Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Tried it Tuesday...writin', sniffin', and creatin'...

It's Tuesday and it's time again to link up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday.  I've been on fire the past week with my postin' of blogs.  
Shockin'...I know!

http://fourthgradeflipper.blogspot.com/2013/11/tried-it-tuesday-remind-101.html


Tried it Awesomeness #1: Peer & Self-Assessing Writing
Readin' their own writing.

Color codin' writing rubric to match the 6 Traits of Writing.

Students had to do their second District Wide Writing Assessment last week.  I wrote about this here if you missed how and why we do this.  This week they are usin' a rubric provided by the District to self-assess themselves and then their peers.  We are usin' the 6 Traits of Writing and each trait requires a separate color when assessing.
These are the colors we use that you can find here on Smekens Education Solutions, Inc.
Ideas-blue
Organization-green
Voice-pink
Word Choice-red
Sentence Fluency-orange
Conventions-purple

After I graded the writin', students had to agree or disagree with the score I gave.  They had to go back and show me in their writin' and on the rubric, why they disagreed with me and give me the reason why.  A few disagreed and I was able to show them specifically why they scored what they did.

Tried it Awesomeness #2: Students Smellin' Scentsy
I can't pick a scent to save my life.  I set out a tray of 17 scents and students had to smell them all.
 They had to persuade me to buy a certain scent.  I will tally up the votes and order the winner, possibly...if my nose agrees with them.
 Takin' one scent out at a time to sniff.

More sniffin' of the scents.
This could possibly have been the quietest my students have been in awhile.
They were concentratin' for sure.

Tried It Awesomeness #3: My Create


My students and I are workin' on a technology project for our District after readin' the book Wonder by R.J.Palacio.  One of the technology pieces we are usin' in our Prezi is from the app My Create.
My Create allows you to take a picture with your phone and turn it into an animation. 
This app does cost almost $5, but I had a gift card for iTunes.  Thank you sweet families.  It's just a cute and fun way to share pictures...and watch them move really fast.
You can read more about Wonder in our classroom here.
I'll be puttin' up my whole presentation once it is finished.  

Be sure to check out the rest of the Tried it Tuesdays on Holly's blog!

Only 3 more days until I leave for Cali!

9 comments :

  1. I love that you had the kids color code the rubric to match the traits of writing! Such a great visual for them to see and a wonderful idea! I also love the real world application of persuasion! So easy and so clever! I know the feeling of being overwhelmed every time I visit a Bath and Body Work store... I never know what to choose and after I while, I can't really smell anything at all!

    Love all your great ideas :)
    Amanda
    My Shoe String Life

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  2. Such fun ideas! Am I totally daft for not knowing what a Scentsy is??

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  3. Sorry...My link didn't post correctly.

    Anyways, I love, love, love your persuasive activity! I might have to try it when we work on persuasion again! :)

    Theresa
    Pinkadots Elementary

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  4. Your Scentsy activity is awesome- I can only imagine how much they must've been concentrating on those smells!
    Aylin :)
    Learning to the Core

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  5. I love the color coding rubric-brilliant! I love Scentsy-what a creative lesson! I want to tell you my favorites: My Dear Watson, Route 66, Vanilla Suede, Pumpkin Marshmallow, Business Casual, I love so many! (I like the manly scents). I'm excited you get to be pampered in a few days! You deserve it!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

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  6. I'm going to check out My Create. That looks pretty cool.
    Seriously, my first thought for the smelling was that they were like the jelly beans from Harry Potter and everything was a disgusting one. That would be horrible. I'm glad you didn't trick the kids into doing something like that.

    matt
    Digital: Divide & Conquer

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  7. I have heard of Scentsy but don't really know much about it. Take a picture and then turn it into an animation? I need to check out My Create! So cool!! This post is just Rockin' with awesome you!
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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  8. I loove all your rockin' ideas, my friend....

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  9. The Scentsy activity sounds like so much fun, I bet the kiddos enjoyed it! I've linked up your "My Create" idea, hope you don't mind!

    Christy
    Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road

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