Google Earth and Second Grade

We've been learning about maps and our neighborhoods.  The students used their iPads and went on a virtual tour of their neighborhoods.  We also have been learning about the seven continents: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica as well as the five oceans (Yes, five-- there were only four when I was in school!): Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Arctic Ocean, and Southern Ocean.  The students found famous landmarks on each of the continents and explored the border of Antarctica.  It was interesting for the students to do the Street Level view and "fly the person" to do a 3-D tour of the landmark.  The students were really excited to go inside of the White House and look around the rooms!

Here are some of the locations we visited:

* Our school and neighborhood

* White House

* Great Wall of China

* Eiffel Tower

* St. Louis Arch

* Stonehenge

Students also learned how to take screen shots of their routes in Google Earth and imported those photos to the fantastic app, BookWriter.  They created eBooks with the topic "Maps" and included photos, videos, voice recordings, and drawings of objects related to maps and globes.

It was great having students see the world come to life in 3-D, where they were able to tour landmarks and locations and visit the places mentioned in their flat social studies books.

Heather Blake

Second Grade Teacher
Apps workflow for this project

Exploring Story Elements Through Keynote Presentations

To wrap up our unit on narrative elements, fifth graders created Keynote presentations in small groups.  Students were able to choose a short story that they had previously read in class.  Groups created slides that analyzed each of the narrative elements in that story, including setting, characters, plot, conflict, resolution, and theme.  The presentations incorporated original artwork, photographs taken with the iPad, and online images.  Groups presented their work to the class to review what they had learned. 

Simple Machines Scavenger Hunt

Third graders just wrapped up a science unit on simple machines. After exploring and defining the types of simple machines, students went on a "Simple Machines Scavenger Hunt." Students used the "Camera" application on their i-Pads to photograph examples of wedges, pulleys, screws, wheels-and-axles, inclined planes, and levers on the playground. They will import their photos into Keynote to create slideshows with sentences explaining why each piece of playground equipment is that type of simple machine.

Fifth Grade Investigates Cells

Fifth graders used a a new cell app to review cell parts and cell structures this month.  The app shows 2D and 3D images of cell parts.  Students can click on the different parts of a cell to learn more about their function.  They can also view videos and independently explore the site based on their own interests.  Students enjoyed reviewing for their quiz, but using the app.  It reinforced what they had been learning in class, by providing vivid images and practice questions. 

Multiage University: Meet My M.U. Monster!

Welcome to Multiage University! In a cute play off this summer's kid favorite "Monster's University," each of our Multiage (first, second grade) students created a "Meet My Monster" poster introducing the other Jamestown students to an M.U. monster they created.  To help learn the writing process, the students took their monster from beginning to end including brainstorming, first draft, peer edit, revising, teacher edit, and final draft.  Their product was typed in pages, and the students created a portrait of their monster using Drawing Pad. Merging the two together in pages was the final step in bringing their monster to life.  Huge eyeballs and multiple arms galore.... meet our monsters!

Math and Music, Learn Fractions with Garageband

Each year, our fourth grade musicians are introduced to GarageBand.  This year, a collaborative project was created between fourth grade Music and Math.  Students were split into small groups.  After becoming familiar with different genres of music and tracks, students were responsible for composing a piece of music using loops in GarageBand.  Paying attention to layering and transitions, their piece had to include an introduction, middle and conclusion.  Once this was finished, students decided what fraction part of their entire composition was the beginning, the middle and conclusion.  They then recorded themselves sharing their compositions, explaining the fractions they used and their overall explanation of their project. Throughout this project, students were able to understand the general outline of composing a song, listen for and describe transitions as well as apply their new knowledge of fractions into their original composition.  We finally held a presentation day in which each fourth grade group shared their projects.  This was successful due to the collaboration of Miss Mueller, Ms. Lechleitner and the open-mindedness of fourth grade musicians and mathematicians to experiment with something new!

Multiage Weather Projects

To mark the end of our science unit on weather, Ms. Dye’s Multiage class completed group projects in which multiple apps and programs were used on the iPads and laptops. Each cooperative learning group of three to four students researched a different weather phenomenon including tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes, etc.  With the use of guided questions some kids researched with the iPads on weatherwizkids.com, while others used the laptops to watch videos on Brain Pop or read books on Scholastic’s True Flix.

After completing the research stage, the students worked together to creatively incorporate the information they had learned into a script for a weather newscast. Next, half of the group members worked on the laptops using the Flip Book feature in Animation-ish to create a “video footage” of their weather event to use in their newscast, while others used the iPads to create illustrations to project behind them with Drawing Pad. Some of the major advantages of incorporating both the use of the iPads and laptops simultaneously, were that it split the workload up in a way that every student had plenty of activity to keep them engaged, while also utilizing academic choice as students chose the task that most suited their talents and interests.

Finally, we filmed the students performing their scripts, projecting their illustrations and videos on the Smartboard in the background.  The last step was to put their videos into iMovie to create the final product.  We held a “movie premiere” in our classroom to watch the newscasts, capping off what was a fun and engaging project filled with technology integration.