George Washington A to Z

Our Multiage students are currently making their way through history and are learning about many famous Americans who have contributed to our great country throughout their lifetimes including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Helen Keller. To honor our first president, each of the students contributed a page to our class A to Z book. Inspired by the letters of the alphabet, each student had to choose one thing from George Washington's life and accomplishments to highlight. Take a look at the some of the pages below, all of which were created using Drawing Pad on the iPads.

Continents of the World

After seeing how cool our Principal Appreciation Week collages turned out, the kids asked me if we could do another project using the collage app. We were just about to begin learning about the seven continents, and what makes each of them their own unique place. I split the kids up into seven groups and each of them was responsible for researching their continent using a world atlas. They then each had to draw pictures of the map, animals that live there, and a special place or land feature. During this project some of the kids were having a hard time free hand drawing a picture of the shape of the continent. Just as some of them were getting frustrated, one of their classmates had the brilliant idea to take a picture of the continent, use it as a background in drawing pad, and then draw on top of the already existing picture. This ensured the work was their own, but it gave them an easy starting point. It really was one of those moments that the ingenuity of the students made me smile. One final note... I ended up teaching the students a song I learned when I was in second grade (I wonder what Mrs. Schleef is up to now!) to remember all the continents. It is funny to have such a full circle moment now that I'm a teacher myself. Elementary School memories!

The United States in 3-D

We're now in full swing in our map skills unit, some of which includes learning the major rivers, lakes, and mountain ranges of the United States. The kids spent two days last week identifying and labeling these geographical feature on their maps, but the final step was the most fun. We used three dimensional materials to make them stand out including macaroni, puff paint and blue glitter glue. The results were bright, colorful and well done. Check out one example below.

He Had a Dream

The kids have been meeting with their poetry book clubs each day during reading workshop, and one of the skills we've been working on when reading poetry is visualizing a picture in your head inspired by the words of the poet. Being that last week was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, it was the perfect opportunity to reflect on the gifts he gave to our country through his work, while also working on our visualization skills. Using Eileen Spinelli's poem "He Had a Dream" as inspiration, the students drew their visualization after reading the poem with their book clubs. We then split up into small groups and each recorded a stanza of the poem. I put it all together in iMovie to create a visual representation of the poem created by our class.
Martin Luther King, Jr. from Jamestown Elementary School on Vimeo.

Holiday Rewind with Family Traditions

Before we left for winter break back in December, the kids spent almost the whole month working on a very special project. Each of them chose a family tradition that was special to them and learned more about it by interviewing a parent at home.  There were many parts to the project, and one of the things that really brought the whole thing to life was the kid's videos they created using iStop motion. Each of them chose an object to represent their tradition and then took pictures of the object in different positions to create the illusion that it was moving.  Finally, they put their voice overs with the videos to tell a little bit more about their tradition.  Sharing these with their parents and families before break was very special, and a project I'd do again in a heartbeat.

Traditions from Jamestown Elementary School on Vimeo.

Principal Appreciation Week

Last week our school celebrated Principal Appreciation week.  We have both fabulous Principal and Vice Principal in Ms. Schaffner and Ms. Hurley, so it was fun for the kids to make something special to celebrate all their hard work for our school. Each of the kids created an illustration using drawing pad, which we then put together using a picture collage app. I loved how a lot of the kids took a stab at creating portraits of their Principals, and the results were adorable!

Resolutions for the New Year!

Happy New Year! Last week in school we spent time during writing workshop thinking about a resolution we could make for the new year.  The kids did a great job of coming up with a goal they'd like to work on, whether it was a school goal or otherwise. It was also a fun activity for reviewing the parts of a complete sentence, not to mention the hats and faces turned out super cute.  All this talk of resolutions brings me to one of mine for the new year... post on the blog more! Hopefully this post is the first of many for the new year! :)