Google Tour - The Civil War

Here is my Google Tour! Enjoy!

http://sites.google.com/site/charlasstuff/my-files?pli=1

TPACK - The Civil War

I am going to go through four important events of the Civil War with students. The core content I am using is the fifth grade social studies core:

Standard 4
Students will understand that the 19th century was a time of incredible change for the United States, including geographic expansion, constitutional crisis, and economic growth.
Objective 3 Evaluate the course of events of the Civil War and its impact both immediate and long-term.
a. Identify the key ideas, events, and leaders of the Civil War using primary sources (e.g. Gettysburg Address, Emancipation Proclamation, news accounts, photographic records, diaries).

The pedagogy I will be using is guided discovery learning. I will have the information on Google Earth for students and they will discover it, think about it, and write about it.

The technology I will be using is Google Earth. I will create a kmz file for students to open using Google Earth. They will use Google Earth to look at places where events in the Civil War took place. This is a great fit with the content because students can see where the Civil War was taking place and actually see the places where important events took place.

The Civil War - Google Earth Style!

Location	Activity	Google Earth Content
1. Show South Carolina's secession from the United States.	Have them read Wikipedia and find the reasons for South Carolina's secession.	Have Wikipedia information on American Civil War.
2. Show Fort Sumter - where the first shots were fired.	Have students write in their journal how they would feel if all supplies were cut off from them.	Show pictures of Fort Sumter and have Wikipedia content on Fort Sumter.
3. Show Emancipation Proclamation took effect in the northern states.	Have them write in thier journal how they would feel if they were just freed from slavery.	Show images of slaves, Abraham Lincoln and have Wikipedia pages from emancipation proclamation.
4.Show were the Battle of Gettysburg and where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.	Read the Gettysburg Address and write in their journal reactions to it.	Show images of Gettysburg, Have Wikipedia page information, and the actual Gettysburg Address.
Show the outline of the United States at the time of the Civil war. Link the four events they are learning about with a line.

Falling for Rapunzel

Here is our video!

Storyboard - Falling For Rapunzel

As you can see in our wonderful storyboard, we are going to tell the tale of "Falling for Rapunzel." We did amazing work on the claymation! (most of it we actually found already made in the clay box!)

The content for our lesson is the following first grade standard:

Standard 1
Oral Language-Students develop language for the purpose of effectively communicating through listening, speaking, viewing, and presenting.
Objective 2
Develop language through viewing media and presenting.
b. Use a variety of formats (e.g., show and tell, drama, sharing of books and personal writings, choral readings, informational reports, retelling experiences and stories in sequence) in presenting with various forms of media.

The pedagogy we are using is a combination Fractured Fairytale and Poetry Interpretation taken from the book "Falling For Rapunzel" by Leah Wilcox. This is good fit for the content we are teaching because it helps the students develop lanugage in a very fun way.

The technology we are using is PhotoStory. We will be using it to put together our images and the language used in the book. This technology works wonderfully with our content and pedagogy because it really enables us to do more than just read a book or create a book, we can use media/technology to really make this creation come alive!

Stay tuned for the finished product. PhotoStory and "Falling For Rapunzel," here we come!

TPACK In Action!

For the content of our wonderful experiment we were using the following 6th grade science standard:

Standard 1, Objective 1a.
Describe changes in the appearance of the moon during a month.

The pedagogy we were using was guided learning. We were guiding students, having them observe and record what they saw as we oversaw them and guided their thinking.

The technology we used was the program Stellarium. It was good for our pedagogy and content because it allowed students to work on their own to observe the phases of the moon as we guided them through what they were seeing.

TPACK really worked for us!

The Tech Savvy Teacher - Stellar Observations

Star light, star bright, first star I see to…day? That’s right – thanks to the free computer software program Stellarium, we can view the earth, moon, and space at any time and any place – including during the daylight hours and inside! This technological marvel is ideal for stargazing; but more importantly, it is perfect for use in elementary science!

To get a better idea of just how exceptionally this software can enhance the elementary classroom, we turn to Lindsay Priday and Charla Teaford, both sixth grade teachers at Provo Elementary. “We were elated with the implications of Stellarium’s use in our astronomy lessons,” says Teaford. “But we decided to collaborate to try this program for ourselves before introducing it to our students.” The teachers were thrilled to learn that Stellarium allows users to view Earth and space at any date, time, and location. Intending to test Stellarium for classroom applications, Priday and Teaford decided to conduct an experiment that employed nighttime observations. “Astronomy lessons have often been difficult in the past. The students understandably want to personally observe the moon and space, but it is just not possible to perform such experiments because of the daylight during the school hours,” explains Teaford. “We were really hopeful that our experiment could prove that Stellarium can be used to study the moon in a more exciting, observable way!”

Priday and Teaford’s experiment was to observe the phases of the moon that occurred during a one-month period and record their findings, using Stellarium. Priday and Teaford set up Stellarium so that they could observe the moon in Provo, Utah at 10 p.m. on January 1-31, 2009. They soon found that the moon was waxing, or becoming more visible to viewers on Earth due to its rotation, at the beginning of the month. It continued to wax until January 11, when there was a full moon. During the next several days, the moon underwent the process of waning, or becoming less visible to viewers on Earth, due to the earth’s rotation. The moon became smaller and smaller until there was a new moon on January 26. The moon then began waxing again. The teachers used Stellarium to take pictures of the moon’s phases for several different days of the month. (Their photos appear below.) Priday and Teaford were incredibly impressed with the way Stellarium enhanced their experiment. “Stellarium was easy to use, and the images were so clear! I really felt like I was observing the moon outdoors!” exclaims Priday.

January 1

January 5

January 11

January 13

January 26

January 31

The teachers were anxious to use this experiment as a science lesson in their classrooms. They divided their students into groups and had them conduct their astronomy experiment using Stellarium. The experiment was a complete success! “My students told me that they were so excited to be able to view the moon while it was still light outside, and to make their observations inside our warm classroom,” Priday comments. “They thoroughly enjoyed being able to view the moon from their fingertips. An additional benefit was that the students could make their observations in one sitting – not over the course of 31 days. They were able to observe the moon’s phases during the entire month of January in less than one hour.”

Indeed, Stellarium is an ideal asset for any elementary classroom. It provides both teachers and students with the opportunity to observe the earth, moon, and space for any date, time, and location. Stellarium allows them to conduct astronomy experiments inside, during the school day. Normally lengthy experiments can be performed in short periods of time. The program is free of charge. And Stellarium is just plain fun! Sixth-grader Rachel Borrow from Provo Elementary sums it up best: “I love to look at the moon! Stellarium is so cool – I give it five stars!”