Tag: 4th grade

Posted in Minecraft

Minecraft at DGE

Posted on by Mrs. Ruiz

Minecraft Club Header

Dear Families,

I am thrilled to announce the beginning of the 21st Century Club at Dorothy Grant Elementary! In this very special club we will focus on teaching students the 21st Century Skills they need as children of the information age. Specifically we will focus on the following International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards for students:

  1. Creativity and Innovation
  2. Communication and Collaboration
  3. Research and Information Fluency
  4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
  5. Digital Citizenship
  6. Technology Operations and Concepts

The first phase of our 21st Century Club will focus on Minecraft and game based learning. This opportunity is open to all 3rd through 5th graders as a distance learning experience. That means students will be connecting to the club from home. The following are required to participate:

  1. Reliable home computer with MinecraftEDU Minecraft installed (MinecraftEDU will not be used after all, regular Minecraft will.)
    1. This is different than the commercial Minecraft client. The MinecraftEDU client will be sent to students in the club once all requirements have been met.
  2. Reliable home internet
  3. A Minecraft account ($26.95) or a MinecraftEDU account ($18)
    1. With commercial Minecraft, the account is yours to keep. With MinecraftEDU, you are borrowing the account.
  4. Skype (for audio communication)
  5. Edmodo (online classroom)
    1. Students do not need to sign up for another Edmodo account if they already have one.
    2. A group join code will be sent once all requirements have been met.
  6. Permission slip with parent and teacher signatures

The Minecraft Club will take place on Thursdays from 4pm to 5pm. Our first meeting is Thursday, September 10th.

If you are interested in this opportunity for your child, please email me your child’s name and their teacher’s name. A permission slip will then be sent to them for completion along with further instructions.

Thank you!
Mrs. Ruiz
4th Grade Teacher & Technology Coach
ruizmy@fusd.net
www.mrsruiz.net

Posted in Class News

Here We Are!

Posted on by Mrs. Ruiz

Thank you to all the parents who signed and returned the photo release form! It allowed me to take this great class photo with my selfie stick. I look forward to posting more photos of the students and their work as the school year progresses.

MrsRuizs4thGrade2015

Looking forward to a great year,
Mrs. Ruiz

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
 Mahatma Gandhi

Posted in Class News

Classroom News

Posted on by Mrs. Ruiz

Hello Families!

I thought I would take a moment to address various questions in one mighty blog post!

  1. We have a fundraiser going on currently. It began on August 14th and goes until August 28th. Our class can win an iPad if we have the highest participation in the school! I won an iPad a couple of years ago from this fundraiser company and would love to win another to allow even more use of tablets in the room. I told the class if we win, I will give all participating students an additional prize coupon as well as have a movie and popcorn party for the whole class.  This fundraiser also has online ordering! Click the image below to be taken to the site, then enter PFDORGRANT.online ordering
  2. Scholastic Reading Club – I will send home book order forms for Scholastic once a month. I have sent the first two already and orders for this month will be closed on August 24th. Once books are ordered they take 2 weeks to arrive. Ordering books from Scholastic is another way we can earn a free iPad for the classroom so the more book orders the better! There is online ordering available as well and you can shop the entire Scholastic collection of books and not just the items from the flyers I send home. Click the image below to be taken to online ordering.scholasticclass code
  3. MobyMax Homework was originally due August 21st. I have recieved many messages regarding this assignment and various issues that have interfered with completeing it. I do want everyone to complete this assignment and for those who haven’t I will allow extra time for them to do so. I made a video to answer some of the questions and I hope it helps. If you have further questions or I did not address your question, please send me a message on Class Dojo.

I believe that covers all the information I have at this time. If there is something you wish to know and I did not address, please remind me by sending me another message. 🙂

-Mrs. Ruiz

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Posted in Class News

Back To School Night

Posted on by Mrs. Ruiz

We had a wonderful turn out for Back To School Night! It was so nice to meet so many of the families of my students. Several of you told me you would not be able to attend and there are some linked videos I was unable to show due to time, so I wanted to be sure to get my presentation online for you to review. If you have any questions about any part of the presentation, please message me on ClassDojo.

Back To School Night

 

Posted in Class News

A New School Year Begins

Posted on by Mrs. Ruiz

Today marked the beginning of a new school year. I was very excited for the grade change from 3rd to 4th, but with that change came a room change. I have moved from F1 to P4, which is a newly installed portable. The move was not without its stresses, but in the end the room was ready to go come the 1st day of school to welcome in its first DGE 4th graders.

P4 a week before school started
P4 a week before school started
Moving a few things in, adding boarder and ceiling hangs.
Moving a few things in, adding boarder and ceiling hangs.
A bit more moving in...
A bit more moving in…
Furniture finally arrives
Furniture finally arrives
The furniture moving truck
The furniture delivery truck
The room is finally ready for the 1st day of school!
The room is finally ready for the 1st day of school!

We had an amazing day today. We got to know one another a bit better, and make our avatars for the year using the AvatarCreator app available on iOS. I also took quick stock of how technology equipped my students are. Of 31 students 6 had a smartphone of some kind, 20 had a tablet, and 8 did not have a smartphone or a tablet.

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Students emailing their avatars to me on the class iPads. (The lunchtime on the board is wrong, it is actually 12pm to 12:40.)

I introduced the class to Edmodo, which will be the online version of our classroom we will use daily. The students have set up their accounts and parents can join in as well to see what we are up to. Parents can get the parent join code from their child when the student is logged in to their Edmodo account.

Parents are welcome to contact me via email (ruizmy@fusd.net), ClassDojo, or Skype (dgeruiz).

I look forward to day two of school and all the days ahead of us. I just know we will have an amazing year!