Photosynthesis

Mrs. Corliss'  Class completed their study of plants by producing a video.  

Students drew a detailed picture of a plant and then took a photo of it on the iPad.  They then selected one of the plant's parts and wrote a script in the first person from the plant's point of view. Using the app ChatterKid each student recorded a short description of the plant's job.  These were then all added to iMovie for the final project.

Click on the picture to learn all the parts of the plant and how they help the life cycle continue.

We used the app skitch to annotate our class flower.

Math in Focus Lessons

Flipping the Classroom When a student works over the weekend and comes to school excited to share his work, everyone gets into the act. Using the app educreations Tom created a math problem for others to solve. Mrs. Murphy's Class took his idea one step further. The task was to create a lesson to challenge other students to test their math knowledge.  Using their Math in Focus text book, students selected their own concept and worked with a partner to create their lesson. Grab a pencil and paper and work through their math problems.  Remember no peeking at the answer until you have solved the problem first.

Northeast Vocabulary

Fourth Graders spend a lot of time studying the regions of the United States. 

While studying the northeast region, Ms Scott's Class decided to share their knowledge of new vocabulary.

The first step was to use their text books to identify vocabulary words that were important.  We worked together in the library using the glossary to help us define the words.  

Then working collaboratively students wrote their own scripts to creatively teach others about the important words from the chapter.

Using our new green screen, groups filmed their script and chose the background for their scene.

After a little app smashing using Green Screen by Doink and iMovie, here is their final project.  Click on the map below.

For fun click on the picture below for some practice with the states in the northeast region.

We Took a Trip to Delaware

Mrs. Lampe's class participated in a Mystery Skype session with Mr. Bonavita's 4th grade class from New Castle, Delaware.  They almost stumped us when they said their state was not in the northeast region.  They consider their state in the eastern region.  We had to really work hard to solve this mystery.

Questioner and Answerer are ready!

Think Tank is listening to answers and getting ready with a new question.

Click on the padlet to see the facts we learned during our Mystery Skype.

"I Mustache You a Question"

Mrs. Murphy's class had some fun while exploring graphs during a math lesson. Using the mustaches from Creative Teaching Press, students attached them to a pencil and asked each other the question, "I mustache you what is your favorite color?"

Click below to see a special message to all the males in our lives.

After gathering all their data, fourth grade students then used Excel on the laptops to create a table of their data. The challenge was to show the data in two forms. Some students choose a pie graph while others selected a bar graph.  Impressive work!

I Mustache You:  "Can you create a graph in Excel?"

Thank You Global Read Aloud 2014

One Book Connects the World!

As we come to an end of Global Read Aloud 2014, we must say it has been an amazing journey!

Please look at a snapshot of all our experiences.

Made With Code

Girls in Grades 5 and 6 had the opportunity to meet on Monday night to work with each other on a program called Made with Code.
We began the workshop with a skype visit from Audrey Lawrence who works for skype.  Audrey told the girls how she had an interest in math and science and in college discovered the world of coding.  She talked about the changes she has seen since she graduated college and how things are becoming more mobile.  Do you remember the program The Oregon Trail?  Audrey enjoyed this program as a young girl.

Using code the girls made a bracelet for the first letter of their first name.

Coding Yeti to make him dance!

What is code? Read our ideas.

Double Click on the wall below and add your ideas.

Created with Padlet

Skype

Miss Sideri's First Graders had the opportunity to skype with Mrs. Ripp's Seventh Graders from Oregon, Wisconsin.  You may recognize Mrs. Ripp's name as the creator of the global read aloud project.

It would take us 17 hours and 25 minutes to drive to their school.  It is 1148 miles from us.

It would take us 357 hours to walk there!

These 7th graders are writing non-fiction picture books and they needed to ask their target audience some questions about their likes and dislikes in picture books.

We look forward to reading these new picture books.

Questions asked:

What makes you open a book?

What is your favorite animal?

Do you have any pets?

Do you like reading?

Do you like lots of pictures?

Would you read a book with lots of words?

What are your favorite colors?

Do you like sparkles in your books? (the girls said yes)

Mrs. P Visits Steward School

Mrs. DeFrank's Library had a very special guest today.
Mrs. P's Magic Library came for a magical visit.

Many people may think Mrs. P looks familiar.  She is actress Kathy Kinney when she is not sitting in her library, wearing her fancy clothes and glasses.

I discovered Mrs. P on Skype in the Classroom.  After sending Mrs. P a message, we were able to set up this engaging visit.  Her elves even sent us fancy bookmarks that look like a movie pass.

Mrs. P began by telling us a secret.  "If you can tell a story, then you can write a story."  After asking Johnny about his pets (2 dogs and a hedgehog), Mrs. P made up a delightful story for our audience. "Once in a land that was always orange..."

Students had the opportunity to ask questions.
What is your favorite book?
"I have never met a book that I didn't like."
How many stories have you told?
800....................... (very big number)

Mrs. P also helped us exercise our imagination.  When you think of a word try to connect it to other words.  Then you have the beginning of a story.
cat-dog-collar-shirt-skirt-dress-shoes-

Students were thrilled with the story Mrs. P made up for them.