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Technology @ Coonley

2nd Quarter Peek: Highlights of Technology in Education

Technology @Coonley2nd Quarter Peek: Highlights of Technology inEducation

Coonley Participates in it's First Hour of Code

In December Coonley students joined millions of other students from around the world participating in the "Hour of Code". This initiative by code.org exposes students as young as Kindergarten to coding opportunities through games. All students had a chance to experience coding activities in the computer lab or on Chromebooks. Students in grades 4-8 participated in DePaul's Hour of Code activities on campus and a 7th grade class visited Microsoft's office for coding activities as well. Mrs. Zumpano, Coonley's Technology Coach created a guide for teachers to introduce and understand the Hour of Code. It can be viewed here: http://zumpanotechlab.blogspot.com/search/label/Hour%20of%20Code
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Hour of Code Bulletin Board

See highlights from our Hour of Code outside the computer lab room 307. The bulletin board contains strips of paper that link to coding activities available online.
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Hour of Code on Twitter

Thanks to Coonley teachers for sharing their Hour of Code activities with educators around the world via Twitter.
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Code.org

Coonley has applied to become a Code.org pilot school within CPS. If awarded, this opportunity would provide teacher training and a code curriculum to be implemented in the 2015-2016 school year.

Coonley Connects with Others Online

Thank you to everyone that is supporting our effort to share the wonderful work that is taking place at Coonley by connecting with students, parents and other educators using Social Media. Examples of how we are doing this are below.
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Coonley on Twitter

If you are not following us on Twitter we would love to have you join us! You can follow us @CoonleyES for updates on Coonley events, sports, classroom connections and more.
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Student Council Now on Twitter

Coonley's student council has decided to spread the word about the great things they are doing. This month the student council is tweeting about Anti-Bullying month. Please support them by following, liking and commenting on their posts! You can find them @CoonleyCouncil.
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Instagram for Sharing

Three of our fantastic teachers are using Instagram to share snippets of their classrooms with parents. These accounts are private so teachers need to approve who gets to view their content. Mrs. Bertucci and Ms. Foreman also shared their teaching practices with other educators around the world by taking over the Instagram account of Teachability.com which is an online professional learning network for educators.

Coonley/Federico Garcia Lorca School Collaboration

This quarter Coonley's spanish teachers began connecting with a school in Spain. Through a collaborative blog both schools will share glimpses into their days. As the blog progresses Coonley students will have a chance to communicate in Spanish with the partner school to practice their skills and will encourage Federico Garcia Lorca's students to practice their english with correspondence. Keep an eye on the blog to see how we grow and share our voice:

http://coonleygarcialorca.blogspot.com

Programs We Love!

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Raz-Kids

Students in grades K-2 have access to an exciting reading program at raz-kids.com. Raz-Kids has over 400 ebooks available to help young readers improve their fluency and comprehension. Teachers assign a reading level for each student to make sure challenging yet appropriate stories are available for them to read, have read to them and take a quiz. Raz-Kids is being implemented in various ways at Coonley. Some teachers use the program as a classroom center and others provided information for students to practice these skills at home. The program is available anywhere an Internet connection is available.
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Think Through Math

Students in grades 3-8 are working on enhancing their math skills through an exciting new math program called Think Through Math http://www.thinkthroughmath.com. Coonley students are loving this program and have been excited about using it! Think Through Math is accessible at home or anywhere there is Internet access.
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Google Classroom

This year several middle school teachers at Coonley are participating in a CPS pilot program for Google's LMS (Learning Management System), Google Classroom. In this closed environment (only visible to members that are invited) teachers can post announcements, assignments and communicate with students all in one location. Students can ask each other questions and easily locate classroom resources. Google Classroom helps students organize their work by setting up folders within their Google Drive accounts. All of this is taking place on Chromebooks. As the pilot progresses CPS is asking participating teachers to provide feedback on the program so CPS can make a decision as to whether or not they will open the program to educators District Wide.

Kudos!

Coonley teachers are doing a great job finding meaningful ways to enhance their curriculum with technology. This is just a sampling of what took place the 2nd quarter. Looking forward to see what the second half of the 2014-2015 school year brings!



  • Ms. Wiltse worked with 4th grade in library to complete reviews via talking books using the iPad app PhotoSpeak
  • Mrs. Heineman's 1st grade class recorded original books using the iPad app Educreations
  • Ms. Butala's 5th grade classes conducted research on scientists using their Chromebooks. Students used Google Slides to created presentations about their research. They recorded quotes from their scientist using the iPad app Audioboom and embedded these into their presentations. As one student presented the remaining students participated in a backchannel providing feedback to the presenter in real-time using TodaysMeet
  • Mrs. Meegan worked with her 8th grade students in December to complete e-learning modules on media literacy via The News Literacy Project. This is her 3rd year implementing this important program
  • Mr. Wrzesinski has used Audioboom to record several classroom performances in music. Check out his recordings here: https://audioboom.com/MrWMusicClass
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"Technology Highlights" is published by Nicole Zumpano, Technology Coach

Email: nmzumpano@cps.edu
Website: http://zumpanotechlab.blogspot.com
Twitter: @nmzumpano