EDTECH
541
(SU10)

 Susan
Ferdon
 


Week 5: Learning Activities Task: Develop a learning activity for your thematic unit that takes advantage of social media and networking. In other words, design a learning activity or two that includes ways in which your students can interact directly with people outside of your classroom – other students, teachers, experts, etc. The format of the directions is up to you - lesson plan, step-by-step procedures. Just make sure that any educator could duplicate your directions. For the three social networking tools, specific accounts and/or projects pages for your unit need to be set up.

Exploring Our Community In this series of activities, students will continue to explore their community (Deerfield/Highland Park, Illinois). Through literature and discussion they will learn how we can share information and stories about our community. Students will then use an online tool to share stories and images of their community.

Activity: Read-Aloud and Discussion 1. Read-aloud: On the Town: A Community Adventure. Armed with a black notebook, Charlie and his mother explore the community and the people who live in it, and decide what they should write about it. 2. Discussion: If you were going to write about some of the places in our community, which places would you write about? What do you think you would say about it?

On the Town: A Community Adventure by Judith Caseley

Activity: Stories of Our Community For a video tour of MapSkip visit: http://www.safeshare.tv/v/pAbyLamuotA?b=00:11 

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Site Navigation: o After login, site will open to “Places.” This is your most recently saved map/location. o “Stories” is a list of the most recent stories added site-wide. Click on a story and you will be taken to the map that goes with it. Note: Clicking the back button will not get you back to your own map. The best option is to click on “my passport” then on one of your own stories. o “Photos” page has the sites’ most recent photo uploads. Click on thumbnail to open full-size image and see options. o “Sounds”– Click on a hand marker then “full story” to hear recordings from various locations. o “My passport” is a chronological list of your own locations and stories. This is a great way to get back “home” if you’ve been exploring and an easy way to check for new postings. o “Blog” has some great posts about how MapSkip is being used as a social networking and collaboration tool in the classroom. Map Navigation: Like GoogleMaps, “grab” the map and drag it around, or click on the arrows in the upper left corner to move the map. Click on the plus and minus signs to zoom in and out.

1. Open MapSkip: http://www.mapskip.com/index.php Log in: The username is “kipling” and the password is “cougars.” 2. Using the dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the page, select a view: Map, Satellite, Hybrid, Terrain. Hybrid is recommended as it allows you to see buildings, etc. plus street names. 3. Students have already used GoogleMaps to explore their community and see how it has changed over time. Discussion: What looks the same/different in MapSkip? 4. Introduce MapSkip and explain that we will be using it to share stories and pictures of the places in the community that are important to us. 5. Click on the hand marker at the Deerfield train station to see an example of a story and photo. (Feel free to edit the text and/or upload additional photos as available.)

6. Click on the hand marker at Kipling School. With the teacher typing, students contribute portions of a story about our school. 7. Find two or three other locations of interest and demonstrate how to place a marker and add a story. Remind students that if you include any names, it’s first names only! 8. Optional Family Project: With the help of a grown-up or older sibling, students add markers and stories to the shared map. Some possibilities are: your home, favorite restaurants, church/synagogue, store, playground/park, pool, library. Remind families that single locations can have multiple stories. 9. A few days later, go back into MapSkip and see what has been added to the shared map. Read stories and discuss. Possible topics: story development (characters, plot, setting), common themes, how details help make stories interesting. 10. Choose a location (new marker or additional story on existing marker) and add another class story. 11. Invite students/families to let you know when they have added a story to the map and/or check back periodically (my passport) and note additions.

Comparing Communities In this series of activities, students will learn about comparing then use a blog and Skype to communicate with people outside the classroom.

Activity: Read-Aloud and Discussion 1. Discussion Prompt: We’ve already learned a lot about communities like ours, which is a suburb. Do you know of any other kinds of communities? 2. Read-aloud: Read a book that about a community and/or kids from a community type that contrasts with our own (select from below, or others). 3. Discussion: How does our community compare with the books’? What is the same/different? Did anything surprise you?

City (Neighborhood Walk) by Peggy Pancella

Small Town (Neighborhood Walk) by Peggy Pancella

Farm Community (Neighborhood Walk) by Peggy Pancella

The City Kid and the Suburban Kid By Deb Pilutti

Activity: Sharing and Comparing with Skype

Make arrangements with other kindergarten teachers to collaborate and communicate throughout this unit. Ideally, partner classrooms will be completely the same types of activities, which will allow for a common frame of reference. Share and compare information based on the activities completed that week. As students learn more about their own community, they can ask how their partner classroom’s community compares. Note: Assure that only those students with publication permission for image are visible during the Skype call (even if you don’t record it, the partner classroom might). 1. Skype: https://login.skype.com/account/loginform?return_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.skype.com%2Faccount%2F login Username: kiplingkids / Password: cougars700k 2. Start by Skyping the other kindergarten class here at Kipling. For fun, you can tell the class that they will be talking to students in another classroom, but don’t tell them that it is their friends across the hall. This will give students and teachers an opportunity to get used to using Skype and students will feel more at ease since they are communicating with people they know. Setting up a permanent day/time (Fridays at 10 a.m./2 p.m. for example) may make scheduling easier and sharing at the end of the week means that students will have a week’s worth of new information to share as well as sufficient time to generate questions. 3. Skype a kindergarten class in a community that is of contrasting type and/or geographic area. Some possibilities:  Deerfield, NH: http://www.sau53.org/net4/  Deerfield, WI: http://www.deerfield.k12.wi.us/  South Deerfield, MA: http://www.city-data.com/school/deerfieldelem-ma.html  Deerfield, MI: http://www.deerfieldpublicschools.org/ See link below for an online listing of teachers looking for Skype partner classrooms and/or add your own info. Doing this several

week/months in advance will improve the likelihood of finding a partner classroom with sufficient planning time. Providing structure for the interview/call will be very beneficial, particularly at the beginning. For instance, gather student’s questions in advance and make a list. With teacher prompting, students can come up to the camera and ask questions during the Skype call. 4. Use Skype’s built-in recording feature to rebroadcast the conversation later (great for sharing with families and administrators). For more information about ways to use Skype in the classroom, visit the following Web sites: 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom Tips for Using Skype in the Classroom The EduSkypers Phone Book Skype for Teachers Introduction in 3 Minutes (video) 


Activity: Sharing and Comparing with Blogs

District 109 teachers will use their district blogs for this activity. On alternate weeks during the Communities Unit, kindergarten students and their 3rd grade buddies will blog with partner classrooms. Students will communicate with the other kindergarten class at Kipling first, then move on to comment/post on partner classroom‘s blog. Optional family/home activity: Students comment on their teacher’s posts and/or partner classroom posts. For more information about blogs visit TeacherFirst Blog Basics: http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/blog/blogbasics.cfm

Activity: Sharing and Comparing with a Wiki

Class Wiki: https://kiplingkids.wikispaces.com/ Username: kiplingkids / Password: cougars700k For information about setting up and using your Wikispaces wiki visit: http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour/myspace and use the drop down menu to select the tutorial topic of your choice. The class wiki will be a collaboration space as well as a means for students to share what they have learned with partner classrooms and their families. The wiki will act as a culminating project for the Communities Unit. Possible activities: 1. MapSkip Page: Embed YouTube video and include instructions for students working with their family at home. In class, students write and edit story for MapSkip activity with 3rd grade buddy and post link to the MapSkip story on the wiki. 2. Post digital copies of student work (use copy machine in 4th grade hallway to send student work to your email as PDF or jpeg files). Note: Assure that only those students with publication permission for print. 3. Post recordings of Skype calls. Note: Assure that only those students with publication permission for image are visible in the video. 4. Small groups of students, along with a parent volunteer or other adult helper, collaborate to share what they know about one type of community helper (firefighter, police officer, etc.). Activity is jigsawed so all helpers are included in the wiki. 5. Divide topics/activities among the four kindergarten classes (2 AM and 2 PM). With four classrooms adding to the same wiki, a wide variety of information can be included in a timely manner. 6. Provide space for students/families to share optional at-home projects.