Friday, November 30, 2012

How to Be a Role Model

OLWEUS BULLYING PREVENTION
The students in Mrs. Rec's class have been discussing role models during their Olweus block.  Their discussions led to an educreations presentation.
Check out the Tritown School Union website for more information on the Olweus Program.

 
 
Photobucket
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Three Branches of the Legislature

Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?
 
Mrs. Madden's Fifth Graders were hard at work for the past two weeks researching The Constitution and the Three Branches of Government.  They took notes and highlighted important information.  The students then created a minimum of 5 slides to include: title page, Legislative Branch, Executive Branch. Judicial Branch, and Checks and Balances.  Many students included extra credit pages as well.  They then recorded their voice and added extra details for their final educreations presentation.

Quotes of the Day:
"I loved it!"
"It was really fun because we got to use iPads and I have never really used one.  The end was fun when I became an expert."
"I like taking pictures."
"Educreations was fun to use.  You get to speak for yourself and highlight.  You can't do that on other things."
"This was fun to use.  You can draw and create a video while underlining."
"You get to be really creative.  It is easy to use pictures.  I learned some new things."
"I want to do this again!"
 
 
 
"The Founding Fathers, the framers of the Constitution, wanted to form a government that did not allow one person to have too much authority or control. While under the rule of the British king they learned that this could be a bad system. Yet government under the Articles of Confederation taught them that there was a need for a strong centralized government.
With this in mind the framers wrote the Constitution to provide for a separation of powers, or three separate branches of government. Each has its own responsibilities and at the same time they work together to make the country run smoothly and to assure that the rights of citizens are not ignored or disallowed. This is done through checks and balances. A branch may use its powers to check the powers of the other two in order to maintain a balance of power among the three branches of government."
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/branches.html
 
This was a very enjoyable and challenging experience.
Do you know how many Supreme Court Justices there are?  Who is the Chief Justice?
What does each Branch do?
How can the President be impeached?
 
Wyatt
Stanley
Maggie
Samantha R.
Isabella
Alec
Harrison
Olivia
Matt
Charlie
 
 
Photobucket
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , ,

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Mickey and Minnie!

On November 18th Mickey Mouse will turn 84 years old.
Anyone who has visited my classroom has known of my Love of all things Disney. I am especially in love with Minnie Mouse.  I even drive a mini (Minnie) van with a seasonal antennae ball! 
In honor of Mickey's and Minnie's birthday I am giving you a peek into my new "Disney Office".





As a classroom teacher I always loved celebrating my students' birthdays.  We would begin the day with the birthday chair cover placed on the Birthday Student's seat.  On the smartboard would be a Happy Message for the day.  The lucky Birthday Boy or Girl then got to stand on their chair. Yes, they were told to be careful but they loved this part.  We would all sing Happy Birthday. 
*Tech Tip: I have discovered a great free online birthday site.  You can find the names of your students (and friends) and the site will sing a very cute personal version of Happy Birthday.  You can even download the songs and email the songs for a surprise in someone's inbox.  The students love to enthusiastically sing along.
Photobucket
Posted by at No comments:

Before School

As I was walking by classrooms on Friday morning before school I was surprised to see many students in classrooms hard at work.  The day hadn't even started yet!  Many teachers were in their classes offering extra help to anyone who wanted to come in early.  I work with very dedicated teachers and hard working students
.
In one class I laughed when I discovered students sitting in their chairs, clustered at the front of the room working on chalkboards as their teacher instructed them from the front board.  They were eager and willing participants in this old fashioned method.  No new technology here; only chalk and chalkboards, yet the end result was remarkable.   Engaged students learning something new.
This is a reminder that sometimes the simpliest of things can still work .
 

 
 
 
 
Photobucket
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, November 16, 2012

The Bill of Rights

 What is The Bill of Rights?
 Definition: First 10 Amendments to the Constitution.
By the end of July 1788, 11 states had ratified the Constitution. But the new government could not go into effect: North Carolina and Rhode Island did not approve the Constitution until after the government was set up. James Madison was a strong supporter of the Bill of Rights. These amendments protect individual rights against government intrusion.  They were all approved by 1791 and became known as the Bill of Rights. 
"[A] bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse."
--- Thomas Jefferson December 20, 1787

The fifth graders in Mr. Wentworth's class have been researching the Bill of Rights.  Students worked with a partner and used the iPads and the fifth grade portal to do their research.   http://guest.portaportal.com/proctorgradefive

Their task was to create 3 pages: title including the amendment, meaning of the amendment, and the importance of the amendment.
*Tech Tip:  The teams created their pages in educreations, took screen shots of each page, the pages then were emailed and added into one presentation for recording.

Our Founding Fathers would be very proud of their hard work!
 
 
 
 
 
Photobucket
 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Thanksgiving

Gobble, Gobble, Cluck, Cluck,
Are you having turkey or maybe duck?
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

I thought I would share some fun activities for Thanksgiving.

Scholastic has a wealth of great resources for students.  Their First Thanksgiving page contains many videos, journal entries, time lines and virtual field trips.
Click on the picture below to go to the Scholastic web site.

Fill in the Blank  Thanksgiving Mad Lib 
This is for Puzzle Lovers.
Too Many Turkeys.  Here is a fun Where's The Turkey game.  Similar to Where's Waldo. 
Search for the turkey with the bow time.  Gook luck and have fun.


Visit Plimoth Plantation.  This is an interactive site.
Be the Historian at Plimoth Plantation.   

Test your knowledge of Thanksgiving.
 
 



Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Monday, November 12, 2012

Prime, Composite, and Square Numbers

What happens when you give a group of fourth graders the challenge of teaching others about prime, composite, and square numbers?  Of course they create an educreations presentation!
 
The students in Ms Scott's class have been studying Factors in Chapter 2 in our new math program, Math in Focus.  They all did a remarkable job explaining these 3 types of numbers.
Click the links below the standard to learn about numbers.
 

Olivia
Julia
Isabel
Jessica
James
Alex
Jess
Abby
Greg
Jackie
Hannah
Nick
Keo
Sarah
Jack
Mikaela
Kate
Max
Charlie
Sarah
 
 
Photobucket
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Open House

On Thursday night Proctor School held its annual Open House for parents and students.  I have always enjoyed visiting with parents and students during Open House.  It is a pleasure seeing past students and learning about what they have been doing.  It is fun to show off all we have been working on in school.  It is simply an enjoyable evening!
 
A few of the classes had iPads on display in their rooms.  I saw many people exploring and creating on the iPads.  There were some interesting pictures left using Photo Booth.  Rest assured they are all deleted now.
 
 As I walked around the school I had my iPad with me to capture pictures of the evening, as well as to share our work.  Many students stopped me to show their parents their own educreations projects.  There were big smiles everywhere during the night.
 
One of the tasty events of the night is the ice cream sundaes for sale in the cafe to benefit the band.  I was treated to a delicious hot fudge sundae at the end of the night.  Yum! Yum!  And YES, I did eat the whole thing!
 
 
 
 
 
Photobucket
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Drawing with a stylus

In the week before Halloween as I visited each class we continued to work on the ipads.  One of the activities was to help with drawing and writing with a stylus and our finger.  We experimented with the look of each.  All the students drew a picture of their favorite candy.  We had quite a few varieties displayed with so many details and colors. We talked about the fact that you can only have one "favorite"  but you can like more than one.  I also drew my favorite candy.  I like chocolate but I love red Swedish Fish.  To my delighted surprise I received a bag of my favorite treat the next day from one of the Third Graders. I am a happy girl!
*Tech Tip:  Order 100 styluses on ebay.  Great deals and free shipping.

 
 
 
Photobucket
Posted by at 1 comment:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)