Month: March 2020

https://education.minecraft.net/qCmsq

Today we learned about Minecraft and how teachers can use it in the classroom. We reviewed multiple Minecraft lesson plans and my two favourites are “Fairy Tale Reimagined” which is associates with language arts, art and design, and world languages. The other lesson plan that I found interesting is “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” that associate with digital literacy, dramatic arts and theatre, and reading and writing. These lessons are all designated for the age range of 5-10.

For lesson plan one, the learning outcomes are;

Students will recreate a fairy tale inside of Minecraft
Students will demonstrate an understanding of digital storytelling and guiding the viewer through a complete story experience
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the narrative tools in Minecraft: Education Edition (slate, poster, board, signs, NPCs)
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the world builder tools including the fill and clone tools
Students will publish their completed work to be shared with a global audience
Students will collaborate on the creation of their project and share responsibilities among a group
Students will utilize Redstone and other elements in-game to combine coding/engineering skills with storytelling (optional)

(https://education.minecraft.net/qCmsq)

This lesson is very cool because the students can create their own fairytale stories through Minecraft. The students will be able to learn how to use materials and techniques while playing and creating their stories. They can also be building houses and buildings for their fairytale stories.

For lesson plan two the learning outcomes are;

Older children: To be able to recreate a story within Minecraft and share it with the younger children.
Younger children: To explore and gain a broader understanding of a story in a multi-sensory way.
To use and understand the concepts of digital storytelling.
To understand how to use the tools available in Minecraft to bring a story to life.

(https://education.minecraft.net/gIqce)

This lesson plan is very interesting because students can create animals in this particular lesson plan and it allows them to create a story using animals that they have and they can design any object they want to have in their story.

The pro’s about using Minecraft as a pedagogical tool is that the students can work together if they’re in multiplayer mode and work on team building. It is also a great tool for teaching math and geography. The students can use coordinates and plug their coordinates to meet their classmates. You can use Minecraft for lots of different subjects and creative ideas for students to play with.

The con’s about using Minecraft as a pedagogical tool is that not every student will want to play the game. It is difficult to use and there isn’t a lot of instruction on what short cuts they can use. I found it complicated to learn how to play. Although Minecraft can be used for many subjects I don’t love the idea of using it in the classroom and incorporating them into lessons. I think that the controls are complicated and I don’t think that students under the age of 8. I do think that it would be a good free time game for students to play because it does have some good learning tools.

Lesson Plan One:

Lesson Plan Two:

https://education.minecraft.net/gIqce

We also learned about the Google Science Journal and you can make a video recording of light, motion, and so much more. You can add audio and make a recording of the data that has been found.

Pros of Kahoot

In EdTech Inquiry

Kahoot! It provides many benefits for the learning environment that range from student engagement to the enjoyment of learning. Here are some of the Pros for Kahoot!

It provokes attention amongst the students in the class.
- Motivates students to pay attention during instructional periods in order to prepare for future Kahoot! Games
Allows students a break period from structured learning
- Can be used to break up subjects or as an educational transition activity
Promotes student Interaction and Participation
- Promotes engagement as students answer questions within the game.
- Gives introverted students the chance to share their ideas and thoughts without needing to speak or fearing judgement.
Friendly competition becomes a motivator for students
- Students compete to gain the most points and find themselves on the leaderboard
- Creates a positive and active classroom environment where energy levels may rise and students can become motivated to think critically and creatively.
Anonymity
- Students can remain anonymous if they wish which provides them with some safety and privacy
- Gives introverted children the chance to share their ideas while feeling safe and unjudged for their choice in answers.
Knowledge Retention
- Allows students to review past material and uncover new material
- Students may even feel motivated to study beforehand if they know a Kahoot! is coming up
- Covers key concepts and topics
It’s FUN!!!!

By Kate and Holly

Types of Yoga

https://www.drweil.com/blog/spontaneous-happiness/the-8-most-popular-types-of-yoga/

In Free Inquiry

There are multiple different types of yoga so I will be describing four different kinds within this post.

Hatha- It is a combination of breathwork with physical postures. It usually involves an introduction to basic yoga postures for beginners. It is more focused on relaxing and stretching.
Vinyasa-This style is more focused on rhythmic breathing which follows with flowing postures and somewhat vigorous mind and body workout. It links breath with movement so it is a bit more fast-paced and more athletic. This one is a bit more intense as well so it will help burn calories and sweat lots.
Ashtanga- This one is also focused on linking breath to movement. Ashtanga is a bit more structured and follows a more specific sequence of poses in the same order. This type of yoga will leave you hot and sweaty and is physically demanding.
Iyengar-This particular type of yoga is very meticulous, it is all about proper posture and poses. This type of yoga uses lots of props including, blocks, blankets, balls and straps. These tools are used to help people find the right alignment of stretch. This is sometimes taught without music and helps people focus on the stretch or pose and hold them for longer periods of time.

Next post I will be talking about the other four types of yoga

Information retrieved from

Cons of Kahoot

In EdTech Inquiry

There are very few cons about the app and game Kahoot, here are some listed below

One answer: The one issue with Kahoot is that there can only be one answer for multiple-choice questions and true or false questions. This can be difficult when creating a Kahoot because there could be more than one answer to the multiple-choice question. There are options to do an open-ended question in Kahoot.
Technology issues: There are some problems that can happen when playing Kahoot in your classroom, depending on the school you’re working at they might now have enough or any tablets or computers available for the students to use. There can also be an issue with wifi if the school has bad wifi the connection can create a problem when doing the quiz, that some students devices might lag and this makes it unfair
Usernames: This causes an issue because students can create their own usernames which can lead to inappropriate names that are displayed for the whole class to see.
Speed: Kahoot is all about getting points and the way to get points for answering correctly is how fast you answer the question. This is not always the best way to get students engaged.

By Holly and Kate

Health Benefits of Yoga

https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/count-yoga-38-ways-yoga-keeps-fit

In Free Inquiry

This week I have been doing research along with my own opinion on the benefits of yoga. I believe that yoga makes you feel an inner calm and relaxation. When I do yoga I feel so at peace and connected to my body and mind. I feel so relaxed and organized when I do yoga. The one thing that I have a problem with is that I cant do a yoga practice unless I have organized and unpacked my things and done my homework to get things off my mind before I can relax. This is why I love doing yoga at the end of the day as a stress reliever. Yoga can benefit many things in the human body, it can increase flexibility, increase muscle strength, improve posture, improve respiration, increase energy, help with metabolism, help with weight loss, improve cardio, and improve circulation and blood flow. Yoga can also improve your mental health by relieving stress and anxiety as well as many other things. I love doing yoga and I wish I could do it every night because it is so healthy for your body. I will post a link down below that has many more physical and mental benefits of yoga.

Learning Don’t Stop Believing

In Music

This week I have been practicing the song Don’t Stop Believing by Journey, and it is fun to play. The chords are simple they are just going from E, F#, G#, B, C#, D#, and A. The song that I’m learning I am learning off of a Youtube video. There are lots of different versions so I am having fun listening to them all and using some to make the song sound exactly like the song. My Dad learned how to play it first and I heard it and instantly wanted to learn how to play it. One thing about this song is that the cords are a very big stretch in the treble clef, and my fingers get so sore after playing it because I am stretching so far to play it and also to be able to play the song at the tempo that it is supposed to be.

I am still practicing Always Remember Us This Way and I am getting much better at it. I am still playing a few mistakes because sometimes I am getting the songs mixed up when I play because some parts they sound similar that I will play an F# in this song but it doesn’t have one, Shallow has one.

Dream Inquiry…

In EdTech

My inquiry that I chose for a grade 1 is about dreaming. I made a video of images of stars and questions because I am interested about how dreams work.

What do I see when I’m dreaming? Sometimes I see stars or pictures or memories.
What do I know? That you dream every night but only sometimes you remember them.
What do I wonder? How do dreams work and why do only sometimes you remember them and what causes people to dream.

Change of plan

In Music

So last week’s plans have changed after the midterm date and I was able to revise my musical growth plan. I decided to change things up, Bohemian Rapsody was a very difficult song to learn and I wasn’t getting as far as I wanted to for learning the chords with difficult flats and sharps. I have now taken Bohemian Rapsody completely out of my musical growth plan and added the song Don’t Stop Believing by Journey. I will now be focusing on Don’t Stop Believing until the end of the term. My old musical growth plan outlined that I would learn the song Always Remember Us This Way from A Star is Born written by Lady Gaga after the midterm until the end of term but I decided to learn it when I was getting stuck on Bohemian Rapsody. I ended up learning the whole song before the midterm and I will continue practicing Always Remember Us This Way and have it perfected, along with Don’t Stop Believing by the end of the term. I will have Always Remember Us This Way and Don’t Stop Believing in my final recording.

Yoga Poses

In Free Inquiry

Since I have done a few yoga exercises I thought it would be helpful to create a list with images of poses that are incorporated in my yoga exercises.

Easy Pose-

Seated neck stretch-

Seated twist-

Seated side bend-

Bound angle pose-

Half wind relieving pose-

Wind relieving pose-

Lying spinal twist-

Bridge pose-

Corpse pose-

Child’s pose-

Mountain pose-

Tree pose-

Prayer pose-

Cat pose-

Balancing table pose-

Downward dog-

One leg downward dog-

Standing forward bend-

Standing side bend-

chair pose-

side angle pose-

Warrior 2 pose-

Game Based Approach