Morning calendar in our kindergarten classrooms went digital long ago when we first got SMARTboards. Using Smart Notebook for the SMARTboard, one lucky student each day was in charge of writing the date, counting numbers, and checking and graphing the weather as the entire class followed along. After learning about Showbie, Ms. King decided it was time for an upgrade! Ms. King and our team of amazing kindergarten teachers now snap photos of their SMARTboard files and deliver them to the entire class to follow along with the lesson on their iPads! Now all students graph the weather, tally and count numbers in ten frames as well as marking calendar dates. What an awesome upgrade!

Our Literacy Library is a leveled library accessible to all teachers to support guided reading instruction within the classroom. We have sets of 6 of each title from reading levels A-Z, great for small-group instruction. Teachers are able to select from a multitude of genres that include, Graphic Novels, Narratives, Fables, Non-Fiction, Myths, Fantasy and more. All of our recently purchased books include high-interest topics with contemporary artwork. We use a free resource called Booksource Classroom Organizer to keep inventory and check books out to teachers. They even have an app that lets us add books by scanning barcodes! Our 5th graders help unpack, label, and reshelf books. A big thank you to our Booster Club for enhancing our literacy program at BPE.

Bridge Point 3rd grade students led this morning's assembly to honor and extended our thanks, gratitude and admiration for the men and women who have served our country. Our 3rd graders sang, Thank You, Soldiers, written and composed by Michael & Angela Souders, and there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd. After our assembly, veterans from our community joined 3rd grade classrooms to be honored and recognized for their service. May you have a safe and beautiful Veterans Day. 

Predicting what will happen in a book before you read it builds reading comprehension. These kindergarten students used sticky notes to jot down words or ideas that they predicted would appear in the book, At the Vet. We almost ran out of Post-Its they had so many predictions!

Using the Post It Plus app, I captured their sticky notes and Air-Dropped the file to each student's iPad. Students were then able to review, annotate, sort and check for their predictions as we read At the Vet. They then could group the digital stickies into predictions that were verified and ones that were not. 

Good readers also know that pictures and text connect. After a short discussion on the difference between text messages and text in a book *grin* we used the app Skitch to draw arrows connecting words and text to photos in the book. And that's what good readers do!

BPE 5th graders added a little bit of technology fun to their production of Alice in Wonderland this year using the Do Ink app, green screen technology and a beautiful hand-drawn background of a magical rabbit hole. What talented students we have here at Bridge Point!

This month's Life Skill is Citizenship. Bridge Point 3rd graders generated a collaborative Answer Garden to brainstorm what it means to be a good community member and a good citizen. A few 3rd graders and Ms. Bennett then created this video using Green Screen technology to teach us all a little bit more about how to show citizenship. Earn a flag this month by showing good citizenship!