade stand challenge.

Then step back and observe how often students exercise evaluative thinking skills. You might want to open the Tally Pad app for that.

(17) inDecision (18) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/indecision/id458265246?mt=8 inDecision is the perfect app to use when critiquing the positive (pro) and negative (con) features of a technique, function or decision. List factors on each side on the T frame and then rate its level of importance. The combined results of all the factors automatically transform into a bar graph with percentage figures. Students will be able to evaluate whether or not possible solutions will meet the desired outcome.

1

Bloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1956. Print.

2

Bloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1956. Print.

1

Diane Darrow, Edutopia Staff member. This article originally publishes on 10/25/2011. elementary-blooms-taxomony-diane-darrow

http://www.edutopia.org/ipad-apps-

The following 6 sections are taken from Diane Darrow’s, “K-5 iPad Apps According to Bloom’s Taxonomy.” This article was a six part series highlighting apps that connect with Bloom’s revised continuum of learning. 1

The cognitive domain Evaluating focuses on skills necessary to judge the value of ideas, techniques, products, or solutions. Students must evaluate the credibility or functionality of given content with clearly defined criteria and standards. "Only those evaluations which are or can be made with distinct criteria in mind can be considered."1 A student can set their own evaluation criteria or use standards given to them. In order for students to exercise this thinking, skill they need have command of strategies that help them set criteria and implement evaluation procedures. Several apps are useful for developing evaluative thinking or aide the evaluation process.

Evaluating Apps that fit into the "evaluating" stage improve the user's ability to judge material or methods based on criteria set by themselves or external sources. They help students judge content reliability, accuracy, quality, effectiveness, and reach informed decisions. Verbs commonly used to describe this phase include testing; detecting, monitoring, coordinating, critiquing, judging, checking, evaluating, assessing, choosing, defending, contrasting, and appraising.

(3) Side by Side (4) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/side-by-side-dropbox-support/id386528623?mt=8 Side by Side is a free app that allows for simultaneous viewing of multiple browser windows and documents files. Having resource materials directly placed next to one another offers opportunities to compare and contrast content.

By using this method, students can practice detecting inconsistencies within source material. The ability to use thoughtful comparisons to judge content is an important evaluation skill. This app can help students learn how detect inconsistencies, question the reliability of a source, and check for accuracy in a document.

Managing multiple windows at the same time may not be appropriate for primary age students but is certainly possible in fourth or fifth grade.

(5) Moment Diary (6) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/momentdiary/id352263913?mt=8 Moment Diary is a free app that creates time stamped notes. Students can choose to create notes with words, photos, audio-recordings, video, or camera. This app is useful for documenting observations that test a hypothesis, or determine whether scientific conclusions are correct. The time stamp feature records the date and the precise moment of the note. The timing component will be very useful when judging the effectiveness of procedures or methods. For example, incremental documentation of lunch line procedures can help students evaluate the effectiveness of the process used to hand out milk. These observations can then inform the conclusions made as to whether or not the current system is efficient. They can also provide insight and evidence that will inform the criteria necessary for possible changes. Granted lunch line science may not a subject most classrooms teach, it is an example of how a journal app can provide observations useful for forming judgments.

(9) TallyPad (10) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tallypad/id369757111?mt=8 TallyPad is a counting app that can track performance or create surveys. There are four customizable counting areas, multiplying and subtracting features, and an option to use whole numbers or decimals. A simple tap of a finger will record a tally. The value of each tally can be incrementally set. Save data recorded on Tally pad for future reference or to add onto later. Use this app to build quantifiable evidence that can prove of disprove scientific assumptions, track behavior patterns or evaluate performance. The recorded data will also be useful when appraising possible solutions to a problem.

(11) SurveyBoy (12) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/surveyboy/id433982717?mt=8 SurveyBoy is mobile surveying tool that students can use while on the go. The app provides pre-made questions and answers but students will benefit from constructing their own questions. When the survey is complete, view data results as pie charts, or email them as an Excel spreadsheet. The interface is clear and intuitive. Part of problem solving needs include a post-evaluative process. Surveys are a great way to do just this. After students have made the necessary changes that they believe will resolve the given problem, they need to return evaluate effectiveness of their decisions. Surveys are useful for this purpose or when trying to pinpoint the cause of a problem.

(13) Time Timer (14) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-timer-ipad-edition/id434081367?mt=8 Time Timer is an app that can turn the passage of time into a picture. Asking children to monitor the effective use of abstract concepts such as time is tricky to say the least. Time timer offers a visual explanation of what efficiency looks like.

Students can observe the red shape slowly disappear as they monitor the progress of clean up time. They can also evaluate what clean up procedures are the most effective or check assumptions about how slow a snail truly is. There are several different graphic representations of clocks and time increments from which to choose.

(15) Lemonade Tycoon (16) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lemonade-tycoon/id320467439?mt=8 Lemonade Tycoon is an example of a game environment that demands the use of evaluative thinking. The goal is to produce quality lemonade that satisfies customers and makes a profit. The problem is that the daily weather conditions demand continual adjustment to the lemonade recipe. Failure to properly modify the recipe will have a negative effect on profit margins. Throughout the game, students are constantly weighing their choices, finding alternative courses of action, and appraising every decision they make. There are possible tools and strategies to choose from such as advertising; machinery, staffing and stand locations that may or may not help improve sale revenues. Invite your class to participate in a 30-day virtual lemonade stand challenge.

Then step back and observe how often students exercise evaluative thinking skills. You might want to open the Tally Pad app for that.

(17) inDecision (18) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/indecision/id458265246?mt=8 inDecision is the perfect app to use when critiquing the positive (pro) and negative (con) features of a technique, function or decision. List factors on each side on the T frame and then rate its level of importance. The combined results of all the factors automatically transform into a bar graph with percentage figures. Students will be able to evaluate whether or not possible solutions will meet the desired outcome.

1

Bloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1956. Print.

2

Bloom, Benjamin S. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1956. Print.

1

Diane Darrow, Edutopia Staff member. This article originally publishes on 10/25/2011. elementary-blooms-taxomony-diane-darrow

http://www.edutopia.org/ipad-apps-

The following 6 sections are taken from Diane Darrow’s, “K-5 iPad Apps According to Bloom’s Taxonomy.” This article was a six part series highlighting apps that connect with Bloom’s revised continuum of learning. 1

Creating Apps that fit into the "creating" stage provide opportunities for students generate ideas, design plans, and produce products. Verbs commonly used to describe this phase include generating; producing, hypothesizing, integrating, re-arranging, brainstorming, designing, modifying, imagining, combining, composing, planning, devising, proposing, assembling, constructing, inventing, and executing.

(1) Toontastic (2) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toontastic/id404693282?mt=8 Toontastic is MUST HAVE storytelling app for every Kindergarten through 5th grade classroom. A few features that make this app stand out from other storytelling apps are its flexible graphic organizer, tools for drawing unique settings and characters, screen animation, audio recording, and a safe online environment for publishing. As a member of a global audience, students can share and listen to stories on the Toontube (3) site. In addition, a wonderful, interactive globe shows the approximate origin of every story. Toontastic provides fantastic opportunities to generate ideas, construct story outlines, and produce unique communication with a worldwide audience.

(5) Book Creator (6) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/book-creator-for-ipad/id442378070?mt=8 Book Creator provides a quick and easy way for students to create eBooks and instantly share them on iBooks. Book Creator fits in perfectly with Bloom's insistence that students produce unique forms of communication. Story creation also provides opportunities to practice designing story structure, assembling content and creating a final product to share with an audience. To watch how easy it is to work with view their promotion video (7).

(8) Storyboards (9) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storyboards/id392533504?mt=8 Storyboards will help budding filmmakers, and screenwriters produce plans for upcoming movies. An excellent tool useful for the planning and designing camera shot sequences, students can pick from a range of camera angles, action poses, backgrounds, characters, props and costumes.

(10) iMovie (11) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imovie/id377298193?mt=8 iMovie is by far the best app for movie creating on the iPad. All aspects of the cognitive level creating exist within this app.

Students can merge photographs, film clips, sound tracks, artwork, audio files, and sound effects into unique combinations. The timeline allows opportunities to learn how to construct compositions, and arrange content. When the process is complete, the final product is available for the world to see.

(12) Garageband (13) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/garageband/id408709785?mt=8 Garageband does for music, what iMovie does for film. With this app, students can generate, compose and produce their own music. There is a wide selection of "smart" instruments within the app, app plug-ins, and built-in microphones. Students can arrange and design up to eight soundtracks. When finished, email or upload completed songs directly into iTunes. With this app, anyone can play with the band.

(14) TinkerBox HD (15) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tinkerbox-hd/id415722219?mt=8 TinkerBox HD is a free app that gives students an opportunity to invent machines that capitalize basic engineering concepts. The goal is to manipulate the organization of a wide array of mechanical gadgets so that they solve a given problem. Using trial and error, students can arrange and re-arrange elements until they design a successful solution. The invent mode lets users create their own machines. Student can share their creations through TinkerBox News (16).

(17) iBrainstorm (18) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibrainstorm/id382252825?mt=8 iBrainstorm is the perfect tool to use for idea generation and focusing on possible solutions. Sort ideas recorded on post-it notes into groups or hierarchies. Assign colors to each post-it while separating ideas.

Electronically collaborate with iBrainstorm with up to four iPhones. Draw or notes additional notes on the background. View video of app in action.

(19) Juxtaposer (20) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/juxtaposer/id292628469?mt=8 Juxtaposer is the ideal way to demonstrate how the combination of divergent ideas can create new products.

It is incredibly easy to overlay and merge images. With transparent brushes, stamp tools and layering options, students can playfully generate ideas for story characters or product designs.

(21) 123D Sculpt (22) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/123d-sculpt/id446119510?mt=8 123D Sculpt lets users create virtual sculptures. This is another great tool to build products designs and construct models for plans. The app also has an entertaining function that allows users to paint photographic images directly onto a sculpture. This app may be a bit difficult for younger students to manage but is perfect for upper elementary and middle school students and of course, adults.

(23) Faces iMake (24) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/faces-imake-premium%21/id389101695?mt=8 Faces iMake merges images of everyday items into collages. There are 20 different categories of images (school, food, kitchen, etc), frames, head shapes, soundtracks, and art tutorials. Apps like this can help students develop flexible and fluent thinking necessary for creative problem solving. Consider asking students "How many different

images can be created with a pear?" Opportunities to generate as many ideas for the possible use of an image are excellent exercises for productive thinking.

1

Diane Darrow, Edutopia Staff member. This article originally publishes on 10/25/2011. http://www.edutopia.org/ipad-apps-elementary-blooms-taxomony-diane-darrow

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION…Cover Sheet I.H.M. ABC NOTES -- Spring, 2013 “YEAR OF FAITH”, Proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI October 11, 2012 to November 24, 2013

USCCB CATECHETICAL THEME, 2012 – 2013 Catechists and Teachers: Agents of the New Evangelization

CONTENTS Cover Sheet I.H.M. Office of Religious Education Lenten Staff Gathering Prayer I.H.M. Office of Religious Education Staff Prayer for the Solemnity of St. Joseph (March 19) Sister Marie Garman, I.H.M. Blessing and Commissioning of Students…

Program for the Closing of the School Year Sister Kathleen Marie Metz, I.H.M. Religion Bulletin Boards Sister Barbara Ann Browne, I.H.M. Technology Resources for Religious Education Sister Carolyn Ann Bennett, I.H.M. Religious Education Treasures Easter Season: The Great 50 Days Sister Kathleen Marie Metz, I.H.M. Seek First the Kingdom…Parents Sharing Faith with Their Children Cultivating a Heart for Mercy Sister Patricia M. McCormack, I.H.M. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Many thanks to those who contributed creative Religious Education ideas to this Spring Issue. Their creativity has certainly enhanced this publication!

A Prayer for the Solemnity of St. Joseph Ambience may include a cloth, statue of St. Joseph, an Easter lily or calla lily plant, woodworking items and materials, or a hand-made wooden item, such as a toy.

Preparation should include copies of the hymn and psalm, as well as a bible with the reading marked in St. Matthew’s Gospel.

Hymn: Look Down to Us, St. Joseph (Christian Prayer #145; can be sung to tune of The Church’s One Foundation), Joseph of Nazareth (Christian Prayer #78), or another “Joseph Hymn” of your choosing. There may be other music resources available to you.

Psalm 113

Ant: Jacob became the father of Joseph, the Husband of Mary.

(Psalm stanzas may be read aloud antiphonally or in unison.)

Reading: Matthew 2:13-15.

(Reading shall be followed by a brief period of silence.)

Prayers of Intercession: In company with Saint Joseph, head of the Holy Family, let us ask God’s blessing upon all people as we pray.  With Joseph most strong, we ask protection for the church and all her members throughout the world. For this we pray:  With Joseph most prudent we ask for right judgment in all who govern, all who lead families, and all who teach. For this we pray:  With Joseph most just, we ask justice for all who are oppressed, all who are unemployed or underemployed, and all who suffer discrimination. For these we pray:  With Joseph most obedient, we ask for hearts ready to do the work of God’s will. For this we pray:  With Joseph most faithful, we ask for continued blessings on all those who work for the education and safety of our children. For this we pray:  With Joseph most gentle, we ask God’s mercy upon those who are dying and upon those who have entered God’s rest, especially the members of our school community and our parish family (ies).

For this we pray:  With Joseph most loving, we ask for the temporal, spiritual, and physical needs of our school and the members of our school community. For these we pray:  With Joseph most humble, we give voice to our personal needs… For these we pray: Our Father Placing all our needs in God’s provident hands, we pray now in the words of Jesus: Our Father…

Closing Prayer Merciful God, be close to us as you were close to Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary. Bless us as we gather this day and help us to do your will. Help us to serve you as joyfully as he did, so that we may join him in the glory of heaven, forever and ever. Amen.

BLESSING & COMMISSIONING OF STUDENTS Program for the Closing of the School Year

(A Sample that can be adapted to your own school setting.)

Celebrant:

I invite all Students to stand.

We have come to the end of another school year. Each of us was called to grow in wisdom, age and grace, as we practiced living Gospel values and Christian virtues this year. During this school year we celebrated moments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation.

Each class has fulfilled requirements of Religion, Mathematics, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Computer, Art and Music. Students have excelled at writing, spelling, geography, art and various other contests.

You can be proud of your efforts, and we pause to recognize and bless each of our Students here today.

To the Students of Grade 1: Congratulations on learning how much God loves you in His beautiful creation and in our wonderful family of faith. We are proud of your efforts to learn to read, and for all your participation in our school community. We bless you and commission you to practice the value of JOY, and we will welcome you as Second Graders in September.

Will the new Second Graders please be seated!

To the Students of Grade 2: Congratulations on learning how much God cares for you, and on being initiated into the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist. We are especially proud of you for completing your new skills of reading and writing. We bless you and commission you to practice the value of KINDNESS, and we will welcome you as Third Graders in September.

Will the new Third Graders please be seated!

To the Students of Grade 3: Congratulations on learning the mysteries of the Creed of our Church, and striving daily to put this faith into practice! We are proud of your efforts to master the times tables and investigate science all around us. We bless you and commission you to practice the value of PEACE, and we will welcome you as Fourth Graders in September.

Will the new Fourth Graders please be seated! (over)

Blessing and Commissioning of Students, page 2 To the Students of Grade 4: Congratulations on learning the Commandments and laws of our faith. The Beatitudes will foster your quest for happiness. We are proud of you for completing your assignments and striving for excellence in all that you do. We bless you and commission you to practice the value of ORDERLINESS, and we will welcome you as Fifth Graders in September.

Will the new Fifth Graders please be seated!

To the Students of Grade 5: Congratulations on studying about the Mass and the Sacraments of the Catholic Church this year. We are proud of your efforts to develop the skills and strategies to say “NO” to temptation and “YES” to right choices. We bless you and commission you to practice the value of COURAGE, and will welcome you as Sixth Graders in September.

Will the new Sixth Graders please be seated!

To the Students of Grade 6: Congratulations on learning about the many mysteries and amazing people of the Hebrew Scriptures, and for completing your initiation into the Catholic Church this year. We are proud of your writing skills, and grateful for your talent and dedication. We look forward to your participation and great enthusiasm next year. We bless you and commission you to practice the value of RESPECT, and will welcome you as Seventh Graders next year.

Will the new Seventh Graders please be seated!

To the Students of Grade 7: Congratulations on discovering the lessons of the life of Jesus, His parables and miracles, and the Beatitudes that will lead you to true happiness. We are proud of your efforts to show school spirit in your excellent participation in this year’s activities. We know our younger students were encouraged by your example and companionship. We bless you and commission you to practice the virtue of INITIATIVE as the new leaders of our school, and we will welcome you as Eighth Graders in September.

Will the new Eighth Graders please be seated!

You leave here today to enjoy relaxation, family excursions, and a break from alarm clocks, school buses and homework. May you take with you the habits of prayer, value-based living, and enthusiasm for continued learning and reading wherever you go.

Stay safe and close to God each day. We will be looking for you at Mass and around the parish this summer. May God bless you!

Spring Religion Bulletin Board Integrated Learning: The Beauty of God’s Creation, Liturgical Seasons, Feasts, Virtues, Church Environment, Science, Art, and Care of the Environment

"Beautify the world ....with a Garden of Love."

This spring project may be...  a follow up to a Lenten activity  a reflection of the Garden at the Resurrection  a picture of the beauty of God's creation Flowers may be…  made by the children  obtained from internet (free)  drawn and colored  cut out from magazines or advertisements  brought in from home  artificial - purchased for the children  your own resources and creativity Flowers may be…  placed on spring bulletin board  placed in a basket to make a bouquet  arranged in many creative ways to display variety and beauty Children may…  choose a favorite flower  work in groups  work with their class buddies  work in whatever way you choose Flowers are symbolic of so many emotions, feelings, occasions, cultural expressions and thoughts just to be shared and appreciated. Each flower has its own identity and beauty.

God has given us such a wide variety of flowers to clothe the earth and bring joy, comfort and love to all who appreciate their beauty.

Children of all ages love to give and receive flowers. Our churches are decked with them for special feasts and celebrations. Our homes and grounds display various flowers throughout the seasons.

(OVER)

1

The tiny seeds and bulbs that we plant are nourished, cared for and carefully brought to fruition by kind hands and hearts. Let us take time to teach our children to appreciate, love and share God's gift of creation especially during the springtime.

Suggestions: Flower

Symbolism

Flower

Symbolism

Rose Cherry blossom Chrysanthemum Calla Lily Iris Carnation Rose Bell Flowers Almond Tree Bamboo Hyacinth Amaryllis Narcissus Chamomile Sunflower

Beauty Beauty Cheerfulness Faith/Fidelity Friendship Happiness/Joy Love Gratitude Hope Strength/Grace Games/sports Pride Self-esteem Energy Adoration

Lilac Beauty Orchid Beauty Coreopsis Cheerfulness Violet Faith/Fidelity Gardenia Happiness/Joy Daisy Love Dahlia Elegance Snowdrop Friend in Need Buttercup Neatness/Humility Baby's Breath Breath of Holy Spirit Apple Blossom / Admiration Geranium Good friend Aster Patience Daffodil Sunshine Tulip Perfect love

These are just a few symbolic meanings for flowers, and these flowers are just suggestions. Enjoy this project and open a new world of beauty for your children.

Happy Spring!

2

Technology RESOURCES FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

PRAYER **Available apps for the iPad or iPhone Divine Office—Daily Invitatory, Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Midmorning Prayer, Midday Prayer, Midafternoon Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer. May be read or listened to.

Also available for your computer at www.divineoffice.org Compline Divine Office also has an app for Compline. May be read or listened to. iMissal Daily Mass Readings, Daily Bible Verse, Collection of Prayers, and Current News and Events. May be read or listened to. iRosary Catholic Rosary for your iPad Children’s Bible Stories for children to view, read along, and listen to.

LENT/EASTER http://www.holyheroes.com Excellent source- begins with a video conversation about the topic of the day.

MARY www.mycatholicsource.com A wealth of knowledge, many resources for Mary.

END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR www.thereligionteacher.com This site contains lesson plans, resources for teachers, prayer, even a free e-book!!!!

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION TREASURES Easter Season: The Great 50 Days!

As Lent draws to a close, we anticipate the exuberant season of Easter! There are so many ways to track the sacrifices, prayers, and almsgiving of Lent, but let’s consider one way to keep the focus of Easter alive in the students’ minds and hearts.

Easter is a season of light with the special gifts that Jesus brought: peace and joy. If each child had a picture of a cross or a window, like a leaded glass church window, with 50 spaces to fill in with a color, we could provide a little reflection time on how we live out the Lord’s Easter gifts during the Great 50 Days.

Each day the child tries to share the gift of a happy smile to someone, the gift of a peaceful prayer or thought, the gift of random kindness, or whatever beautiful virtues your class needs.

The child then colors in one of the spaces in the cross or window.

As the Easter Season progresses, the children realize the continuity of the entire Season, rather than enjoying only the Solemnity and the Octave. In many homes the baskets might be quickly packed away. In our classrooms, the decorations might come down; yet the Church invites us to keep right on celebrating the Great 50 Days! A moment before Religion Class or at the start of the day could keep the practice of peace and joy alive and glowing during the whole Easter Season.

This colorful cross or window becomes a symbol that reflects the many gifts of love, joy, and peace given during the Great 50 Days. As the Easter Season draws to a close, it would be lovely to put a small dove sticker right in the center to celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit!

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM . . .

Parents in Partnership with God -Sharing Faith with Children Cultivating a Heart for Mercy English writer John Heywood remarked: “They do not love that do not show their love.”

In response, many of us wonder, how would one show love? As children, we learn how to transfer the abstract concept of love into practical and observable actions through the teaching and example of our parents. Teaching how to love is a parent’s major responsibility.

This newsletter presents the WORKS OF MERCY and the PRINCIPLES OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING as formulas for love. Other expressions of love include Spirituality of Communion (the teaching of Pope John Paul II) and the Ten Commandments.

WORKS OF MERCY Generations of Catholics can recite from memory the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.

These are basic charitable actions that aid another person in physical ways, such as feeding the hungry and visiting the sick or in spiritual/psychological ways such as counseling the doubtful. When these works are demonstrated in behaviors, love becomes visible.

The corporal works of mercy implore us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, help those imprisoned, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, and bury the dead.

The spiritual works of mercy encourage us to counsel the sinner, share knowledge of God with others, advise the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive all injuries, and to pray for the living and for the dead.

Teach children both the literal and the creative sense of each Work of Mercy. Take, for example, “Feed the Hungry.”

• In a literal sense it could translate into serving at a food kitchen, donating money to a food collection, contributing canned goods to a food bank, supporting legislation to stock food pantries, deciding to give up desserts and give the saved money to the poor . . .

• In the creative sense it could mean phoning a shut-in who is hungry for conversation, inviting to a play date a child who is unpopular/hungry for belonging, sending a homemade greeting card to a grandparent who is lonely/hungry for companionship, or speaking affirming words to someone who is starved for attention.

PRINCIPLES OF CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING Justice, care for the poor, and reverence for human dignity are core elements of the Gospel of Jesus. Personal commitment to social justice is, therefore, an essential part of the Catholic faith. Love requires that verbal expressions transfer into personal action.

In 1995 the Bishops of the United States summarized Catholic Social Teaching into seven principles. Concrete practices include but are not limited to the following suggestions: Life and Dignity of the Human Person: Demonstrate that people are precious and more important than things. Safeguard life at every stage. Be your personal best. Avoid every form of abuse, hurtful words, cheating, fighting . . .

Call to Family, Community, and Participation: Participate in school, parish, and civic activities. Build community. Seek the common good. Create a safe environment for all, especially the poor and vulnerable. Practice responsibility and accountability. Avoid namecalling, bullying . . .

Rights and Responsibilities of the Human Person: Exercise your rights; fulfill your duties and responsibilities. Make restitution after violating rights/duties/responsibilities. Avoid behaviors that deny or interfere with another’s rights.

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable:

Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers: Support the right of people to receive fair wages, to organize unions, to own property and private business. Avoid an attitude of “entitlement” that is, expecting others to pick up after you.

Solidarity of the Human Family: Understand that “neighbor” is everyone, everywhere. Respect all people regardless of race, gender, nation, sexual orientation, politics, or religion. Avoid expressing verbal slurs or jokes at the expense of a person. Learn to pronounce personal names and typical greetings in the language of other cultures.

Care for God’s Creation: Protect the planet.

Exert stewardship for the environment -- respect and responsibility for buildings, grounds, equipment… Avoid destruction or misuse of persons, places or things.

Protect the poor and vulnerable – those who struggle economically, academically, emotionally, or socially. Avoid cliques, elitism, or treating another person as inferior to you.

PARENT PRACTICES THAT MENTOR SOCIAL JUSTICE • Speak thoughtful remarks that are repeated often enough that they shape attitudes and actions, like “What did you do today that looked like love?”

• Use printed slogans as house decorations on a wall, above a staircase, near a light switch or on a mirror, for example: “Do the loving thing.” “Be a face of love in the world today.”

“Love grows out of respect.”

• Post a Work of Mercy or Principle of Catholic Social Teaching. Make it the focus of conversation once a week at dinner.

• Perform a family social justice service project.

• Think of ways to engage children in the practices of respect, sharing, empathy, forgiveness, compassion, and repentance. ______________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Patricia M. McCormack, IHM DrPatMcCormack@aol.com IHM FORMATIVE SUPPORT for Parents & Teachers