Animal Classification

My students are really excited to create their animal classification game boxes. We will start creating them tomorrow or Friday. I did this activity last year and it worked out perfectly. I got the idea from the time capsule project we did last year. The students are going to make a mini box containing 3-D characteristics of their animal classification group. Then the groups will get to mix up their pieces and then sort them to play the game. I always find it interesting to see who takes the leader role in each group.

Famous American Museum

My class is finally having our Famous American Museum next Friday. The kids are really excited. We are presenting 6 Famous Americans and are inviting the parents, grandarents etc. to come in. The students are dressing up and memorizing the facts they learned about their Famous Americans. Although the project took way longer than planned - I'm still proud and excited!

Blogging... From Caterpillars to Butterflies

I think I know what I'm going to do for my blogging lesson. In a couple of weeks we are going to get monarch and painted lady caterpillars in our classroom. Therefore, I'm going to set up a blog for my students (for in class with me and for at home with their parents) to comment on the progress of the caterpillars to butterflies. As a class, we will post pictures daily and explain what our caterpillars are going through. I might post on the blog from the viewpoint of a caterpillar. I think the students and parents will both be excited about the blog!

Finishing Famous American Unit

I'm finally coming to an end on my Famous American Unit. We are in the final steps. For the finale of the project my students are putting together a museum of Famous Americans for their parents to come see. The museum will contain 6 Famous Americans. For each Famous American studied, there is a display board and two artifacts. It's amazing to see how much the students learned from this project but more importantly how excited they were to learn about the next Famous American! This project took a lot of prepping but now that I did it this year, next year will be a breeze! I actually can't wait until the parents come to the museum! It excites me as much as it excites the kids :)

Thoughts on Web 2.0

Web 1.0 was good for me when first learning web design (how to create a webpage). I liked being able to post information on the internet without anyone telling me that I was doing it wrong. It allowed me as the user to feel more confident.

However Web 2.0 is much more exciting as a user. I feel students will be more excited to use it as well because it allows for collaboration. It allows for more than one person to participate and reflect/comment through activities such as blogs and wikis.

Web 2.0 activities allow students to continue to edit, learn, and comment even after a project is over. It allows them to blog about current topics they are learning about as well as go back and comment on other people's blogs. Web 2.0 allows users to be continual learners to information they've read or posted/commented about.

COUNTDOWN :)

MySpace-Countdowns

By the way... this countdown is for the 2:00 Graduation Ceremony! Oh, and today is my half-birthday :)

Podcasts..Hmmmmm...

Yeah, I'm definitely a visual person so podcasts don't exactly hit my sweet spot.  I think I would enjoy podcasts though if I found a "show" that caught my ear.  I'd most likely be looking for comedy.  I also think I have to do more experimenting with Podcasts.  I might not be giving them a fair chance.  Maybe it's because I don't think I'm that great at making them.

I think students would have a fun time creating them.  I could see myself using podcasts in an interview manner for studying Famous Americans.  One student could pretend they are a Famous American we are studying and the other student could be the reporter.  I think the students would have so much fun with it.

Students might need help adding humor, but overall I think they'll enjoy sharing the interviews with their parents and classmates.