Perimeter and Area paper slide videos: done!

After a lot of hard work, the Perimeter and Area paper slide videos that the students have worked on are finished, and ready for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments below, and let the students know what you think of their work (both what you thought they did well, and maybe something they could improve on for next time) - thanks!

Perimeter and Area - Zoey, Connor, Taylor, Julius, and Emma from Jeff Hoeppner on Vimeo.

Perimeter and Area - Taryn, Kayleigh, Brady, and Kaylynne from Jeff Hoeppner on Vimeo.

Perimeter and Area - Nadja, Emily, Nolan, Jaida, and Steven from Jeff Hoeppner on Vimeo.

Perimeter and Area - Kaelyn, Sara, Austin, Braedon, and Josh from Jeff Hoeppner on Vimeo.

Perimeter and Area - Faith, Riley, Zach, Easton, and Maegehn from Jeff Hoeppner on Vimeo.

Science: Design Process finished projects (Forces and Sound)

After weeks of hard work, today was the day that the students shared their Science projects they had been working on. The students used the design process to take what they had learned about Forces to create toys (Gr. 3), and instruments to show what they had learning about Sound (Gr. 4). The students were really proud of their projects, and were excited to share their creations with the class - here are a few photos of this morning's festivities (for those of you who are parents of Room 18 students, all of the projects will be available for viewing next week, as part of student-led conferences).

Genius Hour: brainstorming

A while back, we talked about Genius Hour, and I challenged the students to think of some things they might like to learn more about. Today, some of the students shared their ideas. Some of the ideas were spot on, and some needed some tweaking - they were either too narrow in scope (something that could be done with a 30-second Google search), or too broad (one of the students had the idea of researching the human body - that could take years to do!). The next step in the process (after the rest of the students tweak their ideas) is to figure out a way to share their learning with their classmates (we'll be looking at that in the next week). In the meantime, here are some of the ideas that the students are thinking of, for their first Genius Hour projects:

- Cavemen (how they lived, hunted, dressed, etc.)

- Skinks or Komodo dragons (lizards in the wild)
- Snakes (how they shed their skin, eat, move)
- a history of cameras (interested in film cameras)
- how people might be able to live on Mars
- pioneers (how they lived, traveled, etc.)
- different ways Christmas is celebrated around the world, and what they celebrate where they don’t celebrate Christmas
- tigers (different kinds, evolution, how many are left, what they eat, etc.)
- monkeys (different kinds, what they eat, what they do, etc.)
- the Internet (how/when did it begin, what exactly it is, etc.)

Perimeter and Area paper slide videos: filming!

Today was the finally the day when the students filmed their Perimeter and Area paper slide videos! They started off by rehearsing their different jobs (camera operator, narrator, producer, slide inserter, and slide remover) in the classroom. After that, it was off to the open area by the Before-and-After space, where the groups could spread out (and where there was some carpet, to cut down on the noise/echoing) to film their videos. All of the groups did a number of takes, and have indicated to me which one they felt was their best. Once I get a chance to sort through them, I will post them on the blog (likely later this week). Stay tuned for the final product - until then, here are some action shots of each of the groups engaged in the filming process...