G2 Poetry Unit - Publishing With Google Draw

Teachers Involved:  
Colleen Hoskin, Heather Wirch, Tae Yi (Grade 2 team)
Sarah Carpenter

Grade/Year level: Grade 2

Curriculum Links: Language Arts - poetry unit

SAMR: Substitution moving to augmentation ...

** could be moved to augmentation or modification by using comment features, taking a poem and making a multimedia presentation of it, focusing on poetry with expression.

Description:

Students publish their poetry anthologies using Google Draw

Tips and Tricks:

When students are new to Google Draw, it is important to layer skills in short bursts, and then practice them again and again creating poems.  When they are set with their skills, teach them a little more and have them go back through created poems, adding in the skill.  We have found the sequence of skills works best as follows:

Lesson One:  Setting Up

• concept of layering (moving forward and back) and the importance of the order in which you do things
• custom page set up
• Inserting borders
• Inserting text boxes
• the enter and delete keys

Students should create 4 - 5 poems before going onto next stage

Lesson Two:  Spicing Up!

• fonts, size and colours and how to choose and change
• text alignment and centering

Students apply these skills to all poems created to date and continue to expand their anthology

Lesson Three:  Adding Pictures

• how to use the google safesearch filters
• using google search
• balancing pictures with text
• how to center
• how to resize (by corners only)

Students apply these skills to all poems created to date and continue to expand their anthology

Challenges:

Short Attention Spans of Young Students:

• break steps down into very short tasks
• have a poster with each step for students to refer back to.  This will encourage them to be independent and frees you up so you can help with the major issues.

Keyboarding Skills:

• we recommend students have had at least a trimester of keyboarding before they do this unit
• have students create poems first on paper and then just use draw to publish the finished work

Resources needed:

• Help Charts
• Google draw

Time involved

• Each lesson is an hour.  Time must be given between lessons for students to practice the skills they have learnt.  If they do not practice multiple times and additional skills are added in too quickly, they will not retain the skills and sequencing needed to build quickly and successfully.  It is good to have additional support if available whilst students are practicing.

Contact information

sarah.carpenter@seoulforeign.org

Grade 1 Puppet Movies

Teachers Involved:  
Mary Ellen Lee,  (Grade 1 team)
Sarah Carpenter, Alan Hoskin, Nathan Walker, JJ Akin (DLC team)

Grade/Year level: Grade 1

Curriculum Links: Social Studies and Language Arts - Wampanoag

1L The Lightning Strike from Seoul Foreign School on Vimeo.


SAMR: Augmentation

Description:

Students create a story about their Wampanoag puppet characters and share it with an audience.

Tips and Tricks:

• student moving the puppet should be different from the student saying the lines
• film in short scenes then string the clips together.  You will get a better result with younger students.

Scripting:
It is really important that students have practiced well - this will speed up film timing and make it more effective.

Challenges:

Short Attention Spans of Young Students:

• work with small groups on small scenes.  This helps keep students focused and on task.

Resources needed:

• Backdrop (if using class wampanoag backdrops, photograph and then put onto a minimum of 2xA3)
• Student puppets and backdrop
• iMovie

Time involved

• 1 hour - additional editing may need to occur after that time, depending on how well rehearsed students were and how efficient the filming process was.

Contact information
sarah.carpenter@seoulforeign.org

Grade 2 Weather Videos

2Y 13 Dec Weather from Seoul Foreign School on Vimeo.

Teachers Involved:  
Colleen Hoskin, Heather Wirch, Tae Yi (Grade 2 team)
Sarah Carpenter (DLC)

Grade/Year level: Grade 2

Curriculum Links: Science - Weather Unit

SAMR: Modification heading towards redefinition

Description:

Students make a daily weather forecast using the Green screen and scenes of Seoul, to be used for daily display on the lobby monitors whilst studying their weather unit.

Tips and Tricks:

• Ensure the students move forward so that there is distance between them and the back of the green screen.  It stops the green halo affect.

• best filmed on a computer - students can cover the screen with the script (leave a view for the camera)

• Use cross dissolves as the basic transitions.

• Have script printed out A3, and cut into segments so that the text is held high - easy if a person stands behind the computer moving the text as needed.

• No more than 3 students as meteorologists

• Choose an opening and closing theme/credits and just change the content daily.  It saves a lot of time!

Scripting:
Have students translate the weather with some personal comments.  eg - if it's really cold, comment on it. ie. "brrrrrr!  That's cold!  You will need a warm jacket outside today"!

Challenges:
Script Rehearsal:
It is important that students have rehearsed their script so that they can do the video in one take.  iMovie green screen doesn't allow for transitions and breaking up clips.  It works best in one long take.


Resources needed:

• Green Screen and good lighting (3 LED panel lights work well)
• stand for appropriate height for computer to film
• iMovie

Time involved

• need a minimum of 45 minutes to film, edit, add subtitles and export movie (more if you are adding music, opening and closing credits).

Contact information
sarah.carpenter@seoulforeign.org

Invention Convention

Teachers Involved:      
Molly DeBoer, Leila Webb, Shannon Manion, Brad Thies (ES 4th Grade Team) 
Sarah Carpenter (DLC Team)
Ross Brown (Curriculum Coordinator)

Grade/Year level: Grade 4

SAMR: Modification

Description:
Students to use design process to create an invention that they market at an upcoming invention convention.  For DLCs the focus is on the design process and presentation skills.


Curriculum:
This unit ties in with social studies and literacy.


Tips and Tricks:
The Design Process

• Time needs to given for testing and modifying.

• Describe design in terms of both form and function - use Alessi products as examples of this.

• At end of unit, photograph concept drawings and the finished product and have students write a reflection on the process including:  how things changed from concept to creation and why, the challenges they faced and how they met them.

Presentations

• Have students build in the note section before putting a single thing on the slide.
• One slide per point/idea

Reflections

• students reflecting on the process is very important.  Initially they may not reflect at a deep level, so stimulate their thinking with what? How?  Why?  questions

Challenges:

• It's important for teachers to realize that the design process is messy and chaotic - students will pass through this stage as they refine their ideas.  Stay with the process

Resources Needed:

• Invention Convention Google Slides For Design/Presentation/Appeals lessons
• The Design Process/Cycle of Inquiry
• Stanford Design Model

Associated Web Links:

• Ellen Show Kid Inventors - Bathroom inventions
• Ellen Show Kid Inventors - 3 Kid inventions and a baby (high chair one particularly good)
• Kid Inventions Turned Into Reality

Time Involved: (specific lessons - not including support in class following a lesson)

• 1 hour:  Marketing Your Product 
• 1 hour:  Alessifying Your Product
• 1 Hour: Appeals
• 1 hour:  Presentation Skills

Contact Information:  sarah.carpenter@seoulforeign.org