- Do our best at all times
- Keep our hands and feet to ourselves
- Treat others the way we want to be treated
- Take care of our own and other people's things
Welcome!
My name is Ms. Shori and I am a technology teacher at a wonderful place called Corliss Public School in ON Canada. If little people's big talents amaze you, then you share my feelings. The marvels we create using two things called Technology and Imagination will thrill you, I'm sure! We would appreciate comments about our work because we believe not only in retelling and relating but also in reflecting.
Thanks for dropping by!
Our Grade 5 students learnt about the Digestive System in a really neat way this year. They used Google Sketchup to create 3-D animations of the system. It was wonderful to see them maneuvering around the complex software to create meaningful, appealing animations. They then gave a tour through the system with screencasting programs – some liked ScreenR while most preferred Jing. On the side they were engaged in purposeful conversations about the topic using an online discussion forum – Pepper. It was amazing to see how technology can transform teaching and learning in some cool ways.
Here are some animation screencasts for you to watch and comment on, as you enjoy each student’s individual creativity and innovation:
The Grade 1 students decided to teach their kindergarten friends how to count up to 20 by using pictures of things that they remembered seeing during the winter. Here is their digital Winter Number Book:
Here come the Grade 3 and 4 students to tell you their thoughts about what they know about computers already and what they are looking forward to knowing as the year goes on. Check out what they have to say:
While Mrs. Cies’ and Mrs. Brown’s Grade 1 classes were learning to be respectful, their teachers read them the story of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. The students made connections to how the story has examples of respect in it. For the school assembly, they showed the school the following video made out of pictures that they drew about the story (using the program Pixie) read out loud in their own voices. So, turn up your computer volume and enjoy the story:
Our Kindergarten students have a clear idea of cooperation, it seems. They made pictures to show cooperation and then recorded a description of those pictures in the following video that they then presented at our school assembly:
Students who are participating in Silver Birch 2011 (Fiction) are now welcome to contribute to the following Voicethread. After you have read the book and have had an interview with a teacher about it, please select the title of your book from the Voicethread below and leave your comments – either as an audio comment, typed comment or even a doodle!
It’s time to learn about Sound, Grade 4s! You will be visiting the following websites to find out some information about how ‘sound’ works. If the words are too hard to read yourself, use the ‘Reader’ button at the top of your page.
At the end, you will be leaving comments to share what you have learnt. As usual, extra credit will be given to making connections with the world, other books or with your own life.
The value of the month for January at our school is Honesty. As the Grade 1s learnt about what honesty means, their teacher Ms. Cies read them the famous story of Pinocchio! Being 21st century learners, they then got to make a digital story about Pinocchio in the computer lab with Ms.
Shori. Hope you like it!
Please visit the following websites to learn more about Light and how it works. As you learn and do the activities, try to think of ‘how’ and ‘why’ something happens. When you’re done, leave a comment to tell us what you have learnt. Extra credit will be given for making connections.
This Christmas, you get an opportunity to visit the following website and explore it. See what you can do around in Santa’s house on the North Pole. Before you leave, make sure you leave a comment to this post to tell us your thoughts (what you did or what you think or something interesting related to what you explored)! Have fun.
Focussing on the Corliss Value of the month ‘Responsibility’, the grade 2 students in Ms. Banu’s class decided to share some ways in which they are responsible. They created pictures of their responsibility acts using Kidpix in the computer lab. They then recorded their words using Audacity. The pictures and sounds were put together on Frames to create a class movie that was later shown at the school assembly as well. Check out these proud, responsible students:
After visiting the following links to understand the states of matter, the grade 5s will leave a comment to summarize what they learnt. (Extra credit will be given to students who are able to make connections and give examples from real life as well):
Mr. Bhogal’s Grade 4s decided to show respect to their teachers and to thank them for all they do, on World Teacher’s Day: Oct 5th. In pairs or groups, they wrote a few lines for a class poem. In the computer lab, they recorded the words and found some pictures to go with their words. Enjoy their presentation!
Grade 2B is proud to have learnt some excellent drama words this year with Ms. Shori, that they are now going to be sharing with us. They have used Kidpix to draw and write and Voicethread to record their comments. Enjoy!
Ms. Sargent’s Grade 1 students were really excited about the Winter Olympics. They had been watching some parts of the games on their classroom projector and at home. In the computer lab with Ms. Shori, they decided to make pictures showing some of their excitement. We added some music to the slides (track titled “Goal” by George Wood taken from www.podsafeaudio.com). Here is our e-book for you to enjoy!!
Click here to check it out on the full screen: Olympics Movie
While studying Media Literacy with Ms. Shori, the grade 2 and 3 students from Ms. Gonsalves’ class and Mr. Mohammed’s class learnt about advertising tricks and how ads are posted in various places to target various types of audiences. They then got creative and started to design their own ads. In the following videos, you can see the ads they created selling A GLASS OF WATER!
(They used Kidpix for designing. The sound effects were later taken from findsounds.com and the title picture was taken from freedigitalphotos.net).
Ms. Shori would like to thank Ms. Sutherland of Toronto District School Board for giving her this idea!!
The Grade 5 students in Ms. Hager’s class have just started to learn about Ancient Egypt. They are excited to share some new words they’re coming across. We worked for the first time on Voicethread for this assignment, so some students have only shared one word instead of two. But it’s a great try. Have a look yourself:
Ms. Hager’s Grade 4/5 class has been working on creating a joke book for their class. They told their jokes colourfully on Bitstripsforschools.com. Here are their teacher’s top 8 picks. Share a good laugh with them.
Forest of Reading 2010 is here! And we’re going to get started soon! Let’s get ready to read some new books, review them, comment on them and then vote for them!!
Check out the titles in the following podcast created by the Computer Club for their wonderful library teacher, Ms. Tomasevic. Spiced up with some music by George Wood (Seeing the Light) taken from PodSafeAudio.com, the clip takes you into the wonderful world of Blue Spruce and Silver Birch! Happy Reading!!
In Social Studies, Ms. Front’s Grade 5 learnt about how an ordinary bill becomes a famous law in the Senate. They then represented their learning through a comic strip created using the online program “BitStripsForSchools”, which helped their creativity come to life. Below are their teacher’s top 5 picks. Now, don’t they really deserve an applause?
(If you can’t read some of the comics clearly due to their smaller size, you can zoom in by holding the CTRL key and + key at the same time until it is big enough for you! To go back to the original size hold CTRL and – keys together.)
In October, Grade 2s decided that they’re going to teach their Kindergarten friends numbers from 1 through 20. So, each student picked a number between 1 and 20 and put together some pictures and some sounds to spice it up. Check out their video:
These enthusiastic Grade 2s in Ms. Maharaj’s class set out to tell everyone that they’re happy! They drew, they wrote, they spoke and they had fun! In the end, each one got to get a CD of his or her “I am Happy” video to show off to family and friends!!
The video podcast that follows is a mish-mash of all of them saying “I am Happy”. Enjoy!
For Drama, the students in Grade 2 read a book called ‘Late for Supper’ (by Lalie Harcourt and Ricki Wortzman, published by GageLearning) with Ms. Shori. The book is about a boy named Marcus who is looking for his dog Boots and is afraid that he might be late for supper. The students took on the roles of various characters in the story. They then put on an audio play using the program Audacity. Sit back and enjoy!!
Ms. Gonsalves’ Grade 1 and 2 love their school, their class, their teachers, their friends and everything they do!! They would like to say their peppy goodbyes for this year in this audio clip.
Corliss Public School participated this year in ExploraVision – a contest which is more than just a contest! It calls for young minds to think of innovations in Science that could change the face of the world in the future. Schools from all across United States and Canada participate in this contest every year with the guidance of their teacher coach. We are proud to announce that our very first attempt in this prestigious contest has brought us an honourable mention award! The Grade 5 team is very excited and can’t stop talking about it. So, I just passed them the microphone and here’s the result (pepped up with some great music from the track titled “Goal” by George Wood, taken from PodsafeAudio) !!
A grade fiver has put together a list of some animals that are kept as pets. What’s so unusual about it? Well, check it out and see for yourself which animals have made their way to this post!
Ms. Shori’s Grade 1 Reading Initiatives group read the book The Lazy Pig (by Beverly Randell). They have captured the morning scene at the farm in their voices and pictures that they drew using the software Kidspiration. Enjoy the video clip!
Everyone likes dogs. This grade 5 student wants to bet though, that she likes them most of all! She’s got a bunch of visuals and some audio for you to check out the ‘cuteness’ of dogs for yourself.
Grade 3s have learnt what happens in Urban communities as opposed to Rural communities. They’re all ready to share some facts with us in their groups. Go ahead, little friends with your honks and hoots, and chirps and moos! We’re all ears!
Story-time is over for these Grade 2 students! As part of their Reading Initiatives program, they have been reading some non-fiction texts and are now all ready to come tell you what non-fiction texts are all about! For real! We hope you enjoy listening to them in this audio clip.
Okay, so it’s not Halloween time and won’t be for a good 10 months! Does that mean this grade fiver can’t see his scary work published until then? No way! Here he comes with the sound effects all by himself! Don’t laugh, get scared!
With festivity in the air, who can blame two bubbly Grade 4 and 5 students for deciding to make a video about Christmas! Jazzed up with a little music and pictures (courtesy: publicdomainpictures.net, freedigitalphotos.net, freeplaymusic.com), their own voices will give you a good feel of the holiday tradition! The students are getting comfortable with Movie Maker as well, as you will notice!
While focussing on values, our students learn a lot of good things. This month, they learnt many ways in which they could show respect. They even did some artwork in the Computer Lab using Kidpix to demonstrate what they had learnt. Here comes Corliss with its designs. Let’s hear it out in their own voices!
Our school chooses a value every month to focus on and students are given credit for getting caught demonstrating it. For this month, the goal for everyone was to show “Respect”.
The computer club which meets twice a week in the computer lab, took on the task of making a small presentation for the school. It’s their first attempt based on a poem titled “Respect” by Anders Lim (credited in the video) and has been a great success at our school! Enjoy the show!
States of Matter
November 4, 2010 by corlissdesigns · 29 Comments · School Stuff
After visiting the following links to understand the states of matter, the grade 5s will leave a comment to summarize what they learnt. (Extra credit will be given to students who are able to make connections and give examples from real life as well):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/solid_liquids_fs.shtml#top
http://www.catie.org.uk/testing_time_index.html
http://fossweb.com/modulesK-2/SolidsandLiquids/activities/changeit.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/9_10/gases_fs.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/6_7/grouping_materials.shtml
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/science/changing_matter/index.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/characteristics_materials_fs.shtml
Tags: comments·grade 5·links·states of matter