Room 15 is the first classroom at Spring Lake Magnet to extensively use Handhelds in the curriculum. The students are truly getting to be handheld experts! We currently have 9 Palms to use in our room. Each student was assigned a partner with which to share their Palm. The students themselves are constantly thinking of new ways to use the Palms in the classroom. Check back soon for pictures of the class in action with their Palms. Here are some of the ways we have integrated Palms into our studies:
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Graphic Organizers: We use the program Pico Map to create thinking maps during reading, to prepare for our BUROS test, and in Science and Social Studies. |
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Slide Shows: We use the program Sketchy to create slide shows in many subjects. We have made slides showing the steps in long division, showing how to compare fractions, and we are working right now in Science to journal and compare the growth of two different plants as part of a science CRT. |
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E-Books: Some students have downloaded e-books to read from the internet. |
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Notes and Literature Responses: We also use the Palms to respond to stories we read, complete sections of book reports, and take notes in Science and Social Studies. |
A special thank you to Randi Coenen, an education student from the College of Saint Mary, who has been working with us in our classroom all year. She introduced us to Palms and helped us to run with this concept! She has been fabulous!
Thank you also to the great resources provided by Tony Vincent on his classroom webpage Planet 5th and his Learning in Hand page. Mr. Vincent also has a great downloadable Graffiti Alphabet teachers can display in their classrooms (hand held writing language). These resources were instrumental in designing our instruction.