Blogging with First Grade

We’ve been working on guiding 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders to write quality blog posts and comments and now it’s time to move on to first graders. Some of the teachers really wanted to start their students blogging because they understand the value in writing for an audience.

I started by asking if anyone knew what a blog was. As first graders do, they came up with lots of answers but really didn’t know the purpose of one. We talked about how we communicate with our friends versus how we would do so with people who lived further away. After a bit of a discussion we talked about the purpose of our blog (to help others learn new things, to share what we know and do in class).

Next I read a few pages of It Could Have Been Worse, by A.H. Benjamin. This is a cleverly written book where Mouse is returning home but runs into several situations where he is about to be caught by a cat, bird, snake, and more. Fortunately for Mouse, he manages to escape the would-be captors (although he doesn’t have a clue they are after him) but the creatures trying to catch him end up in rather humorous predicaments.

I stopped just before we discovered what would be the result of Mouse being chased by a snake. The students were asked to predict what would happen next. Without letting them give an answer, I said that they would be writing this as a comment on their blog. They were SO excited! We were fortunate to have some college students observing and they jumped right in helping the children log into the blog, guiding them to sound out words, etc.

As the comments were submitted, I approved them. When these were shown to the students, there was a lot of excitement. “Look, there’s my name!” “Oooh, I see mine too!”

After all were submitted, we finished reading the book. No one guessed what would happen to the snake and Mouse but that’s okay. They practiced predictions and writing; and enjoyed doing it!

Here’s a link to Mrs. Kee’s class blog.

Internet Safety with First Graders

I’ve had a hard time finding internet safety activities for 1st grade. I believe it’s a fine line – you don’t want to terrify the kids but you do want them to understand the how and why to keep safe. And there are some great videos available; they’re just a bit intense for the younger students.

We started with BrainPop, Jr. Internet Safety. The students always like the BrainPop movies and seem to retain what they learned. Even though it was BrainPop, Jr. I thought the material was still geared more for slightly older students.

Some of the other activities I found were:

  • Meet the Web Outlaws (Netsmartz Kids)
  • Bad Guy Patrol – This has 2 levels (ages 5-7 and 8-10); has audio as questions are asked and the player chooses the answer. The answer is reinforced as further explanations are given. Students receive a certificate when finished (which the students loved!).
  • Name that Outlaw – this is a good reinforcement to use after introducing Netsmartz Web Outlaws
  • Router’s Birthday Surprise – Also from Netsmartz, this has lots of good information in it but it’s just a bit too long to do in the lab setting.

I’d love to know about other activities that would be appropriate for 1st graders.

Scratch with 4th Graders

This week, one class of 4th graders was introduced to Scratch, the programming language developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten at MIT. Scratch is intended for ages 8 to 16. 

As the Scratch Educators page says, “Scratch is designed with learning and education in mind. As young people create and share projects in Scratch, they develop important design and problem-solving skills, learning how to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.”

The students had seen the link to Scratch in their 4th grade folders but I hadn’t said anything about it. A couple had already done some exploring and discovered they could draw things but hadn’t yet figured out that they could make the sprites move! So, when I mentioned Wednesday that we would learn about Scratch the following day, there was a good deal of interest.

The next day I started out by having the students open Scratch then come to the floor to watch the following video.

Intro to Scratch from ScratchEd on Vimeo.

Upon returning to their seats, it was all I could do to keep the students’ attention as I tried to guide them through creating the cat to move! They were SO excited. We did some basic blocks (move 10 steps, forever loop, change costume) then I let them loose. They spent the next 15 minutes exploring and seeing what they could get their sprite to do. I felt like I had lost complete control but while watching them, decided they needed the exploration time more than they needed me talking!

The next day, several of the students excitedly reported that their parents had downoaded Scratch at home. When others heard that, they wanted to know exactly how to find the program so that they could also get it. Everyone was eager to start class, so we began by building onto the dancing cat program started the day before by adding a speech bubble and a color change.

Before letting them explore, I wanted to show the pen down block. Everyone chose a ball then we added the following blocks: move 10 steps, if on edge bounce, pen down, change pen color by 10, forever loop, and clear. The students experimented with how to make the ball bounce in various ways so that it didn’t always move in the same direction.

When class was over, I asked the students to save and shut down the computers. There was no response! After several requests, I finally asked, “By your lack of response, am I to assume that you are enjoying this activity?” The answer was a resounding, “YES!”

The exciting thing about Scratch is how it draws in even the most reluctant learners. Everyone was eager to experiment with the sprites and the blocks. There was a healthy buzz as students offered suggestions to each other; lots of problem-solving going on!

2nd Grade Portraits on their Blog

They did it! Our second graders were able to copy and paste their bio-poem into a new post on their class blog. Then they inserted their self-portrait that had been created in MS Paint.

We would love for you to take a look at their posts (and feel free to leave comments!).

I have to admit, after starting the process with the first class, I thought this had to be one of the most ridiculous undertakings I’d ever come up with! However, since the students didn’t look too frustrated, we kept on until everyone had the poem copied, pasted, and the picture on their blog post. I should have taken pictures of their expressions when they finished. They were SO proud of themselves! Here’s a sample:

In creating their post, the students learned numerous skills:

  • moving from one window to another
  • selecting text to copy
  • shortcuts for copying and pasting
  • minimizing a window
  • adding a tag for the post
  • inserting a picture by finding it on their computer
  • choosing the correct picture (had to be jpeg)
  • the importance of saving

As I talked to Mrs. Cooper at the end of her class and mentioned that perhaps I shouldn’t be doing this with the other groups, she commented, “I think the only person that’s worn-out is you. The kids look fine and they’re proud of what they did.” I truly appreciate her encouraging words because it really did get easier as we worked with the other classes. I learned to make the steps even smaller so that each child could easily accomplish them without getting lost. We still encountered some bumps in the road but everyone has their post proudly submitted!

Teddy Bears Around the World

I am so excited that we have seven teachers participating in Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano’s Teddy Bears Around the World blog. One of the seven is a veteran blogger but the others are taking their first steps into the world of blogging. Silvia has created a perfect opportunity for teachers and students to connect with other classes around the world in a “no-pressure” situation. Our teachers are so busy and it’s often hard to fit “one more thing” into the curriculum but the Teddy Bear blog allows teachers to post and comment on their own schedule.

Jane, our veteran blogger, has already commented on other posts and has received answers in return. Cupcake, her class bear, blogged about our visiting author, George Shannon, and quickly discovered a comment waiting for the class. Cupcake also was excited to discover a post from a bear in Japan. Our new Director of Global Initiatives lived in Japan and has shared his experiences with our students so Jane’s class was especially excited to connect with this bear’s class.

To help our teachers jump into the blog, I held a couple of training sessions so that they could get the feel of writing a post and leaving comments. They seem to be very excited and were already planning on what they could write about.

Meet our bears:

Library of Congress Map Room

I’m a week late in posting this but wanted to share the incredible experience we had at the Library of Congress Geography and Map Room while attending the Google Geo Teachers Institute. We spent two hours behind the scenes at the Madison Building learning about and viewing incredible maps, many created hundreds of years ago.

We saw the 1507 Waldseemüller map which is the first map known to use “America” as a label for the new lands. This was based on Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages of 1501-1502 to the New World. The map was produced in 12 sheets and it represents a thin North and South America separated from Asia by the Pacific Ocean. Of the 1,000 printed, this one is the only known copy to survive.

 I wish I’d taken notes on all the maps we looked at because my memory has failed me but I was so interested in the historical significance that I didn’t catch the names of everything we saw. We were shown several maps drawn by George Washington, including one of Mount Vernon that he drew in 1766.

Another map depicted a civil war drawing of landowners near Washington, DC. It was labeled to show Union and Confederate sympathizers so that Union troops would know who to see to seek food and fresh horses. Another map showed Appomattox on the day the South surrendered to Union troops.

One of the 3-dimensional maps was created to help World War II soldiers know what to expect during the D-Day Landings.

This was a fabulous, behind-the-scenes tour! I’m so glad we had this opportunity.

Self-Portraits with Third Graders

What I love about what I do is seeing the growth of students throughout the years! By having them from kindergarten through 4th grade, I can watch not only the growth in technology skills but motor skills, artistic ability, and more.

Our third graders worked on their self-portraits in MS Paint this week and it was amazing to see the differences from last year to this year – much more detail. The most notable change was in how they designed their eyes. Younger students tend to have the eyes look forward but several of the 3rd graders made the pupils gaze in other directions. Another interesting addition was backgrounds – not just plain, one-color backgrounds. Intricately designed backgrounds filled many canvases! Here are some of the examples.

 

 

Next week we type “I Am” poems, using the template found here. Then we upload everything into their blogs.

Self-Portraits

Our 2nd graders finished their self-portraits in MS Paint this week and will be uploading them to their blog during their next computer lesson. I love watching them draw – there are those who add all kinds of detail and then there are some who draw just the basics and announce they are “done.” For that group, we have to do quite a bit of encouraging to even get a background, ears, a nose, or skin color!

What was so exciting is how much the students learned about copying and pasting features in the paint program. I showed them how to draw one eye and then how to copy and paste to make the 2nd one. They picked up on that so quickly and were very excited to be able to duplicate the eye rather that attempt to draw another one that was supposed to look just like the first (not easy to do!).

Here are some samples:
  

The students have also written biopoems that they typed in MS Word. When they create their post next week, the children will upload both the picture as well as the poem.

The students will certainly be “stretched” next week. They’ll need to copy the poem from Word and paste it into their blog. Next step will be to insert their picture which means they’ll have to find it on their computer. I really think they can do it though. I’ll share the blogs after they’ve finished their posts.

Resources from Google Teachers Institute

National Geographic has a new beta site containing a wealth of resources for educators. National Geographic Education has superb videos, graphic organizers, interactive maps, and a section where maps can be created and printed. Here’s a direct link to the mapping section which allows you to make and print giant maps. There are lesson plans available as well.

 National Archives for Educators site has thousands of primary sources available. There is also an Archives YouTube channel. This link will take you to some of the presidential library youtube channels as well.

The Library of Congress also has an educators’ site. Many primary sources are available along with lesson plans.

A huge thank you to Rebekka for creating a Geo Teachers Institute Livebinder! It contains excellent links for tutorials, lesson plans, and more.

Google Geo Teachers Institute

What a great experience being at the Google Geo Teachers Institute in Washington, DC! It was held at the National Geographic Society and we had 2 action-packed days of learning about Google Earth, Maps, and Sketchup.

Sketchup was new to me. It’s a program that allows the designer to create 3-dimensional structures. I originally thought it would be something for older students but our presenter said she has used it with children as young as 2nd grade. Our first project was to create a dog house. I quickly found myself lost as I wasn’t able to pull the roof to a point. Eventually I figured that out. Here’s my first attempt with Sketchup.

After the doghouse we moved on to using the 3-d building function in Google Earth to recreate a real building. The one we worked on was an old fire station in Washington, DC. I was pretty proud of what I did!

1 29 30 31 32 33 34