More than Just a Bulletin Board: Using Displays as a Form to Share Instructional Strategies3/2/2018 I attended Day 1 of #ICE2018 this week and was pretty excited to see sketchnoting as one of Kathi Schrock's favorite learning tools. I understand Sketchnoting is not a new concept, but I've seen it more and more lately. Here it is in Smokey Daniel's Curious Classroom. After attending ICE, I thought I would bring it back to school and share the idea with teachers. And hopefully, notetaking will become a less painful exercise for all involved. Yay visual notetaking! Check out the March display you see as soon as you enter the room, focusing on making (rock on Maker March!) The whiteboard presents the topic through Sketchnoting. I'm looking forward to exploring Sketchnoting with our teachers! How do you engage teachers with innovative instructional strategies?
This year, I have partnered with a second grade class to cycle through monthly digital storytelling with small groups. 3-4 students come to the LRC, select a book the class has read in a whole class read aloud, and they retell the story in a digital book format- limiting movie to 2-5 minutes. Their movie is then presented to the class. Below is an image of the friends ideating what their lead character could look like. Check back to see December's movie. November's is available after the break. Here is the November movie: Adam Rubin's Those Darn Squirrels. Today is the 50th day of school! Kindergarten is celebrating in the LRC with a 50 Day Challenge- where they are challenged to build the tallest tower with 50 cups in 50 seconds. See a time-lapse video below of one group's crack at it (see the rest of the playlist over here). Low-tech challenge engage children's brains in a variety of ways. And challenges are a great opportunity to encourage children to fail safely and keep trying! Read more about how mistakes are great for our brains here We had a fantastic turnout for our Cardboard Challenge. Check out our photos of the event, after the jump! The #D34CardboardChallenge is an exploration of the Design Thinking model through the use of cardboard. Classrooms follow the process in our LRC through a series of two (45 minute) lessons. Understanding they are participating in a challenge; students go through the Design Thinking model, learning to use materials responsibly, focusing on collaborating with others, and persevering along the way. During September, students are introduced to the #D34CardboardChallenge at Lyon. They address the challenge, find out the question they need to answer (What could you imagine to make our school a better place for kids?), discover the information they need to answer that question, brainstorm with their teammates, plan, create, and reflect. WHY WE DO IT
Here in the LRC, we capitalize on signage as a way to reinforce our message. Whether it's staying "on brand" for consistency, using color strategically, or utilizing signs to support students in using our space independently, signage always has a purpose.
Being thoughtful about signage in your space helps to support students on their way to independence, no matter their age.
We are back at it; working hard to create a welcoming environment with everyone who visits our Learning Resource Center, every single day. Check out our current space in the video and how it's evolved over time in slideshow below. And be sure to stop by and see what we are up to over the year! We have some exciting programming on deck and we look forward to sharing our experiences with you.
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AuthorSarah Steiger is the Learning Resource Director at Lyon School in Glenview, Illinois. |