I will get back in a groove of posting at least semi-useful stuff. After a little side trip next week. ;]
A little more gathering of my thoughts. It's keeping me awake. It's been a long week!
So I missed the "live" announcement (cause a 5th grade class and I were Skyping with Laurel Snyder--which was also awesome!!) and then got sidetracked by TCEA.
Preach it, Tom! (Can I call him Tom? He was just here. Super nice guy.)
Shall I refer you, dear readers, to our school blog? Just finished a research project with third grade. We were studying "rapid changes to the earth's surface." IE Natural Disasters. After all of my frustration with Visual Communicator on our live morning announcements ... these videos post-edited in iMovie? A SNAP. Also, my first try with it. I'll get better. The kids were already awesome. We tried something new this time ... the kids were in the library all day. We started with electronic sources; then they went to specials. They came back and we did print sources; then they went to lunch. They came back and we started writing and revising. Then filming! Pros to this method ... no one has to remember this class is coming at 9 on this day, 10:30 another day, 1 another day. The kids don't lose their notes because they never take them home or even back to class in between. Cons? Was a little hard to keep them all on task all day. And it might be nice for them to have some at home time to process and maybe to ask friends and family who might have experienced a wildfire or an earthquake. But all in all? Great bunch of days.
Upcoming fun? Second grade is always ready to do something. On Tuesday we are going to read books about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. We'll brainstorm important events from their lives and make a list. (I'll have one ready, as well, with the events printed out on small slips of paper ready to hand out.) The kids will illustrate their event onto either penny shapes or dollar bill shapes. Glue those on a backing sheet of paper with their event glued underneath. Voila! Either a hang up in the hallway timeline or a human timeline where the kids have to put themselves in order. I'll take pics and post. Oh. And once the list of dates and events is finished I'll post that, too, if anyone is interested?
We also have a habitat project coming up. Still thinking it through ... but we may go with a "zookeepers convention" where they will research their animal and it's basic needs and then create a diorama of a possible zoo exhibit that would fit all of those needs. Trying to convince another school to do the same project and then we'll Skype with each other to have the kids present their findings. Still thinking it all through! This won't start until late February and may run for a while. Anyone have a suggestion to "bump up the rigor"?
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