The City of Ember was made into a major motion picture. You can read more about that here. This is the novel that our classes read and thoroughly enjoyed.

Mrs. DuPrau lives in California. The logistics of having her visit were not within our budget and time constraints. However, Skype was able to fill this need. We organized a Skype session with Mr. DuPrau and the students in Mr. Argondizzo’s and Miss Daly’s grade 5 classes.

We used our classroom smartboard, a logitech webcam and a free download of Skype for the event. Each of our students in the session had a job/role. We followed the framework that I have made available on my wiki of resources.  Some sample jobs included:  recorder, time keeper, videographer, photographer, greeter, closing and of course question asking.

The event was a success. Mrs. Duprau shared her writing process as well as details about her novels. The students made an authentic connection to their classroom learning.  Mrs. DuPrau mentioned that our students provided some of the best questions she has had asked of her!

The students are working on a reflection assignment. The assignment consists of a two paragraph essay in which they will reflect upon what they have learned. Our teachers provided a guiding questions for this assignment.  We are looking forward to planning our next Skype session.

This was an interdisciplinary project in which the students learned about the restaurant business. They researchedwhat is invol ved in the process of starting and opening a restaurant. Students were given the task of developing their own restaurant. They developed a theme, a menu and a slogan.  The next step was to write a descriptive essay about their restaurant. This included details about the foods they serve. The students used Microsoft Publisher to create menus for their restaurants during their time in the computer lab. They were also charged with the task of creating ‘pizzas’ as advertisements.  The students had to develop equivalent fractions for each slice. They then decorated their pizzas with toppings according to those fractions.

The final activities of the project included a video conference with Chef Steelman. The students prepared and asked the chef a number of questions about the restaurant business, cooking and the life of a chef. Following the video conference the students hosted a tasting in their classroom in which they all provided samples of foods from their restaurants.

A short video clip of the video conference can be found below.

Students used technology almost every day in the White Rock classrooms. They developed digital posters using Glogster, interactive story books using Story Jumper and online simulations that reinforce what they learned in class. The students have utilized 21st century skills by taking part in authentic projects that individualized instruction for each student.

The finale of the project was held Wednesday May 18th when Mr. Ray DePalma a Certified Public Accountant Skyped with the class and discussed how to save money. Students asked Mr. DePalma what taxes were, how to become a CPA and of course, how to be the most efficient with money.

Below is a clip from the video conference

Enjoy!

The Anasazi

The Aztec

The Mayan