The Site is up

OK Everyone the site is up

ps376.org

We still have some fixing to do on some site. But that will done tomorrow. Don't worry we will get it done. Thank you all for getting everything to me. Ms. Moran thanks for all your help on the phone.

4-404 Update

We had a productive two-period visit by Ms. Moran. The children's wiki pages are getting more and more impressive. We are using the comment feature to share ideas with one another. yesterday the class reflected on the process from the beginning, pouring through artifacts in the folders from day one, and recalling all thee steps along the way. This informed speech writing. Each group has written a speech for the presentation but only one will be chosen. However, each group will have an opportunity to speak. I can't believe in another week it will be over! What does TAG do on Fridays in January?

2-204 What's Up In Brooklyn

We are continuing to work on our iMovies. Most of the students have added transitions, music and the Ken Burns effect to their projects. There are 2 groups that are still completing the voice recording. Now it's time to resize the images and audio so that it fits into the movie. We will be editing this week so that our movies are up and ready!

The next step is to make a 3-D map to showcase some of the places we researched. Once the students are done with their iMovies they will be constructing models of places they researched using cardstock and pictures. We are excited to show all of the wonderful things you can visit right in our community!

K-14

We were working on our family posters today. It was really difficult to video all of my children. But I managed to finish most of them, only four left. I asked my children to make a poster about their family cultural tradition. Hopefully, they will be done by tomorrow. I need help to create the short blurb for our web page. Do you think, “Family Circles” sound better for our newspaper theme? I will continue to work on the video and web page.

3-304 Next Steps. 2 Weeks Left!!!!!

The students spent last Friday editing and adding to their imovie. We showed them to the whole class for some peer reflection. We noticed that each movie could use more details. They went home over the weekend and researched a few more facts per subject. Then they are going to add a few more pictures and details.

We have also started our non technology products. We are doing a few different things. We are making brochures for each country and making paper dolls for people to play with that match the clothing for each country.

We still need to come up with the speech. I have to get on that.

I have been taking a few periods here and there to continue to work on the project throughout the week. When students finish their regular class work they have been doing project work. Each group is now split up to work on different tasks.

Lots to do but it will be worth it.

New Look For Our Blog.

Some of our posts have gotten long. I thought it was time for a new look that gave us more room for longer posts. Let me know what you think!!

Week Seven

It seemed like so long between visits. First I missed a Friday; then there was the Thanksgiving holiday. Anyway, we racing towards the finished line.

We had a really successful meeting. First, Big Kudos to Ms. Catania for creating a template for our year two website. She used a really cute newspaper theme and read us her clever introductory blurb, setting the bar high for everyone else. The sections of the Also, thank you to Ms. Schembri for making sure that the invitations get sent out this week and that the program is put together in time. Every teacher needs to contribute to both the web site and the program in order for everything to be done on time.

Submit the following:

• To Ms. Catania: A short blurb for your web page. (1 - 2 paragraphs)
  
• To Ms. Schembri: Two-three sentences for the program.

Please submit the above electronically, so no one has to do any extra typing.

In addition, we discussed what needs to be done in preparation for the final presentation. Here is a summary of what has to be done in the next two weeks!

1. Students finish all products. Please give copies of student products (or URLs) to Ms. Catania:
    - iMovies must be shared to Quicktime (final rendering)
    - Keynotes must be exported as Quicktime movies
    - Podcasts must saved as m4a files
    - iWeb sites - copy domain files
   Don't worry: I'll help you with the above this week!
2. Select which products you will showcase at presentation. You can pick which final products you will show, or have a class discussion to pick which product(s) best represent the class. Remember, you only have 6 minutes per class, including time for students to speak.
   
3. Students prepare and practice speeches. Select which 4-5 students will be presenting. Each student should have only a few sentences. Some suggestions for prompts include:
   - An overview of the class project.
   - A description of what their group contribution was and how they chose the subtopic.
   - What they learned or how they completed the project.
   - How they overcame challenges.
   - What they learned from working with partners/group.
   - For grades 2-5, how did they build on what they learned last year and bring it to the next level this year.
   
4. Students finish display boards and any non-technology products. These will be showcased after the live presentation.

I know this sounds like a lot, but pay attention to how many start with the word "student!" Remind students that this is their presentation and they have the responsibility for making this an unforgettable day!

P.S. Don't forget that I'm coming in twice this week, for double the support!

1-104 Building our Podcasts

Now I understand what you meant when you said that project days are exhausting! We worked with Susannah and Peter today, adding photos to Garageband. The children picked it up right away, and added all of the photos they had previously downloaded from ajkids.com. We soon found out that everyone needed additional photos. In the afternoon we took each child's photo so that we can add it to the intro portion of the podcasts. We spent the rest of the time downloading additional photos that we can use. I was sorely outnumbered, and spent my time running from computer to computer; trying to help with questions, and also prevent the dreaded "Oops, something happened!" I brought the files home to start some of the editing over the weekend. I am trying to remove some of the dead air and "umms". We will still need additional photos for each group's finished product, but I think we are getting very close!

Class 504 Rehearsing/Planning

We are planning our movies. They are hard to film as the kids start laughing. We will continue to work hard in the next couple of weeks to make our project beautiful and informative. We started planning out display boards using chart paper. Ms. Catania id a wonderful job making the main website. Thanks for that!!!!! I worked with a couple of students in an interview process about the complexities of their sub topics. We discussed wearing sports related items in the recreational safety group. Things like elbow, knee pads and helmets. We have lots of work ahead of us.

Class 504 Rehearsing/Planning

2-204 Next Steps

We have started recording our voices in our movies and adding the Ken Burns effects to our pictures. Our next steps are to add our transitions and background music to our movies!

4-404 Now has a portaportal

Ms. Catania told me about portaportal and showed me her previous portaportals. I created one for fourth grade. You can access it by going to http://my.portaportal.com/ and logging in as a guest by using our name, 404. This was a helpful step,in that I'm able to vet the students' choices and also research sites myself. Parents! I urge you to visit these sites with your children and go over the information in the sites, perhaps helping them use the site to add to their pages.

K-14

My class did not work on our project for the past week. Today I sat with my children to brainstorm ideas of how to present our project. I began with a question: How many programs did we learn? The children replied, “Three programs- ABCs, Photo Booth and Keynote”. They also listed out what they had learned in each program. In the program, ABCs, they learned how to type alphabet letters, words and sentences. In Photo Booth, they learned how to take pictures, created and recorded videos, made different “Effect” pictures of faces and comic books. In the Keynote program, they learned how to type their name poems, created families slides. They also learned how to move pictures. My children also chose who to present the project on Dec. 18.