Friday, May 7, 2010

Visual Verse


Here's one of the Visual Verse projects my AP kids came up with. They were in the midst of studying poetry and were to create a video/visual representation of a chosen poem. The poem used is very short and reads: "Who wants a jellyfish, I'm not a sellyfish." That's it!, but the creation via YouTube is much more!
Aaron Farnsworth
Language Arts/Theatre/Speech-Teacher
Drama Tech Director

1st graders take a virtual tour of Lascaux caves

During art this week, first graders took a trip to southwestern France. I should clarify, a “virtual trip” through the complex caves of Lascaux. Known for some of the most preserved Paleolithic cave paintings, first graders “walked through” the deep canals and caverns and gasped and ducked their heads as they identified horses, bulls, birds, and human figures. As we toured the cave together, students excitedly shared some of their own cave experiences. We speculated why ancient people painted on cave walls and ceilings, we discussed the importance of animals to the livelihood of early mankind, and shared our ideas on how we think the artists accomplished these paintings.
We will follow-up our tour by creating our own cave art. Students will use their imaginations as we work upside down (under their tables), creating symbols to tell their life story.

To go on a virtual tour of Lascaux, visit the website.

Jackie Meier - Elementary Art Teacher

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Rock raps

Upon completing research on various rock formations in the U.S., fourth grade students were able to take their new knowledge and turn it into fantastic "rock" raps. In their general music class, students worked in small groups to write their raps and perform them with music selections from soundzabound. Once students chose their music, they practiced to stay on the beat, get creative, and then record their rap using GarageBand.

This project has been done for four years now. It has become one of the students' favorites activities in the music room. They are proud of their accomplishment musically, and love learning about each others "rocks" and their locations.

Take a listen to a couple of the best raps!

Yosemite
Ayers

Michelle Lyons - Music teacher

Monday, May 3, 2010

Books that will make you feel sick

Microbiology students are reading books and blogging about them.

We started by "booktalking" selected titles using Google's presentation program.



Students created their own Blogger accounts through Google docs and started journaling online.

Please share your feedback with them if you have read any of these books:

Books that will make you feel sick
(site created using Google Sites)

The students will wrap up their reading with a book trailer project.

- Kathy Kaldenberg, Librarian