Lunacraft in Math

Well, I'm embarrassed with my absence from blogging for the last month. Between testing and catching the flying germs in the classroom, I unfortunately haven't had time to write.

I remember being an educator that flipped out when I suddenly found my students downloading Minecraft on the computer. I didn't understand the game and I felt as if it was taking the students away from my instruction and digital tools. After almost four years, I finally decided to look into it. I needed something to excite my students and get them hooked in math.

After checking into costs on Minecraft for a 1:1 iPad classroom, unfortunately it was something we weren't able to play out. I began searching for Minecraft-like apps and came across Lunacraft, an app for mining and constructing but in SPACE!

I sought out advice from my students about the project and what app they would prefer, but they quickly jumped on Lunacraft! The hardest part was doing the self-paced lesson first, because they just wanted to start building.

The idea behind this project, was a review on area, perimeter and volume. Being in 5th grade, they should have this memorized by now, but reviewing that and customary unit conversions has been a hard task.

While students are creating their own space town in Lunacraft, they have to construct 3 various types of buildings. For each building, they need to calculate the perimeter, volume and area. Now the tricky part for the kids.... 1 block in Lunacraft is equal to 1M. Since we are using customary, they have to convert that 1M block to 3Ft. So overall, they are reviewing customary measurements of length, conversions and calculating perimeter, area and volume. Not to mention, the creativity that is coming through. One student is trying to replicate the United Center in space!

Let the Mystery Begin!

One thing I never had the chance to blog on yet, but I wanted to take the time to do was our first class Mystery Hangout session!

I had attempted completing a hangout with another grade at our school to connect with a previous faculty member of ours, but it became too chaotic with so many bodies in one room.


I received an email from another teacher in Nebraska, based on a group that I was signed up for with mystery sessions. I figured it would be a perfect time to connect, since my students would need something new to try and have fun during the week of state testing. They may think of this as a brain break, but it actually does require them to work and critically think. :)

I reviewed my notes from my previous attempt and began consulting one of our district iCoaches for another brain to discuss ideas with. We narrowed my classroom into 7 specific jobs.
1. Back Channel leaders - managers of our discussions on Today's Meet
2. Google Mappers -eliminating locations based on questions
3. Social Media - Taking pictures and video to post to instagram and twitter. I also had a student complete a guest blog review on our classroom blog.
4. Researchers - helping to research and narrow down facts on the mystery location
5. Greeters - Welcomed and asked/answered questions
6. Recorders - Took notes on the answers that were given to us for our yes/no questions
7. Runners - managing the tables to guide and relay information to other teams.

The students had fun and they are ready to give it a try again. They definitely learned how to be more prepared for our next session scheduled.

Things I recommend doing:
1. Make sure EVERYONE has a job, everyone did in my class, but I still had some that needed more
2. Eliminate groups that you see not working and change job titles (Example: Back Channel will now be local researchers for just state facts.)
3. Practice in advance, role play with the students so they begin to understand the format.
4. Remember, this is when students take the lead. Be their coach and have fun!

On a side note, one of the more exciting parts is that another teacher found our classroom blog somewhere in cyberspace. They contacted me on Twitter and we now have our 2nd session setup for when we return from spring break!

Literacy Leveler App Review

Every Tuesday, our district iCoaches send us helpful links that we can incorporate into our teaching as their "Tech Tuesday" email series.

Well, this week there happened to be an app listed that caught my eye. I'm very much a frequent follower to Apps Gone Free, but this one happened to not be listed on there, however, it was still discounted as FREE from the normal price of $4.99 in the App Store.

So, what is the app that I am leading up to? It is called, Literacy Leveler. Literacy Leveler is available for both the iPad and iPhone. If your school uses a reading leveling F&P system or by Lexile Number chart, this will be an app you won't want to miss!

The app is so simple to use. Once opened, you can scan a book's barcode and up will pop the lexile number and level. As with any library, not all books are listed in there. But, my students and I have found that it is pretty successful, you can also use the option to try and search by title. I can't begin to tell you how much time this has saved when my students search for books independently at their level.

I highly recommend keeping an eye out for it!