Saturday Morning Cartoons: Tadpole to Frog Lifecycle

In the spring when every Science Teacher's thoughts turn to the circle of life I always find myself coming back to Steven Kellogg's 1977 The Mysterious Tadpole. There is just something about Kellogg's illustrations I love. Not to mention Uncle McAllister!



To pair with this fiction selection I found a great nonfiction video about the life cycle of frogs narrated by kids for kids. The Spencer brothers simply explain facts about the tadpoles living in their pond beginning with hatching eggs and moving all the way through to full-grown frogs. Time lapsed video paired with facts that aren't usually mentioned in texts make this video great. I don't think I've ever read that tadpoles are herbivores before! Kids will be grossed out (and simultaneously love) the moment when they are told that tadpoles may eat each other if their food runs out. Yikes!



What are your favorite life cycle resources? If you're like me, you could name MANY! Which ones do you come back to year after year? Or maybe new favorites?

Readers' Theater

I enjoy using Readers Theater scripts with classes and small groups because students really enjoy plays and acting. If you want to mix it up with a class, throwing in a lesson that is Readers' Theater centered is the perfect thing to bring back the energy.

Some teachers believe they have to do a whole play to use a script, but this is not the case. Usually when I use scripts with students it is just an opportunity to read in a different way. We act with our voices and not usually with our bodies. My students generally just sit in a circle or get comfortable and read together. 

A script with lots of parts like some of the Aron Shepherd ones (I love Lightning Larry!) allow the whole class to participate in one reading. Choose your script carefully in this format. You don't want one student to have only one or two lines and to be bored. Readers' Theater scripts are generally written to avoid this, but some plays might have this. It's great if you have students you need to differentiate for, but you want all students to be totally engaged at their optimum level.

If your script has fewer parts you can divide students up into more than one group and each group can read the same script.

If you have multiple copies of the same script, color code the paper or highlight student parts in different colors. (Yes, I usually try to highlight if I have the time.)

Make name tags, or table cards to match character names. If the other students in the group (mine lay/sit in a circle) are wearing their name there is less "Who's Narrator 2? NARRATOR TWO IT'S YOUR TURN!!!"). For Bad Case of Stripes I bought two paperback copies of the book, cut them apart (~gasp!~) and cut out character heads. I laminated them, wrote the character name on the back, and hole-punched them with my badge punch. I can store them flat in a file folder and add badge clips when it's time to read the play aloud.

Always review your Readers' Theater expectations with the students before beginning. Making a sign is a good idea. Mine include "We don't yell 'It's YOUR turn! Come ON!" Instead we say (if someone forgot where they are in the script), "Narrator 2," quietly and gently as a reminder. "We speak our own lines and give others the courtesy of speaking their own lines as well."

Always give your students a chance to read through the script to locate their parts with some quiet reading time before reading aloud.

Writing Readers' Theater scripts is not difficult. Frankly, I find the most difficult part to be the typing. I'm a speedy and accurate typist so I like it, but others might not find it so.  The first thing I do is type it all out. I don't type the story word for word. The first lines for the book Terrific by Jon Agee are:

Much to his surprise, Eugene was the lucky winner of an all-expenses paid cruise to Bermuda. "Terrific," he said.  "I'll probably get a really nasty sunburn."

Later a page says:

Except for a parrot.
"Terrific," says Eugene. "What good is a parrot?"
"You'd be surprised, " said the parrot.

On my script I wrote it this way:

Reader 1: Much to his surprise, Eugene was the lucky winner of an all-expenses paid cruise to Bermuda.

Eugene: Terrific. I'll probably get a really nasty sunburn

And.....

Reader 2: Except for a parrot.

Eugene: Terrific. What good is a parrot?

Parrot: You'd be surprised. 

I don't see any need for a Reader (I use this instead of Narrator usually) to say "Eugene said." I think that the characters can speak for themselves and then I throw in Readers to describe the setting and actions. 

It's okay to leave things out. I wrote a script for Dr. Seuss week that seemed to go on and on in one section. I adapted it. We were only using the script for one day and then we were done with it.

Once I type the entire book, leaving out the "he said" or small bits of text that are irrelevant if someone is actually speaking them aloud, then I go through and add the tag in front to identify who is doing the speaking. This allows me to add the characters in first. The last step is to decide how many Readers will be appropriate and to add them in.

One reason I'm re-excited about Readers' Theater this week is because I found a new source for scripts. Did you know Capstone Publishers provides free scripts for many of their popular Stone Arch titles? Like Jack and the Beanstalk, Katie Wood, and Tiger Moth!

The Reading Lady and Aaron Shepherd are also great sources. If I am just using the script for something quick in my class, I just do a search to look for something. Frankly, there are a lot of scripts out there that are violating copyright because they have been published to the Internet.

Your turn! Have you done Readers' Theater with your class? Thought about writing a script? What resources do you like the best?

Blackout Poems

I did an impromptu lesson today with 5th graders. It wasn't so much a lesson as a collaborative experience writing blackout poems. These students have a very strong writing background with their current teacher and have written some beautiful poetry this year. Their teacher and I knew they would be excited to try poetry in a new form.

I pulled a stack of discarded books I have been saving for the right opportunity. They were all books from my 580s and 591s that were more text than images and have gotten to be oldy-moldies.

I located a few blackout poems as examples to show students first how the words were chosen and second how the art was created around the poem (or not). I wanted to give them an artistic possibility but also let them simply black out their poem if they so chose.

Students browsed through the books and then gasped in horror when their teacher and I took scissors to the pages they wanted. That was REALLY fun. It was Earth Day so I feel we were reusing our resources in the best possible way.

Finishing the poems was about what you would expect from a class of fifth graders. A few took to the poetry and really got into it. All of them finished at least one with varying results of quality. I had to get a few to stop highlighting their poem words. Once those colored markers came out it was a game changer!

 

If you would like to learn more about Blackout Poetry, here's a great Prezi (intended for Middle and HS students) from Laura Randazzo. I also have a few examples appropriate for elementary students posted at Pinterest.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Book Monkey

Have you thought about rearranging your library? Ditching Dewey and trying something else? Maybe it's a big project to tackle and you need some help!

Curious George to the rescue! George is a really great library helper. He can sort your returns, stamp due dates (hee!), and sharpen pencils. He can even be in charge of the library!

In this video he helps patrons find the books they need by organizing them. First by color and then by size George makes the books easier to find. In the end he receives some help from a friend and realizes that libraries should be organized by subject.

The librarian throws in a little tip that the books are also organized by author within a category. 

This video is great for demonstrating that students can find information books on the shelves by subject. It doesn't matter if your library is Dewey or Dewey-ditched this video is great!

Information Dots

I was late to the party for International Dot Day in September. Getting an initiative like that off the ground the first two weeks of school is tricky and I just wasn't prepared. I have it on my calendar for next year so that I'll be ready.


I thought I would test out some ideas between now and then because there's no reason to wait on a good lesson. Matthew Winner, the Busy Librarian, has a great post with dot day ideas for each grade level. I really connected with one for first grade about using survey data. It fit in well with a unit I had in mind for 2nd grade about displaying information. 

Lesson 1:
We read The Dot using TumbleBooks. I displayed a variety of Celebridots for students to study. We talked about what makes a 'good dot.' Students used supplies to make a dot showing something representing their unique self and added it to a class banner.

Lesson 2:
Students brainstormed a list of survey questions they could ask that would share something unique about their classroom. Because I knew time would be a challenge, we discussed how phrasing the question in a specific way manipulated the results. There is a difference between asking "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?" and leaving the question open-ended and asking, "What is your favorite ice cream flavor: chocolate or vanilla?" Students quickly said, "but what if your favorite flavor is mint?" They decided that if the question were multiple choice then "other" should be an option. We also asked yes/no questions such as "Do you have a dog?" or "Do you like to play video games?"

I collected data in two ways. In hindsight, I would only do it one way in the future. I lined all of the students up. The first student stood up with her clipboard and asked her question to the student on her left. After she moved down the line asking a few students her question, the next student in line stood up and followed her, asking his questions. As the students made it to the end of the line they went back to the beginning and sat in their seat. Those in the middle asked questions of every student at the end of the line and every student at the beginning of the line before taking their seats. I kept the students moving and they were usually asking or answering a question, but it was a bit crazy.

One of my classes was cut short on time because I was at an inservice and didn't feel like writing a complex lesson plan explaining the collection of survey data. Instead I squished two weeks into one and I wrote the questions for the students. This is the lesson I seem to have pictures from. Instead of each student asking all of the others their question I laid questions out on a table and then sent the students around with a marker to add a tally mark to each paper. I read each of the questions aloud with the choices so they had a bit of thinking time before getting up to mark their answers. Students traveled in a large circle around the tables and quickly answered each question. I would do it this way in the future.

If you had a fun tech tool that would allow students to collect survey data, then this would be another option.

Lesson 3:
On each student's work page I left them room to tabulate data and write final results. After a few minutes of counting tallies and interpreting data I demonstrated how to turn information into dots. We talked about how the dots should fill the page (because I didn't want them using just 3 inches of the paper they were given) and should be proportional.  I required that each paper have a student name, title, large colorful dots showing size, and labels. Students used crayons to draw and label their dots.


Results:
I love that they could show information about themselves and about their class with the same concept. I am looking forward to refining the process for next fall and working more with our art teacher. I'm also wondering how I could incorporate music into the project. I have some ideas that involve using Poster Sound Recorders....

Storytelling with Little Bird Tales

As I've spent five days previewing Digital Storytelling Tools with first graders, I've tried Storybird and KerPoof and have now moved on to Little Bird Tales. Now, after KerPoof, I have to say that it was hard to try something new. I was reeeeaaaallly happy with KerPoof. But, this is the unit where I decided to try several tools to give them a chance and evaluate them with students. After reading Shannon Miller's post about her students using Little Bird Tales for poetry I thought I would give it a try with students.

Little Bird Tales has an easy login process that must be completed before use. Again, I made a silly mistake on logins. The four-digit school codes that I wanted were taken, so I went with their randomly generated suggestion. Which had a 0 and an O right next to each other. Oy. How silly is that? I should have just picked a random school code! My first graders knew where each were on the keyboard, but some could not tell which order they were printed in.

One day I'll learn....

Little Bird Tales has a quick and easy draw option for getting started without bringing in your own media. This is what we tried in our experiment. Students illustrated a Cover for their story and a few began to add pages. Most were really excited by the possibility of narrating their story as Little Bird Tales has a simple recording option. 

I like the interface with this and the ability to bring in pictures of your own. I love the record option. I also like that illustrating the cover is separate from the pages of the story. However, I have to say that this isn't really different from Pixie, which we have access to. I think for a school without Pixie that this would be a fantastic tool. For us, I'm not sure the student login the fact that this is online has an advantages over Pixie. It's worth giving Little Bird Tales a try though if you need a simple tool to integrate, picture, text, and sound!

KerPoof!

After Day 1 of Digital Storytelling with Storybird in first grade I decided to seek out other tools. My thought was that if I tried a few different ones with the students I would be able to get five times the amount of work done. I can learn just as much about a tool by trying it with one class as I can by trying it with five classes. Testing five tools in the same time frame seems efficient.

On Day 2 I started searching for alternatives. I used VoiceThread for several projects a few years ago. I logged back in and was disappointed to see that using it with student accounts would cost a fee. Understandable, because that's the current business model. I've used Animoto, but I thought for this project it probably wouldn't be the best for first grade. We have Pixie installed, but the students have used that in the past. I did a quick search for storytelling tools and came across ZooBurst and KerPoof as possibilities. I've heard of ZooBurst before but when I looked at their pricing information it said that an individual teacher could only make 10 free books. I could have students work in pairs, but in triads was not wise so I continued to search.

KerPoof Studio was where I landed. I cannot tell you enough good things about this tool. I haven't read much about it. I just started to use it. There could be a dark cloud somewhere, but I'm not seeing it yet. It was named an AASL Best Website for Teaching and Learning in 2011. I don't know how I missed it! I read through those lists and try things, but I must not have needed this tool at that time.

KerPoof is great because of these features (and probably more!):

• free to teachers
• easily create class groups setting student names and passwords
• assign students to classes without using email
• option for storytelling, drawing pictures, or making movies
• so easy to use
• kids love it

Here's a video podcast from the Charlotte Meck tech department that walks through a LOT of information about the tool. If you're trying KerPoof in one window, you may want to let the podcast play in another and just listen and click back and forth as needed to see what the narrators are showing.

I decided to try KerPoof on another class or two. I'd still like to experiment with more tools, but I feel like I'm on a magic cloud with this one! Coming next in the Storytelling Tools Adventure is Little Bird Tales! Stay tuned.....