Digital Learning Day 2020

Using Novelist with 8th Graders 

Digital Learning Day is a celebration in February that our district has been doing for a few years now. It is a day where campusses focus on the many ways teachers and students are using technology and digital resources. I typically spread this out for an entire week so that I can get more classes in. 

Our campus has an online readers' advisory program called Novelist, that I use often. I decided, for the 8th grade classes, we would do a scavenger hunt with Novelist and tie in Pear Deck. If you have never used Pear Deck, I sugggest you look into it NOW! It is great for student engagement. 

I made the theme of the lesson a 'dating/matchmaking' theme. They got a kick out of that! And I was so happy that most of them found a book and either checked it out or put it on hold! This is a HUGE accomplishment for 8th graders!!

BookSnaps with 6th graders 

One of my favorite activities to do with students is to have students create BookSnaps in Google Drawings. On my campus, every student has their own Chromebook, so this makes activities like this much easier. 

To create a book snap, students insert an image of the cover of the book, then choose a passage from the book that they relate to. It can be a text-to-text, text-to-self, or text-to-worl connection. They then use the camera to take a picture of the inside of the book, and insert that into the drawing. Then, students add their responses/connections and some images or emojis. 

There are several examples and instructions, you just have to search up "booksnaps". The students always have a great time with this, and the teachers have an activity they can do later in the classroom.