I Learned That..

I learned that I should be more specific in my questions!

This is isn't what I learned though, I have already assessed the Picture Book Trailer Unit.  I am interested in what fifth grade students learned during the unit.  One of my goals was to teach the unit in such a way as to build independence. From the responses below, this was an element that resonated with the students.  I will be repeating the process (with new subjects) throughout the year.  It will be interesting to watch the students take ownership and gain independence.

I am only including a few of the responses for the questions.

What did you learn?

"I learned to really feel the book and create something that matches the mood."

"I would say I learned how to use the computer in new ways."

"I would say that I learned how to better understand the access of creativity on the Internet."

"I would say that I learned to make an animoto and to give credit to some one who I used their picture."

"I would say that I learned how to create a folder, and independently access other websites."   

"I would say I learned a lot about computers, stuff I thought I could not do."

"I learned that you can do a lot of stuff by yourself."

"I would say that I learned to only cover the important parts of the book and that it was SOOO much fun!!!!!

"I leaned how to be safe on the Internet and also i learned how to find music and pictures on the computer. And learned how to make a folder."

"I would say that I learned how to create fun ways to create book trailer for a book I enjoy and how to use a computer more clearly." 

"I learned how to make an Animoto movie and how to get pictures from creative commons."

"I learned how to story board a picture book, and search images on Creative Commons." 

"I would say I learned how to search creative commons for pictures."

"How to make a book more appealing."

"That it's really fun to advertise a book, especially one you have read before and are familiar with."

Are there steps that were not clear or should be reviewed?

"One of the steps that I would like to review is how to make a screen shot."

"Everything was very clear to me, although I had some trouble uploading pictures."

"I want some help with the word thing, where we save the pictures, and write who took the pictures."

"How to continue the Animoto after a day."

"How to cut and paste pictures on Animoto"

"Not really. During the project we had a bit of trouble because we had to find our pictures again, but once we reviewed how to do it was fine, and I still remember the steps."

"At the beginning, I didn't understand that we had to take a screen shot of the credits page, but other than that we were fine!"

Would you be able to repeat this process?

What was your favorite part of the project?

"My favorite part was putting all the pictures in order and finding music."

"I enjoyed putting together the animoto and putting the finishing touches on it.  Like changing music, changing the theme, and previewing it." 

"Getting to see the finished work."

"My favorite part of this project was when we were looking for pictures to put on my Animoto."

"Working with other people and putting it all together."

"Finding appropriate pictures to sort the theme of project we were doing."

"My favorite part of the project was finding the pictures because they were funny and there were so many I could choose what I wanted and it was independent (not many rules)."

"writing the text and picking out the music"

"I enjoyed this project because I enjoyed searching for images on Creative Commons and story boarding an image."

"Working with my partner on a book I really like was really fun, and I also really enjoyed choosing the music and ordering the pictures/text."

"Working with my classmate! I also liked making it look cool."

Are there projects for which you would like to use Animoto?

"We can do a Dewy Decimal project."
"Our Native American project we are doing in S.S."
"A project we could use Animoto for would either be, for chapter books or our favorite books."
"I would like to use Animoto for the book group responses."
"I would like to use Animoto to use this for researching a specific owl and using it to make a project for the Native American region that I will be studying."

Specific books were mentioned:
"I would like to make a video about out Harris Burdick inspired stories."
"I would like to make a video on Liar and Spy, The One and Only Ivan, and Lions of Little Rock."
"I would like to use Animoto for the book Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinnelli and for the book Morning Girl by Michael Dorris."

Penning for the Fourth Stall, Part III

I just received an ARC of The Fourth Stall, Part III 

by Chris Rylander.

Good news, right?

BUT....which student to hand it to first?

I decided to have students blog about the book.  

Here's what I did: 

IF a student wanted a chance to read the book first, then he or she had to tell me why they wanted this opportunity and what they liked about the books. THEN, I took the students that blogged about it and had the Principal draw a random name out of a hat.

These pining students penned their reasons.

At 2:45 pm, I put The Fourth Stall, Part III in Justin's hand.

I have many students reading this series right now, but these students were recognized as the true fans of the fifth grade. In a demonstration of the sense of community, I had students saying, "_____ should get it because he/she really loves the series."

Picture Book Trailers: Read These Books, Part Four

The last fifth grade class has just finished their picture book trailers.

I cannot wait to use these tools with these students for another project.  Any ideas?

Student Review: The Lions of Little Rock

            

  The Lions Of Little Rock

The Lions of Little Rock is a moving, exciting, and an adventurous chapter book that has made it on my scale of favorite books. Twelve year old Marlee chooses not to talk most of the time and starting a new school year has definitely made that much harder. Then she meets Liz and works up the courage to speak in front of the whole class. And Liz becomes Marlee’s first real friend. She’s everything Marlee wishes she could be. Then, suddenly Marlee’s teacher tells her that Liz will not be attending their school any longer, and a rumor goes around saying that Liz was a colored girl passing for a white person. Marlee’s whole world changes around. Set in 1958, Integration is a BIG topic. Can Marlee stand up and tell what SHE thinks about it all. Will Marlee stand up to segregation and remain friends with Liz, even if it means taking on the punishment that being friends will cost? This book made me want to never stop reading and will leave you on a cliff hanger the whole way through. Kristen Levine does an excellent job of telling you an insider’s point of view. This is a MUST read for EVERYONE.   

by Emily 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anita Silvey writes about a new book each day on her Website: The Children's Book-A-Day Almanac.  Check out her post about Lions of Little Rock.

Making mistakes is natural and critical to learning: Reflections on a Skype visit with Stephen McCranie

What keeps 50 fourth graders engaged and sitting so quietly 

on a Wednesday afternoon?

Stephen McCranie!

Author/Illustrator 
of the Mal and Chad series

Below, I quote Stephen McCranie and then insert comments that I collected from students after the Skype visit. It's pretty cool stuff.

What Stephen said:

"Give your characters a problem to solve. 

It will make your story more interesting."

What my students heard:

"I learned that each character has something they want and something preventing them from getting it."

"I learned that when you have a character, you have to figure out his/her biggest desire, and what prevents them from doing/getting it."

Stephen shared his screen so the students could watch him draw.

I love how this picture shows how engaged the students were.
The word riveted comes to mind.

What Stephen said:"Making mistakes is natural and critical to learning."
What my students heard:

"I learned that drawing takes time and practice."

"I learned that it is okay to make mistakes."

"I learned that writing is a process."

"I learned to never give up on my drawings."

What Stephen said: 
"Think about shapes when you are drawing characters"

What my students heard:
"I learned that is is easier to draw when you know the basic shapes of your characters."
"Thanks for Skyping with us! I learned that it is much easier to draw comic people by starting off with simple shapes.  Thanks for the advice!"
"I learned that you can draw anything, if you can find the basic shapes."

What Stephen said:
"Writer's block is not that you cannot write, 

it is that you are not writing what you want to write or 
like what you are writing."

What my students heard:
"I learned that if you are having trouble with your writing, you can take a nap (or pretend to) and think."

"I learned that if you have writer's block you should keep on writing and if it is bad you can always go back later and fix it."

To put Stephen's theories to the test, the students gave Stephen a character, an activity and a problem. This picture started with some simple shapes and evolved into this very complex, detailed illustration. Wow.

How many web-slinging, ice cream eating super heroes 

do you know?

Thank you, Stephen!

I'm heading out to purchase the newest book in the series:
Mal and Chad: Belly Flop!

"My Students, My Students, My Many Groovy Students!"

My kindergarten students and I have been reading the Pete the Cat books and having a lot of fun...oh, wait...I mean having a lot of learning experiences.  Actually, we are having a lot of fun learning experiences.  

Today we played the Pete the Cat concentration-style game called Do My Shoes Match?

Check out our morning of playing games and taking pictures. Caution: cute factor is very high - student photographers in residence. 

Observing the students walk around taking pictures was a great experience. I quickly gabbed my cell phone and snapped a couple of pictures myself. Here's what I am thinking, "Why not have the students help capture the learning that is happening in the library?"  

 

You can project the book with your document camera and then play this MP3 of the book.  My library was a cacophony of voices when we read and listened to Pete the Cat and His White Shoes.  Afterwards, we went around the group and each student shared what item he or she might have stepped into  to make his or her shoes the color they were.  Their imaginations were intact.  I heard ideas such as: melted chocolate, caramel, cement, blackberries, rainbow sprinkles, vanilla ice cream.  (The students had first participated in a turn and talk to get their creative juices flowing.)

We also read and listened to Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons. Math has taken on a whole new tune in my library!  Students are doing math about the books in their hands and friends on the rug.   

I love when a book (or series in this case) lends itself to a rollicking good time learning -- make that rocking good time learning."My students, my students, my many groovy students!"

An Inclusive School is...

What does an inclusive school look like? 

It looks like a place where people are:

A place where all learners are:

A place where people are: 

 

An inclusive school is a place where people are:

Need more examples?

Check out these 5th graders book trailers

One

Purplicious

A Taste of Colored Water

Zin, Zin, Zin