Learning is Fun!

Today I tried a different activity with Mrs. Rathbone's 3rd grade class and we had such a good time. I was thrilled with the way they worked with others at the library computers. They were excited about how well they did on the activity - a win/win situation!

The students had experience with the website on which they "shelve" books according to alphabetical order. We had done the activity using the SMART Board a few weeks ago; at that time they took turns coming up to move the virtual book to the correct alphabetical place on the shelf. Their familiarity with the website and activity made it an easy transition to going to computers on their own, finding the website, and taking turns with a partner. Some of the students even earned the Certificate of Library Assistant printout!

The first photo shows the students busy at work. The second photo features two students, J and E, doing their work with the SMART board computer. They used the touch screen; others used their computer mouse to move the book to the correct place.

Again, besides the academic value of alphabetizing, I was most impressed with their ability to work together. Being able to share computer time, decide on names and levels for the game, and collaborate to figure out the problems - to me that's a goal I hope all our young learners can achieve.

If you're interested in the website, it may be found by googling order in the library or through the URL:
http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valmstrum/s2s/utopia/library4/src/library4.html

Have a great vacation!

Lifelong Learning

Okay, so what does a dinosaur fossil have to do with lifelong learning? Well, today when I was working with students I realized I was not sure about how to cite images from the Internet. I know how I think we should do it, but wanted a refresher course. Rather than Google, I turned to the Chariho Middle School website. The Library Media Center link on the CMS homepage is a wealth of information. Not only does it have links to many important resources, but when I know "the way they do it at CMS" then I can hope to help prepare students when they move on to middle school. In fact, I hope to add a link to the CMS Library website onto this blog to give readers a quick way to access those resources.

Well, the dinosaur fossil photo was found using www.pics4learning.com, a good place to begin a search for Internet images. I think the correct way to cite the source is:

http://www.pics4learning.com/details.php?img=monclonius_nasicornis.jpg, Feb. 11, 2011.

The citation shows the URL (website address) of the photo and the date indicates when I copied the image. I hope I got it right! The main message to our elementary students at Charlestown is that they must give credit to others' work. Lessons on copyright and giving credit begin in 2nd grade and the idea is mentioned in 1st grade. To young children, being "fair" and not taking from someone else is a very concrete idea.

The website, pics4learning, did not have my favorite dinosaur, a Triceratops, so I went with a similar herbivore, Monoclonius. If you have a dinosaur fan at home, they may even recognize that one-horned head!