Learning the Dewey Decimal System with Augmented Reality

 

My fifth grade reading teacher requires her students to complete a 25 Book Challenge each year. Students read 25 books from a variety of categories, including one from each Dewey class. Entering fifth grade, my students have very limited knowledge of the Dewey decimal system besides knowing where their favorite books are located. So to introduce students to the Dewey classes, I first taught them about the Dewey decimal system and the books in each major class. I also showed them where each section is in the media center. Then, to have students practice, I created an interactive experience using the augmented reality app Aurasma.

Aurasma is one of my favorite apps! You can use it to create your own augmented reality content. It is adaptable to any subject area, and students are always amazed by it!  Aurasma Studio is the website I use to upload and create all of my augmented reality content. Once you learn the main parts of Aurasma Studio (trigger images, overlays, auras, and channels), it is very user-friendly! For this lesson, I selected 30 books in my media center (three from each of the ten major Dewey classes). I uploaded cover images of these books into Aurasma Studio as my trigger images. This means that when these pictures are scanned in the Aurasma app, augmented reality content appears. Next, I uploaded JPEG images I created in PowerPoint of each of the major Dewey classes as the overlays. This is the content that appears when the trigger images are scanned. Finally, I combined each cover image with the correct Dewey class picture to create auras for each book. Auras are the trigger image and overlay together. You also must set up a channel in Aurasma Studio. To view the auras, an iPad must follow your channel. The iPads I house in the media center were already following my Aurasma channel. 

Before the lesson, I put ten books are each table. Each table held one book from each Dewey class  I covered up the spine label and bar code label on each book with a small piece of construction paper. For the activity, students were divided into three groups and sent to one of the three tables  I passed out a Dewey bookmark to each student so that they would have a reference during the activity. When they got to their assigned table, students examined each book to decide which Dewey class they thought the book belonged to. Then they used the Aurasma app to scan the book cover. The overlay appeared, letting students know the correct Dewey class for each book. Although this lesson took a lot of time to develop, I can use it each year with students. And students loved using the Aurasma app because it is so engaging!

 Click on the picture below to download all of the pictures I used as overlays!

50th Day of School

The second grade team at my school celebrates the 50th day of school each year with a 1950s day! I participate by having all of the second grade classes come to the media center for a 1950s storytime. We begin by discussing how we might expect books from the 1950s to be different from books today. The students usually mention that the older books don't have as much color and that the characters don't use the technology that we have today. 

Then I read four books. Each seems pretty simple and not dramatic at all compared to what our kids read today. But they seem to love the books anyways! When I do a storytime, I use my IPEVO document camera to show the pictures while I am reading. This works for me because all of the children are able to see the illustrations and because I can read without pausing to show the pictures. Here are my favorite children's books from the 1950s to share with students.

Play With Me by Marie Hall Ets

The Happy Lion by Louise Fatio

Anatole by Eve Titus

The Backward Day by Ruth Krauss

Sir Readalot's Castle Book Fair

This past week, the media center hosted the book fair! This fall's Scholastic Book Fair theme is Sir Readalot's Castle. The media center was transformed into a medieval castle  I decorated with castle turrets, a drawbridge, pennant banners, and several chandeliers. After setting up the books and decorations, I held a teacher preview after school. Teachers snacked on meatballs, pita chips and carrots with hummus, and quiche. They created wish lists of books for their students to purchase for their classroom libraries. To boost sales, several family events were held during the book fair: two grandparent breakfasts and an All Pro Dads meeting. We even had a knight visit the media center!  One of our parents dresses as a knight for historical reenactments. He brought his armor and appeared on our morning news. This was our most successful book fair yet!

2014 Georgia Children's Book Award Winners

This year's Georgia Children's Picture Book Award winner is Sylvie by Jennifer Sattler.

Although Sylvie was very popular at my school, my students chose Clink by Kelly DiPucchio.

This year's Georgia Children's Book Award winner is Wonder by R.J. Palacio.

My students chose A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz.

I just love how our students are so excited about reading the Georgia Children's Book Award nominees. The book award list provides students with suggestions for books to read, many of which they probably would not have otherwise considered reading. The shared reading experience and conversations students have about books promotes literacy throughout the building.

Makerbot 3D Printer

Recently, the proposal I posted on Donors Choose for a Makerbot 3D Printer was funded! When the box arrived, I couldn't wait to unpack the printer and set it up. I filmed the first print and showed a time lapsed version of it on the morning news. After seeing the video, our teachers and students were curious and wanted to know more. They kept asking, "But where does the paper come out?" 

Now that I have mastered printing items from the SD card that came with the printer, I am exploring Thingiverse and the Makerware software. There is a group of sixth graders who have started exploring Tinkercad and Blokify. We hope to have some student-designed items ready to print soon!

World Read Aloud Day Blogging Challenge #3

During the month leading up to World Read Aloud Day, I'm participating in the World Read Aloud Day blogging challenge. Each week, blogging participants respond to a question addressing the World Read Aloud theme "Raising Our Voice." The prompt for week 3 is to post a photo that gives readers a glimpse into your reading life. This could be your favorite place to read, your bookshelf, your library, your classroom, a book from childhood that you still re-read today, your favorite person to read with. Anything that brings joy to your reading life will work!

My favorite part of my reading life is sharing it with my children. Each night after dinner and before brushing teeth, we curl up on the bed and read a chapter of a book. Even though my two children are very different (Katherine is 13 and Caleb is 8), they can always agree on good books. We are currently reading The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan. They love Percy Jackson and enjoy learning more about Greek mythology.

World Read Aloud Day Blogging Challenge #2

During the month leading up to World Read Aloud Day, I'm participating in the World Read Aloud Day blogging challenge. Each week, blogging participants respond to a question addressing the World Read Aloud theme "Raising Our Voice." The prompt for week 2 is "Answer the following questions with a child. The child can be a student or your own. Age does not matter. Make sure to exchange and enjoy answers with one another before sharing them with us." I asked my own son, Caleb (age 8) to participate with me.

1. I think everyone in the world should read…
Me: The Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco. This book is on the Georgia Children's Book Award list this year. It is such an inspiring story that teachers and kids equally love.
Caleb: The Harry Potter series. They are exciting books.

2. If I could listen to anyone in the world read aloud to me it would be…
Me: Carmen Agra Deedy. Carmen is a gifted storyteller. We have hosted Carmen at my school for the past two years. I love hearing her beautiful voice read her stories. After she left last year, one of my students said, "I wish Carmen could come to our school every day!"
Child: My mommy! Because your voice is nice.

3. When I read aloud, my favorite character to impersonate is…
Me: I love to read aloud The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. Each of the characters is so well-developed and unique that I can draw inspiration from the story and create a voice for each character when reading it aloud.
Child: The Lunch Lady! (in the Lunch Lady series by Jarrett J. Krosoczka)

4. The genre or author that takes up the most room on my bookshelf (or e-reader) is…
Me: mystery and historical fiction for both kids and adults.
Child: Nonfiction. I like nonfiction because I learn from it. My favorite nonfiction books are books about animals.

5. My favorite part about reading aloud or being read to is...
Me: Encouraging a young person to read. When I read aloud to students, I often expose them to books they might not otherwise have known about.
Child: The good stories.

 This is me and my son, Caleb, on the 50th day of school.