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Like the devices in here were just yet.
And so I want to I want to talk about that because you were grants to your devices.
Yeah. So I. Oh man I applied I think in the past few years to the CenturyLink Grant and I didn't I didn't get those. And then last year.
Ok don't tell me because we've got to do this in the podcast. Oh OK. OK. All right. So I'm just going to get started. And I just want you to talk just like that but I'm just going to say I welcome everybody and I'm going to have you introduce yourself. Where do you work. What do you teach. And they will talk about the grant and they will talk about what you're doing with your kiddos. OK. Maybe 20 minutes or so Sanjay. OK welcome everybody to another shift our schools podcast. I'm so excited to be here with Jessica today. Hello Jessica.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy day. She's actually taking time out of her prep time to do this with us. I really appreciate that. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourselves tell us what district you work at. What do you teach. And then we'll get into how you're using tech with your kiddos .
My name is Jessica Udd and I teach kindergarten at the Lakeview Elementary in the Auburn School District.
And yeah and that's it. Yeah that's it. I am.
And I wish everybody could see because she's actually rocking her kindergarten headphones so it's it's perfect.
It looks really good. So we'll talk. Let's first talk about like we started before we start recording we were talking a little bit about how you've got devices in your classroom that you were writing grants to kind of talk about like did the district like help me understand his district not have very many devices in the kindergarten and so you're just like I need devices with my kids and went and wrote grants. How did that come about?
So we started it four years ago. Going we had some tablets in the classroom and shortly after we got the tablet. The Google Play for education store then went no more. And so it was it was very hard to use them when that avenue we were using was not being supported. And so that was kind of kindergartens rollout. So we kind of had to wait till the next and so everyone had as everyone's getting chromebooks. Kender we were still on the tablet plan, and the more that the Chromebooks were coming into building and I could borrow and steal and I would just like I just we got to get we got to get some in here and so I wrote a grant to CenturyLink for a couple of years. That never panned out. And then last year an email came through the district that said our grants for the Safeway Albertson's Foundation. And it said in there that most people that apply get. Well there's I've got nothing to lose. And so I wrote a grant for first Chromebooks and I got a seven thousand dollar grant. And it got me 18. 360 flip touch Chromebook so Chromebook but there's still that touch screen that that help because I don't have mice for them to use. So sometimes the touch pad can be a little tricky for them. And then this year is the first year that last year first grade went two to one with the flipped touch Chromebooks and it's your kindergarten is going two to one with a flip touch. So I just I'm lucky enough to now be one to one since I got my grad computer. Well I love my extra two to ones then went to my neighbor next door so she's now one to one. I love it. And we're in this like weird pocket like that there's only are two classrooms in this one corner. So the two of us. And she's not very techie.
And so this year I'm like come on you got we have got to do it. This is what I'm doing and it's gotten to her a little bit more comfortable using technology that's great.
I love it and talk to me a little bit. Like are you.
Because I was just doing some trainings with kindergarten teachers on Monday and we were talking about some of the changes were even seen with kids coming into kindergarten. Are you finding like. Like you were saying like you know running a track pad the fine motor skills of a trackpad for a lot of them can be frustrating. And there were beyond mice or you just touch the screen Yeah. So are you finding that just the easiest. I mean are they are they able to navigate a screen pretty easily. Are you finding that it's coming into kindergarten like they've got that that background.
I would say about half of them I didn't really have to teach how. Before we even got computers we were practicing you know in the air and them were like touch here in the air once. Once they got the device like I'm watching how many are just using the track pad that they haven't even you know I I didn't teach it and then others are still using the screen. But I think that are just like technologies are world you and I and I they just have already seen it at home or have siblings that are District 6 and on. They get Chromebooks to take home. So I think that they're just seeing they're seeing these devices more often that they're just even if they have never touched touchpad seen somebody use it.
Right. So you know kind of what's it supposed to do.
Yeah. So talk a little bit about like what are you doing in a one to one kindergarten classroom. Are you finding. Like are you getting to a place where I sit like a kid has a million questions you know I go look it up for the computer.
Well in kinder it's you'll get one question that leads to another and we could probably be talking to Google all day long which is one of the reasons that I thought about bringing in Alexa and like hey Alexa. But she would just be talking.
They said what I have wanted. I want to use it in a purposeful way. So it's not just them going on and going to ABC and playing some game. I want it to be in a very specific way that that helps them. And so we've we've started the year we we use Iready for math and reading assessments so a lot of their first introduction was just this is how we log onto the computers. And this is this is where I want you to go so I already has a cube so I've just taught that one thing comes up. We touch the present.
I call it a present because they might not know what a cube is but they all know what a present. We go to the present. And
In kindergarten they use clever QR codes to log in so. They just touch the screen. The camera comes up. They hold up their QR code and boom they're logged into their Google Account which makes I mean logging is seamless.
Is that a program. What's that called?
So clever clever like it's a single sign on. OK. There's quite a few of our programs that are linked to clever that they once they've signed on to Google through clever. They're assigned to everything.
I don't have to put a link to that for people clever and it's just a QR code that's awesome. So good for early elementary.
I mean it last year we did Katrina Johnson our computer science teacher. She worked so hard teaching them how to type in their username and password. And then you know by end of winter I mean they could independently do it but it took a lot a lot of repetition. And this year it was I think Day 7 of kindergarten that we had computers out whip out the QR code Logged on and we're going and you're actually getting to the learning task.
That's so good.
Very very cool that had that really cut back on or gained time to get logged on. And so we've they started with the Iready and then it was just OK. So now you've been able to navigate here. Now let's go to Google Classroom. So then like the next task was getting them into my Google Classroom and then I taught them. OK. This is the district who's Symbaloo. So that when they log in the Symbaloo page opens up and there's a bunch of different icons.
So then I taught them which one was the Google Classroom icon and how you find my google classrooms look for my picture because they can't. This year I don't have any readers so I'm using icons and pictures. I'm like look for my picture. Yeah you know I look like the letters touch the letters above my name. And that gets them in. And so I had to help a couple with just joining the classroom. But then went there and that was that. So then that was the next lesson. So then from there we went to seesaw. OK. Then when the classroom I have seesaw is the only thing. So then they touch seesaw. And so every day it's been like this is just our only goal. I love this but just to practice and get slow.
But now we're we're using a seesaw for video responses. So like this afternoon they're going to read this little book about bats and tell what they learned about bats in a video recording and they think you're a movie star.
So of course they're all YouTube right. Oh yeah. I love it. Oh yeah. Yeah. And then are you using that as an assessment piece or what are you doing with that video then is it just to see their growth or what's what's your outcome for the video.
A little a little of both. I want. Eventually I will let parents join. Yeah. I'm not I'm not ready to bring parents in it just yet because I want there to be a little bit more substance but seesaw has been something that I've wanted to use them play around with because they have so many pre-made activities in the library. And and it's kind of all encompassing with the pictures with the video and. And I loved doing flipgrid with the kids where they get to do the video recording and this just encompassed everything into one that I have to go to multiple platforms. And so I want eventually that the kids can grow up a Chromebook sit down get out a book read the book then they can watch themselves back reading then parents can see that and then you can see growth. Yeah.
Maybe for Spring Conferences I'll have you know a little bit like that but I want to give you a little some academic but something that they can look back that the kids can look back and go you know oh that is what we learned. Oh that was fun. And we did that. So rather than that's me saying my letter names again.
I love that and it's so crazy like to think that you know you've had your kiddos for almost roughly two months now. You know we're kind of only two months of school and like I'm just going to like you use clever clever the QR codes Symbaloo, Google Classroom, Seesaw and Flipgrid in two months of school teaching them all these different platforms and starting to figure out how they move together.
That's impressive. I love that.
Iready and wonders are reading curriculum onto. So there I mean to the point now that when they log when I have to have on my whiteboard I'll project up. The symbaloo page or whatever I want them to go to.
And like circle this is where you go because otherwise they're just get in they're like well I can go here I can go here. They just kind of go oh they're just like they're not they're comfortable with it yeah they're poking the screen and off they're going huh.
Yeah.
And so how long. Like you know I love the way that you structured it.
So it was like you know our goal today is just to log in with the QR codes and then it's like now we're going to get the QR codes and we're going to go to Symbaloo and then we're going to log on the QR codes go to simply go to Google Classroom. I love that structure of teaching them how like how fast.
Now two months into the school year. When you say from the moment you're like OK let's grab the chromebooks too.
Probably you had everybody in flipgrid or seesaw where you wanted to be like coach class time is that taking five minutes.
Yeah that's pretty good. Because I'll be at all be at the Chromebook cart.
Yeah and I mean I'm not only because they're brand new I'm not ready but I'm like no one get pull out yet just yet.
Right. Are you going to protect those things.
Yeah I I am just I'm not I'm not very get that they they they know I will say OK numbers one two three four five. Go get your your headphones. Those are in a bag and that's an I and I have their headphones are in one part of the classroom and then their. QR code log in cards or in another part so there's not a traffic jam. And I'll say go ahead and go get your. Headphones your logging card put it at your desk and come get your computer and so nobody is. There's just no traffic jams at any spot in the classroom so everybody can maneuver and they can get their computers and then log on and go up to wherever. Like I'll have them go to my Google Classroom this afternoon to get to seesaw. But I'll just circle this is where we're going. When you got to this point I'll say hands on your head. And they just sit there and they wait because they're they're excited. And they after we did
The videos the last time and it was just a simple. What's your favorite thing about school. Just to get them used to doing the recording and we watched them afterwards. We had a little lesson like OK. So we have some of these really nice headphones and then we have older ones with the microphone on a couple of them took the microphone and smashed it up to their lips and we had a little less than an OK this is what it sounds like when you don't touch it.
Well when you're like chewing on it this way I like it lessons. Unless they don't anticipate anybody is going to do that today.
Yeah that's good. I mean that's all the learning right. Learning how to do this stuff is so I love all that.
So over the last couple of years I've been doing professional development with all of you down there in Auburn just down there in Auburn and what like if you think back through the professional development what to you was like what's like maybe an aha moment you had or what your biggest takeaway.
A couple of things.
I think just not being not being afraid to use it and that kind of thing being given the OK of like. All right. Go in dive in because the kids are going to they're going to figure it out and to tell them you know I'm learning at the same time and to just give it's OK to fail but you just got to try and and it just gets easier every time. Yeah I think that's given the being given the green light to fail and like you just can't wait until it's the perfect time because there's never going to be a perfect time you just got to do it. Exactly.
And you're never going to know it all. Like if you would like oh I need to know exactly how this works before I let kids on it. Good luck with that. Like I mean back to you guys about these tablets. Give me about these tablets you're ready to rock and roll. And then Google Play store goes away. If you wait and you mean this stuff is going to constantly change.
There is no perfect time you've got to kind of just jump in figuring out where you're at now and I and when like we were doing the videos with the first time with seesaw I told the kids this is my first time because you know I'm the teacher. What. Like the teacher sees is different than the kids see sometimes. And so just figuring out how to get which buttons you push to get the video published the first time we tried it and then were like OK let's watch. And I go No videos are there.
I'm like what. And then we go back and look I'm like oh you guys we were then supposed to click the green checkbox of the top. That didn't mean all done Green ready to go you had to push it. And so that was good. Like. Mrs. Udd's learning at the same time lesson and we're like Well now you're going to be great the next time. That's great.
I love it. I love that you're sharing this stuff on Twitter as well where else we'll make sure we put your your Twitter handle in the show notes so people want to reach out to you if they want to follow you on Twitter to see what you're doing or if anybody has other questions.
We do have you know other kindergarten teachers that listen to the podcast. I'd love to get you guys connected and just see what's going on. What's your what is your Twitter.
@MrsUddsKinders sweet right. So Mrs. Udd's Kinders awesome and cool. Is there any other place that you hang out online that people could follow you or find more not now not related to my classroom
But it is your place.
Oh that's great.
Well I'll make sure that again we get that in and everything that's so cool. Thank you for spending your prep time with me and talking about your kiddos and just the stuff you do in kindergarten. It's so incredible. I love that you're one to one and that you went out and made it happen for your kids with your grants.
I was pretty determined. I got my principal last year when he walked in and he just kind of was smiling saying well you got the grant. I was like I told you I was going to find a way to get out.
I love it and what I love is like there's so many I mean there's so many stories of teachers who are just like you know I want this for my kids.
And you just scrape and claw and do what you have to do. Get that. You know it's like I'm always on the story you know from when I got started with my teacher leadership program was like having every extra kid in fourth grade. I wanted so many computers you know. So everybody's got their story. So that's great. But thank you for taking time. I really appreciate it.
Yeah. Thanks for having me.