So as fifth graders, my kids are very aware of the events in Moore and the devastation. The students had to spend some time in our safe room as well. After listening to the news (probably too much for most of them) they came to school ready to talk about what happened at the elementary schools and “what if” it happened here. They asked many questions about how safe they would be and did an evaluation of the safest spot in the school. My kids wanted to do more. On the last day of school, I had two groups (1 student in the first group, and 4 in the second group) that created a video to explain how they were not safe. THEY totally rocked the use of technology and I wanted to share.
The first group, used two different iPads. They each created part of the movie and then someone put them on one iPad (I’m not even sure how to do that). They also used another app I had taught them to use and wrote on pictures to make a point in their movie. {Apps: iMovie, photos, ExplainEverything}
The one student searched on the news websites and found pictures of the devastation and tornado. He also used his iPad to walk around the school and capture our safe spots. Using iMovie, he created the following video.
I’m a little proud of what they did in just a couple of hours with technology! J
Another group began formulating a plan of what would make them safe. They wanted to use a budget and figure costs of the safest shelter. They had come up with a plan and would have figured area to fit enough kids and perimeter but we ran out of time! J We could totally tie that into so many standards.
Last night, I was doing some reading of different education articles (cause I’m a nerd and that’s what I do at night – you know me) I found one that was very interesting and caught my attention b/c of this project. We are always looking for ways to engage kiddos and most of the time, we look for things that they participate in now; paintball, football, art, etc. BUT this article said an even better way to motivate kids, is to look at what concerns they have or anxieties. Isn’t that the truth? After watching their enthusiasm with this project and how much work they had to put in on the last day of school – I think the article has something good to say. I think next year, I want to find out more of their concerns and anxieties and teach to that! What teacher doesn’t need a little more motivation for students.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/a-curriculum-of-concerns-mark-phillips (check out article)
