Mrs. Elrath Goldstein’s Digital Portfolio

I have updated the “Other Lessons” tab- at the bottom. Check it out!
I also uploaded video links for the poet and digital stories.

Enjoy! 

As a follow up to the post “Fluency Poems”, we did the fluency poems again in about a month and a half as promised. Click here to listen to both recordings.

To conclude National Poetry Month, our 3rd grade class and kindergarten buddies, skyped in with Poet/Author, Andrea Perry. Mrs. Perry is the author of Here’s What You Do When You Can’t Find Your Shoe and The Snack Smasher. After a month of writing poems, reading poetry in Mrs. Perry’s books, and books from other published poets, the students were excited to hear from a published author!

Mrs. Perry told us about some of her poems and books and then answered some of our questions. Some of the 3rd graders’ questions were:

• What inspired you to become a poet?
• How did you get the titles?
• Are you writing another book?
• How long does it take to make a book?
• Where do you get your rhyming words?
• How do you think of topics to write about?
• Do you ever write about your family?

Our skype with Mrs. Perry was extremely beneficial and motivating to the students. It was a fun experience to conclude National Poetry Month!

I would definitely like to skype with more professionals around the world to give my students more virtual field trips! With budget cuts and decreasing class time- virtual field trips will be the way to go!

After researching some work of author, Jason Ohler (Digital Storytelling in the Classroom, 2008), I decided to create digital stories with my class for Mother’s Day.

The main focus of a digital story is the actual script. My class wrote 5 paragraph essays about their “Favorite Family Memory.” Writing then recording a script allows students to revise and edit their work because when they read it then listen to it, the story does not sound right. It is much easier for students to edit and revise when they hear their own recordings.

We used garageband for the audio recordings and imovie to combine the audio with photos or illustrations. Students brought photos in, drew pictures, and recorded videos online.

Unfortunately, our Mother’s Day deadline was quickly approaching and our revising quality isn’t what I would normally expect. Make sure you allow enough time to write, revise, edit, and record your stories.

My example for the students:
 

I have created a biography webquest for my 3rd graders to work on during reading centers. Each reading student will complete this center before the end of the school year. Students will follow the directions on the included webquest by clicking the link of a famous person and learning more about them. They then will follow the tasks outlined in the webquest. The webquest instructs the students to write their person a letter (in proper friendly letter format), then record a podcast in character. This will show me they know enough about their person while establishing purpose for the students and allowing them to engage in the lesson.

Follow the tab at the top of my blog to access my webquest! Check back frequently, I hope to add more people to the choices!

Listen to a Biography Podcast Here!

In collaboration with a district colleague, a science webquest was created. This gravity webquest is an inquiry based  lesson designed to have students answer the question, ” Does gravity treat everything the same?” Students go on a web journey of discovery to help answer the question.

Links to websites, discussion questions, video clips, and animation assist students in their learning while they record their findings in their science notebook. As students become more familiar with the technology, we hope to have them record their findings in a forum format.

Gravity Webquest

My reading class recorded their first round of fluency poems. We used poems from the book “Partner Poems for Building Fluency, Grades 2-4″ by, Bobbi Katz, Published by Scholastic. 

These poems have 2 readers and allow students to practice fluency through phrasing, pace, accuracy, intonation and punctuation.

We recorded these poems on GarageBand and I can assess them for fluency. We plan to re-record the same poem in about a months time to assess student growth in fluency.

There is a learning curve in regards to recording themselves, as they do get nervous. We did practice the poem without recording many times prior.

Group 1: The List Makers

March: The List Makers Poem

May: The List Makers

Group 2: Numbers and Letters

March: Numbers and Letters Fluency Poem

May: Numbers and Letters

Group 3: Measure for Measure

March: Measure for Measure

May: Measure for Measure

Today we performed some Reader’s Theater plays. Each group assigned parts, practiced numerous times and then performed for the class. Once student’s were comfortable with their role, they recorded the play as a podcast on the Garage Band application. Although the plays were recorded successfully, it was a time consuming project. Students in the audience have to be silent to prevent background noise, which can be difficult for a bunch of excited 3rd graders!

The kids were engaged in this lesson and excited to record their plays!

Current research shows that Reader’s Theater promotes fluency and helps students acknowledge intonation and punctuation while they read. The podcast and performance gives them a purpose and an enjoyable medium to display their skills.

(You must have itunes to open these files)

Bella and Jade Reader’s Theater Performance:

Bella and Jade Reader\’s Theater Performance

Meeting Thomas Edison Reader’s Theater Performance:

Meeting Thomas Edison Reader\’s Theater Performance

Remembering Uncle Fremont Reader’s Theater Performance

Remembering Uncle Fremont Reader\’s Theater Performance

Earthquake Reader’s Theater Performance

Earthquake Reader\’s Theater Performance

You’re On Reader’s Theater Performance

You\’re On Reader\’s Theater Performance

Our class had our first video conference today with Ms. Halpern’s second grade class at Centennial Elementary. Centennial is another new school in SVVSD and has the same layout and technology as ours.

Our video conference went well and 3 groups got to meet their Virtual Pen Pals. The students were very excited to talk to each other live and see each other on the screen.

Students created interview questions, asked the questions to their Virtual Pen Pal, and recorded their responses. When all students have the opportunity to connect with a 2nd grader at Centennial Elementary we will use our notes to guide us as we write paragraphs introducing our new friends.

Lisa Halpern and I used iChat to hold our video conference. We projected our laptop screens onto the Promethean Boards and fed the audio through our ceiling speakers. For all future contact, one group of 3rd graders and one group of 2nd graders will talk on our classroom desktop Mac using iChat. This will allow all other students to continue working as the interviews take place.

Our class has been writing to pen pals in Korea since the beginning of the year. Our friends are a 3rd/4th grade class in Busan. South Korea. We have learned about some of the customs, events, and hobbies in Korea. The students have wanted to send pictures to their pen pals all year. To put a name from the letters with a face we created digital bios to introduce our 3rd grade class to our friends on the other side of the world.

Students had a half sheet of notes before the interview to prepare themselves. The paper said:

My name is _______ I am ____ years old and in 3rd grade at Black Rock Elementary in Erie, CO. Some of my favorite things are… (and they listed 3 things).

We used photobooth to record the short videos (about 30 seconds each) and iMovie to merge the clips. The movie is now a quicktime file to view. I plan to burn the file on DVD to send with our next set of pen pal letters.