Skype in the Classroom

This year we have been utilizing technology to help us learn!  

*For a published article on how our district as a whole uses technology, click on the link below and scroll to page 38*

 Technology in the Jefferson Township School District

Part of our learning objectives in Social Studies are that we should learn about similarities and differences between ourselves and others, celebrate differences, and also learning about communities and maps!  Here is what we know about our community:

Our town is named Lake Hopatcong after the lake we live around.  We go to Ellen T. Briggs School, a small school with grades K-2.  We live in northern New Jersey about 1 hour drive away from New York City.

In the morning class, we connected with Mr. Brandt's 5th grade class in Vinton, Iowa to do a Reader's Theater exchange and in doing so learned all about their community! We learned that they live in a small town with only a one screen movie theater and that they go to a large school that children from several towns go to from grades K-5.  They got to hear our "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" Reader's Theater, and we got to hear their fractured fairy tales.

 

 
Click to See Our Reader's Theaters

 In the afternoon class, we were able to connect with Brian (Mrs. Curry's brother) living in Brazil!  He told us that he had to take 4 plans and a 3 hour car ride to get to where he is living!  He told us that the time is one hour ahead of us and that they are almost in their winter but that it stays hot because it is a tropical community.  Students had questions about the plants and animals and we learned that some are the same and some are different!  Check out what we learned in the photos below and the video link (I apologize for the shaky camera work!).

Skype Session to Brazil

Nonfiction Writing
The majority of our writing time in the beginning of the year was spent in Lucy Calkins’ Writer’s Workshop, learning how to write small moment stories.  In this study we learned to LOVE writing and became amazing, fantastic, stupendous, tremendous authors!  In accordance with the shift to the Common Core Standards, we have now begun to work on writing for another purpose: nonfiction writing!  First we practiced our persuasive writing with.......

Post-It Note Book Reviews of Our Favorite Books

This book is wonderful.  I really like this book. 

I like when the bird finds his mother. -Daniel 

Boots is so funny!-Abbie

This book is fantastic.  The pigeon was being crazy. -David

I love this book because it has lots of details.  I think he is a good author. -Ella

This book has bugs and flowers.  I like bugs and flowers.  This book is great. -Matthew

This book is really good!  I like the part when everyone said, "Wow, you're a big dog!" -Paige

This book is good.  This is really good.  I like the part when the dog finds the toy. -Rohil

This book is silly when he jumps on people.  He is hot. -Marley

This book is great because it has trains. -Billy

This book is cool.  I feel awesome! -Lanie

This book is cute when the puppies are born. -Juliann

This book is funny!! when the sheep eat. -Katie

This book is funny when they fell down. -Frankie

This book is hilarious!  She kept saying, "Are you my mother?" -Claire

Persuasive Posters to “Eat Our Favorite Vegetable!”

 

 

 

 

Persuasive Notes

 

  

 

 

Now we are beginning to work on informational writing, or writing to teach something.  Check out some of the “How To” Posters we made!

"How To Make Your Own Lunch," by Sara, Chris, & Aden

"How To Play T-Ball," by Daniel, Abbie, Riley, & Hannah
"How To Train Dogs," by Ella, Grace, David, & Michael
“How To Plant a Flower,” by Caden, Sophia, & Paige 

“How To Take Care of a Pet,” by Harper, Scott, & Matthew 

“How To Plant a Seed,” by Juliann, Rohil, Anthony, & Marley 

“How To Read a Word,” by Lanie, MJ, & Billy 

"How to Climb Monkey Bars," by Lihith, Logan, Ava, & Nick  

“How To Play Basketball,” by Claire, Mattingly, Ujwal, & Linas