Submitted by: Diana Hundley
Collaborators: Kadie English-Student Teacher, Merle James- Art, Kathy Vick- Librarian, Jessica DelMonte-ITRT, Parent Volunteers
School: Echo Lake Elementary

Summary

The students will work collaboratively in 5 groups that they have chosen and will be in charge of one of Virginia’s 5 regions of Virginia. Directly prior to today’s culminating lesson, the students’ developed questions the would like to find out about each region as well as what they wanted to learn about the moon. The students each used a graphic organizer and chose from three web-sites to research information about all five regions in class. They also utilized the library in a lesson about searching the web. (Kids Link) They were able to add to their research with this information. The art teacher worked with the students to paint white t-shirts with the map of Virginia for us to wear as Jr. Virginia Trekkers. Today, I will video-conference with the students from the “moon” (to bring in our school-wide theme of “Echo Lake is Out of his World”) and to tell them they have got to visit the moon with me! I will let them know I am on my way back to pick them up so we can compare the physical characteristics of the regions of Virginia to that of the moon. However, we will need to each bring a few things with us about the regions.

Submitted by: Claudia Ketcham, Second Grade
Collaborators: Whitney deBordenave, Elementary ITRT
School: Crestview Elementary School

Summary

Children love to talk about themselves.They also enjoy using technology. Combining these two interests seemed to be the perfect lesson. I introduced the class to the idea of personal narratives by telling life stories about myself. We discussed how they would accomplish this task, through writing, drawings, and using technology. I then posed the authentic task: “The Reading Rainbow is looking to air a segment on digital storytelling.” Students were encouraged to choose Pixie, ActvInspire, Keynote, or Comic Life. The end product was a personal narrative told through digital storytelling.

Submitted by: Kay Faries
School: Pemberton Elementary

Summary

Students begin with brainstorming their favorite animal and its habitat. Students then form collaborative groups (scientific teams) of 3 or 4 and are given a challenge to ‘create’ an animal and get their animal into the Classroom Zoo. ‘Scientific teams’ will design and build a three-dimensional model of an animal adapted to survive in the choice of one of the following environments; forest, desert, grassland, rainforest, marshland, swamp, pond, river, ocean or stream. The appropriate physical and behavioral adaptations have to be included in the design process. The animal must also meet a list of criteria; must stand on its own, have at least one moving part, and have no fewer than two adaptations. After the animal is constructed, the students have to create a scenic background to represent their chosen environment. Once the animals and model habitat are complete the ‘teams’ will prepare a presentation for the zoo board to lobby to have their animal included. Teams must be sure to define what type of habitat would need to be built for their animal to be successful as well as convince the zoo board of why their animal should be included. Students will make their ‘presentation’ to the board (students and key teachers), sharing their animal, its habitat, and its adaptations. Students will have their choice of multimedia tools to create their presentation.

Submitted by: Denise Cioffi
Collaborators: Whitney deBordenave
School: Donahoe Elementary School

Summary

Students work collaboratively to develop a segment for the Daily Dolphin Report. Pairs will be developing a question of interest for students and then poll their classmates with ActiVotes. Using the data they collected, students will create a graph using Numbers that they will save and print for their video audition using Photo Booth. Before students film, they will work with their partner to write their script. Break a leg!

Submitted by: Cheryl Corbin
Collaborators: Suzanna Panter, Jessica DelMonte
School: Dumbarton Elementary

Summary

Students explored and understood the life cycle of a pumpkin through a wide variety of media. Students researched our topic with Mrs. Panter, our librarian. During several trips to the library, students asked questions and predicted they might experience on our pumpkin patch field trip. Students discussed finding the answers to these questions through the use of song, “Plan, Do, and Review”, a process to use to gather our data. Students found answers collaboratively through discussion, books, databases, and videos. Research ended by sampling the wide variety of foods made out of pumpkins (ice cream, bread, muffins, roasted pumpkin seeds, pie). The field trip was recorded through the use of an iPad and a flip camera by students. Students returned with pumpkins, the following day, students actively participated in 8 rotation centers throughout the week. Centers allowed students to work collaboratively and think critically to apply what they learned through their research to activities that consisted of phonics, computer, Promethean board activities, reading, writing, home living, math, science, and listening.

Submitted by: Regina Baker
Collaborators: Kim Slayton (librarian), Stephanie Wright (ITRT)
School: Fair Oaks Elementary

Summary

This activity consists of three stations that allow students to collaboratively work together to create an original piece of work that enables them to explore character traits and understand how readers learn new information about characters.

In the first station, the students create a story together using a website called typewith.me, which allows them to all work on one document at the same time. After picking a character trait for their main character, they alternate typing sentences in a story they are creating. They are not allowed to use the character trait in the story because at the end of the class they share this story with the rest of the class which guesses which character trait they chose.

In the second station, the students will also pick a character trait, but instead of writing a story, they will create a poster. This poster should include a picture of their main character that provides clues to what character trait they picked without using the word. Again, at the end of class the students will share their poster and the rest of the class will guess what character trait was chosen.
In the third station, the students will read a short biography and complete a character map that instructs them to choose three traits that describe who they read about and find evidence that supports that trait. They will share this at the end of the week when all the stations have been completed.

Submitted by: Jamie Malinak
School: Echo Lake Elementary

Summary

As students continue to learn about the writing process, our first focus will be on the introductory paragraph and, specifically, “hooks” and persuasive writing. In this lesson, students will learn about, research, and critically discuss the kinds of “hooks” they see everyday (commercials, print ads, etc.) and how they can use hooks to persuade readers and audiences. Students will collaborate to create their own ad for a product (real-life) of their choice. This ad can be in any medium (students will be placed in like-minded groups after a survey of interest is taken). Ads will be displayed via class blog, which can be accessed by other school students and staff as well as parents.

Submitted by: Kim Ramsey
School: Rivers Edge Elementary

Summary

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” Since the first day of school when my 4th graders entered our classroom they have been evaluating this quote posted outside my door. In the room, we have several stationary bikes, a treadmill, and shelves full of Accelerated Reader books of all levels. The students set up an Interactive Notebook during the first week of school to keep track of all of their “reading and riding” data . Their goal is to read as many interesting AR books this year in a variety of genres AND to exercise on our equipment at school simultaneously. On my Blog (http://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/kjott/) we have also created a Google Spreadsheet tab for the students to record their “AR Read and Ride Logs.” For example, when they walk on the treadmills at the local gym with their parents and read their AR books, they can go online to our Blog and record this data instantly. Finally, as a teacher with heart disease, my passion is for my fourth graders to become lifelong readers, learners, and exercisers at the same time!

Submitted by: Margaret Sharpe
School: Fairfield Middle School

Summary

This one block lesson is designed as a pre-reading activity for a novel. During this lesson, students are asked to create a press release about a novel and its author by utilizing research from accurate websites.

Submitted by: Jeanie McKeon
School: Crestview Elementary School

Summary

“How do you catch a leprechaun?” Well, this is the question we explored in my second grade class. Using what we learned about the St.Patrick’s Day holiday through folklore and legends about Leprechauns, students worked in student-selected groups to devise a plan to catch a leprechaun. First, students researched Leprechaun’s to investigate their likes and dislikes using several websites in addition to information gleaned from classroom read-alouds. After their research, they used Pixie to write notes to a Leprechaun to persuade him to share his pot of gold. Next, students worked in their groups using the Children’s Engineering model to build traps to capture an imaginary Leprechaun. Afterwards, groups demonstrated how the traps worked to catch a Leprechaun. We used VoiceThread to share our class project with parents and other family members.