Spring Session Week 8

Graduation picture by Jan Brett

Our last full week of school-this year has flown by! We said goodbye to old teachers and hello to new ones by emailing Jan Brett postcards ,and then enjoyed exploring the "Just for Fun" folder on ikeepbookmarks. I hope everyone has a wonderful summer break!

Spring Session Week 7

B1-2 Technology:
After our last week of keyboarding, we reviewed different things we could do with font and microsoft Word and even made our font rock out with Font de Music. We worked on formatting fun and a self evaluation in our tech star folder, and then uploaded our folder picture into Picnik for some photo editing fun! Be sure to check out the results at Portfolio Night.

3-4Technology:
This week students used the digital photos they took last week to make a movie with Photopeach and embed it onto their Kidblog. They had a great time watching each other's movies and leaving comments-a wonderful way to end up the year before Portfolio Night. Here is an example I made using some of the artistic, non-face pictures taken by students on the playground:
On Our Playground on PhotoPeach

Spring Session Week 6

B1-2 Technology:

After our Dance Mat practice, students traveled around the Panwapa World. It was fun seeing how excited the children got "visiting" other countries, finding homes, and leaving cards for the other Panwapa kids. We used some deductive reasoning and search techniques playing the Treasure Hunt game, sorting the world into different views and looking for specific Panwapa kids that fit a given description. Finally, we watched a Panwapa video about Oleg, a Russian boy living in Siberia who packs up and moves his whole house as their family follows their reindeer in search of more food. We had some great discussions about cultural differences and similarities after viewing this. Most of the students brought their Panwapa login information home so they could play again on their own, but if not, they can easily create a new profile.

3-4 Technology:

http://lauraparker14.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/kids-digital-camera-reviews.jpg

Technology is not just computers! Today was a first for our tech lab-after watching a short Brainpop movie about taking digital pictures, we broke into groups of 3 or 4, each group with their own camera. Thanks Boosters! Students went out on the playground to take photos and experiment with different types of framing-closeups, strange viewpoints, wide angle, etx. Lots of creativity and fun. We uploaded the photos into a folder which will be used next week to create a movie to embed on our blogs.

Spring Session Week 5

B1-2 Technology:
This week we started class by doing some assessments in our Tech Star folders, but then soon got on to more exciting things with the site Panwapa World. Designed by the people behind Sesame Street, Panwapa World is a "multimedia global initiative" to encourage children to become responsible global citizens-read all about it here. Because we know not to use our full names on the internet, we started today by logging in and getting a username, making a password, and then creating our panwapa kid identity, house, and flag of interests. We'll use these as we "travel" around the world next week "meeting" children from other countries. Here is my passport:

We also played the "hide and seek" game on the site, which had a neat twist-the counting and clues were all in a different language!

3-4 Technology:
This week was all about getting ready for Market Day. First, students used powerpoint to create a business card-special thanks to Emma, who was my Queen of the Printer! After the card was finished, students used Voki to create an advertisement that is a Celebrity endorsement.and embed it onto their kidblog. We had a few technical difficulties with the site, but most students were able to create a commercial to show their class. Here is one example:

Spring Session Week 4

B1-2 Technology:



http://www.canadianmarketingblog.com/finalfoot.gif

As B1-2 students talk about rocks and fossils in their classrooms, we talked about some of the "fossils" we can leave behind on the internet-our "digital footprints". We did a great activity from commonsensemedia.org called Follow the Digital Trail. Students worked in small groups to find clues about Mizzle the mouse and Electra the elephant and decide who left the bigger digital footprint. While waiting for their chance to go on the clue trail, students worked on some rock, fossil and dinosaur internet sites including Bitesize Science Rocks and Weathering, You Dig!, Dinosphere Children's Museum, and Brainpopjr. Fossils.

3-4 Technology:

Students are getting ready to create a business for a good or service for their class Market Day, so we talked about advertising. We discussed how advertising is all around us, especially on the internet whether you are on google search or a fun game site like nick.com. We discussed pop up ads and pop up blockers, then tried to find all the ads in Admongo, a game created by the Federal Trade Commission to teach children about advertising.

Spring Session Week 3

B1-2 Technology:
Our study of habitats coincided perfectly with some Earth day activities this week. We talked about how humans can affect habitats and watched these great little video clips from Animals Save the Planet. This one was their favorite! 
The children created a creature in Eekoworld and did a great job making ecofriendly decisions about their home and environment.

3-4 Technology:

Our last week with Shidonni-can't say I am sad to see it end! The students really enjoyed it and many are playing at home, but the technical difficulties of using it in the lab made it very frustrating. This week we took our country research and turned one of our Shidonni worlds into that country with an appropriate landscape, flag, and place to visit. Our "pet" was a person from that country dressed in traditional clothes with a traditional name. We also drew some traditional food for our person to eat.

Spring Session Week 2

B1-2 Technology:
After our keyboarding practice, students reviewed habitats and animal classifications. Since we started the year focusing on mammals, this time we talked about birds and combined it with a fantastic activity borrowed from Ann Oro at St. Michael School that teaches skills for reading a web page. Students went to Enchanted Learning's Bird Picture Dictionary site and searched for birds matching the clues on their worksheet-a bird scavenger hunt! This reinforced scrolling through a web site, alphabetical order of dictionary words, reading for information (and not just guessing!), and patience. After they finished, students could explore some animal activities such as Funschool's Bird Watcher, Design a Panda Habitat, Paint and Make Habitats, and Bembo's Zoo.

3-4 Technology:
Our "Underwear Club" for Type to Learn is growing as more students hit level 10 and are restarted, this time with boxers on the keyboard to cover the letters! After keyboarding, we checked in on our Shidonni pets to see what other countries they traveled to and then picked one country to research using a variety of sites including google search, Trekearth photos, and the Cultural Profiles Project. Students copied and pasted pictures and information onto a Word document about their country's flag, landscape, traditional food and dress, popular names, and places to visit. We will be using all this information next week for our final Shidonni activity.