Hidden Treasures

We have a new toy at my school. Well, it’s not new to them, but it is new to me: a SmartBoard. I had heard of these magical items, but I had never used one until last week.  The other tool I got to play with is a handheld GPS device, on the same day!

Education is chock full of mandates and initiates and non-negotiables.  The legislatures at the state and federal levels are infamous for setting them up and the failing to fund them or provide training. Technology is one such area; often, the students know more about the technology at hand than the teachers do. Their trouble shooting is faster, cheaper and more accurate than the IT departments of many schools.

Luckily, while this is true for me, it is not true for my school. Out teachers are well versed and comfortable with technology. The technology teacher is an angel- warm, supportive and excited to bring technology and teaching together. The other fifth grade teachers had a marvelous idea that was implemented (with great success) by our Technology Teacher.  The idea was to hide science tools around the building and let the kids use the GPS units to find the tools.  Then, they needed to complete an activity at each station related to the science tool at hand. When you leave hints or a map, its called a scavenger hunt. But, when you use a GPS, its called Geocaching and is the coolest thing since letterboxing.

Before we let them loose on the school grounds with the GPS, we ran around the school setting the sites up.  We walked to a particular tree or swing or drainage pipe and “marked” the “waypoint” on the GPS and left a clue.  The clues (and activities) were left in camouflaged empty medicine bottles, film canisters and even one juice box.

The next day, the students attended a Geocaching orientation in the computer lab.  Our technologist had put together a power point (complete with video) to explain the idea to the kids. They got more and more excited as the presentation went on. The power point was projected onto the smart board and the kids were able to come to the board and touch the screen to manipulate the video and the power point.

When we finally passed out the GPS units, one of the kids said, “This is cooler than GameBoy!” They were so funny to watch: heads bent over the units, walking at a “brisk” pace so that the satellite could find them, and shouting at each other that they were heading “West at 3.4 mph!” Even though we had repeatedly told them, they still imagined that the GPS would take to the exact place where the cache was hidden. To the point that they nearly refused to look up from it.

We finished the activity (which did allow them to review the different science tools and their uses) and came inside. Each day since then, they have asked, “When can we use the GPS again?”

Days later, we got to use the smartboard again.   This time it was to complete a very mundane activity: shelving non-fiction books.  We had been reviewing decimals and discussing how to order them. This is really hard for kids. I can relate, it’s hard for me. When looking at tenths and hundredths, the numbers can be related to money and so that resonates with them.  However, when you start looking at thousandths, the numbers loose all meaning and they start to guess. Guessing, as any fifth grader can tell you, should only happen with the lottery.

I have a fantastic librarian who shelves cart-loads of non-fiction books every day. I asked her if she wanted some help and between the two of us came up with the following lesson: take 5th graders to the library, explain the Dewey Decimal System to them, let them shelve animal books.

Would that it were that it was that easy! The idea that books were on the shelf in order from least greatest decimal order was beyond mind boggling for them.  Luckily, the librarian had a game set up through the smart board to teach this concept.  The students were taken through the system category by category looking for a particular soccer book. There was discussion at each stop about each category as well as a lot of math focused on the changing values as you move through the system.

Then, and this was super cool, the kids had to order decimal numbers on the smartboard. There was a list of numbers on the board (that were projected from the computer) the kids touched the numbers and then dragged them to the right spot in line.  The board has “markers” that write on the board and they were able to scribble on the board to help themselves look at the numbers.

Finally, they got it! I think it was the combination of good teaching and new gadgets, but it worked! The kids jumped into shelving the books and the librarian was able to take her lunch break.

We’re geochaching again in two weeks: this time we’ll be looking for the different kinds of rocks (both planted and naturally occurring on our playground). It’s on the calendar, so while they should stay excited, I shouldn’t be asked about it everyday.

The test on decimals is tomorrow, so we’ll see if the ideas stuck or not. They all wanted to know if the test was going to be on a smartboard!

This is a gift that should show up in my stocking this year, I think.