Digital Literacy & Internet Safety

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Scientists in the Making...

Don't forget about this Wednesday's PAGS (Parents of Academically Gifted Students) Event, (I've got my ice cream scoop ready!)

We started our day by discussing scientists and what their job entails.  This conversation led us to a basic understanding of the scientific process.

This week the students learned about our first Quirkle Scientist, Inquisitive Inman. 

Inman is teaching us about the scientific process.  This year I am looking for ways to make our lessons more "inquiry" based.

Inquiry can be defined as the scientific process of engaged exploration.  Students will use critical, logical and creative-thinking skills to generate questions they are interested in solving.  Our innate curiosity and observations lead us in our inquiry investigations.  They will usually include 

• Generating a question or problem to solve
• Choosing a plan of action and completing the procedures of the investigation
• Recording the data from our observations and drawing appropriate conclusions

Inquiry helps us connect our prior knowledge to new experiences.  It encourages us to modify our previously held beliefs and gain new understandings. Often, this will lead us to new questions to explore.  Learning through inquiry investigations enables students to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to become independent thinkers and lifelong learners. 

 Today, the students were given two toy cars.  They began their investigation by carefully examining the the cars.  They weighed the cars in grams and measured their length in centimeters.  

They also noticed:

• The cars were the same model and color.  
• Both cars had 8 windows and 4 wheels.  
• All of the wheels had ridges on the surface. 

Next, they brainstormed questions they wondered about them:

• Which car is faster?
• Which car goes farther?
• Which car would go higher off of a ramp?

They decided to test the first question.  They made their prediction and wrote down their hypothesis.  The cars were labeled:  #1 and #2.  Next, they set up a ramp in the hall using a smooth board and three dictionaries.  

To be sure their cars were released at the same time, they held a ruler in front of them and lifted it to start them down the ramp.   

I used an App on my iPhone called Fast Camera to take repeated, quick photos so we could have an accurate, photo finish.  

 

The students repeated the experiment five times to be sure their results were consistent and accurate. They recorded their observations on the experiment form.  Analyzed their results and drew their conclusion.

Our results concluded that car #1 rolled the fastest, but as with all good inquiry investigations, we had some new questions:

• Why did car #2 always curve to the right?
• What if we had done our investigation on a different surface rather than the tile floor?
• What if our ramp had been set at a steeper angle?

These, we will have to ponder and test another time.  Maybe at home with some toy cars of our own...

At the end of our day, the boys and girls went back to our paper: "What Scientist's Do." They cut apart the pictures and matched them to where they used that same action during their experiment.  

Today, my students became scientists. 

 

 

We're Off to a Great Start!

Welcome to our new school year!  It was great to see the boys and girls!

We started our day learning more about each other.  We playing a fun game of "Would you rather...." It was neat to learn the things we all have in common.  

We spent some time talking about our classroom rules and expectations.  They are conscientious students and want to do well in school.  I know they are going to be a wonderful class.

Next, we discussed some of the things for which we wished. We then looked at folklore about wishes such as wishbones, coins in fountains, eyelashes, dandelions etc. 

 

Then the students each wrote four wishes of their own.   After lunch, they made a very special wish project that will be on display at our Open House on Thursday, October 3rd between 5:30-7:00 PM here in our SAGE classroom.

In the afternoon, we discussed ways we can communicate.  Besides blogging as a class, we will also be sharing our learning on Twitter.  

 Each of the students designed a bird of their own and posted their first "tweet" outside of our classroom on our bulletin board.

You can follow us @KochSAGE on Twitter.

It is going to be a great school year!  Don't hesitate to call of email me if you or your child have any questions or concerns.

Can't Wait to See You!

SAGE will begin on Tuesday, September 3.

Using Technology to Share Our Learning

The boys and girls were introduced to using padlet.com, an online site for collaboratively sharing their ideas. Ask your child about what they learned!  If he/she has trouble posting on the wall or can't remember how it works, view this screencast tutorial on Padlet:
http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cInOVKVoQS. 

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Be safe, stay warm and enjoy your snow day!

Digging Deeper Into Endangered Animals (and Applying Our Research Skills Too!)

This morning, we discussed our 2nd grade, basic academic vocabulary:

• knowledge
• comprehension
• research
• independent
• plagiarism 

We went to the D Day SAGE blog to watch a video of a lesson I taught last year to a group of kindergarten and first grade students on plagiarism.  I loved the response of the students that day.  It is very clear they want credit for their own work and they do not want someone else taking credit for their work.  What better way to help students understand plagiarism.  Our second graders understand now too!

Next, we discussed what it means when we refer to digital or print sources.  We also discussed how students in college sometimes use highlighters to mark important information in a textbook they purchased.  I showed them some of my own textbooks with colored highlighting and notes in the margins.  

I matched the students up with a partner and gave them a printed copy of an online encyclopedia article.  They worked together to highlight the article from World Book Encyclopedia Online, "Endangered Species."  It contains important information they need to be able to answer the questions in our research packet:  

• What is the difference between an extinct and an endangered animal?
• Why are some animals endangered?
• How are we helping to save endangered animals?
• Why should we work to save endangered animals?

photo credit: tropicaLiving - Jessy Eykendorp via photopin cc

I want them to be able to prove their answers by by showing me where they located their information.  While  schema or background knowledge is very important, in this case, they can only record what they can prove out in their resources.  I want the students to understand this kind of research is about using quality, current informational sources, accuracy in their note taking, avoiding plagiarism and documenting their sources with a bibliography.

After completing their highlighting, we worked together to locate the answers in their article.  The highlighting helped them to locate the information we needed.  (It also holds them accountable for actually reading the article carefully :-)

I was really pleased with their focus, effort and ability to work cooperatively.  
Bravo B Day 2nd Graders!


Next, the students worked at their own pace on TOPS Math.  We ended our day working in our Exploratory centers.... and yes, I got busy and forgot to take their pictures today!  Ugh!

I hope the students and your family have a wonderful and relaxing holiday season!  I will look forward to seeing the students when we return from winter break!

Expanding Our Research Skills

The second grade students have been learning important research skills the past few weeks.  We have learned to locate information in print sources such as encyclopedias, atlases and informational (non-fiction) texts.  They have learned to use an index, table of contents and glossary to locate information.

This month, we began a group study on endangered animals.  The boys and girls took a KWL pretest to show what they know about endangered animals and to make a list of questions they would like to learn.

Last week, we continued to practice how to take research notes.  The students learned to use bullets for their notes and to capture important phrases that will remind them of the information they were hearing. The students have taken notes during the oral reading of a book and then while watching a video on endangered animals.  We combined the notes the students made and I typed them up for the class.  This week, they will work with a partner to record notes from an online encyclopedia article.  They will be using a highlighter to focus in on key facts.

In the computer lab, we have continued learning more about Power Point.  Once everyone had a slide presentation open, we reviewed/learned how to insert a text box, move it on the slide and how to save our work.  The students also reviewed how to format a text box for font style, size, color, bold, underline and italics.  Next, they learned to insert shapes and format them for fill color, size and position on the page. 

Understanding the basic tools and functions of this program will transfer in the application of other Microsoft products and web based slide show applications.  Power Point is a good slide show program, but it is also great for digital story telling, book reports, posters, and even holiday cards.  Primary students soak up the functions with minimal instruction.  When my own children lost their "computer gaming privileges" for one offense or another, they would always say, "But can we still do Power Point?"

If you have Power Point available on a home computer, consider allowing your child to practice.

In Spanish, Señora Gates is working with the students on greetings and numbers through twenty.  This week they played a game on the Smart Board and had to translate words form Soanish to English and from English to Spanish.

We ended our day working at our Exploratory areas.  Several students have finished their first center and have chosen a second.  Ask your child about his/her current Exploratory task.

Have a great week!