4th Grade Jazz Glogs

During their last rotation in the lab before winter break, students created glogs representing the jazz musicians they are studying in preparation for their "We Haz Jazz" show on January 28th. A glog is an online poster that allows students to embed images, videos, and text.

Working with partners, students researched the lives and careers of selected musicians. In addition to practicing the skill of taking notes from websites, the students were introduced to the concept of documenting sources for a bibliography. Students were required to collect copyright, URL, and author information for each of the websites used in the research process. They also included resources for media used on their final projects.

A grading rubric was used to help guide the students during the process with an emphasis on content, use of media, design, and mechanics.

Enjoy these wonderfully informative projects!



Ms. Tucker's Class
Benny Goodman by Bruno & Will
Tommy Dorsey by Ethan & Steven
Jelly Roll Morton by Grace & Elizabeth S.
Cab Calloway by Campbell & Ashlee
Joe King Oliver by Rachel & Austin
Ella Fitzgerald by Lily & Alexandra
Louis Armstong by William
Scott Joplin by Tate & Christopher
Billie Holiday by Elizabeth R. & Reagan

Miss Telemachos's Class
Louis Armstrong by Logan & Danny
Dizzy Gillespie by Bella & Felina
Lester Young by Ashton & Ethan
Jelly Roll Morton
Ella Fitzgerald by Senna & Jacqui
Count Basie by Natalie & Vivienne
Dizzie Gillespie by Marielle & Taylor
The Dorsey Brothers by Scott & Charlie

Miss Lemon's Class
Fats Waller by Brendan & Cole
Charlie Parker by Matthieu, Taylor E. & Anna
Thelonious Monk by Benjamin & Lance
Count Basie by Kathryn & Makaylah
Gene Krupa by Taylor and Thomas
Dizzie Gillespie by Noah & William
Mary Lou Williams by Emma S. and Jacqueline
Scott Joplin by Emma M. & Walker

Mr. Hughes's Class
Louis Armstrong by Carlos & Alexis
Dizzie Gillespie by Connor & Taylor
Bessie Smith by Olivia & Saif
Billie Holiday by Sara & Isabelle
Cab Calloway by Sophie & Greta
Duke Ellington by Aidan & Thomas
Ma Rainey by Delaney & Jordan
Thelonious Monk by Trevor & Will

First Graders Make Gingerbread Houses

After listening to the story Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett, first grade students had the opportunity to make their own gingerbread houses online just like the main character Matti did in the story at Home Sweet Home. Once the houses were created, they were used as story starters by the children. The children were challenged to tell a story about the gingerbread living in their house. Many of the children wrote about boys and girls while others wrote about gingerbread animals such as elephants and bunnies.

Here are links to other fun gingerbread activities:

The Gingerbread Man Story
The Gingerbread Man on Starfall
Gingerbread Man Sequencing
Gingerbread Man Coloring
Gingerbread House

Second Grade Travel Bugs

It's not often that I find time in my day to write two blog posts, but I am so excited about my travel bug project with second grade that I could not wait to write about it. This school year will mark the third year we will release travel bugs.

In simplest terms, a travel bug is an item that can be tracked online at Geocaching.com. Each travel bug (dog tag) has its own tracking number stamped on it. This tag is then attached to a small item such as a stuffed toy, key chain or luggage tag and placed inside a cache. Geocachers will move a travel bug from cache to cache in the real world, while we track its movement through an "online diary". Travel bugs can be given tasks or missions to complete. It is up to the owner of the bug to decide.

I will be releasing the travel bugs over the winter break in several caches nearby my house. Each week, when the students visit the lab we will go online and check their progress. We may find that the cold weather will keep movement slow the first few months, but we'll keep our fingers crossed.



















In case you are interested, here is a quick update of all the places travel bugs from the the last two years have been. The bugs have traveled more than 44,000 miles in all to date.

• Nugget (2009) has been in 11 states and is now in Southwest England.
• Lightning Bug (2009) has been in 7 states and is now in British Colommbia.
• Boogler (2009) has been in 5 states and is in Illinois.
• Mr. Frecklehead (2009) has been in 4 states and two countries. It reached its goal of visiting the Eiffel Tower twice.
• Firefoot (2010) has been in 3 states and is now in New Jersey.
• Curly Q (2010) has been in New York.
• Swirly Whirl (2010) has been in 6 states and is currently in Ontario, Canada. It reached its goal of visiting Sears Tower (a.k.a Willis Tower).
  
• Sparky (2010) has been in four states and is currently in Iowa.

Kindergarten Builds with Pattern Blocks

During their last visit to the lab before winter break, kindergartners used pattern blocks to create pictures. After a lesson reviewing the six different pattern block shapes (triangle, square, rhombus, diamond, trapezoid, and hexagon) and introduction to sides and angles, students built pictures on the computer. Students learned how to drag shapes to the work space, select shapes to change color, as well as learn how to rotate the shapes. It was wonderful watching their creative juices flowing!

Week of November 29th

FIRST GRADE
First graders kicked off their unit on the solar system with a discussion about different features found on or near planets in our solar system such as rings, moons, and craters. After viewing a slideshow, students pretended to be astronomers who discovered a new planet in our solar system. Using their new knowledge about planet features, they named, illustrated and described their new "discovery".

Solar System Introduction

View more presentations from abaralt.

SECOND GRADE
Second graders continue studying the continents and have now moved on to Europe. With research a focus of the curriculum, students chose to learn either about a country or landmark in Europe. This week's lesson reinforced the concept of taking notes rather than copying sentences from a website. This is always a challenge for the students requiring lots of practice and guidance. Students started their research using WorldBook for Kids as well as other kid-friendly, age-appropriate sites and will complete the research independently at home. Students will use the information gathered for upcoming classroom presentations.

FOURTH GRADE
During the next rotation in the computer lab, fourth graders will work with a partner to research information about a famous American jazz musician. Facts gathered along with images and media files found on the Web will be used to create an online poster called a glog (sample). A rubric is being used to score the project.