Teaching with Technology

Sending Oliver K. (Geobug) on his way

Tina Coffey — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:02:40 +0000

Our 2nd grade students ihave been reading the book, The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman by Darcy Pattison. It’s a story about a wooden man, Oliver K. Woodman, that is sent from an Uncle in Rock Hill, SC to his niece in Redcrest, CA. Oliver moves from place to place in the book through the kindness of strangers who pick him and and help him travel all the way across the United States.

After reading the book, following his travels on google earth, and learning about communities we decided it would be fun for the students to send their own Oliver on a journey. Since students have also been learning about geocaching, we decided to tie the two things together and create a traveling Oliver K. Woodman geobug. We planted him at a local tourist spot, and hope to map him as he makes his way across the United States to Redcrest, CA. Just like in the book, we are counting on the kindness of strangers to move him from one geocache to another. If you run across him, please help us by moving him along. The students would also love to see pictures of his travels!

As he moves, the classes will use their mapping skills to follow him, and hopefully learn a little of geography. We’ll also be interested in what types of communities he move through (urban, suburban, or rural).

You can learn more about this project on our wiki: http://oliverkwoodman.wikispaces.com.

2nd Grade Batty Facts Voicethread

Tina Coffey — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:00:18 +0000

Mrs. Vest’s class create a Voicethread on Batty Facts to go with their lesson on facts and opinions. Creating voicethreads on a specific topic gives students a chance to write, practicing reading, and listen back to information, which helps them learn and remember it better. They are also a great way to practice fluency and oral speaking skills. Students are always amazed the first time they hear themselves read, and I always give them the option to redo their reading if they don’t like it. It’s neat to see how quickly their reading changes when they can hear themselves! Take a look at their project (and feel free to leave them some comments).

Blogging 5th Graders

Tina Coffey — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:04:39 +0000

Mrs. Hudson’s and Mrs. Graves 5th grade classes at Clearbrook Elementary are blogging! I’m so proud of the hard work both the teachers and the students are putting into this project! The kids are very excited, especially about comments they’ve received from some college students in Alabama. They worked really hard on writing posts about instruments to go with the sound unit they are studied in Science, and they are working on entries about their visit to Apple Ridge Farms. If you have a few minutes to leave them some comments, they would love it! It’s so motivating for them to know that their writing is read by a “real” audience!

Here are their blogs:

Mrs. Hudson

Mrs. Graves

I’ll keep them linked to this blog (on the right) in case you want to check back on them later in the year!

History on Tap Blog

Tina Coffey — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:20:02 +0000

The History on Tap blog is a great place to find resources that match Virginia’s SOLs for Social Studies and History, including games, foldables, presentations, study sheets, and more. It has resources for K-12, including tons of great things for VA Studies. It is updated and maintained by a Lisa Pennington, a Social Studies Specialist in Portsmouth, VA. If you teach social studies content, check it out!

The Fun Theory

Tina Coffey — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:01:21 +0000

I love this concept. People will do harder things if you make it FUN! I just love to see that principle working in classrooms…and I often do!!!