Relative and Absolute Location with Google Earth

Relative and absolute location are important geographical concepts for young children to understand. A great way to help children visually see these concepts is to use Google Earth.

After looking at a globe we turned to Google Earth, where the students and I discussed the seven continents and the oceans. Using the rotation tools, we looked at the poles, the oceans, and the placement of the continents on Earth. We discussed how we live on the continent of North America.

Next, we talked about the United States and the 48 contiguous states and the location of Alaska and Hawaii. We looked at our borders and discussed how Hawaii was formed. Of course, the students remarked that Hawaii is made up of a series of islands.

Next we flew to Florida and talked about the concept of a peninsula. The children were quick to notice the different shades of blue and knew it represented the different depths of the water.

Flying into Tampa Bay, we looked at another peninsula.

Finally, we flew to Shorecrest. The children were quick to notice this satellite picture must be old - the track is black not red. We spent some time talking about the perspective of bird's eye view before turning on Street View.

But the best part of class was the excitement and chatter as students flew to their own houses and viewed where they lived using both a bird's eye view and street view. If you have never used Google Earth, I encourage you to download the free software. It really is an amazing learning tool. There is also a free app available for mobile devices.

Second Grade Alliterations

The second graders performed beautifully in their annual program, A Small Part of the World. Here is the alliteration slideshow students completed to showcase their countries and flags to their families. After a lesson on the differences and purposes of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, students used dictionaries to brainstorm a list of potential worlds based on the sound of the first letter of their first name. Students were challenged to use at least ten words in their alliterations as well as include a picture of their country's flag in their illustration. Enjoy!

Lego Collaborations

Over the last two weeks, third grade students have been building and programming Lego models in the lab as an extension on their simple machines science unit. After building models using blueprints, the models are attached via USB to the computers and programmed using special software. Students are paired in teams of three and take turns as designers, builders, and recorders:

• Designer: Uses the book or computer and directs the builder on how to build the project. This person finds the needed materials based on the blueprint and hands them to the Builder.
• Builder: Follows instructions from the designer. This person assembles the project and uses the WeDo software to program the project.
• Recorder: Takes notes about the project in the journal. Answers reflection questions with input from the group. This person also uses the digital/video camera to record the overall process.

 Today, students had the opportunity to build kickers, goal keepers, and cheering fans. After the builds, students participated in math extensions. For example, kickers measured the distance of kicks with kicking leg programmed at various heights. When asked "Did the height of the kicking leg impact how far the ball travelled, " one team in Ms. LaDuke's class responded the following:

"If it was positioned low, the leg had less time to get momentum. When it was set high, it over kicked the ball. When it was medium, it had just enough time. The medium kickers had the highest average distance."

 

Students building goal keepers took turns scoring goals by 'flicking' styrofoam balls. They learned that "If you did it from closer, then you would be more likely to score. Also, the goalie moved in a pattern, so you could watch when he was opened."

Two teams in Mr. Wolfrath's class gathered together for a friendly competition to see who could score the most goals. One group built the kicker, while another group built cheering fans that would move up and down and cheer when goals were scored. The second build used a sensor, so when the ball passed through the goal, the fans were programmed to sense the ball and cheer.

A Google Earth Tour of South America

Developing geographic skills such as reading maps and understanding the concept of relative location is essential to the second graders continent study. After a lesson on different kinds of maps and their purposes (physical, political, road, topographic, climate, road, etc.), second graders enjoyed a virtual tour of South America via Google Earth. 

Facts for each country along with images representing the geography, economy, and people were embedded within the tour. Students were asked to read the facts at each tour stop. They also spent time using the navigation bar to zoom in on landforms and cities. Students loved zooming in on the Amazon River and were amazed at its size. They were also surprised to learn that the country of Brazil alone makes up half of the continent. 

Students will continue to use the tour in their classrooms over the next few weeks. A follow up activity includes using a graphic organizer to record facts for each tour stop allowing students to practice taking notes.

iPads in Kindergarten ... Finally!

I never thought the day would come. Weeks searching for applications and days for setup - but finally, the iPads have been launched in kindergarten. It was so wonderful to see months of work finally come together. I'm not sure who was more excited - me or the kids! 

I was so fortunate to buy ten iPads for the kindergarten classroom. While the devices were introduced in the lab, they will be living in the kindergarten wing. The three classrooms will utilize the iPads during center rotations. They will also be used over the course of the year by Miss Diaz Leroy in her Music/Spanish classroom. Special connectors have been purchased to connect the iPads to the classroom projectors to facilitate instruction.

After their introduction, each class developed a class set of rules to follow. This list wasn't too difficult for the students to develop, especially since so many of them use these devices at home.  Here were some of the student recommendations for Our iPad Rules:

1. Only use gentle fingers. Play with then nicely.
2. Make sure your hands are clean and dry.
3. Always carry with two hands.
4. Always make sure the iPad is in a safe place. Never leave it on the floor where someone might step on it.
5. Only get an iPad from the cart with an adult.
6. Always walk when you carry your iPad.
7. Only use the apps the teachers tell you to use.
8. Don't forget to turn it off when your turn is over.

I think we are off to a great start!

4th Grade Animated Important Poems

Students used the program Frames to create digitally animated characters of themselves reading important poems modeled after those in Margaret Wise Brown’s book The Important Poem. Characters were created by manipulating and layering shapes. Then, after selecting a relevant background, students duplicated frames altering mouths and eyes to animate their character. Finally, students edited their frames so the length of the images matched the length of the recordings. Timing mouth and eye movements with breaks in speech was especially challenging! Check out their movies here.

World Book for Kids: A Kid-Friendly Research Tool

The Internet is a wealth of information; unfortunately, helping young children find information that is developmentally appropriate can be a challenge.There are lots of great websites for children, but one of my favorites is World Book for Kids (WBK). This year marks the fourth year Shorecrest offers this online resource for our Lower Division students to use both at home and at school. This developmentally appropriate website offers:

• Simple search and navigation features
• Easy-to-read articles with embedded multimedia
• Thousands of images, illustrations, and videos
• An Important People feature with several thousand biographies
• A collection of age-appropriate science fair projects
• Atlas, interactive maps, and outline maps and flags
• A tool for exploring and comparing places and animals
• Hyperlinks only link within the site
• Educational games and activities

Second grade students were introduced to WBK in the lab this week. In addition to learning how to navigate the site, they were given instruction on how to read for information by taking short notes. Working with partners, students used graphic organizers to record facts about the continent of North America, their current unit of study. Students learned the technique of highlighting each sentence as they read to help them better focus on the content. This is an important navigational strategy to help children read and understand computer-based text. Next, they pulled the important fact(s) from each sentence. Students could record just one fact per circle on their web. Additionally, they had to figure out a way to write the fact with no more than five words. Learning how to take notes is difficult and one that requires lots of practice.