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Technology @ Coonley

2nd Quarter Highlights

Technology @Coonley2nd Quarter Highlights

Coding is Here!

Our CPS code.org pilot is now in full swing! Students in grades K-5 have had weekly coding sessions using code.org's curriculum with Mrs. Zumpano while our middle school students receive coding lessons in science and math where applicable in the current curriculum. The pilot program has both "unplugged" and online activities that students have embraced. Below are some examples of what we've been working on.
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Hour of Code

We kicked off our coding pilot by participating in the worldwide initiative "Hour of Code" sponsored by code.org. Students can visit https://code.org/learn at any time to continue the fun at home.
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What Does a Computer Scientist Look Like?

K-5 students began coding by talking about what a computer scientist does and having a chance to show us what they thought a computer scientist looks like. See some of their examples here: http://zumpanotechlab.blogspot.com/2016/01/computer-scientists-elementary-style.html
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Coding Unplugged

Both courses for coding lessons include "unplugged" activities where students work together to program on paper. These activities are a great way to get in the mindset of programming.
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Match the Code

Ms. Malhiot's students created their own graph paper pictures and wrote the code for each example. This is a great interactive display where students had a chance to match the code to the picture!
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Freedom to Code

Ms. Clifford completed an activity with her 2nd grade classroom talking about basic freedoms we have. One of her students loves that he has the freedom to code!
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Self-Paced Curriculum

While code.org's courses are mostly self-paced students are guided on how to work each week's new puzzle series.

Twitter Still Going Strong!

Thank you to all of our followers! We hope that you are finding our Twitter posts helpful. Below are 3 examples of ways we continue to use this powerful social media tool to share the wonderful things that are happening at Coonley! You can follow us at http://www.twitter.com/CoonleyES. If you are not on Twitter consider joining! If you need assistance, please email Mrs. Zumpano. Our feed is embedded on the homepage of our website for added convenience.
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Mr. Ernst

Thank you to Mr. Ernst for running the sports program at Coonley and keeping us informed via Twitter. Follow him at https://twitter.com/CoonleySports
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Mr. Carpenter

#StudentVoice! In January Mr. Carpenter officially turned his 2nd grade classroom Twitter account over to his students! Each day they fill us in on what is happening. Visit them at https://twitter.com/2ndCougars. Mr. Carpenter's students have also participated in the "Global Math Task Twitter Challenge" by solving math problems via the hashtag #gmttc. You can learn more about this initiative here.
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Ms. Wiltse

Ms. Wiltse not only runs our library and organizes book fairs but she also gets questions answered via Twitter! Recently a student was confused about the bio of an author (specifically how many cats she had) so Ms. Wiltse tweeted the author and the author responded! Follow our awesome librarian at https://twitter.com/CoonleyLibrary

Other Technology Happenings Around Coonley

  • Kudos to Ms. Meegan and her 8th grade social studies students! While studying immigration students recorded an interview with an immigrant (many of them used Audioboom) and then created a master slideshow with each student authoring a slide with a summary and a link to the recordings. View these on Ms. Meegan's website here.
  • Great job Ms. Smith and her 6th & 7th grade social studies classes! Ms. Smith is using various technology tools to help students demonstrate their knowledge of continents. Students have used iMovie, Thinglink and "Fakebook" to demonstrate their understanding
  • Way to go Ms. Heineman! Currently still in the recording process, we are capturing student voice using Audioboom of students reading their fiction stories!
  • Nice job Ms. Butala! As students researched scientists they created a slideshow of their findings and had an extra credit opportunity to record a quote by their scientist using Audioboom.
  • Hooray Ms. Wiltse! Students used the PhotoSpeak app to record book reviews.
  • Stay tuned! Several tech projects are ongoing such as Mr. Sullivan's Thinglink Illinois research project and Ms. Wiltse's ABC's of Literature wikis with 8th grade
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Thanks for Reading!

Technology @ Coonley is a newsletter written by Nicole Zumpano, Coonley's technology coach.

Email: nmzumpano@cps.edu
Website: http://zumpanotechlab.blogspot.com
Location: 4046 N Leavitt St, Chicago, IL, United States
Twitter: @nmzumpano