February/March 2012 - Laramie County School District #01

More documents

Recommendations

Info

$Course Syllabus-IB Math 1 - Laramie County School District #01$

14 • February 2012 Public Schools’ ChronicleDavis fourth-graders learn the art of presentationIt’s a different kind ofAnimalFrom the mountains to theplains, Wyoming’s variedhabitat is home to numerouswildlife creatures. Fourthgradestudents at Davis Elementaryrecently learned a little moreabout the state’s landscape as wellas the types of creatures inhabitingour area.One morning in mid-January,fourth-graders in Shurie Long’sclass learned more about animalslike the turkey vulture, pheasant,rattlesnake, long-tailed weasel,bobcat and mink. However, theydidn’t get the information fromtheir teacher but rather fromfellow classmates who presentedtheir Wyoming animal researchreports.“Remember present to theaudience and not to the SMARTBoard,” Long said to her classbefore the presentations began.“Audience, what is your role?” sheasked. “Pay attention and keepour eyes on the presenter,” onestudent said.Long explained the project ispart of a writer’s workshop unitteaching students how to write abasic research paper. Since Wyominghistory is such an importantpart of the fourth-grade curriculum,researching a state animalprovided excellent subject matterand a way to teach across thecurriculum. Long said this is herfirst year teaching fourth-grade,and her teaching partner LeonaWilkinson developed the unit.“It fits into our reading andstudents learning to determineimportance, which is one of thethinking strategies right now,”Long said. “We’re trying to getstudents to decide what’s mostimportant in a paragraph and topull it out and put it into a reportin their own words.”Over the course of a little morethan two weeks, students chosetheir animal and began theirresearch. They were given a list ofsix areas to learn about—anatomy,diet, habitat, enemies and theiranimal’s methods of defense andoffense. The last category was leftup to each student to determineso they could report other interestingfacts.Since this was their firstresearch paper, Long said shecoached her students on researchskills, note takingand working on adraft paper. Studentsalso learnedhow to write anintroductoryparagraph and aconclusion.Long said whilekids generallyhad little problemtaking notes andconverting theminto paragraphs,the challengecame when theyused these paragraphsto createa report in theirown words.“This also led toa great vocabularylesson when Iwould ask studentsthe meaningof a word,” shesaid. “They alsohad to put the information intotheir own words so they learnedit’s important to know what thewords mean.”Another project requirementwas students needed to use at leastone book and one Internet source,although many reports citedmultiple sources in their bibliographies.Long noted: “We integrated ina lesson on the fact that not allwebsites are accurate, which wasvery interesting. I could have donea whole unit on that. We alsotalked about the importance ofcross-referencing sources.”Along with the written report,the kids created their presentations,which were done in front ofthe class. Long said students hadthe option of creating an iMovie,PowerPoint or putting togethera hard-copy presentation boardwith photos and text. Followingeach presentation, students inthe audience were allowed to askquestions and give the presentercompliments. In turn, for theirattention, they received a listeninggrade.Long said she graded reportson whether or not they met theSix Traits of Writing. Presentersreceived a speaking and presentationgrade. Those who choseto use the SMART Board alsoreceived credit for their use oftechnology. Finally, they will get asocial studies grade.“What they do now will bea quick journal piece on whatthey liked, what they learnedand something they would dodifferently,” she said. “That will gotoward their social studies grade.”Long said she was happy withthe way the unit went and herhope is students will be preparedfor their next research writingproject, which will be incorporatedwith their science fair project.“It will be interesting to seewhat they remember about theprocess,” she said.—Photo & text by Mary QuastJacob Hubbs walks around Shurie Long’s fourth-grade classroom with a rattlesnake skin following his Wyoming animal presentation.Allison Burke gingerly touches the snake’s rattle as Justin Wichmann looks on. Students chose a Wyoming animal to research andwrite a paper about. They also had a chance to present their findings to the class.
Public Schools’ Chronicle February 2012 • 15Saddle Ridge families gather for literacy nightBooks, books andmore books couldbe found at SaddleRidge’s recent literacynight for students andtheir families. Theseweren’t just any old books,but ones the boys and girlshad authored, illustratedand published themselves.Moms, dads, siblingsand other family memberstrekked into the schoolgym to see just exactlywhat the students hadbeen up to. Tables alongthe back of the roomheld books with titlessuch as, “A Trip ThroughWyoming,” “Our World ofWeather” and “We Can...ABook About How PracticeMakes Perfect!”“I wrote this one,” aboy exclaimed as he heldup a volume and flippedthrough the pages.“You did a great job,” hismother said as she leanedover his shoulder grinningproudly at his accomplishment.When it was time,Principal Eric Jacksonwelcomed everyone. Heexplained the schooltypically holds a writers’museum, but since SaddleRidge now has a focuson all literacy, not justwriting, they decided tochange things a bit.“Our teachers use theGuaranteed Viable Curriculum,”Jackson said, encouragingparents to go toeither the district’s websiteor the school’s website tolook it up. “What it meansto you as a parent, is theteachers are giving yourstudents the same educationas every school in thedistrict...they are learningthe same content.”He explained that nightwhen the audience filtereddown to visit classroombook displays; teacherswould demonstratestrategies they could useat home to help theirstudents with their readingand writing homework.“If you don’t do anythingelse, read to yourkids,” he emphasized.“Even for sixth-gradeparents, read to your kids.It’s tough sometimes to doit, but it’ll have a biggerimpact on their education.”First-grade teacher JulieMutchler said: “We alwayshave a huge turnout likethis when we do parentnights, and it’s really nice.We have good family supporthere.”She added for the pasttwo years, writing hasbeen the school’s improvementarea, and SaddleRidge is also now focusingon reading as well. Withthis particular project,where students publishbooks for free throughStudent Treasures Company,the boys and girls allwrote their own stories,and classes wrote a storytogether. Kindergartenclasses didn’t do individualbooks, but instead createdclassroom story books.“Tonight, hopefully studentswill be reading theirstories to their families,”she added.Fourth-grade teacherAlthea Farthing said herstudents absolutely lovedwriting their own books,and they also enjoyedillustrating them.She said: “We decided todo a book about Wyoming,so I had the kidsIn Susanne Randall’s classroom, Misty Moberg listens as her son, first-grader Zachary Medina, reads his story to her.brainstorm places in thestate that they’ve visitedor heard about. It was avery involved project butdefinitely worth it.”Farthing added this activityhelped her studentsimprove their reading,writing and spelling skills.She also mentioned howamazing it was to see thespectrum of writing fromkindergarten throughsixth grade.“The students wanted toget things just right, andit was a big process, butit was so important,” shesaid. “As a kid, I wouldhave loved to have ahard-bound book that I’dwritten myself.”In Shelia Kistler’s class,sixth-grade student ZachHodson held up his booktitled “The Islands.” Hesaid he and his friendare big history buffs, andwhile his friend chose theVietnam War as a topic, hechose World War II.Hodson said: “My bookis a historical fiction storyabout a soldier in WorldWar II on an island in thePacific theater. I drew a lotof the pictures, and sincemy friend got done beforeme, he also helped mewith the illustrations.”Hodson also mentionedhe recently started a“Millionaire’s Club” thatfrequently gets together toread and talk about books.Jackson added thefamily literacy night is alaid-back way to presentliteracy to the school’sparents.“We just wanted the kidsto be in their classroomsto show their parentswhat they’re doing andwhat they’re learning,” hesaid. “We’ve had a goodturnout, which is great,because it’s important tohave parental involvement.”—Photo & text byCindy Keen Reynders
Page 1: ChroniclePublic Schools’February
Page 5 and 6: Public Schools’ Chronicle Februar
Page 16 and 17: 16 • February 2012 Public Schools
Page 18 and 19: 18 • February 2012 Public Schools
Page 20: For importantupdates andinformation

February/March 2012 - Laramie County School District #01

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?