I returned from a two day conference on bullying Friday, and what I experienced has been on mind. I heard from a number of speakers who have spent a lot of time researching the answer to this age-old problem, including Sameer Hinduga, co-author of Bullying: Beyond the Schoolyard, and Stan Davis with http://stopbullyingnow.com. It seems to me that the best place to start eliminating mean peer behavior is to have students STOP, THINK FIRST and apply the Golden Rule to their words or actions. As a teacher, I see my role as vital in helping students do just that. When I come across mean peer behavior at school, it is my responsiblity to help the student to STOP and THINK, asking themselves whether they would want that said or done to them. I believe most of the “bullying” at our school is largely unintentional and can be reduced greatly if we put our focus on how our words and actions affect those around us. The 4th and 5th graders will discuss this issue in the computer lab this week. I will ask them to create some kind of reminder of what the Golden Rule means to them. I look forward to sharing their creations with you.
Math for 3rd Graders
Third grade students are reviewing necessary math skills. Last week they spent some time looking at the word “congruent.” They watched the video from iTunes University embedded in the Moodle lesson linked to the image above and then answered some multiple choice questions on the page two of the quiz. They spent the rest of their time in the lab playing the spaceman game to identify the figure that was not congruent in the game linked to the image below:
This week students will learn about “symmetry.” The students will spend most of the time at the Wii Interactive board with the lesson linked to the image below:
Time to Get Doodling
I just registered my students for the Doodle 4 Google contest. (Click on the image above to go to the site to register your students). My students participated in the contest last year and had a great time with their doodles. I found out about the contest late in the competition, so they did not have much time to create their materpieces. This year we are ready to go with a great deal more time to perfect our drawings. Last year, each registered school could only submit six drawings. This year, we can submit every child’s drawing. This year’s theme is: “What I would like to do someday…” The theme for last year was “If I could do anything, I would…” Check out the Doodles from last year below, and then be sure to check back for this year’s creations!
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We Want to be Bully Free!
(Click on the picture above to go to the site)
I know this is primarily a technology blog where I write about the projects students are working on in the computer lab. This IS what we are working on in the computer lab. Last week the third graders and I discussed the subject of bullying. I came across the PBSKids Go website that had a great section on bullies and the Report a Bully site over the previous weekend and decided now was the time to focus on the topic. I will be introducing it to the fourth graders this week and the fifth graders as soon as they complete their geography terms project. I know this is the right time to have this discussion because events just seem to be falling in to place. I am scheduled to attend a two day workshop on bullying this week that I had completely forgotten about. Today I received an email from Scott Floyd, my tech-administrator, about a new book that has just been published on Lulu by Kevin Honeycutt on this very subject! I know Mr. Honeycutt will not mind me displaying the cover of his new book and a link to where you can get a copy of your own! My hope is that these discussions will help the students know the adults in their lives care about what is going on with them. I hope you find these links helpful in your discussions with your own students or children because I know we all want to be bully free!
5th Grade Geography Terms
The 5th graders have been working on defining 45 geography terms for Mrs. McFall. In small groups, they wrote a definition in their own words, found an image of their term, then created a video using green screen technology. The videos are showcased below on the embedded GLOGSTER poster. You will readily see our learning curve using the green screen. We began using the green screen in the computer lab where we experimented with our own lighting. We were using Photobooth on the Macbooks to record our videos. Toward the end of our recordings, our wonderful tech administrators, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Gras, set up a room for the green screen with proper lighting. (Proper lighting, we found, is essential to get the right effect). We discovered the best way to create videos using the green screen is to simply record in front of the screen with a flipvideo or other video camera. We pulled the video and image in to iMovie09. This method seemed to create a much cleaner image with no “bleeding” of the green screen. We did notice a mistake we made in creating the videos using the flip camera. In Photobooth, images are flipped or “mirrored”, so students wrote their technology term in mirror image so it would be displayed properly. We used the same method with the flip camera, not realizing the flip camera does not mirror the image. Some of the videos on the glogster poster will have the term displayed in mirror image for that reason. If you are interested in how the videos were created, the demostration is linked here.
Take My Poll
I came across this polling device on my favorite blog, Free Tech 4 Teachers. (There is a link to the right on the sidebar). It is incredibly easy to create a poll. I decided to add it as one of my favorite things, so you can create your own poll and add it to your blog by clicking on the PollMo link on the left.
Fourth Graders Are Writers!
This is SO exciting to me. Thanks to my good friend and co-worker, Pam Cranford, I came across this site called My StoryMaker from the carnegielibrary.org website. (You can also find a widget link on the left sidebar of this blog). The fourth grade classes have been using this website to create their stories in technology this week. So far, three classes have created stories. Once the story is completed, the student has the option to “share” the story on the website. The site gives each story a “magic number” they can give out to family and friends. When someone visits the site, they can enter the “magic number” and view the story. The website says the story will be stored on their site for about a month. In the computer lab, the students also printed out their stories to take home. I am so excited about this activity because there was 100% participation and engagement!!! If you don’t believe me, just watch the video included in this blog post. The magic numbers for the students are included below:
McCurdy:
Matthew B. – 108265, 807388
Adrian B. – 939748
Katie C. – 758384
Dylan D. – 921069
Alyssa E. – 28313
Destiney F. – 3530
Christopher H. – 671630
Brock M. – 152873
Kyla M. – 993244
Destiny M. – 677731
Riley N. – 29007
Camden O. – 835791
Allison P. – 973704, 169587
Arayana P. – 20439
Lisa P. – 403922
Bailey R. – 160595
Jacob S. – 713411
Cade W. – 392452
Ashlee W. – 846974
Savanna C. – 17651, 821914
Carrington:
Brianna B. – 878016
Kyndle C. – 586529
Ryan D. – 631008
Christian F. – 210585
Jesse G. – 829111
Lauren H. – 656804
Dylon J. – 555194
Baylee L. – 690047
Makana M. – 916417, 425234
Gunner O. – 40131
natalia R. – 5131
Dalton S. – 533634
Emma W. – 437144
Mason W. – 234185
Brennan W. – 12414
Camryn W. – 334301
Austin W. – 740720
Jacob Y. – 540362
Trevor B. – 980981
Lawrence:
Ryan B. – 433418
Tyler B. – 82039
Breanna B. – 548420
Collin B. – 504286
Andrea C. – 889543
Madison G. – 622268
Lexy H. – 87800
Linley H. – 920793
Braden H. – 916858
Luke L. – 368342
Victoria M. – 363176
Connor M. – 666386
Austin O. – 483866
Brant R. – 109865
Makayla S. – 936559
Dalton S. – 764710
Nathan W. – 115174
Johnson C. – 388391
Jane R. – 112866
Baird M. – 819200
Smallwood:
Karli A. – 562253
Erin B. – 17680
Gabby B. – 242656
Grace B. – 629179
Braden C. – 9670
Tanner C. – 651763
Madison F. – 788906
Hailey H. – 583686
Peyton J. – 40218
James L. – 51401
Savannah M. – 412050
Harrison O. – 87795
Madison R. – 660558
Haley S. – 112100
Nick W. – 824579
Elizabeth W. – 961964
Patrick B. – 68012
Trenton G. – 25688
Tristan B. – 901850
Daniela J. – 643379
December Plans
The fifth graders are still recording their geography terms using Photobooth and a green screen. The lighting of the green screen is rather tricky, but we are doing our best. There are 45 geography terms in all. Each group that comes to technology is responsible for recording nine terms, so it is taking more than one technology period to complete the project. I hope to get them all recorded before we leave for the Christmas break. When all the terms have been recorded, Mrs. McFall will have a great audio/visual glossary on her blog. An example is embedded below.
The fourth graders will begin a writing project that will allow them to enter a contest for prizes. They will begin by practicing their writing skills with the website http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/. Next week they will begin composing the answer to the question, “How does technology make the world a better place?” in 100 words or less. The contest rules can be found at http://tweentribune.com/essay.
The third graders learned how to create a table in Pages to record data from measurements they will take this week. They will measure their ear, foot, and height in centimeters and compare them to those of certain animals. The animal measurements are found at http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/kidsite/measures. This instructions for creating a table can be found by click on the picture below.
Fourth Grade Slideshows
The fourth graders have completed their Texas Day Memories project. The groups in each class wrote about a station they went to during their Texas Day celebration a few weeks ago. They used a slide in Keynote on their MacBooks to record their sentences. Some groups found a picture to enhance their memories. Using Student Google Apps, each group added their slide to a shared presentation. We could not upload the slide from Keynote, so the students created a new slide in the shared presentation and inserted a screen capture of their Keynote slide. Each 4th grade class created their own presentation. You can view them below.