21st Century book reports

Now that week one is out of the way, we’re heading full-force into the school year and I’m pretty excited about what’s in store. As you may recall from my post on thematic teaching, we’ve started the year off with a simple, yet great book about Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who died from Leukemia years after the bombing in Hiroshima. I wanted to review concepts like plot, setting, conflict/resolution and theme, but find written book reports to be, um, BORING. So Mr. J showed us this funky, free site where the kids can create their own videos, choose graphics and play around with animation all while presenting the information that they’ve written. The website is www.goanimate.com and the possibilities to incorporate it into teaching are infinite. Check out a couple of examples that came from my students this week:

 

Sadako and the thousand paper cranes by winnie4 on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.


 

sadako report by arthur2 on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.


Happy hump day everyone!!!

Thematic Teaching

Our school is using a thematic approach to cross-curriculum teaching. The idea behind a thematic approach is to weave a strong central theme into as many subjects as possible so as to foster a deeper learning and meaning for the student. Here’s an overview of how we’re applying the thematic approach to teach a variety of subjects all linked together through this central theme unit of Citizenship & Government. Our first unit is 5 weeks, but most are 4.

Citizenship & Government in Language Arts

·         Reading- we’re starting the year with non-fiction texts so I chose the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. I wasn’t sure what levels my readers would be so I decided that a book with easy language and strong content would be good for our first assignment. If you’ve never read this story, you should. It’s a simply written story about a young girl who falls ill with Leukemia several years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Sounds like the perfect opportunity to think about the concepts of citizenship and government in the context of this book. Plus, we get to do some cool reader’s workshops and I can roll out the reader’s notebook and show them how we use it.

·         Writing- since we’ve started reading non-fiction, we’re going to take on biographies first in our writer’s workshops over the next two weeks. As you know, I signed my class and I up at edmodo.com to help streamline assignments & homework, increase student involvement, and make my life easier all while saving the environment. So within edmodo.com, I’ve signed my class up to start blogging with students in America to try to open up a dialogue about culture and global citizenship. I’m unbelievably excited about the possibilities that this can bring for the school year. Think penpals, but with all the modern conveniences of audio, video, and instantaneous communication. Anyway, the first finished writing piece will be an autobiography that will be shared with the overseas students. I’ll let you know how this all unfolds as the weeks pass.

·         Spelling/Vocab- Thankfully, this unit has an abundance of spelling and vocabulary words for upper primary students. We’re using www.quizlet.com this year for all of our spelling and vocab. If you haven’t seen this website, you ought to. It’s super simple to use (both for students and teachers) and it pretty much does everything for you. All you have to do is type in your weekly spelling list, choose (or type your own) definitions, and have your students login to study and play games. It even generates randomized tests with the kind of test questions you want! How cool is that?

·         Social Studies- Grades 5 & 6 are teaming up on a few projects this year for social studies and science so, for this theme, we’re having the students create their own country and draft a short constitution to be presented at the end of the unit. Since these are difficult concepts for kids, we began the lesson with a fun activity to demonstrate the value of having “laws” and had them create an online KWL chart to assess what they knew about citizenship and government. Some really great discussion questions came out of their KWL charts and now it gives me an idea of what I need to cover in my social studies lessons. Also, it helps me know what they are curious and want to know more about. Here are a few questions that came from my students this week:

  

    Pretty great, huh? Looks like I need to step up my game to get them the answers they’re looking forJ

·         Math- We’ll be looking at things like statistics, polling, budgets, and spending, but the possibilities to tie in math are virtually endless. My students will be conducting a school-wide survey about “public opinion” stuff and tallying their findings. Then, after they’ve collected their hard data, they’ll have to figure out how to best present their findings. I’m curious to see what they come up with.

·         Art- At least for week one, I’d like to tie in Japanese culture because it goes so well with our book and I love, love, love Japanese art. We’ll be watching a clip from the documentary Between the Folds and looking at the paper craft of origami. Because our book is about paper cranes and because they are the only origami thing I know how to make, that’s where we’ll start. There are a couple of origami books in the library and, if we get stuck, there’s always youtube.

Well folks, there you have it. That’s the best reader’s digest version I can give you about our school’s approach to thematic teaching. I hope it helped. Have a great week!

Back to School

Well folks, it’s that time of year again…Wednesday marked the beginning of a new school year, and with it, the endless possibilities and promises that it brings. It’s always fun to watch the kids file into school on the first day with their new shoes and big smiles, excited to see all of their friends and check out their new classrooms. Lucky for me, my students had the same excitement despite knowing that there are only 4 of them! Also lucky for me, these are amazing kids. I’m truly excited about all of the progress we’re going to make this year. Good stuff.

Anyway, most of week one was spent getting to know each other, going over the rules and syllabus and, of course, playing some games. The syllabus was something that I wanted to improve this year because it’s really important for the students and the parents to know what your expectations are, how you grade, and the learning objectives for the year. My new colleague created this awesome magazine for his kids and I had to steal the idea (thanks, Mr. Joseph).

Other than that, things are in full swing as of Monday morning and I’m really excited about our first theme unit on Citizenship & Government. We’re doing some really great projects and incorporating a TON of computer/IT components. What a neat thing the internet is, I tell ya. It really is learning for the 21^st century. I’ll post more on thematic teaching and how we create cross-curricular plans later. For now, it’s Saturday night and my book and glass of wine are calling. Have a great weekend everyone! Here are a few pictures of the (mostly) finished classroom decorations.

 

Our computer station with a list of teacher-approved websites.

The front of my room. Where the magic happens.

The writing process display... a MUST HAVE for any primary classroom.

Bookbag storage and supply closet.

Class timeline that we'll be adding to throughout the year.

Integrating Technology

Like it or not, we are living in a digital world. For someone who is not technologically inclined, the transition to a digital world can be intimidating or just downright scary. That’s exactly where I’m at with the current administrative push to have everything online. Trust me, I see the benefits of integrating technology and I’m excited to simplify my life, but I am definitely a creature of habit. I like writing things in a planner, making lists, and the creativity that comes from doing things by hand. But there’s no denying that this is the direction in which education is heading and I don’t want to miss the boat so…

I got back from vacation late Tuesday night and work started bright and early on Wednesday morning. Somehow I survived and am (mostly) ready for my kids to start in 2 day. We’ve been doing some training and professional development because they’re “streamlining everything”. Lucky for us we’ve got an amazing new grade 5 teacher with an IT background. He’s exactly what the school needs in terms of training and integrating technology. Anyway so we’re now all using Google Drive, an online calendar with embedded lesson plans, an online grade book that the parents can log into (what?!) and so much more. Here’s a presentation he put together to help set up our Engrade accounts and start using all the awesome features it offers. Check out how it works here.

Aside from the Google Apps stuff, we’re also using Edmodo. If you’ve never heard of it, you HAVE TO check it out. It’s touted as the “Facebook for Teachers” in that it allows you to post a library of online tools, websites, resources, etc. that are organized and available to your students 24 hours a day. Plus, you can create small groups of student within your class to do anonymous differentiated learning. This is AMAZING stuff, folks. If you haven’t checked it out yet, do yourself a favor and sign up here.

 

Alright kids, one more training/planning day then the kids come. All 4 of them. Sigh. Have a good night and thanks for reading.