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.

Class 3-304 Update

We have been working hard on our imovies. We are almost finished with them. We have added sound, pictures, titles, transition and edited the ken burns effect. Some students even played around with the green screen. They had a good time putting themselves in all different locations. I think underwater was their favorite even though they could not use that background in their imovie. Some groups played with the maps effect with imovie and had fun with that. We ust have to edit a few things and then will be done.

404 Update

I brainstormed with Ms. Catania who had some excellent suggestions, which I took. To begin with, I used her idea of an organizer for Post Its, and then to categorize the Post Its in another organizer. So the students are putting ideas into categories. Also, I created a PortaPortal for the students. It has links to "teacher approved" websites. In some cases, the links are bascially to images. The students have used some document analysis techniques to write off of the images. Ms. Catania also mentioned that the students are familiar with Pages; this program is new tome, but very intuitive. I am thinking of having students create Pages and import them in to wiki...any thoughts?

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm so sorry I missed out on Friday. I can see everyone was busy without me! We are working on setting up a make-up day. I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving and I'll see you next week. Missing you--- Ms. Moran

1-104 Activities

This week, we finished up a few loose odds and ends, and started to work on our speeches for the presentation. The last two students painted pictures of their community helpers. Students began to put together a collage of all the pictures we have collected up to this point. In the afternoon, we sat as a class, and started to brainstorm ideas for our speeches. I had initially (last week) tried having a few students write on their own, but they were getting off topic, so I changed to a shared writing and it went much better. After we had written the intro, I had those who volunteered come up in front of the class and practice public speaking. The rest of the people in the audience gave a compliment and suggestion to the speakers when they were done. It worked really well. I am going to type up what was written, and send it home with those who are interested so that they can practice. We will pick the actual speakers, and alternates, in the beginning of December.

Class 504 works on their story Boards.

Today we missed Ms Moran. We hope everything is ok. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. We worked hard on our story boards and scripts for our imovies. We took intro shots with the kids introducing themselves and their topic. In the afternoon, we had the School-wide Spelling Bee so we took a break from the research.

K-14 Name poems

Finally, we completed the name poems recording. We also finished typing them on the keynote. It was a challenge for my kindergarteners to sit quietly during the recording. But we did it. My children were having fun playing with the Photo Booth today. They created some amazing and funny photos and videos. Ms. Moran, you have seen some of the children’s family posters in my classroom before. I think we can use them in our project. Tomorrow, I will schedule a Show and Tell activity for my children to speak about their family poster. Then on Friday, you decide whether we can record them.

4-404 Gathering Images

Wow! Thanks to Ms.Moran for all the great ideas for parent involvement. Also kudos for finding images to use as primary sources for EVERY one of the students in 404. I've linked the New York State Archives Image Search to the wiki and I've created a sample page showing how a link to an image can be put into a wiki page. Today we'll try to get half the class to find and link and image from the archive onto their page, and to explain the image briefly, using the information from the archive.

Getting Parents Involved

I'm starting to see comments from parents on our blog!

Brianna's mom asked: Is there anything that a parent can do from home to assist in their child's project?

If you haven't done so already, you may want to send home a letter to parents explaining the project, its goals, and letting them know about the presentation day (December 18.)

It is often helpful to give parents something they can do with their child that relates to the project. Here are some ideas off the top of my head, but feel free to add your own ideas:

• K-14: Ask parents to talk to children about family and family traditions. Make a mini picture album of "who's who" in your family.
• 1-104: Talk to your child about what you do and where you work. Interview friends and relatives about their jobs and why these jobs are important to the community. 
• 2-204: When you run errands or visit places in the community (specifically Brooklyn), show your child where you are going on a map. Mark the map with important places in Brooklyn that your child has visited.
• 3-304: Discuss your family culture and heritage with your child. Where were your ancestors from. What types of music, food, clothes, and traditions are from that culture.
• 4-404: Look at maps of New York State. Mark places on the map you have visited or want to visit. Research statistics about NY State and create a graph or chart.
• 5-504: Have your family do a health and safety evaluation. What steps do you have in place to ensure the health and safety of your family? What areas could you improve?

All students benefit from working on their home computers with parents. Play learning games at FunBrain or Primary Games or use some of the free Internet tools such as Animoto or Wordle. Use the interactive tools at Read-Write-Think. In the younger grades, parents can help students find pictures or visit learning web sites. In the upper grades, students may be able to teach their parents some of the skills they have learned in class. Parents and children can create a family blog  to promote writing skills and keep family members up to date with what is going on in their lives.

1-104 Recordings Complete

On Monday afternoon, the last three groups completed their recordings on Garage Band. It's no small feat to keep 12 1st graders silent during those few seconds where we actually hit the "record" button, but everyone was up for the challenge, and I'm happy to report that there is no coughing, paper rustling, or pencil tapping in the background.... We are excited that we will be adding our photos on Friday!

4-404 Moving Forward

Today we spent sometime working on the wiki. As promised, every student has a page devoted to their subtopic and every page ins in a folder for each of the five groups. I've sent a rubric to Ms. Moran for her to look at. I've also seen the wiki from last year. Today, students used a writing strategy called "boxes and bullets" to write something about their topic. In reading, we read nonfiction books about our topics and wrote Post its. In social studies we found an image for our pages and created a Word document to capture the image, along with the web address for the image itself. We discovered that students don't have access to delete or rename pages, but that wasn't a problem.

Class 504 works on their Story Boards.

Week Six

The theme of today was building. All the classes except grade four are firmly in the building phase. Here was todays busy breakdown:

K-14: We continued to work on our family keynote presentations. Students learned to add new slides. They began typing in their name poems, which meant learning to use the enter key. Using Photo Booth, we learned to take videos of ourselves reading the poems. When reading them aloud, some students realized they needed to revise their poem. If parents helped write the poems, they had trouble reading them aloud. After school, Ms. Ieong figured out how to post her animoto onto the blog and how to link the animoto to her google website. We also figured out how to create a homework page. During the week, Ms. Ieong will help students revise their poems and continue typing in the poems to the keynote. Students who revised poems will film them using Photo Booth.

1-104: We had some issues with recording this week. Students accidentally recorded over their previous work in a few groups. Once we realized what happened, we were able to make sure it didn't happen again. About half the groups are finished recording. Ms. Hamlin will make time for the last few groups to finish up so that next week we can add our pictures.

2-204 and 3-304: Scripts and storyboards were finished so we began filming our videos. During this session, we learned to add still images to the movies, add title, edit titles, and format titles. At the end of the period, students shared what they learned. Some of the responses were:
- You can't change the font or color on animated titles.
- If you are using a light picture, you need a dark colored text.
- If you have too many words in your title, the letter will be too hard to see
 Students will work full-force next week to work on building and editing their movies.

4-404: Fourth grade worked on revising their essential questions and refining their subtopics. Some of the groups thought it made sense to divide their main topic by historical periods, so that some students would focus on a specific time in New York history. Other groups found different ways to divide their main topic. Mr. Amft will post the topics/subtopics on the wiki. We helped students define their questions further and discussed how students will research their subtopics. Each student was asked to find 2 Internet web sites and one or two print resources by next week. Students were also given the following challenge: Change the name of your individual page and post your resources and questions on that page. Ms. Moran will send a step-by-step handout for this activity, but not all students are required to do this if they aren't ready. 

Ms. Moran also met with Mr. Amft to discuss the goals of the project. This is a summary of that discussion:

1. Mr. Amft will prepare a rubric that outlines what each individual student must include on their main page. (Ms. Moran will send a sample). 
2. Each student should include primary source documents. Mr. Amft felt that it would be best to provide students with some sample primary source documents for their first try. Ms. Moran and Mr. Amft will help locate samples students can use to get their topics started.
3. Each group should have a  map of some type for their group page. Groups will have to figure out what type of map makes sense for their topic.
4. Each group should have one or more non-technology pieces for their project. This can include poster, brochures, dioramas, games, speeches and skits. We can use still and video pictures to showcase these on the wiki.

5-504: Fifth grade had a slightly shorter period, since they were preparing for the social studies test on Monday. We still managed to get a lot done. All the groups have very good plans, and have done a good amount of research. Some groups have even begun typing up the text for the various pages. Today we divided the tasks so that each member of the group had a specific job. The priority was to get scripts and/or storyboards completed so that filming could begin next week. Many groups also need to find and/or take pictures for their secondary web pages.

I just wanted to mention how great all the students, teachers, and administrators are doing for this project. There is a buzz in the classrooms and I'm really looking forward to our December presentation day!

Class 3-304 Counties

Well we are on our way as well. We spent ALL day Friday working on our story boards for our imovie. After sitting down with each groups and working one on one with them until they had something presentable, information packed and relevant we are done. It is so hard to be out on a Friday. I hope not to miss one the rest of the year. We started our title page for our imovie. The kids are really getting excited now. They love when they get to have the computers out in front of them. Based on what I saw from working on their story boards and from what I saw when they did their title shot that they need to refer back to what they have done while working. The main problem with the story boards at first was the students did not look at what they researched to create them even thought it was right in front of them. Then when they started their imovie again they did not look at the title they wrote on their story boards when typing in their title on imovie. So next Friday as they continue to work on their imovies on their countries I am going to make it a point to make sure they refer back to their story boards and continue to look at their research if necessary. I think it will go better if they get in this habit.

Class 2-204

On Friday our class finished editing and typing their scripts. They learned how to make them sound exciting and how to make sure the information was in their own words. They did a great job writing their introductions to draw in listeners. Each student will use their scripts to create an iMovie with their partner on their topics. We also searched for pictures that match each sentence in our script so we are prepared to put our movie together.
Ms. Moran showed us how to add our first picture and title and change our title fonts and colors so that they show up over the picture.
Tabitha and Gabriel- Cool Landmarks and Places to Visit in Brooklyn
Jahid and Tracey- Famous Actors and Dances from Brooklyn
Gregory and Kyoti- See Sports Teams Play in Brooklyn
Nicholas and Amy- Fun Sports and Athletes from Brooklyn

We will be posting our movies as they are made so you can see What's Up in Brooklyn.

Class 504 gets the move on

Class 504 has been very busy this week preparing for the 5th grade Social Studies exam but they are also very eager to get working on their Projects. We met with Ms. Moran who approved most of our ideas. This week we will create story board for the many videos we have planned in the class. The Nutirition group started working on thie food pyramid which is in the ahllway. They will cut out colorful pictures from magazines and paste them on the pyramid as an awareness tool for students that pass it. Happy Working!

K-14 Trip to Green Meadow Farm

4-404 Lost in the Weeds

Some of the students are having a hard time with their topics. The Museum kids aren't sure what they should be doing. They thought they were going to learn about the history of museums, but they haven't been able to turn up any good resources for information. I talked to them near the end of the day and they agreed it might be better if they switched to government. Katherine is going to do Native American government, Robert will do government in the 13 colonies, Jonathan will do Dutch government and Jerry will do New York state government today. They are happy with their new topics, and should find useful resources on the web. I'm wondering what the next step should be for the landform people. The sites they visited had little information about their topics. I'll look on the web for additional sites.

Class 2-204

On Friday Class 2-204 used their research information to write scripts for their iMovies. Most of the students completed their scripts and a few that were researching more than one topic will finish the rest tomorrow morning so that we are ready to start making our movies. We worked with Ms. Catania's class while they made their story boards for their iMovies.

We also practiced using the Wordle and Webspiration technology for science and reading this week.

K-14 Tag

I signed up with Animoto.com and got a free access to create my video. I created two videos: one to introduce all the children in my class and next to document our trip to Green Meadow Farm. I do not know how to post it in this blog. Please help.
For this week, my children were working on their ABCs. We finished up to the letter "T" but some children finished up to the letter "V" on their own.
Also I have received all the permission letters from my children's parents.

Subscribe to our blog

I've added an RSS feature to this blog, so you can keep up with posts and comments. Look for the drop-down menu to the right, under the heading "Subscribe To." You can use your Google or Yahoo account to keep up-to-date, or use one of the other blog readers. You can pick to subscribe only to posts, or to comments as well. This way you will never miss an update!

Class 4-404: Non digital project ideas

I have some thoughts on non-digital projects outside of the wiki, for the presentation:

Sports & Entertainment could learn Native American games, build game boards, teach them to others and play others.

Landforms could build a scale 3D topography map of the state, showing elevation.

Buildings could build replicas of longhouses, Dutch buildings, and so on, from cardboard.

Government (if we make this change official) could dress up as statesmen and act out, memorizing short speeches, maybe...

Conservation could write brochures for major state parks.

Any thoughts?

404 Animoto

4-404: Playing Catch Up

Ms. Perez was kind enough to come in this morning to administer a lesson on essential questions. Each group was asked to write four or five essential questions related to their topic. Then, each group created an “Essential Question” page on the wiki to keep track of them and to make them public.

Two problems surfaced. One is that only one person can edit a page at any one time. So four children hoping to post four questions on one page could not do it. So, we had them take turns editing the pages. Also, we were unable to get the wiki to spell-check. So, students wrote first in Word, then spell-checked there and finally, cut and pasted into the wiki.

Also, they had forgotten how to edit and create pages, so we had to do a little review.

I’m thinking about the museums group. The other groups have easy access to information. Any thoughts?

Week Five

Sorry this post is late, but just to keep everyone in the loop:

Friday was a very busy day, with lots to deal with. Classes took field trips. Ms. Catania was out. (Congratulations, Ms. Catania. Hope your day was WONDERFUL!) But we still managed to get a lot done:

K-14: The kindergarten class has been busy practicing their typing by working on the ABC books in Keynote. They are halfway done. Taking this one step further, we went back to our All About My Family presentations and learned how to put a picture from PhotoBooth into our presentations. The class also showed off their family posters. Ms. Ieong needs to make sure that the picture release forms are all collected from students by next week so we can showcase more Kindergarten work!

1-104: First grade continued their research on community workers by visiting the firehouse. Hopefully Ms. Hamlin took lots of pictures so we can see what students learned and did. During our project period, students used their graphic organizers to write their podcast scripts. We used a round-robin format so that students could record their scripts in garage band. We are about halfway done recording scripts.

2-204: Second graders finished their notetaking and research. Using their notes, they began scripting their movies. We learned that it is important to make our beginning exciting in order to draw in the viewer. We also learned that when writing a script it is important to skip lines. 1) So that there is room to make changes in your script and 2) To make it easier to read the script. We also discussed revising our script to make it interesting and entertaining. Ms. Newman will make sure the scripts are done by next week.

3-304: Third graders had gotten about halfway done with their storyboards. We continued to work on the storyboards for two periods. While most groups had a good start, we discussed how many of the storyboards were vague and not specific. We discussed how it is better to focus on specific places to go, foods to eat, things to see, etc. Students collected images for their movies to help them with their storyboards.

4-404: We missed working with the fourth grade because of their trip. We will make up the time next week. Mr. Amft will review students research questions and make sure that every student has good questions that relate to the content of the project.

5-504: We reviewed the essential questions fifth graders had prepared for their research. Most questions were good, although some needed to be revised and some groups found that their questions fell into categories or groups. We also discussed finding reliable sources for our information. Wiki sites, such as wikianswers.com and wikipedia are not necessarily reliable. We discussed strategies for determining if a site was reliable or not and also using non-Internet resources.

On a final note, our presentation day is coming faster than you think. We are past the halfway mark! Let me know if you have any concerns or questions about the upcoming weeks and what is expected from you and your students. Thank you everyone for your hard work. You are doing a great job!

504 Creates questions

Class 2-204

We looked for pictures that match our topic and came up with who, what, when, where, why and how questions to research. We are so excited to use the pictures and information we found to start making our iMovies.

Video 504

Week 4

Happy Halloween to all TAG teachers and students. We were surrounded by witches, vampires, and princesses today, but we still managed to get a lot done:

K-14
We stepped back from the project for one day because students need more practice on the laptop. We decided that having students work on an ABC book was a good start. First, we taught the students the steps to open, edit, and save a keynote. Then, they practiced independently. Finally, we created a "how to" video of the steps. Ms. Ieong will have students do one or two letters every school day to give students more practice time. Once all the students have their photo permission slips turned in, she will post the video on this blog!

1-104
Students have their graphic organizers nearly done, so we introduced them to Garage Band. First, we took turns on the computer and recording our voice to make an introduction podcast. Then, students worked with their partners to practice recording and speaking into the microphone. By next week the graphic organizers should be finished and we can begin to work on our scripts!

2-204
The second grade has their research topics picked out. We began to gather pictures of our topics. Students learned to make a folder, name a folder, and save pictures from the Internet into a folder. This week Ms. Newman will have students research their topics so that we can begin scripting next week.

3-304
Third grade did a lesson on citing sources. We discussed why it was important to keep track of your resources as you are doing your research. We had a shorter period, so Ms. Catania was supposed to introduce students to storyboarding after lunch. Let us know how it went Ms. Catania.

4-404
In the fourth grade, students practiced logging on to the wiki. We learned how to create new pages and students set up pages for their subtopics. Then we discussed using post-it's to organize our group pages. We found that many students are relying heavily on prior knowledge, rather than conducting research. Many of the subtopics they picked seemed random. Mr. Amft will have students continue to work on their plans and guide them to ask good questions. Next week, each group will "pitch" their plan to the class and the class will give constructive feedback.

5-504
We were so happy Ms. Liebmann came from Boston for a visit, but it didn't stop us from working. Each of the groups had their website plans done or nearly done, so we had the groups "pitch" their ideas to the class. Some groups had really organized their ideas, while other groups were struggling. Like the fourth grade, these students were relying heavily on prior knowledge and need to get back into research.  We also did a review on citing sources. We discussed why it was important to keep track of your resources as you are doing your research and what information you needed. Students will continue to research their topics and gather information so that next week we can begin making our pages. 

Citing Resources

It is important for the upper grades to pay particular attention to where they get their pictures and information. Each group will be expected to cite their resources. This includes every picture used and creating a bibliography or credits page for their final project. The information students should get depends on what type of resource:

• Books: Title of book, author, date of publication
  (Copyright ©), publisher
• Internet: Title of website, URL, author [if applicable]
• Interview: Name of person interviewed, job title [if applicable], date of interview
  Interviewees should be "experts" of some kind, so giving their title is helpful.
• Television program: Show name, episode name [if available], channel, air date

It is important that all research be properly cited and used in accordance to "fair use" and copyright laws. Students should understand that citing sources is an appropriate part of research, but that their own voice and words must be part of the final output.

For more information:

• Citing Sources 
• Fair Use
  

Class 504 Pitches their Ideas

Unfortunately today we could not research our topics because we had to give Booklet 2 of the Mock SS test. The students got together to organize their pitch to MS. Moran. They came up with creative ideas to follow through on their project. Michael's group will focus on sports and will try to tackle 3 or more ports. Nathan's group is working on Hygiene and Sun protection. Some ideas are about oral brushing tips and precautions about going out in the sun. The class gave their opinions to each groups and decided that they would use Show Not telling. Our websites should not be about reading only, we are going to try to make them as excited as possible. We are linking our project to the Science curriculum. Vicki's group is going to write about exercising and they organized their topic into 5 separate groups which will include a game page. They will create an album with the different kinds of exercises. Laura's group is working on Internet safety. They will include an about us and have pictures. They will also include a game page.

Update on Class 4-404

Without iSight or cameras we are unable to take pictures of each other for an animoto piece. However, the fourth graders did form groups and came up with subgroups within their topics. Everyone is either in their first or second choice.

Class 2-204 Video Presentation

Class 2-204 has been researching their Brooklyn Topics. We created a web to brainstorm what we already know about Brooklyn. Now the students are focusing their research on their topics. Jahid is researching famous actors from Brooklyn and movies that were set in our neighborhood. Tracey is researching popular dances and dance groups from Brooklyn. Amy is researching popular sports played in Brooklyn, Gregory is researching professional Brooklyn sports teams and Kyoti is researching sports stadiums and locations in Brooklyn. Tabitha is researching famous Brooklyn landmarks and when they were built. Gabriel is researching famous Brooklyn landmarks and activities you can do when you visit.

Our next step is to practice our pitches for our What's Up in Brooklyn imovies before we begin planning the movie.

Class 504 Video presentation

Class 504 Update - Healthy and Safe in Brooklyn

Class 504 brainstormed ideas and made 3 sub-groups within the two topics we are working on. We started working on a class website and each group selected their theme for their section. I became familiar with iweb and started the main page for the class. It was interesting picking colors and matching them around the page. We are very excited about our topic.

I was thinking that with the new DOE initiative with Rachel Ray; we could have a section in the healthy cookbook for Celebrity Healthy Recipes.

The students were asked to bring in healthly reciped from home to contribute to the Class Recipe Book.

This week I will begin photographing the school lunch to post on the (planned) life size food pyramid.

104 Loves Internet Research!

Here is my first attempt at Animoto. LOVE IT!!!!!!

3-304 Researching Our Countries

We spent the day planning our travel guides and researching our countries to get information for the guides.

Week Three

If you are wondering how it got to be week three already, then just imagine how quickly December will come. We had a great day today. Each of the classes has moved firmly into the Gathering phase of the project.

Here is where we are with the projects:

K-14: Students were introduced to Keynote. First, they selected a template for their project. Next, they created their first slide and typed a title and their names onto the slides. Finally, they learned to save their keynotes.  Ms. Iong will have students go on the computer a few times during the week. They need practice using the trackpad and finding letters on the keyboard. Any activity will do.

1-104: Students learned how to search the Internet for images using AJkids. This is a safe place to find images. Students also learned how to save images on their desktop. Using the index of their books, students found they could use different search terms to find better pictures. Each group had 5 or more images related to their research project. By next week, Ms. Hamlin will have students complete their graphic organizer for their topic. (The original is on computer #10). She will also have them work on painting pictures that we will digitize for our podcasts.

2-204: Students refined their research questions and began their Internet research. Ms. Newman has worksheets for each student to record the information they are finding. She also listed good informational websites students can use on her class website.

3-304: Students had been researching their topics. Today, they took that research and prepared a "pitch" (In the movie business, a pitch is when the people who want to make a movie (writers, directors, etc.) verbally present their ideas to the people who pay for making the movie (the producers). If the pitch is successful, the producers will "green light" (that is, approve) your movie.) At the end of the period, each class pitched their ideas to the class. They were wonderful, and the feedback from the students was extremely helpful as well. Our only regret is that we didn't videotape these wonderful presentations. Maybe if Ms. Catania has some time,  she can have the kids run through them one more time and post them on eduvision?? Based on the feedback from the presentations, students may have a little bit more research to do, but next week we can probably start storyboarding.

4-404: Because the fourth grade class expanded their topic to include all of NY, we had to adjust the topics and groups. Then, students learned to log onto the class wiki using their username and password. Each group learned to create a new page and to edit that page. Next, each student will pick a subtopic related to their group topic and begin to research that topic.

5-504: Ms. Schembri had divided the groups into subgroups. We spent part of the period working on iWeb. Although students used it a little last year, we needed a refresher. Each group created an "About Us" page. Then, groups used chart paper and post-its© to begin to map out their topics and subtopics. By next week, students should have divided the subtopics and begun researching.

Make Your Own Animoto

During our planning period, teachers learned how to use Animoto to create quick videos. Everyone was encouraged to take pictures of students working on the project and upload them to the blog. Here are the steps:

1. Create your video.
2. Click  "Video Toolbox" underneath the video. 
3. Click the "Embed" button. This will give you the source code.
4. Click the "Copy" button to copy the source code to your clipboard.
5. Log into the blog.
6. Create a new post.
7. Click the "Edit HTML" tab.
8. Paste the source code into your post box.
9. Click "Publish Post"

I can't wait to see how many videos are put up.

2-204: What's Up In Brooklyn

Class 2-204 has brainstormed a list of frequently asked questions about What's Up in Brooklyn.
Jahid and Gabriel are researching landmarks and places to visit
Amy, Kyoti and Gregory and researching sports and games
Tracey and Jahid are researching music, dance and entertainment.
Our next step is to focus our essential questions, review sources for finding information and begin researching our topics so we can let everyone know what's up in Brooklyn!

104 Community Helper Update

On Friday we continued to brainstorm our list of jobs in the community. Afterwards, I had the students look through a number of books related to these jobs so that they could decide on the ones that they would like to research. We have formulated our groups as follows: Nazier and Sean will be gathering info on dentists, Veronika and Victoria will be researching teachers, Emma and Gabriela will be investigating veterinarians, Sarah and Andy will be researching artists, Mariana and Anthony chose chefs, and Leonie and Logan will be getting info on doctors.

Class 5-504 project

Today we had a very good discussion.  We decided what groups would work on the health aspect of the project and which would work on the safety aspect.

Health - Nathan, Kennedy, Vicki, Karen, Kaitlyn, Gabriella, Jadzia

Safety - Brittany, Anani, Erica, Laura, Michael, Joseph, Deloris Tarell

In the health group we decided to make a large version of the food pyramid and photograph the actual school food and place it on the pyramid.  We decided to make a proposal about foods not being represented or food being presentation being changed.  We came to the conclusion that there are lots of children that do not like the school food and would like to find out ways to improve that. We would like to work on posters, website and video.

Safety group wants to work on posters, website and video.

1-104: Jobs in Our Community

On Friday, my class brainstormed a list of jobs that they are interested in researching. I visited the library over the weekend and picked out some books that match these areas so that we can start gathering some information. We will be forming our groups this week, and I will post the topics as soon as we are set to go.

Class 3-304 Portapotal page.

The students and I have done some research on countries. So far we have found links that will help us research Egypt, Australia, Ireland, Brazil and Russia.

To see the links my students and I found you can visit http://portaportal.com/

Under guest type in 3304projects.

Grade 1

Not to be outdone, First Grade has its own little slide show!

Kindergarten

Due to a fire drill and field trip, Ms. Ieong did not get a chance to see the final version of her student's work. Here it is!

Planning Out the Journey

We had an EXTREMELY full day on Friday, October 9th. In our planning meeting, we refined our topics further and looked at the upcoming schedule to determine the best use of time. We have begun completing a Google Doc schedule to organize our time each week. We also reviewed how to post to the blog. All the teachers now have access to post to the blog. Ms. Catania posted an example wordle her students created and each of the teachers will post a brief description and/or picture of what they have accomplished.

In addition, each class has participated in planning the project as follows:

• Kindergarten and 1st Grade: The kindergarten and first grade classes learned how to use the computer to take a picture! We learned to use PhotoBooth, which also meant learning to follow directions and cooperate with our partner.  For next time:
  -- K-14 will write acrostic Name Poems for the next visit. We will put our pictures into a keynote to go with our poem. Ms. Iong will post her ideas for topics students will add to their keynotes.
  --1-104 is researching places and jobs in the community. They will make enhanced podcasts about what they learn and interview people from the community. Ms. Hamlin will post their research topics. 
• 2nd and 3rd Grades: First we discussed the project. Students will make a travel video that either encourages people to visit their country/place or allows viewers to feel like they have visited. Next, we needed  to identify our research topics. Grade 2 is focusing on Bushwick and Ms. Newman will post the research topics for her three groups. Grade 3 is focusing on countries around the world and Ms. Catania will post the countries and links to her portaportal site. Then we relearned iMovie. Second grade students are new to iMovie and third grade needed a quick refresher. For next time, students will have begun to conduct their research. We will begin to organize that research in a way that enables students to script/storyboard their videos.
• Fourth Grade: Students began to brainstorm topic ideas for their wiki/research. They created wordles and we looked at the various ideas to come up with topics. Mr. Amft will post a sample wordle and the final topic ideas. Mr. Amft also started a wiki and created user accounts. By next time, these ideas will be refined and students will be in groups with research topics so we can begin to put our research onto the wiki.
• Fifth Grade: It was great to see the fifth grade students. We decided our topic would be How to Stay Safe and Healthy in Bushwick!  Students will create an interactive web page teaching kids how to stay safe and healthy.Students began to brainstorm topic ideas for their research. They created wordles and we looked at the various ideas to come up with topics. Ms. Schembri will post a sample wordle and the final topic ideas.  

Class 3-304

This is one of our wordles about our community.

2009-2010 School Year Kick Off

Yes, it is another year of Project-based learning with the TAG classes at PS 376.

This year we are adding the Kindergarten class and fifth grade class to our PBL. We also have a new focus topic:

Bushwick: Our Community!

On the first day we discussed what our topics would be and what projects we will be working towards. Students in grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 were introduced to new skills, such as Wordle, and reminded about the skills and content they learned last year. The incoming Kindergarten and First Grade classes learned some basic skills using the laptops.

Please come back soon to see updates from each class!

Update:

Busy day today. Here is what we did:

1. We tried (and failed) to upload first video to eduvision. We have an email out to Clayton at JDL for help. Seems to be a file format issue.
   
2. First grade started their interviews for their video (due next week); Students wrote interview questions, interviewed each other, teachers, administrators, and students from other classes. Priceless. Class learned how to use video camera and some basic editing in iMovie 8.
3. Second grade had their field trip to the Brooklyn Children's Museum today.
4. Third grade "pitched" their web page ideas. They want to include lots of interactive games.
5. Fourth grade worked on ideas for web page. They came up with topics that need to be approved by Ms. Liebmann. (I will email you Ms. Liebmann). If the topics are approved, they need to sketch out their ideas.
   
6. Ms. Perez created an invitation for other classes to view our work. We have a "holding" web page (here) for teachers to access our work so far. Ms. Newman's class will make an announcement for the school to let teachers know more information.

I'll follow this up with an email with some passwords and other information. Please feel free to add to this if I missed anything!

Great week!!

Class 2-204 Brooklyn Children's Museum

Big "To Do!"

We have a lot going on with the project. How exciting was Friday? With all the running around, I want to make clear what we have done and what needs to be done next:

• All teachers have signed up for a Voice Thread account. Remember, this is a trial account. To upgrade to a full account, you need to click the "Go Pro!" button. Then, click the K-12 icon. Look for the "Free Educator" column and click the button.
  
  
• All classes have made comments on the PBL at PS 376 voice thread.
  -- Ms. Liebmann's class needs to re-record some of them because we forgot to change identities for each group. (Oops, sorry, Ms. Liebmann)
  --Now it is time for students to listen to the other classes comments and projects. They can leave their own comments or questions if they like.
  
  
• If you have time (and are ready to) you can also set up your student's identities. When you are in the voice thread, open the identity menu and click "Create another identity." Then you can edit the names of each identitiy and upload a picture for each one. This will make it easier for each group to find their identity.
  
  
• Finally, each class should start its own Voice Thread about the class project:
  -- This can be a place for students to document their research.
  -- This can be a place to collect images and ideas.
  -- This can be a place where students ask questions.
  -- Include information about your field trip.
  -- Include ideas about the final product.
  Or, it can be any combination of the above, depending on where you are in your project.
  It would be great if you added your class Voice Thread to this blog. Just copy the "embed" info into the body of the blog. You can find this in any open thread by clicking the Menu button, then click "Embed."
  

There is a lot more to remember, but these are the important points. Let me know if you get stuck or forget how to do anything.

Brooklyn Botanic Gardens Class 3-304

Saving the NY Aquarium

Voice Thread

What is our project about? Here is a cool tool, called "Voice Thread" that will help us share our ideas using video, audio, text, and drawing:

Video, a cool site

I used Animato to make a quick video (about 2 minutes to put together and 10 minutes for the computer to render it):

Friday?

I know you are not coming in tomorrow but I wanted to know what you think I can do with them. We have all of our research. What is our next step?  Is there technology you want me to teach them?  A program?  Do you want them to write something a rough draft that we can use on the website? Please let me know.  

Lauren Catania

3rd grade

The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens 

I guess we're famous....

The video of our first project was released on EduVision on Friday. Take a look:
NYC PS376 Uses JDL's Learning Symphony

More, More, More

Today is the first day of the second round of projects for PS 376, and I think we have come up with some wonderful ideas and activities. The teachers have decided to take on the challenge of collaborating with one of the community resources in Brooklyn:

• Grade 1: NY Aquarium
• Grade 2: Brooklyn Children's Museum
• Grade 3: Botanical Gardens
• Grade 4: Prospect Park Zoo

Students understand how important each of these places are for the community. They are concerned to learn that budget cuts are effecting these valuable community resources and want to do something to help. Over the next few months, each class will be establishing a collaborative relationship with the identified community resources. Through this collaboration, classes will:

1. Learn more about the services provided by their identified site.
2. Interview (in person or through video conferencing)
   
3. Identify specific needs of that site.
4. Create "kid friendly" content for the website.
   
5. Develop and implement an action plan to meet one or more of the needs of the site.
6. Communicate what they are learning and doing to the rest of the PS 376 community.

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