Google My Maps and Native Americans

Third grade students are learning about different Native American tribes.  Since geography is a weakness for most all of our students, I introduced them to Google My Maps.

Graphic Organizer, Collaboration

I created an graphic organizer with the names of the tribes (the list supplied by the third grade chair) and a column for the location of each group.  They had to log into Google My Maps using their student email address, which some did more quickly than others.  It is something they already do fairly regularly for other programs, but some had a hard time making the connection.

 

Google My Maps and Images

After marking the locations and renaming for each tribe, the students added an image for each tribe.

Second Grade, Fred McFee and Skeletons

I love the book, The Bones of Fred McFee by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Kurt Cyrus.  The rhyming text and luscious illustrations make it a delight to read.  I needed an activity for second grade and one of the Georgia Standards of Excellence they are exploring now is in physical science, S2P 1 b. Construct an explanation for how structures made from small pieces (linking cubes, building blocks) can be disassembled and then rearranged to make new and different structures.

I was thinking of having the students assemble something and it needed to be from supplies that I had a lot of.  Thought a bit and remembered the tub full of popsicle sticks!  The idea of assembling a skeleton just popped into my head and that made me think of Fred McFee.

We read the book and I showed them examples of non-fiction books that had information and illustrations of skeletons; a dictionary, an encyclopedia and a non-fiction book.  I placed these on the tables and the teacher paired up the students.  Each group had a dictionary with the skeleton illustration and a heap of popsicle sticks.

Initially some students asked how could they assemble a skeleton.  I referred them to the illustrations and asked how they might form a head or legs.  The soon got the hang of it.  One of the classes did this activity on a day that they were dressed as super heroes as part of Red Ribbon Week.  You’ll notice that some students posed their skeletons in super hero poses and then posed themselves for the photo!

Kindergarten and Halloween

I have been attempting to give the kindergarten students more opportunity for drawing and writing in the the library.  They are currently exploring holidays in their unit of inquiry.

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

After we read a book about Halloween, Linda Williams’s book, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, I asked the students to think of something they were NOT afraid of, that others might be afraid of. I copied a paper headed with “I am not afraid of” and asked them to draw that thing.

Today one of the kindergarten students asked when they came in with their class if they were going to “write” today in the library.  Building up those expectations!

 

5th Grade Immigration and Padlet

5th grade is starting to study immigration and I wanted to read some picture books that would give an overview or an overarching picture of the topic.  I started with Faith Ringgold’s We Came to America and afterwards we talked about some of the reasons people immigrate to the U.S.A.

Next-Hamid’s Story

The next time we met, I read Andy Glynne’s Hamid’s Story: A Real Life Story of His Journey from Eritrea.

I asked the students to reflect on what they would do if they had a child who had recently immigrated to the U.S. in their classroom; posting our IB Learner Profiles nearby to encourage them to use these as inspiration for their response.

I knew I saved this metal tripod thingies from the trash for a reason!

Padlet

I used Padlet for the students to record their responses.  I like Padlet as it gives the students a variety of ways to record their ideas, through writing, making an audio recording or video taping themselves.  I was surprised that so few from each class chose to video!

Many of the students wrote very heartfelt reflections and this is a lesson I will definitely repeat and Padlet is going to be a the top of my list for recording student voice.