The First Five Days

I love to hear what other educators have planned for the #firstfivedays of school.  Last summer, the Building Learning Communities Conference introduced me to Alan November's First Five Days challenge, which encourages teachers to consider the grand possibilities that can take place the first five days of school.  Recognizing the amazing energy that can be generated from those first five days, I started curating  #firstfivedays resources to inspire my own creativity.  Last year, I modified the Toilet Paper Ice Breaker with my fourth and fifth graders in technology.  In addition to sharing about themselves, they also had to share what they knew about digital citizenship.  This set the stage for a great discussion and helped me know more about their perception of all things related to digital citizenship.  It was tons of fun! 

This year, however, I am going with an #appsmashing challenge.  Students will be rolling the creation app dice to determine what app they will use to create something that tells about themselves.  Next, they will roll the showcase app dice to determine what tool they will use to share their creation.  In addition to being a hands-on, creative project, students will add new tools to their tech tool box.  If you want to get in on the fun checkout the #appshmashing challenge from Craig Badura and #appdice originally created by Ryan Read.  I look forward to sharing my students' original creations!