Category: Science

May 07 2015 May 7, 2015 August 13, 2015 NoComment by David

5th Grade Science Video Storyboards

Posted in 5th Grade, Language Arts, Science

Screen Shot 2015-08-13 at 12.06.40 AMMs. Elsea at Davis Elementary told me about a great project her class was doing here at the end of the year. They were making a student-created science show where they taught a different topic for each episode. She was wondering if I knew of an online tool to help them plan out their videos. I suggested StoryboardThat, and today I went to her class to show them how to use it. First they logged in using their Google accounts and clicked “Create a Storyboard.” They set up a 3×2 panel using the “Add Cells” button at the bottom of the editor. Then they used the “Scenes” tab at the top to add backgrounds, or settings, to each panel. Next they added characters and props using the top toolbar or the search feature. I showed them how to customize the colors, poses, and facial expressions of the characters. Finally they added text bubbles, or “textables,” and typed what each character would say. Now that they had their scripts and scenes planned out, they were ready to record their videos! You can take a look at their storyboards here.


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May 06 2015 May 6, 2015 August 20, 2015 NoComment by David

5th Grade Sound Movie

Posted in 5th Grade, Science, Spotlight

videoMs. Allison, the music teacher at Laburnum Elementary, wanted to make an educational music video with her fifth grade students. She knew they were studying sound (SOL5.2) in science, and she also knew that singing is an excellent way to improve learning and recall information (see also this article). So she wrote a song with lyrics that reviewed the various sound concepts such as wavelength, frequency, and amplitude. Then over a period of several weekly classes, the fifth grade students rehearsed the song, memorized their lines, and practiced playing different instruments. Today I filmed their performance, and they did a great job! You can see their final video here. The students enjoy seeing themselves on film and will watch the video repeatedly, which is a great way to review! If you’d like me to help with a video project in your class just let me know.


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Apr 24 2015 April 24, 2015 August 12, 2015 NoComment by David

4th Grade Review Videos

Posted in 4th Grade, Science, Social Studies

Screen Shot 2015-08-12 at 3.26.13 PMFourth graders at Davis Elementary have been reviewing for upcoming end-of-the-year tests, so today students in Ms. White’s class helped each other by preparing review videos on various topics. First the they decided whether they wanted to work in groups or alone. This project actually works better if most of the students are in groups since it is bandwidth intensive. Once they were with their groups, they agreed on a topic and did some quick research using the Internet and their class notes. They also collected images to use in their video. Next we went to WeVideo, which is a great site for making and editing online videos. The students signed in with their Google accounts and opened the movie editor. We used the storyboard mode, instead of the timeline mode, since it was simpler for their first video (click the 3 lines in the top left corner to switch from one mode to the other). They uploaded the images they collected and recorded a few clips of themselves explaining the topic. Then they organized their media in the editor, added a Title screen and captions, and selected a theme. Themes make it easy to add filters, transitions, and music automatically, but each of those effects can also be changed individually. Finally the students published their videos, copied the links, and posted them to Google classroom so they could watch each others’ movies for review. You can see some of them here.


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Apr 16 2015 April 16, 2015 August 12, 2015 NoComment by David

1st Grade Spring PowToons

Posted in 1st Grade, Language Arts, Science

Screen Shot 2015-08-12 at 2.42.19 PMFirst graders at Davis Elementary have been learning about the changes that happen in the weather, plants, animals, and people in the spring (SOL1.7), so today students in Ms. Long’s class created animated spring pictures using PowToon. First we discussed some of the changes that happen, and I showed them a few samples so they would get an idea of how a finished PowToon animation looks. Once they had their ideas, we helped them log into PowToon with their Google accounts and get started. First we changed the background and added text. I showed them how each element has it’s own timeline for when it appears and when it leaves. Next we looked through the various free clipart galleries and added some images that were spring related. The last step was to add a speech bubble and make one of the characters say a sentence about the spring. We copied the links to our finished PowToons and posted them to Google classroom so our classmates could watch our animations. You can see a few samples here.


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Apr 16 2015 April 16, 2015 August 12, 2015 NoComment by David

4th Grade Interactive Plant Diagrams

Posted in 4th Grade, Science

Screen Shot 2015-08-12 at 2.04.51 PMFourth graders at Davis Elementary have been learning about plant anatomy and life processes (SOL4.4), so today students in Mr. Cochran’s class created interactive plant diagrams using ArtPad and ThingLink. I usually use ArtPad in the lower grades, but older grades love it too, and it’s a great tool for creating a quick drawing. The students used ArtPad to draw their plant, then they used the snipping tool to get a screenshot of it, and they uploaded it to ThingLink. Next they added icons to label the parts of their plant. Each icon can be customized to show text, images, videos, and links that appear when a visitor rolls over the icon. The students wrote sentences describing the function of each part, and they also linked to the ArtPad replay of their drawing (since they really liked that feature). Finally they posted the links to their interactive diagrams on Google classroom so their classmates could see their work. You can explore a few examples here. I was impressed to see that some students went on afterwards and used ArtPad to draw maps of the regions of Virginia like this.


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Apr 14 2015 April 14, 2015 August 12, 2015 NoComment by David

2nd Grade Butterfly Measurement

Posted in 2nd Grade, Math, Science

Screen Shot 2015-08-12 at 9.20.04 AMSecond graders at Holladay Elementary have been learning about the butterfly life cycle in science (SOL2.4a), and they’ve been measuring length in inches and centimeters in math (SOL2.11a). Today students in Ms. Gardner’s class created butterfly life cycle diagrams with actual size butterflies. First they logged into Google classroom where I posted a link to a website about Virginia butterflies. This is a great site because its shows the different stages of most of the butterflies’ life cycles. Once the students picked a butterfly they liked, they opened this template that I shared with them on Google classroom. First they changed the title text to be the name of their butterfly. Then they inserted a picture of their butterfly from the website. The template has an actual size ruler on it which they can use to measure the butterfly or they can use a real ruler. I instructed them to resize their butterfly picture (using the corners to keep it from being distorted) so that the image is the same size as the real butterfly. Students found the length of the butterfly on the website (under wingspan). Next I showed them how they could use the drawing tools to draw the other stages in the life cycle or they could insert images from the website. They labeled each stage and added connector lines to link them together. Connector lines (Insert > Line > Curved Connector) are different than regular lines because they link to small dots that appear on the images so when you move the image the line moves with it. Finally we shared our butterfly life cycles with our classmates by posting the links on Google classroom. They also wrote the size of their butterfly in inches on their post. You can take a look at some of them here.


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Mar 24 2015 March 24, 2015 August 11, 2015 NoComment by David

Kindergarten Spring Math Pictures

Posted in Kindergarten, Math, Science

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 3.42.11 PMNow that winter is finally over, Kindergarteners at Holladay have been learning about the plants and animals of spring (SOLK.9). They’ve also been learning how to find one more or one less in math (SOLK.4b). So today students in Ms. Green’s class created spring math pictures using ABCYa!Paint. First we helped them log into Google classroom where I had posted the link to the website. Once there, I showed them how to add spring stickers or paint spring pictures like flowers or rainbows. They were instructed to only paint a small number of things. Next they saved their pictures and uploaded them to Google classroom. They also typed “one more” or “one less” with their post for their classmates to solve. Finally the students looked at each others’ pictures, counted the number of spring things, figured out one more or one less, and typed their answers in the comments. You can see their pictures and some of the comments here. UPDATE: I taught a similar lesson with Ms. Feldman’s kindergarten class at Davis. This time they used ArtPad and painted spring addition pictures. You can see those here.


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Mar 19 2015 March 19, 2015 August 11, 2015 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Solar System Soap Operas

Posted in 3rd Grade, Language Arts, Science

Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 11.23.26 AMThird graders at Davis Elementary have been learning about the motions of the Earth, sun, and moon (SOL3.8a). They have also been learning how to identify the problem and solution in the stories they read (SOL3.5h). So today students in Ms. Eller’s class wrote solar system soap operas about problems and solutions that the Earth, sun, and moon might have. First we brainstormed some possible problems that they might have if they had personalities and could talk (personification). Next I explained that we would be creating a three-panel comic using StoryboardThat. The first panel would present the problem, the second panel would show them trying to solve the problem, and the last panel would present the solution. We signed into StoryboardThat with our Google accounts, and I showed them how to change the background of each panel using the Scenes tab. Then we added Characters. I explained that they could use the clip art categories to find images or they could search for a specific picture. Finally we used the Textables to create speech bubbles. I pointed out that this was the most important part. They had to be very careful about what they typed in the speech bubbles so that the problem and solution were clear. When they were finished, they pasted the links to their comments in Google classroom with a question for their classmates to answer. You can take a look at their comics here, and read some of the comments.


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Mar 17 2015 March 17, 2015 August 6, 2015 NoComment by David

5th Grade Decibel Day

Posted in 5th Grade, Math, Science

Screen Shot 2015-08-06 at 1.34.33 PMFifth graders at Holladay Elementary have been learning about sound in science (SOL5.2) and fractions in math (SOL5.2), so today students in Ms. DiMatteo’s class figured out the fractions of their day spent at different decibel levels. First we discussed what decibels measure (they are a way to measure the loudness or amplitude of the sound waves). Next we researched decibels using a variety of websites: Bouncy Balls, Dangerous Decibels, and the Interactive Sound Ruler. That last website has a valuable scale giving examples of sounds at different decibel levels. We used it to calculate the percentage of our day we spend at each level. I posted a Google spreadsheet template on Google classroom for the students to use. I made some changes to the template after teaching this lesson to simplify things. You can make a copy of the template here. It has some samples for you to look at in the tabs (sheets) at the bottom. Once we figured out how many hours we spend at each decibel level, we wrote a formula to convert it into a percentage. This is where we used fractions because the formula was a fraction with a variable in the numerator (# of hours)/24 hours. Next we highlighted all the percentages and created a pie chart. When the students posted their spreadsheets to Google classroom they estimated the fraction of their day spent at a certain level. You can take a look at some examples here.


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Mar 16 2015 March 16, 2015 August 6, 2015 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Educational Coins

Posted in 3rd Grade, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies

Screen Shot 2015-08-06 at 11.50.28 AMThird graders at Varina have been learning about money and multiplication in math (SOL3.8 & 3.2), so today students in Ms. Leo’s class designed their own educational coins and made up multiplication problems about them for their classmates to solve. First we discussed how the U.S. Mint designs new coins to sell and how, if people don’t like the designs, they won’t buy them. There are thousands of unused dollar coins sitting in vaults because no one wants them. I asked the students to guess the most popular coin (surprisingly, it’s the penny). Since they were also learning about the water cycle in science (SOL3.9), I told them to put something educational on their coins from science (water cycle, plant cycle, frog cycle, butterfly cycle, related to the circle shape of coin) or social studies (Greece, Rome, famous Americans, etc). They could either work with a partner or by themselves. Partners divided up the tasks, so one designed the coin using Pixie and the other designed a website about the coin using CheckThis. The website had to persuade people to buy the coin. Then they made a math multiplication word problems to explain how the coins are packaged and shipped out to banks (rolls of coins in boxes). Their sites were published to the classroom page, but you can take a look at them here.


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