Wrapping Up Our Research- Let the Projects Begin!

What is it Mark Twain said.... "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"-- or something to that effect.  Anyway, sorry for my blogging silence, I have been busy raising my teenagers.  LOL


The Reader's Digest Condensed version of the past few weeks....

• The students (as of today) have all completed their research packet.  They are happy to have made it over this hurdle.
• In almost every case, the students had some information that conflicted between their sources.  It gave us opportunities for conversations about valid sources and the importance of using current sources.
• They have greatly expanded their vocabulary and understanding of their endangered animal and the threats that impact its survival.
• In Storybird, the students learned to post a comment about stories their peers have published.  We discussed personal responsibility, appropriate form and content.  Commenting on stories is similar to commenting on our blog.  They had no trouble transferring their knowledge and skill to this application.
• The students continue to work on developing their collaboration skills as they write stories with their peers.

The students also selected and began their first project from their animal research.  Some students are creating a papier mache' mask of their animal while others have chosen to make an animal habitat diorama.  Today, the students making a mask completed the first layer of papier mache'.  I have asked the students to avoid wearing good clothes to SAGE over the next few weeks.  I have plenty of aprons, but our projects can be pretty messy.

This morning, the students had a wonderful opportunity to learn about endangered animals first hand.  Staff from the Kansas City Zoo presented their program, Journey to Survival, an interactive program designed to expand each student’s knowledge of endangered animals and what the students can do to aid in the survival of animals around the world. 

From Australia, we were introduced to the blue-tongued skink.  We learned how the natural balance can be disrupted when a non-native species is introduced into a habitat.  This occurred when rabbits were brought over on the settlement ships from England.  Without predators, their population exploded causing a competition for food with other native animals.  To "fix" this man-made problem, man imported foxes from England as they were the main predator for rabbits back in England.  Once there, however, the fox discovered the bilby, a slower moving marsupial that made for an easy lunch.  As the result of this man-made tragedy, the bilby is critically endangered.

Next, the students learned about the struggles of the black rhino on the brink of extinction.  Poachers hunt for and kill rhinos to use their horn in medicines some believe will make them stronger.

From the Amazon Rainforest, we met the double yellowed-headed parrot.  We learned about the destruction of its habitat and the illegal smuggling of these birds for the pet trade.

Finally, from the United States, we learned how even domesticated animals can become endangered.  Ask your child to tell you a little about Bubbles and the other animals they brought to our class.

Today I introduced the students to another digital storytelling site, Kerpoof.  This free site is a Disney created website where students can make pictures, storybooks and even animated videos.  It is very user friendly, engaging and inspires creativity in children as they tell their stories.  Turn your child loose on this site and they will use their imagination and writing skills to create original stories and projects.


They ended their day with our Spanish lesson and by working on their mathematical problem solving skills in the Math Rules program.

Finding the Path... in Shadowlands and in Our Research

We warmed our brains up first thing this morning with a group memory game called Shadowlands.  The students had to discover the path on the grid to move from the dark Shadowlands into the light.  If they had a mis-step and landed in the "dark,"  there turn ended and they moved to the end of the line.  They did get to work as a group to locate and stay on the path.  They did a really good job.  We also discovered that Luke has a really good spatial memory!  We were glad he was on our team!



In the computer lab, the students continued working on their Storybird stories.  We had a good discussion on how you work with others to collaborate on a story.  A few students "vented" about their frustrating experiences when their other collaborator changed or deleted parts of their story.  We discussed appropriate changes, ways to communicate and the importance of compromise in a collaboration.  It was interesting to watch them collaborate on a story from across the room.  There was still a lot of negociating and a bit of bossing as they walked back and forth to give each other instructions.  Little by little, they will learn to adapt to a distance collaboration task.  This is a great place to start!!!

They are very enthusiastic about their stories.  If it is possible-- and they are interested, please encourage your child to work on their story from home or from school if they have spare time.  Our limited time here in SAGE and in the computer lab won't be enough to satisfy their desire to write with this application and soon, we will need our computer lab time to learn other Web 2.0 tools.

After lunch and recess, the students worked on the independent endangered animal research.  Today, they learned to take and organize bulleted notes for specific content.  Most students had time record information on their specific species' description, diet and hunting habits.  A few had time to record info on where in the world their animal is found.  It isn't an easy task.  It can be challenging, tiring and frustrating.  I was proud of them for sticking with it.  Their results were good!  Now that they have the hang of it, I think they will be more independent next week.  For some, the hurdle is just the act of writing out the information.  Continue to praise and encourage your child.  That can really motivate and carry them through the hard parts.

We ended our day with Spanish.  Today the students combined Spanish vocabulary words that have learned to create and then modify complete sentences.

It was a good day!  I hope to see some of you at Hands-On Night tonight!



Fiction in the AM/ Non-fiction in the PM

The students started their day with an introduction to a new, web based, digital storytelling application, Storybird.   Storybird uses a broad selection of art work to inspire you to write a story.  Each child was assigned a username and password today.  One of the great things about this application is students are able to continue their work from home, at their home school or here in SAGE.  All they have to do is login to the website.  They can even collaborate on a book with their classmates.  Another great feature of the site is you have the ability to print copies of your child's story on your home printer, share their stories through email, embed them in websites or blogs and even order hard or paperback copies of your child's book.  

The students spent some time exploring the available art work.  When they found an artist's work that inspired a story idea, they began creating their book.

Have your child login and share their story with you.  


Nate completed this book in class.

The Angry Bear on StorybirdMia and Nathir have collaborated on this story...

The Men Who Wanted to Kidnap Trumpet Monster. on StorybirdAnd Frankie finished this story in class too!
UFO on StorybirdI am excited to see what stories they create!In the afternoon, the students continued their animal research.  This week, they learned strategies for organizing information.  As the boys and girls read their animal articles, they used a color coded key to highlight it for specific content.  This will help them next week when they begin recording notes in their animal research booklet.They did a nice job on this step and seem ready to begin the note taking process.Have a great weekend!

Asking Important Questions to Guide Our Research

Our day started by completing a pretest KWL on the animal each child is about to research.  The students listed facts they Knew about their animal and wrote questions about What they wanted to learn about it.   At the end our individual research unit, they will record what they Learned about the animal.   

We reviewed how to access the district's research data base.  We used the Smart Board to explore Searchasaurus, World Book Online, Kid's Search and Kids Info Bits.  Once in the computer lab, we dealt with one technical glitch after another.  Suffice it to say, our lab time wasn't as productive as I had hoped.  Impressively, your children really rolled with it all and transitioned into our next tasks.

We discussed the scope of our research and the types of sources we will be learning to use and cite.  We also looked over the research packet we will be using to keep our research organized.  In the afternoon, with the printing problem corrected, we managed to get a time in the library to go back to the district's research database.  This time, the students succeeded in printing a Searchasaurus article and scan other brief articles in the other online applications.  Finally, we were able to check off our progress on our research, task list.

This is a new twist on the animal unit I have taught for many years.  I wanted the students to select an endangered animal so we could find relevant, real world problems to explore and, to the best of our ability, do what we can to bring about a solution.  I also wanted to involve them in the planning process.  By helping to define the direction of their research and the potential projects and products they will complete, they will be more invested, engaged and motivated throughout their research.  The students brainstormed ways they can individually, in small groups or as a class help endangered animals.  I guess I was a little surprised.  All three 2nd grade classes approached the problems in very similar ways.  It was a very interesting, and for me, enlightening discussion.  

We (both teachers and parents) have taught our children to problem solve and think the way we have always done--even the way our parents, their grandparents, have done.  Their ideas began with: 

• "We can make posters to teach others about endangered animals and hang them up around our school and on (telephone) poles in our neighborhood."
• "We can take the endangered animals out of the forest so they aren't in danger any more."
• "We can make flyers and hand them out to people at our schools and at our open house."
• "We can send letters to our government and President and tell them to protect the animals."
• One student even suggested, "We have a fund raiser so we can all fly to Washington to meet with the President or government officials to convince them to save endangered animals."
• "We can make phone calls or send letters to scientists working with the animals to ask them questions."
• "We can go to the radio station and be interviewed about our research."
• "We can make a video and have it shown on TV."
• "We can write a play about protecting the animals and perform it at our Open House."
• "We can make a wax museum where we share what we learn with the people that come to Open House."

I was really dumbfounded!  I know they are young and have limited life experiences, but they are all "tech" experienced.  They are our digital natives.  They are unafraid of the Internet.  They text, email and interact with others on the computer as if it is completely natural to them, yet in all three classes, the first 8-10 suggestions included no technology beyond a telephone.  I teased them and told them they were thinking like their great grandparents did when they were eight years old!  It still took a little prodding and a few example suggestions before they opened up and started thinking of 21 Century skills.  Once they were rolling, they suggested:

• sending email, texting, video conferencing, and tweeting
• making a video and putting it (embedding it) on our blog
• making a podcast news show to add to our blog
• making a video about saving the animals and uploading it to You Tube
• making a website to teach others about endangered animals
• blogging about our research
• use digital images to share information about the animals on our blog or on website
• making a website to share our research and digital posters
• doing an online auction as a fund raiser
• making an electronic newspaper

Yeah!  Maybe they will be ready for the demands they will face as adults in a technology driven world after all.  Research supports my belief that our children must learn to think differently; must learn to collaborate from a distance as well as face to face.  They need to have a broad knowledge of the digital tools available to them and be able to quickly assimilate and evaluate Internet based applications.  We know the Internet and the digital world will change faster than we can ever master the skills.  Our children will be prepared if we can teach them to think.  

Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock says, 'We need to teach students to learn how to learn, learn how to unlearn and learn how to relearn, because that's the real skill."  Loosely quoting Psychologist Herbert Gerjuoy, Toffler said, "Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the man who can't read; he will be the man who has not learned how to learn."  That is our job.

Fortunately, their ideas raised even more questions and this will be the starting point for their research.  The actual projects they will complete will be determined when they have learned more about their topic.

Another busy, but satisfying day!

Our Animal Research Begins!

We started our day with a great Power Point lesson.  Quinn shared an animated slide show he created at home with his mom.  He included animated clipart, slide animation effects, sound effects and a path animation effect for which we were unfamiliar.  He did a great job answering questions and explaining how he created the slide show.  (This inspired several students to spend their indoor recess creating their own animated slide shows!)  I am excited to see some of the kids are experimenting with this program at home too!  They learn technology very naturally.  We just have to give them the opportunity to explore an application.  --Then they can teach us! 

Next, we reviewed on the white board how to locate our endangered animals site, www.arkive.org and how to search for a specific species.  Today, was our "highly anticipated" day to choose our research animal.  After one final look at our endangered list, the students settled on their choices.  This group is studying a variety of species including Tasmanian devil, blue whale, snow leopard, red wolf, devilray and several others.  Ask you child about their choice and what inspired their decision.

The students were introduced to/reviewed how to search for a library book by author, title, subject or series in our district online catalog.  Because our species are so specific, many students had to refine their search to include all of our district's elementary school libraries.  It is difficult skill to learn to broaden a search and it requires the students to be flexible in their thinking and persistent in their search.  Hopefully the books we are ordering will be helpful in our research.  Next week, we will go to the district online resources to find a Searchasaurus article on our animal.  It will be one of our main resources.

I am not concerned about finding sufficient information.  The animals I offered as choices were ones for which I know we have information.  As this is their very first, in depth research project, I want them to be challenged, but I also want them to be successful.  It is my goal for each student to have a bibliography that includes at least one book, traditional encyclopedia, online article, online encyclopedia and possibly a magazine article.  This will give them the opportunity to learn to cite a variety of sources too.

Next week, for most of the students is still pretty fun.  We will be focused on gathering sources.  The following two to three SAGE days will be pretty challenging and fairly taxing.  My usual opening statement for the day will be, "You need to be prepared to work really hard today.  You are going to feel confusion and frustration and you will get tired of writing, but I promise you, if you dig in and persevere through the research portion of our study, I will make it worth your while with our projects."  Very few adults, let alone students, enjoy the note-taking, knowledge-gathering portion of a research study.  In general, these will be the whiniest weeks in my classroom, (LOL) but at the same time, they will contain the work for which the students are the most proud.  With that pride comes confidence in their abilities and in himself/herself.  As you talk to your child after their SAGE day, ask them what they have learned about their animal, encourage them to persist in their note-taking and most importantly, praise them for their efforts.  One great outcome you will see is they sleep well after a long day of work!

After lunch and recess, the students worked at their Exploratory center on individual tasks.  The students also worked on their math problem solving skills in the TOPS Math program.

We ended our day with Spanish instruction by Senora Gates.  Today the students learned practiced their numbers from 1-40.

Have a great week!

Hey, Hey the Gang's All Here..

It is nice to be back in class and I was happy to see everyone.  It sounds like they had a fun winter break.  Today they were focused, hard working and I think a little more independent than I have seen.  Either Piaget is right and we hit a few developmental milestones or distance makes the heart grow fonder.  Perhaps it is a bit of both.  Regardless, today was a good work day.

We started our day sharing something we did over break to "feed our soul;" for me it was painting.  The kids vacationed away, received special presents, enjoyed seeing cousins they don't get to see often and spent time with family and friends.  Next, they worked on their math problem solving skills with TOPS Math.

In the computer lab, they worked on formatting their Microsoft Excel graph that we began before break.  Their data came from our snowman card exchange. Below are examples of graphs the students made.  They also continued to explore the features of Power Point.  Today, they learned to format backgrounds for template options and to select and insert graphics from the clip art galleries.

 Frankie's graph

Luke's graph

After lunch we discussed the importance of goal setting, how to make a specific, relevant and reasonable goals, and what we can do to achieve our goals.  The students began this process by setting a goal related to their SAGE work.  In the weeks ahead, we will refine their goals and begin tracking their progress.  Ask your child about his or her individual goal.

Next, we discussed the spectrum labels used to identify an animal species' status:

• extinct
• extinct in the wild
• critically endangered
• endangered
• threatened
• nearly threatened
• vulnerable
• least or lesser concern

For the purposes of our research unit, the students will be choosing an animal that is endangered or critically endangered.  We are using www.arkive.org to determine an animal's status.  Several asked for the link so they can explore the animal lists and check on animals they are interested in studying.  They will make their final choice next week and begin gathering information on it.  (***As this is the first real research most of them have done, I want to avoid obscure animals and those on which little has been published.)

We ended our day with our Spanish instruction with Senora Gates.

They should be proud of their efforts today!

"Wrapping" Up Our Semester - No Pun Intended!

This morning, the students practiced reading their winter poem.  We discussed what factors impact the quality of an oral presentation- good content, speaking clearly and slowly, appropriate volume, pause between phrasing and using inflection in our voice to convey enthusiasm.  We used Cinch.fm to create mico-podcasts of their poem that you will find in the previous post.  They did a great job on their poems and their first audio presentation!  They are also bringing home their copy of the poem.  I hope you enjoy them!

Photgraphy by Frankie (Well done Frankie!)

During our computer lab, the students worked in Microsoft Excel to create a bar graph of some of the data they recorded from our Snowman card exchange.  Some students chose to graph the average temperature on December 15th, some did the number of students in the classes and still others graphed the grade levels from which we received our cards.  I was hoping they would have them finished to print out and bring home, but alas, their typing skills are not as fast as I pictured in my head when I planned the activity.  :-)

After Spanish, the students worked on their math problem solving skills in the TOPS Math program at the end of the day.

Our next SAGE day will be on Wednesday, January 4th.  I hope your family has a wonderful holiday season and I will look forward to seeing the kids in January!