As technology is becoming more prominent at home, I'm finding my Kindergarten students are coming in with less of an ability to use the mouse on the desktops. Students are great at the iPads and some are even good at the trackpads on a laptop. So I start my Kindergarten students with a few weeks of mouse games.
Bees and Honey
Mouse Speed
Connect the Dots
Mouse Maze
Monday, January 7, 2013
Monday, December 24, 2012
Gingerbread- second grade
My December activity for second grade had to be short and sweet. Since we lost two weeks with Hurricane Sandy, we had fallen behind on projects and were running out of time before break.
I loved the idea of adding culture to my activites in the third grade so I tried to do it with second graders too. We started by reading "The Gingerbread Man" by Jim Aylesworth. The students love to read along and I love when they do.
Then the students created Gingerbread Glyphs on the computer.
The next week we read "The Matzo Ball Boy" by Lisa Shulman and compared the two books. We also kept a list of all the Yiddush words and their definitions on the SMART Board. After the story students began using a program called The Graph Club. (I really wanted to introduce Excel but time constraints prevented it.) We began graphing the students answers to the glyph about the activities they like to do.
In the third week we read "The Runaway Rice Cake" by Ying Chang and compared the cultures. The story is a bit different from the gingerbread man but it was great for the students to recognize that. This story is very cultural. Students completed their graphs.
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
I loved the idea of adding culture to my activites in the third grade so I tried to do it with second graders too. We started by reading "The Gingerbread Man" by Jim Aylesworth. The students love to read along and I love when they do.
Then the students created Gingerbread Glyphs on the computer.
The next week we read "The Matzo Ball Boy" by Lisa Shulman and compared the two books. We also kept a list of all the Yiddush words and their definitions on the SMART Board. After the story students began using a program called The Graph Club. (I really wanted to introduce Excel but time constraints prevented it.) We began graphing the students answers to the glyph about the activities they like to do.
In the third week we read "The Runaway Rice Cake" by Ying Chang and compared the cultures. The story is a bit different from the gingerbread man but it was great for the students to recognize that. This story is very cultural. Students completed their graphs.
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Owls- fourth grade
While studying ecosystems the fourth graders complete a research project on Owls. Students worked in groups to research one of six owls found in New Jersey.
This project is great because of the vast amount of resources used to complete the project.
The students use:
Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com
Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com
A bonus allows students to take a field trip see the owls live.
To complete the project students I teach students how to speak to their classmates while having their PowerPoint up the SmartBoard. Student's love having their projects projects onto the board while they practice standing at "the angle" where they can see the both the board and talk to the audience.
This year was tough. With 2 weeks off for Hurricane Sandy it felt like this project went on forever. I'm proud of my students for hanging in there.
A link for the files will be here soon.
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
This project is great because of the vast amount of resources used to complete the project.
The students use:
- information text to learn traits and behaviors of the owls
- dictionaries to define words such as habitat
- World Book Online to learn the traits of all owls in general
- websites for additional research
- PowerPoint to create a presentations
Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com
Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com
A bonus allows students to take a field trip see the owls live.
To complete the project students I teach students how to speak to their classmates while having their PowerPoint up the SmartBoard. Student's love having their projects projects onto the board while they practice standing at "the angle" where they can see the both the board and talk to the audience.
This year was tough. With 2 weeks off for Hurricane Sandy it felt like this project went on forever. I'm proud of my students for hanging in there.
A link for the files will be here soon.
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Winter Theme
This winter the media center's theme is to help encourage students to reccomend books to each other.
"Warm Up With A Good Book"
"Warm Up With A Good Book"
It's hard to see in the photo but the mug in the middle says "Ms. Goldstein recommends The Time Warp Trio Series by Jon Sczieska". There were mugs in the library for students to fill out and hang up.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Holidays Around the World- Third Grade
Every December I try and do a month long holiday related project with each grade. This year the third graders were traveling around the world. Each pair of students received a plan ticket and got to researching.
Using the websites:
Once complete students will travel around the room with the passport below. Each student will visit each country, read the paragraph, view the picture, and write a note about what they found to be the most interesting onto the passport.
We will vote for the discuss the most interesting celebrations.
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
Using the websites:
- Santas Net
- Why Christmas?
- She Knows (For Hanukkah)
Once complete students will travel around the room with the passport below. Each student will visit each country, read the paragraph, view the picture, and write a note about what they found to be the most interesting onto the passport.
We will vote for the discuss the most interesting celebrations.
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
Postcards From Pluto -Third Grade
The first science unit in first grade is the Solar System. To correlate with the classroom curriculum the students completed a library and computer skills project related to the Solar System.
First we read "Postcards From Pluto" by Loreen Leedy. Students I and discussed the mix if fiction and non-fiction as well as the outdated facts due to this books copyright date.
After students worked in pairs to research a planet using two books. Since books have different copyright dates students must compare the information they are getting.
Once we completed our research the students moved to the computer lab and learned some new skills in MS Word. They learned about Page Orientation, adding a border to ClipArt, and inserting a text box. The final product was a postcard to a person of their choosing mimicking the writing from Loreen Leedy's book.
Sample Postcard:
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
First we read "Postcards From Pluto" by Loreen Leedy. Students I and discussed the mix if fiction and non-fiction as well as the outdated facts due to this books copyright date.
After students worked in pairs to research a planet using two books. Since books have different copyright dates students must compare the information they are getting.
Once we completed our research the students moved to the computer lab and learned some new skills in MS Word. They learned about Page Orientation, adding a border to ClipArt, and inserting a text box. The final product was a postcard to a person of their choosing mimicking the writing from Loreen Leedy's book.
Sample Postcard:
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Ocean Animals- second grade
This is the first time second graders are doing a real research project. It starts out with encyclopedia skills and this is the second year I felt the students did not really need it. Thanks to technology, students do not need to use the index to figure out which encyclopedia volume they need, they have a library automation system to search for topics. If lucky enough, which my district is, students have a subscription to an online encyclopedia which requires an entire new set of skills. My final decision is to teach students how to use the online encyclopedia first and look for books on their topic to support their research after.
This year though my students used the encyclopedias. They each researched a different ocean animal to match the science unit in their classroom. Students completed the worksheet below and met a couple of of the common core standards:
After students opened Word and first time typed two paragraphs. They learned about the tab key and how to import an image they drew. It is one of my favorite projects because they learn so much.
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.2 Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.5 Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
This year though my students used the encyclopedias. They each researched a different ocean animal to match the science unit in their classroom. Students completed the worksheet below and met a couple of of the common core standards:
After students opened Word and first time typed two paragraphs. They learned about the tab key and how to import an image they drew. It is one of my favorite projects because they learn so much.
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.2 Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.5 Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
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