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!

Snow, IPEVO, and PTO: O-O-Oh!

The photo above was taken with one of our new IPEVO document cameras during yesterday's surprise snow. Of course, I could just snap a photo with the digital camera and save it to my files. However, this is how it happened with the IPEVO -

1. IPEVO was used for a lesson with Ms. Parker's 4th graders to display images from The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg.
2. After the lesson, I pointed the IPEVO at the window to capture the image we were seeing - gently falling snowflakes with the woods as a background.
3. The image was displayed on the SMART Board which made it easy to see the snow crystals and clumps as they fell.
4. We turned off the lights to enjoy the beautiful scene displayed on the SMART Board. One student said it was like having another window - a big window!
5. I clicked the Enter key and bingo! - the picture was saved to a folder created by the IPEVO and placed into my U drive. Now that's service!

As you can see, I'm really excited about the IPEVO which is a cheaper version of other document cameras (for more details & a photo, see my blog from Dec. 10th). Our generous PTO bought six (6!) IPEVO cameras for our school. Four of them went to classrooms with SMART Boards, one to the Library, and the other one is available for teachers to borrow and use with the school LCD projector. Thanks, PTO!

Think + Snow

Teaching often involves trying to engage students' deeper thinking, or Higher Order Thinking skills. This means going beyond restating or memorizing facts and teaching or questioning to promote an increased level of thinking processes.

The current library bulletin board in the hallway features some information on Wilson Bentley, better known as "Snowflake" Bentley. A Caldecott-winning book, Snowflake Bentley, was written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian a few years ago; it's still a favorite. The display shows copies of the snowflake photographs made over 100 years ago by Bentley, a remarkable farmer-naturalist who changed the way the world looked at snowflakes. The library display also has newer photos taken more recently and displayed on the website, www.snowcrystals.com.

The first photo is a closer look at part of the display with a question that may encourage deeper thinking. Comparing and contrasting are skills designed to engage thinking. Have a close look at the magnification of the penny and it will help you realize the size of an individual snowflake (the blue insert). I don't know if I even want to think about how many we shoveled at our house this week!

BTW, the official Snowflake Bentley website is a great place to spend some time. Have a look at
www.snowflakebentley.com and enjoy!

Thank-you!

If you look back to my blog posting of October 15th, it may bring back memories of the visit by Kazu Kibuishi when he did an assembly for our 3rd and 4th graders. He did not have time to do autographs for students but we got something even better!

Kazu sent bookplate stickers with his autograph and the image of either Miskit or Leon to our school recently; enough for each student to have one bookplate. Two of those stickers are shown on the top line of the photo.

Imagine my surprise when I realized he did not simply make copies, but that each sticker was an original sketch! When these stickers were distributed during the last two weeks, the students were quite appreciative. We wanted to do some something special to show our gratitude and Mark, in Mrs. Beaudry's 4th grade class, had the idea that each student could make a sticker for Kazu.

Today we began making them in Mrs. Rathbone's 3rd grade class. I loved seeing the students' original thoughts and drawings and four of them are included in the photo. Mrs. Rathbone's class has many Amulet fans; however, not everyone is crazy about this graphic novel series. One student included a drawing with "I'm not a fan, but thanks!" The rest of the 3rd and 4th grade classes will work on their stickers next week and then I'll be sending them to Kazu Kibuishi in California. I'm sure he will enjoy the students' work as much as we enjoyed his visit.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who bought one or more Gingerbread Books at PTO's recent Holiday Fair. Today I was able to hand $227 to our social worker who will make sure the cash goes to help a family in need. What a great school community!

More Tech!

There will soon be more tech equipment coming since the PTO has generously offered to buy six Ipevo document cameras for the school. These cameras, or visual presenters, offer basic functions similar to the better known Elmo cameras. We've had an Elmo for a year or so and it's great. The Ipevo does not do as much and isn't the same level of quality but they're smaller, much cheaper, and they do the job. Thanks, PTO!

In addition, we now have a total of five SMART Boards in our school. The district budget funded these purchases and we're glad to have them get into more classrooms.

Regarding this week's photos:

• The first photo shows an Ipevo (on loan from CMS; ours are being ordered) connected to the laptop which is connected to the LCD projector. The Ipevo is focused on a penny.
  
• The second photo shows the projection of the penny when viewed by the document camera and projected onto the SMART Board.
  
• The third photo was taken by the Ipevo and easily stored into my picture file. Can you believe it's so big that the image fills the SMART Board? Wow!

Gingerbread Books

Perhaps I'll see you tomorrow, Saturday, December 4th, at our PTO's holiday fair. I'll be the one selling nearly-new books for one dollar - yes, that's right - $1.00. These books are donated or are ones I've collected for this annual event. The Gingerbread Books include some great ones for both children and adults and you might get a real bargain.

Most importantly, the cash raised goes to our district Gingerbread Express program to give a little boost to families in our community that may need help. At our school, the program is coordinated by Mrs. Cafaro and Mrs. Connell who make sure the money goes where it can help the most.

Our school community has been very generous in supporting the program. Some people just throw in some money and don't worry about buying a book! In any case, it's a good cause and I hope to see you there.