Jan
05
Jan
05
Catapult Creations
Fourth graders in Mrs. Doyle’s class have been immersed in a cross curricular project this week. Combined with their study of Jamestown, and the Force, Motion, Energy unit in science, they are creating catapults. You can keep up with the entire project from her blog: http://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/ddoyle, but I thought I would spotlight some aspects of this project from here.
Mrs. Doyle and I began planning a while back, and “backward planning” is the way to go!! She knew what she would be covering in both Social Studies and Science as we started planning, and we were able to incorporate both, plus some math and language arts into this project. Students were given some English money to spend on supplies to build a catapult to help defend the Jamestown fort from Spanish and other attackers. They researched catapults (see her research page from above link) using Youtube videos, some physics games, and some websites about catapults. They designed their catapult on paper before they built it. She had parents come in to be her “craftsmen” who sawed, hot glued, hammered etc. anything that the students needed; for a price of course! The attached photos will show you some of the process. Today, they are testing their creations. Each group had to pick what they wanted their invention to do. Some chose accuracy, others chose distance, etc. They are gathering this data and making changes to their designs as they go. They are blogging with “experts”- an AP Physics class at Freeman High School is working with us on this. The Physics teacher is using this as part of his semester review; for any advice the students give their elementary group; they then have to prove using a formula for their teacher. Blogging will begin on Friday of this week.
As next week progresses; students will be identifying the point of most potential energy, defining how kinetic energy works with their design, and they will be reflecting on what did and didn’t work for them. I am so proud of these students. I will have a link to the entire project in a couple of weeks from the H21Blog.
Dec
13
Visiting the Moon with Wall-E
The graphics and videos used by NASA DLN are unbelievable. Our students got to hear, see, and speak with NASA today about the moon, the planets, and how the probes are giving us information. The students are blogging about it here: http://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/pagross/sample-page/question-1/ There are two other pages of questions as well.
Dec
08
Nasa Digital Learning Network
If you have not checked out the Nasa Learning Network please take a moment to look at the many many opportunities that are there for distance learning. Next week, on Dec. 13th, along with some very excited fourth graders, I will be mapping the moon with Wall-E. Nasa supplies the lesson plans prior to the teleconference, as well as great follow up activities. I will be blogging for sure about what we did and saw!!! This is a very very exciting resource for K-12.
Nov
21
Can younger students blog?
I use my Google reader almost everyday, to stay on top of what other educators are doing. Today’s find was actually an older post from Kathleen Morris’ blog from Australia. She is passionate about younger students blogging, and this post explains how she uses blogging in her primary classroom. She has some great links to blogs by other teachers that would be valuable for our K-2 teachers to look at to get ideas. Thank you Kathleen for your great blog.
Nov
04
Discovery Interactive Atlas
Teachers, if you are looking for a great place to research using videos that require no log in, look no further than Discovery’s new Interactive Atlas.
The picture below shows you that I have selected China. On the left you will notice the categories say: Culture, Government, History, and Natural World. On the right you will see videos explaining many aspects of the categories above.
Oct
28
IPads in our classes
Many teachers have said that they need more apps on the iPads. I would like for all teachers to consider that open ended apps allow students to create, modify, and show synthesis of information. I read many educational blogs daily and found this quote from: Diane Darrow (click to see this post on the Edutopia blog)
Does the app you want let the students…….
1. Construct designs?
2. Generate possibilities?
3. Compose ideas?
4. Propose hypotheses?
5. Produce solutions?
6. Brainstorm solutions?
7. Design products?
8. Assemble plans?
9. Re-arrange operations?
10. Imagine possibilities?
I love her list of must haves for apps. Check out her blog for some apps she loves!
Sep
14
Social Studies Ideas
I tried using Popplet.com some last year but thought I would share a good use. I have been looking for great timeline software for elementary for a while, and think this site may be a good fit for our fourth and fifth grade students. See what you think. Not sure why my pictures aren’t showing. They show up in the original popplet at: http://popplet.com/app/#/18293
Sep
12
Show me what it looks like….
Teachers are asking me all the time what 21st Century skills looks like, and how technology should fit in to their teaching. A wonderful blog “What Ed Said” sums it up perfectly. Here is a portion of her article:
“They used to… do leaf rubbings with paper and pencil to see what leaves look like.
Now they will use an iPad magnifier app to look at leaves up close.
They used to… draw diagrams and label the parts of a plant.
Now they will choose their own species, research it themselves and create an animated slideshow of its parts.
They used to…. grow bean plants and watch them grow.
Now they will take a photo of their beans every day and create a stop motion video showing the growth process.
They used to… do experiments related to plant growth and write scientific reports for the teacher.
Now they will film their experiments and upload them to their class blogs with their reports, to enable comments from the wider community.
They used to… read about different kinds of plants that grow in other places and how they adapt to their environment.
Now they will message people around the world to send a photo of a plant that grows where they live, so that they can discuss and analyse their findings.
In each case, it is the learning that drives the technology. In each case, the students will be more engaged. In each case, the learning will be richer and deeper.”
What a great explanation, and I suggest that you not only read Edna Sackson’s article but visit her blog often.
Sep
07
Using a Google Calendar
One of my schools is going to use a Google Calendar for cart sign ups. This is a tutorial about how to use the Calendar. If you need to know how to set one up, please contact me.
Aug
18
Henrico 21 Site
Click image above to go to the repository of 21st Century lessons from our district (K-12)
You can search by content area, by elementary, middle, or high school, by school name, by teacher name, or by winning entries. What a fabulous collection of lessons for all teachers to have. There should be more entries every month so stay tuned.
Jul
09
Pen Pals
I just signed up for the “Pen Pals who Write” project with Lisa Mims. This project will combine hand written letters with some web 2.0 tools. It sounds like the best of both worlds to me. I urge all of my teachers to consider doing this with teachers from all over the world. Here is her wiki. This could be a great beginning to a H21 project (21st Century Skills project sponsored by my county every year.)
Please join me in this great endeavor.
Jun
22
May
19
Idiom example
Student art work would be much better, but quickly made this example to start. Really like this site. Click link below to try one for yourself.
May
19
Yes, more toys!
I am preparing to teach a summer class on web based tools, and now have to get my arsenal ready. Just tried Bubblesnaps for the first time. Now will try to make some real examples to show for figurative language and idioms.
Welcome
Hello Teachers at Shady Grove, Three Chopt and Ratcliffe!!
Welcome to my blog. Here you will find lessons I have done in other classes and many times the templates you will need if you find something you like.
It also lets you post a comment or a question.
Let me know your thoughts.
Henrico County Public Schools - located in Richmond, Va.
Suzanne Whitlow - Technology Resource Teacher
@SuzanneITRT