Google Sketch Up- 5th & 6th Grade

We downloaded Google Sketch Up 8.  The kids watched the following youtube video as a tutorial.

The kids followed along with the steps that are layed out in the tutorial to create their own building. Once the kids are comfortable with the Google Sketch Up features, they will create their house as they envision it will be in heaven.

Colony Brochure- 5th & 6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders are researching one of the original 13 colonies and creating a promotional brochure on Publisher.  Below are some websites that they are using for their online research:
13 Colonies
Mr Nussbaum's website
Social Studies for Kids
History.com

Layers of the Earth Diagram on Paint- 5th/6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders used Paint to create a diagram of the earth's layers. They were expected to include one fact for each layer and to save their diagram to the server. There are some super artistic students! Way to go kids!

Birthdays of the month, tally marks n' Excel graphs- 2nd-4th Grade

As a mini-checkpoint assessment for Excel, the Second-Fourth Graders collected data using tally marks, converted the tally marks to numbers, layed out the data on an Excel spreadsheet and created a bar graph.  The data that we collected was a count of birthdays for each month of our classmates and family members.  I kept track of the count using tally marks on the white board as the students dug deep into their minds to remember when their classmates' and family members' birthdays were.  Once all of the data was collected, the students took turns converting the tally marks to numbers.  Then, with very little help from me, they were instructed create the spreadsheet and graph.  There were a handful of students who remembered all of the steps, and they proudly reminded the others who had forgotten.  It was a triumph for those who remembered and a good review for those who forgot!

Thankful for- 2nd-4th Grade

The Second-Fourth Graders are working on a simple MS Word document to help them reflect on for what they are thankful.  The document begins with "I am thankful for:" and it continues with a list of things that the students feel blessed for having in their lives.  They reviewed how to insert bullets and how to "define a new bullet" using a picture or symbol.  They also reviewed how to insert clipart,  format clipart text-wrapping, and change the font.

Sympathy Word Clouds- 3rd &4th Grade

The Third and Fourth Graders created sympathy word clouds using tagxedo.com for their teacher, Mrs. Paulsen. Mrs. Paulsen's father passed away on Friday. With the help of Pastor Wagner, the students listed words, phrases and Biblical verses that pertain to going home to heaven, and then they used the words to create the word clouds. The kids saved their work on the server, I printed the word clouds using a color printer, and we worked together to create a collage of the word clouds on a poster. Here is some of their work!

Scripture Poster- 3rd & 4th Grade

The students Googled "popular Bible verses" to find their favorite verse. They copied and pasted the verse to a Word document.  Then the students Googled images that were relevant to their verse by typing in the book, chaper and verse number in the search bar. This assignment was a review of many skills including using search engines and Word tools such as copy/paste, aligment, image boarder, image text wrapping, image resizing, and footer/header.

Favorite Ice Cream- 3rd & 4th Grade

The Third and Fourth Graders created a spreadsheet and graph using "favorite ice cream flavors" as their topic.  They learned some new skills including hiding rows in an Excel spreadsheet and using the "PrtScn" key to copy & paste an image of the screen to Paint.  Below are the images that they generated using the PrtScn key.

Word Cloud-5th & 6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders created word clouds using Tagxedo.  The kids learned that if they wrote a word mulitple times, the word would appear larger than the other words in the final image.  They also learned to use the swiggly line ~ between two words that go together such as "First~Last name."  The kids downloaded and printed their word clouds.  Their work will be on display for the parent/teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday!

Animal Homes- 2nd Grade

The Second Graders are working on PowerPoint slide shows about animal homes. Each slide features a unique animal with one simple sentence that states the kind of home that the animal lives in and an image of the home. For example, the first slide was for bats: "Bats live in caves." Emphasis is placed on capitalization, grammar and punctuation. The computing skills for this assignment includes: launch PowerPoint, insert a slide, select a layout, insert an image (clipart or from file), produce symbols and punctuation with the shift key, and use font tools. Additional skills that will be reintroduced later include using slide design and slide transistions.

Excel Introduction- 2nd Grade

The Second Graders were introduced to a new Microsoft Office application, Excel.  They learned the following vocabulary words: cells, rows, columns, graph, and spreadsheet, selected mulitiple and single cells using their mouse and arrow keys and selected entire rows and columns.  On Thursday they will follow up the lesson with a simple spreadsheet and graph.  After they have completed a couple charts, the Second Graders will do the colored candy project!  This project is a special treat for all of the Second Graders, year after year. 

Online Interview with a Wifelife Expert - 5th & 6th Grade

For homework, the Fifth and Sixth Graders will think of at least 3 interview questions to ask a researcher from the NC Zoo Society.  On Monday we'll collaborate and compile a list of the most thoughtful interview questions.  We will go to the following link: http://www.fieldtripearth.org/ask_qa.xml to post the questions.

Field Trip Earth Skype- 5th & 6th Grade

We're Skyping with Mark, a biologist from the NC Zoo Society on Friday at 2:40 in the student's homeroom! He will be coming to us from Pittsboro, NC. He will speak to us about his work with sea turtles, red wolves, Africian elephants and Midwest falcons in the wild. One of the topics he'll present is animal tagging. The students will preview a slideshow that Mark has prepared for his audiences. They will also preview the NC Zoo Society website.

Future Skyping Opportunity- 3rd & 4th Grade

http://www.foxystale.com
Keep your eyes peeled for more about Mr. Ed White, author of Foxy's Tale and Iditarod competitor.  He offers free video conferencing opportunities for schools.  I contacted Mr. White today, and he has already responded.  We will be scheduling a Skype session for Feb/Mar when the 3rd and 4th Graders do a unit on Alaska and the Iditarod!  The class will read Mr. White's book before the video conference.  The book is a 4th grade level book with 88 pages.

Below is a youtube video featuring Mr. White:

Mammal Slideshow Project- 5th & 6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders are creating a MS PowerPoint slideshow about a mammal of their choice.  The topics that they will be researching will include physical description, range, habitat, diet, survival and defense, life span, parenting, a day in the life, and an interesting fact.  They will report on six of the above topics.  They will be assessed on their ability to use their own words (no plagerism), using the correct layout, relevance and grammar, spelling and punctuation.  The assignment will be due on October 20th.

State Fact Sheet- 2nd Grade

The Second Graders will create a fact sheet about a US state.  Each student chose a state to research, and they will use a search engine to find images and certain information about the state.  They will use MS Word to create the fact sheet using the information and images that they find.  The MS Word skills will include using the alignment, font and insert tools.  The states that were chosen are: Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Kentucky.

Marketing Slogan Search- 5th & 6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders are using various search engines to find buisness slogans that could be compared to our Christian values.  They will recreate the slogan during art class, and they will add a the comparison to their work.  Below is an example of a slogan that could be used:  Disneyland- Where dreams come true.  The slogan could be compared to Heaven.  The art work will be scanned and shared on this blog!

Johnny Appleseed Week- Kindergarten

This week in Kindergarten we are celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday. The kids will watch a youtube video of the original classic movie- the embedded video can be found on www.zsjstudents.blogspot.com.  The Kindergarteners will also play apple games on http://www.applejuice.org/fungames.html

"A World of Adventure" Postcard on Publisher- 5th & 6th Grade

The Fifth and Sixth Graders randomly selected a location in the world by spinning a globe and stopping the spinning with their finger.  Where ever their finger landed was the location that they were going to research and chose an adventure that could be enjoyed in the location.  They created a greeting postcard that describes the adventure.  We had camel racing in Saudi Arabia, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, surfing in Coasta Rica, heli-skiing in Canada, deep sea fishing in the Pacific off the coast of Alaska, trekking along the Great Wall of China, and swimming with dolphins off the coast of Indonesia!

US Regions Informational Postcard on Publisher- 3rd & 4th Grade

The Third and Fourth Graders have learned, and are practicing their Publisher skills in preparation for their first computer project of the school year.  They will create an informational postcard representing a US region of their choice.  The project will begin with online research at  http://www.dembsky.net/regions/index.html.  They will then use the skills that they have learned for Publisher to create the postcard.