Local Resources for Book Talk Clubs and Self-Directed Learning

Session Two with the staff from R.C.T.V. went well. It is really worth investigating your local t.v. station to see what they offer in the way of loaning equipment and training to use the equipment. In the town I teach in, the t.v. studio rocks! They came to the classroom, in two sessions of about an hour, to teach how to use the movie camera and editing software, Final Cut Pro. 

We will use the equipment to film and edit the students' book talks. Students can also use the equipment for their self directed learning projects. What a great opportunity! In addition, at the studio, there is a green screen and a full working kitchen set. I have a student who will film her cooking show in this kitchen for her SDL project. 

Exciting things afoot in Room 16!

We Have an Audience!

Our progress with blogging is exciting! Students are thrilled to be getting comments from all over North America,  as well as the Bahamas and New Zealand! Our blog has over 4,000 views after one week of blogging!

Now that students see they have an audience, they are stepping up their game for sure! I am almost done with the blogging rubric. I shared it with my team and am revising based on their feedback. I will share it when done. I shared examples of great kid blogs and will be showing them how to cite sources next week after our overnight field trip. The rubric will also clarify what is expected and includes relevant standards.

Here are a few pictures that show examples of posts and comments, but please visit our site  http://kidblog.org/MrsMilnersClass-2/   read the blogs, and leave a comment! You will make their day! 

Blogging Begins

On Friday, I gave my fifth grade students the blogging permission form and told them that they will get their passwords when they return the signed form. As of today, there is only one student who has not returned the form. Many are blogging and commenting. They love it!

Of the 20 forms I have received, only six parents did not sign permission for their students faces to be seen. That was surprising to me. I thought more parents would be wary of this. I was pleasantly surprised.

I am creating mini lessons to improve the quality of my students' blogs, as well as a kid friendly blogging rubric.

With Kidblog, I approve all blogposts and comments before the public sees them. I like having that safety net!

Please read my students' blogs and leave encouraging, helpful comments. If you have trouble getting on to the blog, please let me know. I may need to double check my settings. I think it is ready to go though!

http://kidblog.org/MrsMilnersClass-2/

New Developments with SDL

Students are almost ready to start blogging about the process of self-directed learning. My teammates and I drafted a permission letter to parents explaining Kidblog and online safety guidelines. Students will get their passwords when they pass in the signed permission slip. 

It was exciting, earlier this week, when @joykirr contacted me through Twitter about putting my blog on the Genius Hour live binder. She also put me in contact with @robynthiessen who facilitates the Global Genius Hour Project.  Our self-directed learning blogs will be part of this project. Students around the world will see Room 16's blogs! We will be able to see others' blogs and share praise and feedback. I will explain this to my class tomorrow. They will be excited, I  am sure!

We have been lucky to have access to the computer lab the last two weeks. Not anymore. Time to get creative with laptop/ iPad accessibility.

Learning to draw

Building a Lego City

Ice Age Interests

Researching Goalie Jerry Cheevers

Sewing Project Runway Wannabe

Comprehension Conundrum

Tonight, I went online to search for some decent comprehension questions for James and the Giant Peach. I recently found great free online resources for Cricket in Times Square and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so I was hopeful. Unfortunately, no good resources were to be found for Peach, a Dahl classic. They were too simple, didn't go deep enough for my fifth graders. They may be reading at Level Q, but they can think like fifth graders!

Necessity is the mother of invention, so I cranked out questions for the first four chapters and have shared them below for anyone interested. I want students accessing schema/ making connections, inferring, predicting, and learning about literary elements and author style. I will post more chapter questions as I write them.

James and the Giant Peach

Please answer the following questions in your journal using T.T.Q.A. and support your answers with evidence from the text.

 Chapter 1:

1.      Do you feel bad for James? Why or why not?

 

2.      Will James jump over the fence? Why or why not?

 

Chapter 2:

1.      What words does the author use to describe Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge?

 

2.      Why did James start to cry?

 

Chapter 3:

1.      Summarize what happened in this chapter.

2.      What do you think will happen next? Why?

 

Chapter 4:

1.      What does the old man promise James if he drinks the jugful?

2.      “Whoever they meet first, be it bug, insect, animal, or tree, that will be the one who gets the full power of their magic.” This is an example of foreshadowing, the author is hinting at what may happen soon in the story. What do you think will happen with the “green things?”

Self-Directed Learning

In my last post about our self-directed learning project I shared some of the project ideas students are exploring:

- learning how to sculpt/ researching  

   techniques/ maybe display at town    

   library or sell and donate money to a 

   charity

- learn the parts of a computer/take apart 

   a computer/ IMovie to document 

   process

- research recycling and energy 

   conservation/ create an informational 

   stop motion animation movie about it 

   with Lego Animator

- learn how to sew on sewing machine, learn how to use patterns, document learning in pictures

This past week, we were lucky enough to get into the computer lab to get the ball rolling. Students were motivated and focused. It was amazing!

Students are learning how to research their topic and are taking two column notes: main idea/details. Also, in their spirals, students are writing reflections about the process. This week, I have a surprise for my students. They will each have their own blog on Kidblog. This will raise the stakes for the kids since now their work will be seen by the world! I am hoping to share my students' work with my Twitter PLN  and Facebook friends and get some immediate feedback for students. Please read their blogs and leave positive comments!!

Writing workshop

Students have been working hard in writing workshop. They have created lists to generate topics for their personal narratives, written multiple rough drafts on different topics and have begun setting goals for their writing. They have successfully checked their writing for a few goals:

1. Small moment

2. In the moment

3. Staying within Narrator POV

They are eager to start revising their writing. We will start multiple rehearsals this week after they write their flash drafts. Lessons on finding the heart of their writing, story arc and many more are still to come.

I chose to share the pictures below because the students enjoy sharing their writing and the small celebrations that make workshop so rewarding. More posts to come all year about our writing workshop progress.