Eric Hougan's Blog, page 2

ePal Ideas: Comparing and Contrasting Homes

Name: Sarah Brown

Grade: 1st grade

Subject: Social Studies

Epal idea: Homes in Greece vs. to Homes in Seattle

Activity: People all over the world live in different kinds of homes. In this activity the Kindergarteners will be comparing and contrasting different homes in Greece and Seattle. For this activity to work I will be in contact with another kindergarten teacher in Greece, through the website of epals.com. I will hook my students in by previewing different homes in various books that we will be able to find as a class in the library.

We would then reconvene to discuss the similarities and differences of the homes we previewed in the books. This way the students can be introduced to the contrasting concepts on various homes in their own environment and those found in Greece. Individually the students would list characteristics of their own homes in Seattle, such as: composition of home, shapes of various parts of their homes, how many occupants, location of home, and maybe if they have two homes. Next, I would have the students break up in groups of three or four and brainstorm questions they would like to ask students living in Greece about their houses based off of the difference and similarities they see within their group. Some examples of questions could be: What is the color of their houses? What is their houses made out of? How many bedrooms does their houses have? We would then review the final questions together and create an email to send to our classmates in Greece. As we are doing this the class in Greece will be doing the same and will send an email in return about their homes.

The final step would be taking all the data collected about both locations and creating a large Venn diagram for the whole class to share. This would be a great visual representation of what we have learned and another way for students to deepen their knowledge about human habitats.

 

Standards:

EALRS 1.2: Collaborate: Use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

I connected to this standard by having them work in groups to come up with questions and then using ePals to connect with another classroom in Europe.

ISTE NETS (2,6): Engage in learning activities with learners from multiple cultures through email and other electronic means

I connected to this standard by using ePals to connect with another classroom in Europe to have them do the learning activity in class.

ePals Ideas: How’s your weather?

Michelle Khammavongsa

Grades 3-5

Weather

Summary:

The students will have access to pen-pals from China to talk to them about their weather knowledge and collaborate through email with their new friends through http://www.epals.com

We can initially share some classroom activities with photos, showing the weather station outside in the school garden and a picture of the students.  I want each student to have a pen pal to write to after our initial exchange.

I want my students to understand weather and how to predict the weather each day.  We will have a weather station outside in the school garden where they can figure out how much rain fell, read the thermometer and note the air pressure through an old fashion barometer.  I will teach my students about gathering data and predicting the weather with the information gathered.  Every day, we will visit the garden to gather more data.  I will talk to my students about how to predict weather using a barometer and noting whether high or low air pressure brings rain.  As a class, we will talk about clouds and how to read the different kinds of clouds in the sky and predict weather patterns.

When it is time to contact our pen pals, I would recommend that my students introduce themselves with a photo and tell their ePal about the weather that we experience in our city.

Activities:

Questions the students can ask their ePal:

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

What city do you live in?

What is the weather like today?

What time and day is it when they write?

What does their thermometer say?

Do they use Celsius or Fahrenheit?

Is it winter there as it is here?

What kinds of clothes do you wear to school?  (Like we are wearing thick winter coats, gloves, hats and scarfs.)

How do they predict what the weather is going do?

EALR 1 – Integration

1.2:  Collaborate:  Use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

With this type of collaboration using technology, the children can start to build a trusting relationship with a child of another culture and discuss how weather affects them and exchange ideas about how to predict weather.  We can continue to use this relationship for other classroom projects and experiences.

ePal Ideas: Sundial

Created By: Brittany Bumpus

Grade Level: 3rd Grade

Content Area: Earth and Space Science & Technology

Description of Activity:

Based on the Common Core State Standards for third grade science, students are to learn how to tell the time of day based on the sun’s position in the sky. In order to begin teaching students to reach this standard, I as the teacher, must first teach my students how to record the time of day based on the shadow a sun leaves behind. During this activity, my classroom will be video chatting with another classroom in Alaska. Both classrooms will be learning about how the patterns of the shadows differ based on the time of day.

The first step to this activity is for both classrooms in Washington and Alaska to have the student’s research different ways to tell time. After coming up with a list of strategies to tell time, I will introduce the idea of making a sundial. Our class will then make our own sundial with a 50 centimeter long stick on our schoolyard ground. Each teacher will explain to their classroom what a sundial is and how it works with the sun to produce a shadow that can determine the time of day. Every hour each classroom will go and check their sundial to record the patterns the students see and the movement the shadows have made. The students will record their findings in a sketchbook where they will draw what they see from the sundial. At the end of the day, both classrooms will video chat with one another showing their sketches of the shadow patterns throughout the day and how the shadows are similar or different based on where the children live. After students have grasped the concept of the patterns of the shadow changing based on the sun’s position in the sky, our classrooms will transition into teaching our students about the sun’s daily rotation.

 Technology Standards:

EARL 1.2 Collaborate: Use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others

This technology standard is met in my activity because both classrooms will be video chatting with one another explaining the patterns they saw and predictions or questions they had throughout the scientific activity. This standard is also met because both classrooms are determining if what they observed in their state has the same result with the other state or if their results are different.

 

EARL 1.3 Investigate and Think Critically: Research, manage and evaluate information and solve problems using digital tools and resources.

This standard is met in my activity because my students are researching about sundials, managing to make a sundial and learn how to properly use it, and evaluating the patterns of the shadows they see throughout the day. After investigating the sundial and shadows it makes throughout the day the students are then using video chatting with another class to think critically on what they observed and come to a conclusion on why the shadows changed throughout the day.

                                                                                                                       

ePal Ideas: Going Global with Tanzania

Name: Kvita Yarmoshik

Subject: History

Grade Level: 5

We often wonder about other people’s cultures, locations, and daily life, and how this differs from our own. In this activity, I want to provide my students with the ability to read, explore, interview, and present what they learn about the daily lives of children from a different country. Students will explore Tanzania, a country from the African continent.

First, students will start off with a reading about the daily life of students in Tanzania. We will start off begin with a KWL chart. What we know, what we want to know and later what we learned. Students will go to TIME Magazine for Kids Around the World and explore Tanzania [ http://www.timeforkids.com/destinatio... ] – the location, history, native language, sightseeing, challenges, and the day in the life of. After having a chance to explore Tanzania, students will fill the “Learn” part on the KWL chart. After reading, students will pose more in-depth questions that they want to ask students from Tanzania using ePals. This is an activity for students to have a deeper understanding of other people’s daily life. Students will record their findings by creating a PowerPoint of their findings. The PowerPoint should include comparing and contrasting and what they learned and what further questions they might have or what is something they want to learn about based off of their new knowledge. We will then present our findings to the class.

GLE 2.3.1 Select and use common applications

Students will fulfill this learning goal by creating a PowerPoint.

GLE 2.3.2 Select and use online applications

Students will meet this standard by using TIME online and ePals

ePal Ideas Food in Italy, kindergarten

Created by: Emma Wilson

Grade Level: Kindergarten

Subject: Health (Food)

Title: Food in Italy

Technology in lesson: ePals.com, or skype.com

Reason for activity: This activity sets the stage for students to study nutrition, comparing and contrasting various cuisines’ nutrition levels (specifically compared to American foods)

The Goal: I want my kindergarten students to see what is truly eaten in Italy. This activity is intended to fulfill EARL 1, 1.2 Collaborate, because in this activity students are using technology to connect/communicate with students from other countries, working together to learn about what they eat, and sharing their end results.

Activity:

1. Students will come together and we will read a book about an Italian family cooking in the kitchen. When finished with the story I will ask the class what foods they think of when they hear Italian food?

2. We then discuss what we came up with, and visit the ePal website to talk with families in Italy about what they eat.

3. After our communication with the families, we compare a handful of common American foods to the common Italian foods and see each ones nutrition values.

4. As this concludes we come together once again and share what foods are most nutritious in Italy, America, and in both combined.

ePals Ideas: Flat Stanley and World Climates

Name: Sarah Sutton

Grade: Kindergarten

Subject: Geography

 

In my class of Kindergarteners we will be studying where different students live (mountains, beach, dessert).   We will be using the Flat Stanley project to explore the climate and region that other students are learning in. As a class, we will brainstorm questions to ask the people who have a chance to host our character. I will create a blog to log the places that our Flat Stanley travels. We will connect to other classrooms using the Flat Stanley discussion board where teachers go to find other classrooms looking to send their Flat Stanley. When we get a new entry for our Flat Stanley we will talk about what is different about the climate that the other students are living in.

This activity will fulfill EALR 1.2, students will be collaborating with other students and have the opportunity to ask questions about where and how they live.

 

Epals Ideas: What Is Your Home Like?

Created By: Mayumi Garcia

Grade: 1st Grade

Subject: Culture/Diversity

Title: What is Your Home Like?

As a class, we would be talking about homes around the world. I would have an example of my grandparents’ home in Mexico. I’d ask the class to think about their house; what does it look like? Do they live in an apartment, a home, with many people? etc. I would also ask if they have been to a home in a different country, what can they remember about it? I’d let them know that we would be talking with several teachers from around the world through e-pal. My class would view the videos of what our global friends’ homes look like. We would brainstorm questions that we have about houses around the world and think of ways that houses could look the same or different. From our brainstorming session, we would choose 5 questions and record them our video. After we have recorded the video, we would send it to our friends across the globe so that they can answer our questions. We would read If You Lived Here: Houses of the World by Giles Laroche to see different kinds of home structures from around the world. We would talk about the book and the types of houses it showed. Then, we’d watch a video showing different homes around the world and talk about what we saw in the video. The link for the video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj3HU7_Y8Io  We would watch the videos from our E-classmates and compare and contrast them to the book and video to see what similarities and differences we noticed among them. Finally, we’d respond to our questions!

1.3: Investigate and Think Critically: Research, manage and evaluate information and solve problems using digital tools and resources.

This activity meets the standard because we’d brainstorm and use various methods to research our questions. We’d be managing our information by choosing five questions to ask. By recording our questions in a video afterwards, we’d be using digital tools and the book would be another resource. Also, by comparing and contrasting the book, video and our friend’s videos and watching the videos and responding to our 5 questions, we’d be evaluating our information.

Epals Ideas: Fair Weather Friends

 

Fair Weather Friends

Create by: Nichole Kealoha

Subject: Science/Weather

Grade: 6-8th Grade

Throughout the year my 6th grade students will be studying weather and the factors and forces that cause/create it. We will be learning about altitude, convection, density, humidity, as well as high and low pressure. The class will use a constructivist approach to deepen their knowledge of each of these factors and forces by taking on the role of a Meteorologist on a weekly basis. They will use their knowledge they learn in class on these factors and forces to predict the weather in various parts of Washington.

Each student will have an e-pal friend in either Spokane or Centralia Washington that they will keep in weekly contact with. On Monday (or Tuesday if no school on Monday) the students will predict the weather in their e-pal’s area for the next day. This should be written as a “hypothesis”. They will also need to provide their proof, such as the current weather here. This can be a download a picture from the day, or a clip taken from the local weather. The student will also need to apply their knowledge from class (factors and forces of weather) to support their hypothesis.

On Tuesday (or day after prediction was made) the students will contact their e-pal through their e-pal account and get a weather report for the day. If possible they can download pictures from their e-pal to support their conclusion. The student will then need to write their conclusion. This will include if their hypothesis was correct or not. They will need to explain why they were correct or incorrect, and explain any factors that they feel they left out or didn’t include during their original hypothesis.

Monday

Step 1 – Students write weather predications in e-pals area. Write it as a Hypothesis.

Step 2- Students Document their proof (Pics, news clipping etc).

Step 3- Students apply their knowledge to their prediction.

Tuesday

Step 1- Contact e-pal and get weather report. Get pics or clippings from their weather.

Step 2- Write conclusion, include supported pictures or clippings.

Step 3- Document forces and factors that helped you make this correct or incorrect prediction.

MS-ESS2-5.         Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions

(The students will have direct interaction from one day to the next and be able to predict and receive results from their knowledge from their own area to their neighbors over the hill).

EALR
1
–
Integration Students
use
technology
within
all
content
areas
to
collaborate,
communicate,
 generate innovative
ideas, 
investigate
 and
 solve
 problems.

(Students will use their ePal from their e-Pal account to gather evidence to support their hypothesis)

 

 

 

ePals Ideas: Geology (in context)

Created By: Chad Steward

Grade Level: 6th-8th

Content Area: Geology

            In studying seventh grade geology, we often look at many different pictures and information about landscapes and rocks. As teachers, many times we lack the way to make this information directly relevant to the student. With technology, we have a great means to connect these concepts across the world and directly tie them to the lives of the children that surround these areas. An educator from Washington State could collaborate with an educator from an arid climate, like Arizona. They could have their students collect soil samples from their backyards, take pictures of landscapes that surround their homes and even take pictures of the trees in the area. The students could then use Skype, Google Hangout, or similar internet video chat programs to have their students share their collected samples with students from another climate.

The Activity:

1.) Have your students take pictures of trees, rocks, interesting land formations around their homes.

2.) Have them collect about a cup of dirt and small rocks from their backyard.

3.) Have the students connect one on one in a video chat with students from another class that has performed the same activities.

4.) Let the students discuss and compare the differences in their collected data, taking down notes on the differences and between their collected data and the students’ data from another location.

5.) Let the students reflect on their collected data and then have them hypothesize on potential reasons for the differences between soil samples, trees, land formations, etc from their own backyard and their peers from another location.

This activity hits mainly on two educational technology EALRs. The first standard  hit is 1.2: Collaborate. In this activity, the students are using technology to compile research data with a peer from another location. Each student will get the opportunity to not only teach another student, but get taught by another student about their respective environments. This is the antithesis of collaboration, as each student relies on the other to get their required data for the reflection portion of the activity. The second standard hit is 1.3: Investigate and Think Critically. The students are getting the opportunity to acquire data and then try and figure out why their data is so different from their long distance peers. This allows students to engage in upper level thinking, because they must synthesis a scenario that could create these discrepancies.

ePals Idea: Collaborative Story

Name: LeAnna Wagner

Grade: 2nd, but can be adapted to be used in other grades

Subject: Literacy

                In this activity, my class will connect with another class from a different state to write a story collaboratively. Ideally, the other state would be one where typical speech patterns, phrasing, and sayings are somewhat different from those we have in Washington. Because they will be writing a story collaboratively, I anticipate plenty of opportunities to discuss the differences in how we speak to arise. We will be using Skype or other web-cam software as well as google-docs to connect with each other in real time while doing this activity.

                I will start the session by reading aloud a variety of introductory sentences and our two classes will vote for which one they want to use to start our collaborative story. Once a sentence has been chosen, the students from each class will take turns adding a new sentence to the story, one at a time (student1 from class A, student2 from class B, student3 from class A, Student4 from class B, etc.). We’ll be using the webcam so that our classes can see each other and interact that way while everyone is also contributing to one Google document, typing their own sentences into the story.

                When each student has had a turn to add their sentence, we will read the story as a group and discuss what we’ve read. Then, together, the students will discuss changes and corrections that they think should be made to it. Finally, we will read the finished story, have another group discussion about it, and decide upon a title for the story. At the end, the students will share their thoughts about how they think the collaboration went, what surprised them, and new sayings that they’ve learned from the students in the other class.

EdTech GLE’s:

1.1: Innovate: 


Demonstrate 
creative thinking,construct 
knowledge
 and 
develop 
innovative 
products 
andprocesses
 using 
technology.

-The students are demonstrating creative thinking by coming up with and adding their own sentences to the original story they’re writing on the Google-doc.

1.2: 
 Collaborate: 


Use
 digital
 media 
and 
environments 
to 
communicate and
 work 
collaboratively 
to 
support individual 
learning
 and
 contribute
 to
 the 
learning 
of 
others.

-The students are using web-cam software (and hardware) and Google-docs to collaborate in the creation of an original story. Through discussion, each student is contributing to the learning of everyone else as well as their own learning.

2.1: 
 Practice 
 Safety: 


Practice safe,legal 
and
 ethical
 behavior 
in 
the 
use 
of 
information 
and 
technology.

-Each student will need a parent or guardian’s permission to participate in this activity. They will only be allowed to make changes to the Google-doc when it is their turn to do so.