Letter Pop

For my class project, a group of my third graders created a class newsletter through Letter Pop.  First the students selected a layout for the newsletter and decided on a title for their newsletter.  The used the classroom computers to type articles that would be included in the newsletter.  One student interviewed the student teacher and took a picture.  Then students took turns typing their articles into Letter Pop. One student uploaded and dragged a picture into Letter Pop.  We had to spend time on editing the articles once they were dropped into Letter Pop to fit their writing into the space provided.

For the most part this lesson was successful, but time consuming.  To save time two of the students had to cut and paste their articles from the class computers into the Letter Pop layout .We had to play around with the edit button and menu bar until we could figure out how to make changes like deleting and changing the font size.

My third graders enjoyed creating the newsletter and they were pleased with the finished product.

A Stranger in Paradise?

Project description:
I wanted to become more familiar and more comfortable with Moodle. I decided to place a prompt on the Moodle page so the students could respond via the computer for my access to their question.

We were reading a story about a young migrant worker. The students’ prompt was “A stranger” and they were asked if there was ever a time when they felt like a foreigner/stranger in a situation. If so, when? And what happened to resolve the situation?

Upon reading their responses, I was able to gain an insight and a view of the school and their situation I may not have previously considered.
From here I can use their responses as teachable moments/character ed pieces and also for grammar review.

14 December 2011
En mi vida, me he sentido como un extranjero, cuando llegué a la escuela de Lindbergh. Yo no conocía a nadie y la escuela era mucho mas larguísima que lo que había visto. Las clases eran muy duras y difíciles y no tenía amigos por muchas semanas. Me sentí muy triste. Un día conocí a una chica que no conocía a muchas personas tampoco. Nos hicimos amigos. Por muchas semanas, yo no tenía a nadie a ser mi amigo, pero cuando me encontré con la chica, sentía mucho mejor y nos encontramos con más personas. Finalmente, conocí muchos amigos. Se puso feliz y ahora hoy tengo un montón de amigos en la escuela de Lindbergh.


I do feel the lesson was successful. Timing of the project/assignment was not the best at the end of the semester. I can see me doing a comparable activity related to the students' reading and personalizing that which they read. I was impressed by the students' reflection on the question. I also had a sense of satisfaction upon seeing their follow through and their posts.

Writing Wiki

I created a Writing Wiki for my first graders.  They learned how to log onto the Wiki, create a page, type their story, and comment on classmates' pieces.  We begin Writer's Workshop 2nd semester in first grade, and our Writing Wiki will be a resource and tool for them to share, edit, and revise their writing pieces with me and their classmates.  My student's parents will also be able to utilize this wiki as another way to stay informed about their child's progress in writing.

The website I utilized is www.dupree13.pbworks.com

The following pictures show my students working on their pieces using our Writing Wiki:

This activity was successful!  I am excited about our Writing Wiki and the opportunities it will give me and my students when teaching and learning about the writing process in first grade.  It will also be an excellent resource for parents when they have questions about their student's writing ability and progress. 

In the beginning this activity was somewhat frustrating due to most first grader's lack of knowledge about  basic keyboarding skills.  However, each time we practiced I noticed less students struggling and most stopped asking questions such as, "Where is the period? or How do I leave a space between my words?".  I also like the fact that I can use this wiki as a tool for teaching peer conferencing among other Writer's Workshop components.





Planet Project

My project was in the area of writing, science, and technology.  Students researched two planets in our solar system.  Then they created a powerpoint presentation with the information they gathered. They used various sites to locate information and images.  Useful sites that I had pre-approved are linked to my blog, so students could easily locate grade level information at home and at school. 

Link to sites on my blog




Reflection:
This project was very fun to do with the kids!  They were very motivated to complete the project and find useful informaiton from eachother and from the web.  This project lends itself to differentiation.  More advanced students took their research further and were able to create presetations using the bells and whistles of powerpoint.  Other students learned a lot about paragraph structure and organization.  They could "see" their writing easier on the white board as they re-watch their video. If I do this project again, I will give them opportunites to use other programs to present their research.

Hausner Creative Writing Project

Subject: Creative Writing Piece.

Students used a site called Storybird to write a book about the character word “courage”. This site allows students to click on hundreds of characters that could be used in their project. After deciding on their character, they created a 5 to 10 page book telling about a time when their character had to show courage. This site is free to teachers to set up a class and make assignments. However, if you want to be able to check the projects in progress or have a grading option, there is a fee ($69/year for 150 students).

Site: http://www.storybird.com/


THE TALENT SHOW by mm010 on Storybird


My students loved this project and were very engaged in the creative writing process. This assignment did lead to additional mini-lessons on careful editing practices. I definitly will use this site again. However, I would share books before beginning project with correct capitalization and punctuation to emphasize good editing practices. I would also like to try to find non-fiction pictures to add text.