Poetry Anthology

April is poetry month! You have been learning about the different types of poems and have written some, too. Let’s create an anthology using the iPads and Book Creator. Be creative on how you express yourself and choose elements to enhance the written word. Below is an example of a few different ways to enhance the poems using apps like DoInk, iMovie, Green Screen, My Flake, PicCollage and Drawing Pad.

Black History Month

February is Black History month! You will research a famous African-American in library, then write a short script about the field he/she is famous for, the time period he/she lived, and the reason why he/she is famous. You will also get a short video of the individual if it is available. We will use the iPads and SketchbookX to draw a portrait of the individual. Next we will bring the portrait into Yakit and record the script. Finally, we will create a gallery of the pictures in the rotunda with an augmented reality component which will display your Yakit and the video creation.

Robinson

Kiva Project

We will begin our Kiva Project by researching information about the country of the entrepreneur from Kiva that you wish to sponsor. Next you will begin to create an i-Movie presentation which will hopefully persuade your classmates to vote for your entrepreneur. Below are the steps to creating your presentation. Use our Kiva wikispace for resources.

1. Research and chose your entrepreneur
2. Storyboard your persuasive writing
3. Collect pictures for your presentation
4. Place pictures on the i-Movie timeline
5. Record your voice and synch with pictures
6. Create a credits page
7. Add transitions
8. Add background music

Makey Makey

Anyone can be an inventor! We will learn the basics of electric circuits using a BrainPOP movie and explore conduction by experimenting with connecting different materials to a MaKey MaKey. A MaKey Makey is kit that allows you turn everyday objects into touchpads. It allows you to use anything with at least a small amount of conductivity connected to the MaKey MaKey to control keys like the space bar or control a computer mouse.

Makey Makey

Book Trailers

You have seen movie trailers from studios which advertise their movies. Now it’s your turn to create a book trailer, in iMovie, for a book you love! We will begin by exploring and watching book trailers created by other students and teachers.

Visit the LiveBinder for examples of Book Trailers by students and teachers and all resources for this project.

Next we will choose a book and write the script for the trailer. Use this Book Trailer Storyboard document to type your script. We’ll search for or take pictures and find music for the trailers using the resources on the LiveBinder. Finally we will use iMovie to put it all together and record the narrative. See my example below.

MesoAmerican PowerPoint

Today you will continue researching and also gather pictures for your chosen Meso-American culture Powerpoint presentation.
Use the links at the Heights Website to gather information about your particular culture and cultural universal. Over the next couple of weeks you and your partner will create 8-10 slides with the information to form a comprehensive slideshow for your civilization. For the first slide of your show, create a Wordle with words that represent your civilization. Below is a sample of one culture and one cultural universal.

Gather pictures from the following sites:

Marionette STEAM Project

We will begin our research in the library on Newton’s Laws in preparation for the creation of a marionette in art class which will demonstrate those laws. After the marionette is built, we will use the iPads and the app Explain Everything to show what you learned and to demonstrate how the movement of the marionette demonstrates Newton’s Laws. Use the resources below to start your research.

Science Weekly newspaper article on Newton’s Three Laws of Motion

Science A-Z: Force and Motion book

Brainpop- Newton’s Laws of Motion

Science Channel – Newton’s Three Laws

marionette

William Wegman’s Dogs

Now that you examined the work of photographer William Wegman and his Weimaraner dogs, it’s time to create your own dog portrait in art, using water colors. Using a green screen, the apps Superimpose and SketchbookX, we’ll merge your painting with a photo of you to create an new piece of art on the iPad. We’ll use augmented reality to display your work at the art show.

Photos-29

Explorer Smashup

We will begin our explorer projects using the iPads. Use the Explorer Wiki Resources to help you.
1. Research your explorer and include the following information:

a. Why he explored
b. Who sponsored him
c. Where he traveled
d. How did he treat the Native people
e. What was accomplishments

2. Write the script and the bibliography.

3. Gather public domain images or creative common images for your script and save to the Camera Roll.

We will Use Explain Everything for your bibliography, Drawing Pad to create a green screen, Tellagami for your avatar speaking your script, and Green Screen to put your images and avatar together. See my sample below.

Geometry in the Real World

Today Mrs. Stewart’s and Ms. O’Brien’s class will work collaboratively in creating a geometry book using the iPads. You will work with your learning buddy to

  1. Travel around the school in search of geometric shapes that can be found in everyday items and photograph them using your iPad.
  2. Fill out the storyboard for your book including the name of the shape and the properties of the shape.
  3. Use Explain Everything to put together your book, outlining the shape in your photograph and recording your script onto each of the pages, complete with annotations.

Wish for the World

You have worked in Art to create your own four letter wish for the world based upon the work of pop artist Robert Indiana, most famous for his LOVE painting and sculpture. Today we will work in the art room and use the iPads to take a picture of your Wish for the World artwork. We’ll use Wordfoto to incorporate your writing into the drawing.

Tar Beach

After reading the book Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, you drew and painted a multi-layered city in Art. Take a picture of your cityscape with your iPad. Next you will draw yourself in a flying position in the app SketchbookX. Using the Keynote app, you will animate yourself flying over your imported city, just as the main character does in the book. Download the figure template here. When you are done upload the finished product to Google Drive and share it with me.

Flying from Heights Elementary School on Vimeo.

Kiva Project

We will begin our Kiva Project by researching information about the country of the entrepreneur from Kiva that you wish to sponsor. Next you will begin to create an i-Movie presentation which will hopefully persuade your classmates to vote for your entrepreneur. Below are the steps to creating your presentation. Use our Kiva wikispace for resources.

1. Research and chose your entrepreneur
2. Storyboard your persuasive writing
3. Collect pictures for your presentation
4. Place pictures on the i-Movie timeline
5. Record your voice and synch with pictures
6. Create a credits page
7. Add transitions
8. Add background music

Intro to Google Drive

Today we will learn how to use your sharonschools.net Google account. We will review the terms of use. Next we will set up your shared folders in your drive account, so that you will be sharing all your work with your teacher. We will also upload a file from your network save so that you can work at home on it.

Million Dollar Project

Today you will continue to work on researching information for the How to Spend a Million Dollars Project. Enter your information in the Google Drive workbook we set up in class last week. Today you will learn how to create a formula that lets you link the sums on each of your sheets to the overview sheet, so you can keep track of what you have spent so far.

Rubberband Cars

Your STEM Day Challenge is to build a rubber band car that will travel at least one meter. Below are resources to help you with the research portion of the design process.

Question: How do you make a rubber band powered car?

Information to Read

1. Mr. Rob Hafernik, an engineer, explains how

2. Step by step directions with several photos

3. Wooden rubber band car instructions

4. Another set of step by step directions with photos

5. PBS Kids Design Squad instructions

Information to Watch

How to make a car that runs on old CDs (explained by kids)

Rubber band car using household items

Another step by step video

Gallery of the Gods

Use the website below to learn about Roman Gods and Goddesses. You will be writing a short script introducing your god and describing his myth. Download a picture of your god, too. We will use Face Talk on the iPads to record your information and collect them all into a God Gallery. Click the picture of Cupid to see my sample.

Information about Roman Gods
Roman God Clip Art

Cut Snowflakes Designed on an iPad

Today you will learn all about symmetry, both bilateral and radial, to design a snowflake on the iPad using My Flake. Once you are happy with your design, you will transfer the cut lines to your paper and create a beautiful tangible version of your digital design. Save your digital design to the Camera roll, too so we can display both at the Art Show.

Showtime!

The Kiva movies are complete! It’s time for the movie critics to rate each movie and choose their favorite. We will be using the rubric on the Kiva wiki to rate the movies. The highest rating movie will be funded. Click below to view the movies at our wiki.

Biome Podcasts

You will create a podcast, using Garageband, with your group on the biome that you have been researching.

1. Create an engaging script with an introduction and conclusion.

2. Collect pictures to enhance your script.

3. Include the following elements in your podcast.

  • Title page with a picture, name of the biome, group members’ names
  • Location, climate, and terrain
  • Animals of biome
  • Animal adaptations
  • Plants of biome
  • Plant adaptations
  • Typical food chain for biome
  • Sources

4. Record and edit your section of the podcast in Garageband and export as an mp3

5. Import all the mp3 into one podcast and add pictures and music

 

Use the Live Binder below to help with your research.

Digital Poetry Anthology

Today you will use Powerpoint to compile the poetry which you have written this year into a digital anthology. Use one slide per poem, including the type of poetry it represents in the heading. Create a slide for the title page and an About The Author slide. Choose a background that goes well with each slide, and be creative with your presentation. Also, the slide show should advance on a click with the same transition between each slide. Record yourself reading the poem with the build in record sound feature in Powerpoint.

Poetry Anthology

Poetry Glog

Today you will create a Glog, at Glogster EDU, of the poem you chose to read and interpret . You can download a public domain image of the poet at Wikimedia Commons. Include the following information on the Glog:

  • Name of Poet
  • Country of Origin (i.e. American Poet, English Poet, etc.)
  • Birth and Death
  • Type poem if possible, if copyrighted still create a link to the poem
  • Any unknown or tricky vocabulary and what it means
  • Use of figurative language
  • Interpretation of poem

Explorer Wiki

Your research is nearing completion and today you will create a map in Google Maps of the explorers’ routes. There are four maps, saved in Google maps, one for each of the countries that sponsored the explorers. Work in your country groups to create a map of each countries exploration. Include a placemark for the beginning and end points of the exploration and use the line tool to draw a line mapping out the route.

Explorer Glogs

Today we will learn how to create a digital poster for your explorer research using GlogsterEdu. Include the following information
○ Why explored
○ Who sponsored him
○ Where did he go (map)
○ How did he treat the native people
○ Did he accomplish his goals?
○ If not, what did he contribute to the world’s knowledge
○ What are the effects of his contributions in today’s world?

Use the resources page on the Explorers wiki to find a picture of your explorer and a map of his route.

Below is a sample project.

Solving Word Problems with Diagrams

Today you will use Kidpix to create a visual solution to your chosen word problem. After creating the drawings, you will record your thinking on the picture. When all your pictures are complete move to the slide show section of Kid Pix and create a slide show of the solution. Export in iPod format and place in your file locker in Edline to bring home.

MesoAmerican Powerpoint Presentations

Today you will research the cultural elements of the Maya, Incas, and Aztecs. Use the links at the Heights Website to gather information about your particular culture and cultural universal. Over the next couple of weeks you will create 2-3 slides with the information, which will be combined with other members of your group to form a comprehensive slideshow of each of the civilizations. For the first slide of your show, create a Wordle with words that represent your civilization. Below is a sample of one culture and one cultural universal.

Tundra Connections

In preparation for your Tundra Connections webcast next week, you will research the arctic ecosystem and how animals, specifically the polar bear, adapts to its environment. Use the links below to answer the questions on the worksheet that Mrs. Leary has provided you.

Arctic Habitats– Brainpop, jr.

National Geographic

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/polar-bear/
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/polar-bear/
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/animalsnature/polar-bears-threatened/

Enchanted Learning

Blue Planet

KidZone

Polar Bear International

Video

 

 

Digital Citizenship

The Grade 5 building block of character focuses on citizenship, and citizenship also applies to online interactions. Today you will watch movie clips from Brainpop concerning three important topics in digital citizenship: digital etiquette, cyberbullying, and online safety. After watching the movies, you will use Primary Pad to collaborate online with members of your group to answer questions about the movie. Click on the picture below to take you to the movie clip.

netiquettebully

Onlinesafety

Edline File Lockers

Today we will activate your account in Edline and learn how to use the File Locker to continue to work on documents that you start in school and vice versa. We will also save your Energy animation as a Flash file and upload it to your locker so that you can show it to your family at home.

Time Capsule Letter

Today we will work on the Time Capsule Project. We will review some formatting and editing tools in the new Microsoft Word 2011. We will learn how to set a tab, indent a paragraph, format the font, add a border, and use the spelling and grammar check. Next, we will learn how to take a picture of ourselves using Photobooth and how to add the picture to your document.

Tessellations

Today you will use the paint tools in Appleworks paint to create an original tessellation. We will translate a square many times until we achieve a unique tessellation. This lesson is based on Suzanne Alejandre’s great work at the Math Forum.

Try these websites at home for fun activities with tessellations.

Tessellation Town

Tessellations

Amazing tessellations by artist M.C. Escher

Digital Storytelling: The Hand-Me-Down Project

We will begin to get organized for the big Hand-Me-Down Story Project. You have completed the first step of interviewing your family members to gather information about a story that is often retold at family events. The next steps include:

  1. Use Inspiration software to create a graphic organizer that will help you write the actual story.
  2. Collect pictures and scan them into the computer.
  3. Write the story in Word.
  4. Storyboard the story for iMovie
  5. Narrate the story in iMovie, arranging words, pictures, and music into a heartfelt tale.

Newspaper Article

Today you will create a newspaper article which focuses on either the day of the tsunami (The Big Wave) or the day Brian was rescued (Hatchet.) First type in the article in Word and spellcheck and save. Use the template provided at the ReadWriteThink website to create the newspaper format. Copy and paste your article into the template.

Hatchet

Artist Biography Slide Show

Today you will begin to set up your Powerpoint Slide Show based on your biography book of a famous artist. It must include the following slides:

  1. Title Slide with the name, picture, birth, and death of your artist. Also include your name of this slide.
  2. Biographical Events Slide- choose three events in the artist’s life that had an influence on him or her
  3. Artist Style- include a short paragraph in the style of the artist and an example of a piece of work that illustrates the style
  4. Gallery- include a picture of a piece of work and a short paragraph about the piece
  5. Bibliography page- include the book source and websites where you obtained pictures.

artist2

MCAS Math Practice

This week you will take the fifth grade math test that the state of Texas gives their students at the end of the year. The test will give you practice for your exam and will also let your teacher know about the areas in math she may need to review with you. The test is online and you can score it instantly. Click on the link below and enter your first name only.

Math Test

What’s Your Angle?

Using a protractor can be tricky business. We will gather at the whiteboard to review the different kinds of angles, and then we will practice using the protractor tool to measure different angles at the board with a flipchart on angles. At your work station you will visit ThatQuiz and Banana Hunt for individual practice. Looking for another game to play at home to estimate angles? Try Alien Angles or Angles.

Angles

Poetry Glog

Today you will create a Glog, at Glogster EDU, of the poem you chose to read and interpret . You can download a public domain image of the poet at Wikimedia Commons. Include the following information on the Glog:

  • Name of Poet
  • Country of Origin (i.e. American Poet, English Poet, etc.)
  • Birth and Death
  • Type poem if possible, if copyrighted still create a link to the poem
  • Any unknown or tricky vocabulary and what it means
  • Use of figurative language
  • Interpretation of poem

World Math Day!

World Math Day is March 1! We will be competing all day long on February 28 since the site originates in Australia and they are a day ahead of us. Tens of thousands of students around the globe will be competing in mental math heats to break the record for number of correct answers. Classes have signed up for 25 minute time slots in the lab to give it their best. Good luck!

mathday

Black History Magazine Cover

Today you will use Big Huge Labs to create a magazine cover of the famous African-American which you chose for your book report. Find a picture of the person on the Internet and download it into your documents folder. Then compile the information below on a magazine cover.

MLK

Name of Person
Caption to state why s/he is important
Date of birth and death (if applicable)
Two character traits
3 – 5 important events in life or reasons why s/he is important
Famous quote or something else you feel is important to include

Idioms

Today you will create a two panel comic on your chosen idiom. On the first panel create the literal version of the idiom. On the second panel create a comic demonstrating what it actually means. Title your comic the actual idiom. Click on the comic below to go to the site. If you are finished early visit the sites below the comic.

Idiomcomic

http://library.thinkquest.org/4382/idiom.html

http://www.funbrain.com/idioms/

Hero Voicethread

What is a hero? Today you will key in your paragraph describing your vision of a hero. You will also create an avatar to use in the class Voicethread. Take the content of your paragraph and turn it into a Wordle, which we will use on your page of the Voicethread. We will invite your high school Ordinary Heroes partners to comment on your Voicethread once it is complete.

Choose one of these sites to create your avatar.

My Avatar Editor

Reasonably Clever

Idioms

Today you will create a two panel comic on your chosen idiom. On the first panel create the literal version of the idiom. On the second panel create a comic demonstrating what it actually means. Title your comic the actual idiom. Click on the comic below to go to the site. If you are finished early visit the sites below the comic.

Idiomcomic

http://library.thinkquest.org/4382/idiom.html

http://www.funbrain.com/idioms/

Simple Machine MiniBook

Today you will create a simple machines minibook that you will use as a study guide. Create one page for each of six simple machines. Each page of the book should include a title (name of machine), a definition, and a picture of an example of the machine.

Lever

Use the following websites to help you.

Beacon Learning Center Work

MIKIDS

If you are done early:

Take the quiz

Edheads Simple Machines

Map Scale

Map scale is the relationship between distances on a map and the corresponding distances on the earth’s surface expressed as a fraction or a ratio. Today you will use Google Maps at different zoom levels to measure how far 3 inches will take you from a specific point. Use the worksheet to record your location, number of feet traveled, and how long it will take you to walk the distance.

googlemaps

Tessellations

Today you will use the paint tools in Appleworks paint to create an original tessellation. We will translate a square many times until we achieve a unique tessellation. This lesson is based on Suzanne Alejandre’s great work at the Math Forum.

Try these websites at home for fun activities with tessellations.

Tessellation Town

Tessellations

Amazing tessellations by artist M.C. Escher

Johnson Space Center Videoconference

Today we will connect with the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas to learn about gravity and how astronauts adapt to their new home, the Space Station. We’ll  discover the everyday challenges of how astronauts live in orbit live from a mock-up of space station living quarters and take a look at the food that NASA has prepared for the astronauts.

NASA


MesoAmerican Powerpoint Presentations

You have completed your research on the cultural elements of the Maya, Incas, and Aztecs by using the links at the Heights Website. Now it’s time to work in groups to create a comprehensive Powerpoint slideshow of each of the civilizations. For the first slide of your show, create a Wordle with words that represent your civilization. Below is a sample of one culture and one cultural universal.

Crack The Code

Today you will work with a partner and visit the National Geographic website Crack The Code. It appears that thieves have stolen some very valuable maps. They fortunately dropped a scrap of paper behind with clues as to the location of the maps. However the clues are in code. Use your knowledge of latitude and longitude along with Google Earth to find the identity of eight cities. The discovery of the identity of all the cities will lead you to the maps. You may not use the Fly to Search, but must spin the globe to find the coordinates. Be sure to turn on the Google Earth grid in the View menu. Please take turns using the mouse. I will hand out a copy of the scrap paper with the clues. Use the back of the scrap paper to write down your answers. Good luck!

geo_mapskills

If I Were In Charge of the World Voicethread

We will be creating a class Voicethread showcasing your If I Were In Charge of the World poems, based on the poem by Judith Viorst. Below are the steps for creating the final product.

1. Key in your poem into Microsoft Word. We will review some of the formatting and editing techniques. We will learn how to change fonts and sizes, use Alignment and Spacing, and Spelling and Grammar check.

2. Create an original work of art based upon your poem and scan it into the computer.

3. Create an avatar to use as an identity on My Avatar Editor.

4. Record your poem in Garageband and save it as an mp3 file.

Time Capsule Letter

Today we will work on the Time Capsule Project. We will review some formatting and editing tools in Microsoft Word. We will learn how to set a tab, indent a paragraph, format the font, and use the spelling and grammar check. Next, we will learn how to take a picture of ourselves using Photobooth. Finally, we will learn how to add the picture you took in Photobooth to your document.