Leopard Glogs by Group 2

This post was written by Alyssa and Natalie.

We read a story abut leopard and did an outline abut each chapter.  Then we did a glog and shard it whit the world.


Here's what Isaac wrote... and below is the glog that Isaac and Josh made.

We got the  pitures from   gogle  that were free to ues.
We wrote facts from the outline that were from the book.
I like glogster because you can draw and I want to try it out  next time.

Expert Reporters

We've been learning about hibernation.  Last week, we focused on the Hedgehog.  We read different non-fiction texts, including our Weekly Reader.  We've been utilizing the Digital Editions and the students thoroughly enjoy the video clips to enhance the articles.  Today, we looked at four different animals that hibernate.  Student groups needed to read a selection from a non-fiction book and come up with to report for the class.  Here's their finished products.....

Dormouse


Groundhogs


Frogs


Woodchucks

Big Paper....Big Smiles

Group 3's re-cap of Looking After Chicks by Sarah O'Neil.  Some of the other reading groups had been working in the hall independently with their books and large chart paper.  Who knew that working by themselves on the carpet with a big sheet of paper could be so motivating.  This is what they came up with....

Fact Fun

Group 5 read Kangaroos by Monique Martin in small reading group.  They reviewed the text and facts about the animal.  Here is the podcast riddle on the subject that includes their favorite facts:

Shape Hunt

Today we went on our annual Photo Scavenger Hunt for shapes.  We are learning about geometrical shapes during math class.  Stay tuned to see our photos from our adventure....we are working on creating our own VoiceThreads in Computer Lab.  Thank you to Grama Linda, our Foster Grandparent, and Mr. Carls, the tech integrator, for helping us with this special digital camera day! 

Matter Matters

Assignment: Create a group video about matter!  Here's where the students went with the task....
1. Formed their groups into Solid, Liquid, & Gas
2. Decided what kind of format their video would be
3. Worked together to write the parts
4. Determined who would have what role
5. Practiced and prepared props
6. Filmed their videos
It's about the PROCESS and not just the PRODUCT!  If you could have only seen the process above and the effort that went into it, you'd fully realize what they accomplished through this assignment.  Maybe next time, we should video some of the steps.  The students learned a lot about cooperation along the way, as well as reviewing the main concepts of these 3 States of Matter! 

Tiny Books...Huge Smiles

This week we used Artisan Cam's Picture Book Maker in the Computer Lab. It's simple, but provides plenty for focused writing projects. Students were introduced to the web storybook creator in class and the different elements. During our lab time, we asked Mr. Carls, BOCES Technology Integrator, to assist us in accomplishing our goal during one session. Each student chose their backgrounds, animal characters, and various objects.  After that, they composed a mini-book of 6 pages.Our focus was on beginning, middle, and end, as well as starting each sentence with a capital letter and ending it with a punctuation mark. The results were impressive! Upon returning to the classroom, we learned together how to fold, cut, and turn the printed sheet into a small story. The student's faces reflected their success! 
Here's a few link to some of the stories....  Try it out at home, using the link above!

Max's Story

Aunalee's Story

Isaac's Story

Little Books...Big Progress

I've been sending little books home for some of our reading groups.  Students need to practice reading them aloud a few times to either a family member, friend, their pet, or even a stuffed animal.  This helps students with their oral reading fluency.  Check out how Scholastic.com explains fluency for more details.

Here's one reading group's recording on their little book.  They were SO excited to listen to themselves read.  They made progress through practice and are finding confidence along the way. 

Progressing with Patterns

We've been learning about growing and repeating patterns in Math.  During Math, we often use interactive SMARTnotebook activities like the screen shots you see below.  This one was from SMART tech's exchange.  Next week, we will be creating placemats for Thanksgiving by creating a pattern of our own design. 

Have a wonderful holiday!  We have a lot to be thankful for!



Summarize with Vocaroo

This week we are reading the story Chinatown by William Low.  Today we are practicing the strategy of summarizing.  We are going to learn how to use Vocaroo to record our voices.  We listened to the story again, stopping to summarize.  Students are working hard on determining the difference between a main idea and detail.  Please listen to the main parts of the beginning, middle, and end of the story below. 

Beginning - by Anthony


Middle - by Bayleigh

Detail - by Isaac

End - by Natalie

Detail - by Joshua

Skype Across the Sea



Today we Skyped with a class from ITALY!!  Yes, the country across the ocean.  This was our first overseas call.  Jenny Burroughs, Distance Learning Support Specialist from Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES, sent me an email inquiring if I was intersted in Skyping with Ms. Toschi's class.  Yesterday was one of those days I was glad that I always have Skype open.  I was talking with another teacher at my door and suddenly my students were saying, "Mrs. Griffith, we have a Skype call."  We weren't expecting a call, but I told the kids to go ahead and answer it.  They did, I finished my conversation, and realized it was Rita Toschi calling.  We spoke briefly and decided to have our classes meet today.   

Some of my students couldn't stop chattering about the call and we had a good share of clock-watchers this morning as 9:00am slowly came.  Ms. Toschi had each of her students come up, introduce themselves, and ask a question.  So, one of my students came up, introduced themselves, answered their question, and asked them the same question.  After everyone had a turn they sang two songs for us - one in Italian and one in English.  They asked if we had a song.  Thankfully, my students sang our RCS school song with confidence. 

We've Skyped a lot this year and it's been amazing to see the growth in the students so far.  At the end of every call, we always have an informal conversation about what went well and areas that we could improve on.  Different students remarked on how they remembered to speak clearly, look at the webcam not the microphone, wave when it's appropriate, listen carefully to what others say so we know how to respond, and more.  They really are making progress and becoming effective communicators in the 21st century!  Nice work class! 

Thank you to Natalie, Colin, and Miss S. for taking the photos and video clip.

Pumpkin Poems & Pictures

We combined the art of taking photos with the art of composing a poem!  Here are our pumpkin poems! Leave us a comment on one of the pictures that follows the poems.

The Survey Says...

We've been learning how to read, create, and answer questions on different types of graphs.  Each student group prepared a question to survey the students in Miss Dunsinger's class.  During a Skype call, they took turns asking their questions.  After that, we were asked different questions by her students.  A student counted and reported the results to her class with the webcam and microphone.  Here is our class' final project below.  Take one of the student-designed quizzes attached to their graphs. 

Nature + Technology = GPS Adventure!

SMARTnotebook and Workbook Collide

Today we completed a matching and sorting activity in SMARTnotebook based on our story of the week, Around the Pond by Lindsay Barrett George.  The Graphic Organizer & Comprehension Check not only practiced their reading skills, but how to drag an object on the SMARTboard. This is sometimes tricky as consistent pressure needs to be applied or the object returns to it's original position.  The activities will be available during centers this week and have a self-check option.

Exploring... Park Rangers

We've been learning about park rangers! Above is the KWHL chart that we created together as a class. We used GlogsterEDU to create it. The photo is what the students added on their own during centers. Be sure to click on the play button on the Vocaroo below to hear Ethan's story journal entry for the week. This week we used our KWHL and a Step-Up to Writing paragraph frame to help us focus on our topic: Park Rangers!

Inspired to Write!

Coco, Loco, and Moco's Silly Adventure on StorybirdTheme 1: Silly Stories  Since we read silly stories, we now took a turn to become the author of a silly story.  We wrote this silly story using Storybird as a class.  First, we chose a set of illustrations for inspiration.  Next, we picked three pictures for our beginning, middle, and end.  Last, we composed a silly story together.  Students are now writing their own stories using Storybird. 

Reading Strategy: Questioning

Click on the corkboard and move your mouse around to view the different sticky notes or click here to see the lino full screen. 

We read Henry & Mudge & the Starry Night by Cynthia Rylant.  While we read, we stopped to ask questions about what we wondered or to clarify what we read. 

How do you use questioning to help you understand what you read?

Special Delivery...Migration Projects Just Landed!

This was the result of a detailed unit on migration. The student groups worked hard and learned a lot about migration. Enjoy watching the videos they created as a final project. Click here for full view.

Let's Take a Survey & Make a Pictograph...

We made took a survey and created a pictograph with GlogsterEDU. Next, we used Google Forms to make a short quiz based on the type of questions we've been practicing. Last, we shared it with other classrooms that are learning about graphs too.

Let's Make...Applesauce!

Last Friday, we made applesauce. We were so ambitious with the amount of apples we peeled, cored, and sliced, that it didn't fully cook down in time.  But, it was still an experience to remember!  This week, we are learning how to be more independent when making comments on a VoiceThread. Next week, we will be using our own accounts provided through BOCES. Soon, we'll be able to create our own as well.

Have you ever made applesauce?
How did it taste?
Who did you make it with?

Poem Exchange Continues

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

We switched roles! For this Mixbook, student pairs in our classroom wrote the acrostic poems. Mr. Kauffman's students were the illustrators.
What do you think of our poems?
Does the visual image created in your mind match what the illustrators drew?
Let us know and leave a comment below.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

This week we read a fictional story named "The Surprise" and a non-fiction article called "Hippos" and learned a lot of new facts about hippos.  We completed a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the stories, a step-up to writing outline as we read the article, a parallel-task on both selections, and answered a blog question.

During Reading...

Review the Following Day...

Skype an Orinthologist

Today we Skyped with Mr. Griffith.  He is a bird expert because he has learned a lot about birds from books, as well as taking care of them and being a good observer.  Each group had an opportunity to ask him questions about the bird they are studying.  Students enjoyed learning more about their birds and seeing the pictures shared through the screen share option in Skype.  Thank you Mr. Griffith for visiting our classroom virtually.  After the call, students left comments on a post on our class Kidblog and worked together in groups to complete their Step-Up to Writing outlines based on what they learned from the call. 

Meet Mr. Griffith....

 Meet the Mallard Ducks....

 Meet the Canada Geese....

  
Meet the Baltimore Orioles...

 Meet the Hummingbirds....

Skype's Screen Share

(so we could view Mr. Griffith's Computer Screen)



A Peek at Learning Centers

Here's a quick peek at our learning centers today!  They change every day depending on what we are learning and studying about.
Teacher Table - Read & Summarize
SMARTboard - Airliner Spelling
Write & Wipe - B, M, E, L & Fact web
Techie Time - Tumblebooks
Tiny Table - 3-digit addition "game"

Making Connections: Mixbook

Mr. Kauffman, a third grade teacher in Indiana, shared his student's acrostic nature poems with us through Skype's share feature.  His class also asked us to collaborate on a Mixbook, an online digital scrapbook.  We used the strategy of visualizing to create a mental image of their poems.  Next, we learned the basic components of Mixbook.  Last, each student added their illustration and choose a coordinating background while practicing skills on the SMARTboard.  Here's the final product.

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Spelling: Word Work

We've been sorting our spelling words using a variety of tools including SMARTnotebook "games", magnets, mini-dry erase boards, Spelling City, and online magnetic letters.  During centers, students need to work together to accomplish the goal.  This week, an Airliner was introduced.  Here's a screen shot of one of the groups' work.

Strategy: Predict

Before and during reading Mrs. Brown Went to Town by Wong Herbert Yee, we made sure to THINK & PREDICT!  Below are some of our predictions. 

Making Connections: Falling 4 Skype

Mrs. Thomas 1st grade class and our 2nd grade class had three Skype calls this week.  Skype is a online tool that allows you to use a webcam and microphone to communicate and collaborate with others.  On Monday, classes met and introduced themselves.  On Wednesday, our class taught the 1st graders about sunflowers based on books we read in class.  On Friday, we were the audience as Mrs. Thomas' class taught us about an apple tree's journey through the seasons.  We look forward to using Skype a lot this year.  This was a wonderful way to start!  

Skill: Realism vs. Fantasy

We read another silly story, Julius by Angela Johnson.  But, we also learned about real pigs and what they do.  Here's our first VoiceThread on the different elements of the story - things that could happen and things that could never really happen.


If you'd leave us on comment right on the VoiceThread, we'd love it!

Strategy: Summarize

Our first Glog of the Year! 
After lots of laughs, we enjoyed summarizing Dragon Gets By by Dav Pilkey with three simple letters...B, M, E. 

Love 4 Learning

We love learning...check out our Wordle of what we learned this summer and what we'd like to learn in second grade!



Click on the Wordle to view a larger image.

LET US KNOW...
What did YOU learn this summer and what would YOU like to learn this year? 

3/10/10

2nd: We're going to have a special speaker come to our school next week.  He's going to be presenting on Abe Lincoln.  In order for the students to have some prior knowledge or schema on him, we watched the Animated Hero Classic provided by Discovery Education  The students were encouraged to take notes, but it wasn't something they had to do.    

SECOND:  Here Tiffany and Noah made an amazing decision!  They made their own Step-up to Writing outline as they watched the movie.  We've used the basics of Step-up a lot this year and I was SO impressed that they were applying it as I would expect a 5th grader to.  They added some creative colors, but have an effective organization of information.  Excellent work outliners!

3/9/10

2nd: We are learning about Humpback whales and their migratory journey along with Ms. Riddle's class in Hawaii.  My kids posted their questions for her students on a wall using Wallwisher.  Her students responded to our questions on our collaborative Wiki.  We used Abobe Connect today to have the 2nd grade and 8th grade scientists meet. 

SECOND:  Three of Ms. Riddle's 8th graders answered some of the students' questions live.  They said, "Is Alex there?"  He came up and said hello.  They answered his question and he was thrilled!  It was so much better to connect with experts this way than Ask.com.  Great question Alex!  Keep on being curious and leaning! 

3/8/10

2nd:  During reading centers, we started a new center - Write & Wipe.  Basically it's a collection of graphic organizers that the students can work together in pairs to complete based on the story of the week.  It was a hit!

SECOND:  The students must be catching on that I've been taking pictures of the awesome things that they are doing in class, since so many kids asked to have theirs taken after they completed their chart.  Here is a picture of Allison S. and Valerie.  They worked together and completed the WANTED poster on their siblings since we read Brothers and Sisters this week.   

3/5/10

2nd:  Group D has been working on a collaborative story using Storybird with Mrs. Plever and Mrs. Ditzler's class in PA for about a month.  Today we skyped to write a conclusion to the story and decide on a title. Nice job Mattison, Zach, Tiffany, and Matthew working together with the other 2nd graders to write Mr. Bobblehead's New Gadget and the Valentine's Surprise! 
SECOND:  I had to go pick up the group members for our Skype meeting and as we are walking down the hall, the students were so excited!  The comments of, "This is so cool!" and "I wonder how we should end it?" were just plain inspiring to me to show how they were motivated to write using this tech tool.  It just kept getting better after that - check out the detailed blog post on innovativeIMPACT. 

3/3/10

2nd: Mr. Inzana introduced our class to Jeopardy for review and has used it three times during his time here at RCS.  This time it was to review for the math chapter on money. 

SECOND: I've seen growth in the mini-management techniques that Mr. Inzana has applied during his lessons.  For this jeopardy session, he had the organization down to a tee.  Each student had their white boards out.  Each would take a turn being the "recorder" as they'd pass the one marker & eraser per table around.  The kids were motivated and engaged, but in a focused manner.  Awesome Mr. Inzana!  You've shown a lot of growth during your placement.  We will miss you. 

3/2/10

2nd:  We have currently been working on a chapter in math dealing with money.  To help prepare for the test, I created a Jeopardy game that the students played in teams. 

SECOND:  Before the game started, some students practiced their facts on the classroom computers.  In the photo, Ryan is practicing his facts.  I asked him if he was ready for the game and his response was, "Oh yeah!"  Ryan's team ended up winning Jeopardy.

by Josh Inzana

3/1/10

2nd: The students were currently working on a math chapter involving money.  I set up centers around the room for the students to work at.  The center in the picture was a cash register center where each student was able to check his or her work by punching in the amount.  If the amount was correct, the drawer would open and they could put the money in the drawer.

SECONDS:  It is a great feeling as a teacher to watch your students grow and gain knowledge.  This image will always be with me.  When Noah punched in his amount, the drawer opened and he turned to me and yelled, "Yes!!  I got it!!"  He was so proud of himself and I was too.

written by Josh Inzana

2nd: Our last element of the reading strategy schema is an author study.  Mr. Inzana chose Robert Munsch.  He was attending a conference today, so during our reading intervention block I had student pairs choose one of Munsch's books to read and discuss.  Here Jillian and Natalie chose Kiss Me, I'm Perfect!
SECOND: Students were so consumed by their books and on task.  They were simply reading and enjoying a book with a classmate.  Yet, to me it was so much more.  As I walked around the room, I was so proud of the questions they were asking each other and the discussions they were having.  Plus, the smiles and giggles were classic Munsch reactions.  Reading, reading, and more reading!  Time spent reading = more proficient readers.

2/25/10

2nd: We'd just finished our Theme 4 Integrated Reading Test and the students were given a couple minutes of down time.  They had a choice, as long as it was something "educational."  Some were sharing books, others were on the computers, but in this photo Tiffany, Ryan, Valerie, and Jillian chose to work in pairs at the beloved dry-erase easel.

SECOND:  These four students were working so nicely with each other.  Two of them were quizzing each other on the week's spelling words.  The other two were working on ABC order.  It's a memorable moment when students make a positive choice!  Thank you for working together and cooperating to practice your spelling. 

2/24/10

2nd: My student teacher from St. Bonaventure University this year is Mr. Josh Inzana.  Yesterday we both attended Google Tools for Educators presented by Rick Weinberg.  The students were wondering what we learned, so we shared a little of our day.
SECOND: Mr. Inzana shared his personalized iGoogle page with the students.  He explained how each element he added was helpful to him. It was just neat to me that he was able to take something away from the workshop and was excited about using it to continue incorporating technology in his life both personally and as an educator.

2/19/10

2nd: As part of a larger Olympic unit for Reading Group E, student pairs are collaboratively working on designing a glog poster with students from Mr. Kauffman's reading group. Each pair is researching and creating their project on a different olympic sport they chose. One pair - Neila and Patsi - had shared their screen in a previous Skype call to pick the wall, add the title, and theirs names. They had it organized with the three sections from the Step-Up to Writing outline: History, Overview, and Vancouver 2010.

SECOND: Neila was navigating through the glog and showing me different elements. When highlighting the arrows that she used for a graphic element, she said, "I cloned the arrow to point to the topic so people would know." CLONED - I love it. When second graders use the correct terminology for the application the are utilizing, it's just plain CUTE!

2/18/10

2nd: Current reading stragegy: SCHEMA. We've done a lot with schema over the past couple of weeks. This week, student groups have taken turns with a different step in the process of making a stop motion video. I've never done this before and was looking forward to trying it out with my students.

Group 1: Storyboard/collect ideas

Group 2: Find clipart/cut out

Group 3: Take the pics/move the pieces - this was today!

Group 4: Make the video/edit

SECONDS: I'm realizing it's hard to pick just one moment. Every group that I've worked with so far enjoyed the role they had in creating the final product. The reading intervention block is right before the students go to lunch and usually they can't wait to get to the cafe - I don't blame them - since I'm always hungry! But, each group didn't want to go to lunch, they wanted to keep on working on this project. Even the group that was cutting out the clipart wanted to keep on cutting! Today's group wanted to start editing. How wonderful is it when students are so engaged?  I've added the final video for reference - SCHEMA.

2/17/10

2nd: Our first international Skype call. I've recently made a connection with Mrs. Dunsinger from Dundas, Canada. Her grade 1 students signed up for our community project and were interested in skyping with us. My students prepared a quick guide to organize their thoughts for today's call, "Hi, my name is _________. My favorite part of our community is __________________ because________________________. What is your favorite part of your community?" Here is a pic of Sydney who has loved learning more due to technology integration. Mrs. Dunsinger called on students in her class to answer. We then exchanged Wordles of her classes comments and our comments.  They also made a PhotoPeach video to send to us.

SECOND: I was impressed by how some of my students have grown with their com  munication skills. We'd talked prior to the call about how it's more important to be looking at the webcam and the other class, than to be looking at the SMARTboard to "see" themselves on video. They put it into practice today! Maybe they're becoming the next generation of reporters. Time will tell.....

2/16/10

2nd: Group B made read a little reader called Earthworm by Jane Simon. We made a group Cacoo using the skills & color-coded guided that we use a lot from Step-Up to Writing. But, today we created a group web instead of the normal outline.

SECOND: Allison was so focused, engaged, and excited about this task. This was a wonderful encouragement for her to be so involved with the rest of the group. Her smiles here says it all!