Tannenbaum Tech - 9/26/2021: A Week of Wixie Wonder

Yesterday, I sat down and reflected on this past week. I first considered what had gone well this past week:

I was so honored and thrilled to be able to coteach tech infused lessons in so many classrooms in grades 1-5.
One kindergarten class and three first grade classes were able to log in, read an article in Pebble Go and share what they learned using Wixie in a 30 minute session.
I cotaught my first lesson of the year in a first grade classroom.
We even survived the first two days of VGA (Virginia Growth Assessment) administration with minimal issues.

But that wasn't what I kept coming back to. Instead, I looked over the week and noticed a trend. This trend I noticed was the frequency that I used Wixie this past week. Check out all the stars!

Why Wixie?

If you read my blog regularly, this is not the first time I have blogged about this amazing program. In fact, after doing a search on my website, this will be my 11th blog post featuring this program. No, I am not employed by Wixie, nor do they pay me any endorsements. So why have I blogged so frequently about this one program? That's simple, because it is truly a TRANSFORM Tech Tool.

In my book, TRANSFORM- Techy Notes to Make Learning Sticky, I describe TRANSFORM tech tools having 3 main characteristics.

Give opportunities that are not possible without the tech
Versatile enough to use in any setting, subject or age group
Transform or enhance the learning experience

Wixie does all of these things and more. It is an elementary creator's playground and offers so many possibilities. So this week, I wanted to feature some of the ways we used Wixie to amplify student learning at my school.

Sharing What We Learned in Kindergarten

This past week, kindergarteners at my school were learning about their five senses. So when I noticed that my Friday kindergarten class would be studying taste on Friday, I couldn't wait to make a connection in their technology special. Students logged onto PebbleGo and first read an article about tasting. They had done that before, so I added something on. After, they went to Wixie and drew me a picture of something that they like to taste or eat. Imagine their teacher's delight when she returned to her class of kindergarteners and saw that they had added a new program to their tech toolbox!

Making Ordering Interactive in Grade 1

Last Friday morning when I was walking the halls and checking in on my teachers, one of my first grade teachers mentioned wanting to learn more about using Wixie. So we set up a time the following Thursday to coteach a lesson using the program. Since students were learning about ordering 3 sets in either greatest to least or least to greatest, we decided that was the lesson focus. Students first used the select tool (their mover) to put the sets in order and label them correctly using the text tool. But the real magic happened when students were able to create their own sets using an image of their choice that was cloned. It was amazing and one student even helped me learn some new tricks when he showed that the spray paint can worked even better to make sets.

Butterfly Life Cycle Magic in Grade 2

I love when social media inspires an idea. When one of my second grade teachers mentioned that they were studying the butterfly life cycle, I did a search of Wixie and butterflies. In an article sharing Wixie ideas for the primary grades, I found a tweet from Mrs. Davis' class in April 201,5 sharing how they did the butterfly life cycle using Wixie.

I went and created a new template to share with my second grade class. When I arrived, I asked them how could they share what they had learned using Wixie. Hands shot up in the air- "We could draw it." "We could add images." "We could add audio" "We could use video." It was amazing. Check out some of their creations! Wow!

Want to learn more about how littles can use Wixie to create?

Join me on October 12th at 7 PM EST for my Wixie Webinar titled- Wonderful Ways to Empower Our Littles to Create Using Wixie. I can't wait to share all of the amazing ways our littles are creating with Wixie. No registration required, join any 30 minute session at: https://meet.google.com/kis-fsbv-kke