Planet Reports ~ 5th/6th Grade

There has been a new focus in computer class these days; writer's workshop!  The 5th/6th grader's final assignment for the year was to write a 5+ paragraph report of a planet of their choice.  The daily lessons and tasks included the following: online and traditional research using a research guide, formulating an opening paragraph and brainstorming savvy opening sentences, organizing the information into three body paragraphs using a web graphic organizer, revising and editing each other's work and inputting source information in the "works cited" function on MS Word.  The entire process took a couple weeks, but the final outcome was something for everyone to be proud about!  I love how individualized each report is!  I look forward to sharing the student's work on the computer lab blog!

Scholastic Digital Weekly Reader ~ Kindergarten

The Kindergartners have been enjoying the digital Weekly Readers from Scholastic.com!  I open the full digital issue for each week and project the image on our whiteboard.  The students take turns reading each page and doing the activities as a class.  When we do the activities, the students take turns holding a meter stick to point at the whiteboard to answer questions or solve riddles.  I use my mouse at the computer to drag and drop items, following the meter stick.  It's kind of like a make-shift interactive projector/whiteboard without all of the extra expense!  The bonus is that the kids LOVE it!

Paper Airplane Flight Test on Excel ~ 3rd & 4th Grade

The Monday following the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, I felt that the kids needed something fun (and educational) to draw their minds away from the awful news coverage.  One idea came to mind involving paper airplanes, measurement and Excel.  I decided to have the kids create their own paper airplane and do five flight tests.  The students would launch their plane, watch it land and measure how many normal stride steps the students could walk between take off and landing.  The students also kept track of their own data.  Next, they used their data to create an Excel bar graph.  The activity proved to be very popular and educational.  I think the next time we try this activity, I will have the students use various modifications to their paper airplanes to see if the modification changed the flight performance!

The Life of a Water Droplet: Writer's Workshop ~ 3rd/4th Grade

The students were instructed to write a story about a water droplet that goes through the complete water cycle, from liquid that evaporates to precipitation that free falls from a cloud.  First, I introduced the students to the Writer's Workshop steps, and I reminded them numerous times that they would revise their draft several times before they were able to do the final editing and publishing.  It was a new process for the kids, and I am super proud of them for sticking with it and producing some super fun stories in the end.  The kids are so proud of their work that they wanted to share their stories on this blog!

Water Cycle By: Sam

                “Hi! The names’ Micah and I am a water droplet. I am an unfortunate droplet in a sad, sad puddle.  Oh, how I wish I were a drop of water in a big river, flowing freely toward a grand ocean. All I need is the warm sun to soak me up and send me floating up into the sky to join other water drops in a cloud.  This is my story of the day my dream came true:

One lucky day, the sun came out of the clouds and its heat turned me into vapor.  I started to float into the sky.  My mommy said this was called evaporation.  It was so cool. I joined a cloud called Candyland, and I changed back to a water drop. I went through something called condensation.  There were many other water drops around me.  We hung out together for a day or two before the Mayor bounced up onto the podium and yelled into the microphone, “Good Morning citizens of Candyland! Today is the drawing to see who will be leaving this wonderful cloud as precipitation launcher. Good luck to all!” With that he turned his back to the crowd and pulled 25 names out of the big fish bowl. “Trevor H, Jonah D, Sally S, Micah D…..” He said my name! My name! I’m going to Earth! My parents would be so proud! I bounce myself over to the big, fat tube and take my spot among the other raindrops. I prepare myself for the long journey down to earth, taking many deep breaths, like I learned in rain school, before the launch. I look at all the town folks’ faces before the tube shoots us off. The cheering crowd roars with excitement and praise. As we are falling down to Earth, I begin to feel weightless;  it was like free falling!  I look down below and see the Earth coming at me very fast. I see a river! I’m going to get to swim with the fish! YES! I cannon ball into the water and look around me; I've finally made it!

My Life as a Water Droplet by: Jordan

Hi, my name is Jordan. I am a frozen water droplet. One day, I was hanging out with the guys in our comfy snowdrift. The next thing I know, the sun comes out full blast, and my buddies and I begin to melt into water. It gets so hot, that we begin to evaporate. Then I went to a cloud through condensation. Then my buddies started to hang onto me as we fell as precipitation. We were a little scared to be falling, but as we got used to falling, we relaxed and enjoyed the ride.  The next thing we know, we were swimming in a huge   lake. The End

Water Cycle

Hi, my name is Polka Dot. I live in the Sugar River, and last night when I went to sleep, I evaporated. When I woke up, I was up in the clouds. I had changed from vapor to water through condensation.  I saw the Mayor of the cloud, and he told me about my trip back to earth. He said that was called precipitation. He said I was going to be sent to a river called, Sugar River. It wasn't much longer, and I was falling from the cloud. I was living the life! When I went down, I saw lots of things: people on sidewalks, people driving cars, and kids riding bikes. I also saw lots of people that I remembered because they swam in Sugar River with me.  I landed in my favorite river, and life was good again!                                                           
~By: Riley~

The Story of Dripper

By Josh

Hi, my name is Dripper I’m a water droplet. One day my family all got evaporated, and they all stranded me in our home puddle. I’ve been bullied by the other water droplets since. I longed to be with my family again. My dream came true just the other day.

It got really hot yesterday, and I finally evaporated. I found lots of cool stuff. I went into a cloud and I condensed. When I condensed, I found out I was in Army Land. The only way I could get out was to become a soldier.  One year later the Chief of Staff came up onto the podium and said, “Dripper you’re free to go.” I was so excited! I was finally going to see my family again! I went to the exit and there was a guy there with a parachute in his hand. When I got up to him he said, “Here’s your parachute Solider.” Without another word, I jumped out and became precipitation. It was amazing to feel the wind blowing on me while I freefell. When I fell, I saw a basketball sized hail hit a boy’s head. I opened my parachute and floated down slowly until I hit the water. After a few days I found Mama, Daddy and my brother. I was so excited that I screamed to them at the top of my lungs. They turned around and swam as fast as they could to me. And we all lived happily ever after.    

The End

Website Creation with Wix.com- Iowa Cities/Towns ~ 5th/6th Grade

As a technology project for Iowa History, the students used Wix.com to create a free website of an Iowa city or town.  In addition to this technology assignment, the students also created a poster for their city and wrote a letter to the mayor of their city.  Take a look at some of the posters and websites!

Okoboji Website  

 LeMars Website

 Atlantic Website

 Waterloo Website

 Denison Website

 Fort Dodge Website

 Audubon Website

 Cedar Falls Website

Ames Website

 

Iowa City

Pella

Mason City

Book Reviews on Publisher ~ 5th/6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders created book reviews for their favorite books that they read over the summer.  They used the "program" templates.  On the front cover they included a picture of the book cover, the author, the title, the series name (where applicable), the genre and the book level (according to Accelerated Reader).  On the inside of the document, the students included three adjectives to describe the book, a short synopsis of the plot and a few sentences that explain why you should read the book.  They also rated their book with 1-5 stars.

Paws for Reading ~ 3rd/4th Grade

The Third and Fourth Graders will participate in Scholastic.com's "Paws for Reading" program.  The program is described as: "Now through December 14, kids everywhere are siding with the Cats or the Dogs in a pledge to read every day and help make their team reading champs—while also helping to donate 500,000 books to kids in need. Reading at home for 20 minutes each day is all it takes to get in on the fun!"

Calling all Tech Educators!

I have found two social network sites for Technology Coordinators and Computer Teachers!  I urge all Tech  Educators to join!

Gingerbread House Design- K-1st Grade

This cute virtual gingerbread house is just waiting for the Kindergartners and First Graders to decorate it for the Christmas season!  Go to Jenny B. Harris Illustrator- Decorate a Gingerbread House for a sneak peak of this online activity.

Brain Pop Website- All Grades

BrainPop.com appears to be a good educational site, and it has a computer/technology specific section.

Community Table- 3rd/4th Grade

The Third and Fourth Graders used a table on MS Word to organize key words pertaining to the three types of communities.  The picture below is an example of their work:

Trees Slideshow- 5th/6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders are researching a specific type of tree variety (pines, firs, spruces, maples, willows, birches, hemlocks, elms, oaks, cypress, douglas firs, palm, redwood family, and unusual trees).  When they have all of their information, they will create a PowerPoint slideshow to represent the information that they find.  Go to the zsjstudents blog to find cool websites about trees.
Below is the student's research guide worksheet:

Community Brochure- 3rd/4th Grade

The Third and Fourth Graders are learning about the different kinds of communities in Social Studies.  They will reinforce the concept by creating a brochure of a hypothetical community.  They will include information such as landmarks, types of housing, recreation, and transportation.

Here is a link to a good podcast that describes the three kinds of communities: Communities

Plant Diagrams- 5th/6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders are starting a new project to reinforce their knowledge of plants.  They will choose a plant system to diagram on Paint.  The choices include: plant pollination, plant reproduction, plant fertilization, photosynthesis, inside of a root, and the root/shoot system.

The zsjstudents blog has some informational videos for the students to reference.

Bedroom Sign- 2nd Grade

The Second Graders are learning many new things about M.S. Word such as how to change the font style, size and color, how to insert clip art, and how to save and open a document.  For a fun activity, the kids are going to use these skills to create a bedroom sign.

False Identity Business Cards- 5th/6th Grade

To kick off the year with a 'welcome back' game, the kids randomly selected a career type and created a business card on Publisher for a hypothetical individual in the career.  When the business cards are completed, the students will print out the hard copy and use the cards in a game where they will draw out a card and introduce themselves as that hypothetical person.

Summer Fun Slide Show- 3rd-6th Grade

The kids are using PowerPoint to create slideshows that describe the best parts of their summer break.  They are welcomed to use pictures from home or from an image hosting site (facebook, photobucket, etc).  Our students did all sorts of fun activities such as going to the Des Moines Adventure Land, a Twins game, Minnesota and Wisconsin for camping, Water Wild West water park, and weddings to name a few.

Skype with Iditarod Musher Newton Marshall- 3rd/4th Grade

We're so excited to be skyping with Newton Marshall, the musher from Jamaica on Friday, March 9th ! Newton's website is: http://www.jamaicadogsled.com/

Southeastern States Slideshows- 3rd & 4th Grade

The Third and Fourth Graders created Powerpoint presentations on a Southeastern state.  The 3rd Graders worked in pairs (the three girls teamed up together) and the 4th Graders worked individually.  They will present their slideshows on Monday!  Here's their work:

 

Windows Movie Maker Introduction- 2nd Grade

The Second Graders worked on WWM videos. The theme was their choice; I suggested choosing something that they are passionate about. Some of the key skills they learned and practiced were:

• importing media (pictures and music)
• filling in the storyboard
• changing between timeline and storyboard view
• adding and removing transitions and effects
• changing the display time for each picture
• adding and editing titles and credits

Here is some of the work!  Enjoy!