Foci for Academic Years 2009-2011

Fourth and Fifth graders began the year with reviews of English Language Arts and Mathematics using Word Munchers, Math Munchers, and Math Missions.
Keyboarding practice was accomplished with several sessions of Type to Learn 3.
Students then completed activities described in the award winning site:
Internet Safety for Kids.

Fourth graders collaborated on crafting Powerpoint presentations about New York State, and after viewing NGS videos, produced reports on Native American tribe of choice.

Fifth graders built upon Weblogs entitled "Major Events in American History." Log in and access snags were largely eliminated by having students use the teacher's Google account and password (AOL permits 7 screen names, and Blogger permits over 100 blogs under each account).

Fifth graders did Internet research on Canada and Mexico and produced draft Powerpoints covering what they learned. They then engaged in Logo programming of Tina the Turtle (TERC Investigations) to produce various polygons.

We began the new year 2011 with a review of Guidelines for Internet Safety. Inspired by Ms. Kathleen Gerard (P.S. 116), students engaged in dramatically illustrating selected Guidelines using Comic Life. Students worked in teams of 2 or 3, and best work has been displayed in hallways.

The major challenge of the next few months will be for upper grade students to "collaboratively integrate multimedia elements into audiovisual formats using iMovie. Again, this challenge draws upon the talents of Ms. Gerard, whose great work may be viewed at www.ps116.org. Selected 3rd graders also have been exploring features of iMovie during our "extended day" program.

Fourth graders have "adopted" last year's fifth graders' blogs to input what they have been learning in class and in the lab about Life in Colonial America and beyond. They viewed NGS videos, took notes, engaged in documentary research, and were guided to focus on areas of conflict and cooperation between the European settlers and the Native Americans ("First Peoples").

Targeted research is being facilitated with use of Webquest worksheets, and guidance concerning choice of search engine and keyword combinations. Identification of reliable sources and credible information has been the focus of several lessons. As with all activities, note is being made of student progress, and of students needing individual attention and assistance.

In the spirit of accountability, students were asked to produce an essay entitled "Evaluation of Computer Lab" consisting of 5 questions about what they liked, did not like, what they have learned, what difficulties they may have had, and what they would change. They were then shown how to copy and paste their polished essays into the comment area of this Weblog post. The anonymous comments have been screened by the teacher to ensure that no identifying data are included. They may be viewed by clicking on the comments link below. They are very constructive, and will guide classroom activities through the end of the year. Specifically, students will be given great latitude in the selection of partners, programs (esp. iMovie, Weblogs, and Comic Life), and topics (evolving from personal interest to academic), and they will come to understand that this is what Dr. Hackbarth means by "free time"! (-;

Parents have been reminded to check this site at: hackbarths.blogspot.com, to read their children's comments, and to post comments of their own.

Foci for Academic Year 2006-2007

The Lillie Devereux Blake School fifth graders have been using MS Office applications to produce a variety of documents.
Goals for the Year have been stated in terms of Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."
Web sites have been evaluated in terms of informational content and technical quality.
Small groups of students have produced multimedia, narrated PowerPoint presentations about "Online Safety for Kids."
The year wraps up with Internet research skill building.

Election of Supreme Webmaster

Each fifth grade class will elect one Supreme Webmaster (SWM) who will craft the class home page. The other candidates will assist the SWM, and will help Team Leaders make their wikis.

Your primary responsibility is to craft three separate academic blogs, and to update and revise them now through June 15. You must not view nor post rude or otherwise inappropriate material, nor may you include personal information nor photos of students. If you see any inappropriate content, or receive comments from people you don't know, report it immediately to me and to your parents. Again, whether in the street or online, you do not converse with strangers! If someone you do not know requests assistance, summon an adult to provide it.

VOTING INSTRUCTIONS

It is imperative that you vote for the candidate whom you believe has demonstrated superior Web design skills. Their Web page will represent your class, and will link to team wikis, which link to your three blogs.

Voting will take place during class, online, by sending a comment to this post. This means that:
1. You must be registered at blogger.com, and must be able to log in.
2. You must know how to post a comment, using the word code feature and noting when saved.

Your vote will count only if:
1. You vote during class time.
2. You vote only once, on this post, not on any of those that follow.
3. You write the first name of just one candidate in your own class.
4. You write your first name and class # after the candidate's name.

Vote for just one candidate from your class, from the list below.

5-301
Joseph G.
Lenny M.
Nina G.

5-302
Andrew T.
Carmen M.
Elias G.

5-303
Molly H.
Samantha T.
Sasha S.
Rachel L.

5-304
Alain M.
Brett B.
Michal D.
Zachary R.

5-305
Christian D.
Dani Hupper
Evan S.
Miles C.

Results will be posted on hometown.aol.com/ps6nyc, Student Projects, click on your class #.
Only the name of the candidate in each class with the most votes will be crowned Supreme Webmaster. The other candidates will be appointed as Webmasters, to assist Team Leaders and individual students.

Activities for March

We are making great progress toward creation of class Web sites!

Grace & I are very impressed.

Class members are working at three levels:

1. Webmaster candidates are crafting wikis at pbwiki.com, to display their talents, and to identify their qualifications (see hackbarths.pbwiki.com). They will be the ones to create the class home pages, with links to team wikis and individual blogs. Their wiki URLs should be shared with class members, preferably on wall posters. The campaigns for election have begun, and student voters should look for evidence of Web design talent and leadership skill.

2. Team Leaders are identifying peers with interest in designing collaboratively thematic wikis (e.g., art, science, music, math, history, geography, computers). Each team leader must register at pbwiki.com using her or his own email address, since passwords are sent to that address. Team members share the same wiki username and password so that they can contribute to development of their wiki from any computer at any time.

3. Individual students are refining their academic-oriented blogs, with the goal of ultimately being linked to a pertinent team wiki.

Please indicate which activities you are engaged in this week by posting a comment at the bottom of this post. You must include your first name and room number in your comment. Constructive suggestions may be included as well.

With all Web wishes,
Dr. Steven Hackbarth

Assignments for January/February

1. Remove from your blog all personal, rude, gross, and otherwise inappropiate content.

2, Change setting for "Add your Blog to our listings?" from YES to NO; leave other settings alone.

3. If you used my email address, hackbarths@aol.com, change it now to ps6m1@aol.com (from Dashboard, click on "Edit Profile").

4. Write for me your username and password so that I can monitor your work.

5. Under your current username, make a new blog named Class 5-30_

6. Create posts on this new class blog about each of your favorite school subjects.

7. Report to Dr. Hackbarth any inappropriate comments found on any students' blog. Offenders are subject to loss of Internet privileges, and possible suspension from school.

8. Make sure that your parents have your username and password, as well as my blog URL: www.hackbarths.blogspot.com, where they can see your assignments and post comments.

Parents: What is the value of blogging?

Dear Parents of 5th Graders:

We have a multitude of academic objectives for our 5th graders. Among them are skills in following directions, collaborative teamwork, language arts, and multimedia production.

Our 5th graders have advanced from evaluating school Web sites, to creating a Weblog (with several TERC geometry lessons in between). This has entailed careful selection and recall of usernames and passwords, crafting of a template, and posting topics for interaction with me and peers.

I encourage you to join with me in monitoring your child's blog (ask for URL), and welcome your comments and suggestions here.

Sincerely,

Steven L. Hackbarth, Ph.D. (UCLA)

Customizing Your Blog

Log in to your blogger.com Web site and explore the many tools to customize your home page and posts.

Learning in the Computer Lab

Please provide comments concerning your lab experiences thus far this year.

1. Evaluating school Web sites.





2. Drawing polygons with GeoLogo.