This term, groups of Stage 2 students have been creating explanations, narratives and procedures in storyboard format, and then presenting them as online PowerPoint slideshows, based on the picture book characters and themes in “Bear & Chook” and “Bear & Chook by the sea” (by Lisa Shanahan & Emma Quay).
When this unit of work started, we completed a “pre-test” survey and, now, here are our “post-test” responses to the same questions.
From the students of 3M @ Penrith PS:
* Do you have the Internet at home?
Yes: 4; No: 3; Don’t know: 0.
* What is a blog?
A website that helps kids understand stuff.
People say questions and answers on the Internet.
You can send messages to others, like email, but everyone can share it on the blog.
Any school with the Internet can see what is on the blog, as a way of getting more information.
A website that is used in book raps x 3.
* What have we learned by doing this activity?
How to use a blog and a book rap x 4.
More about the characters of “Bear & Chook” and why they are such good friends.
How to create storyboards and improve our writing skills.
Slideshows are a good way to share our ideas.
We talked about the things we didn’t understand in the books (like Chook’s hanky hat!).
How to put things on the Internet.
How to make very easy special effects (SPFX) out of cardboard, toys, sticky tape and using “Insert a text box” in PowerPoint x 2.
How to research and use technical language in our writing.
How to search “Youtube” with Mr McLean to find short filmclips for our research.
Making our work more interesting.
From the students of 4/5M @ Penrith PS:
* Do you have the Internet at home?
Yes: 6; No: 1; Don’t know: 0.
* What is a blog?
A place where you can search for things you don’t know and chat with people in other schools.
A place where you can search under your personal log-in, with people all over the world.
You can put stuff on it so other people can see it.
You can write to people you’ve never met before and they can write back.
A website where people can say if they think your things and pictures are good or bad.
* What have we learned by doing this activity?
How to use the IWB and blogs.
How to search for “Youtube” videos with the teacher.
How to cooperate with each other when planning our storyboard or bringing props from home.
Able to get better at making storyboards.
Help the little kids to understand “Bear & Chook by the sea” in the book rap next term.
To create something you’ve never done before.
To learn about blogs.
To learn the technical language of dancing the cha cha and belly dancing so people understand.
You need to know technical language to explain things so it’s not boring.
You might not understand the topic if it has no technical words.
If the technical language is so important, why didn’t we add a glossary? (Edit: So we did! To several of the slideshows!)
* What have we learned about Bear and Chook?
That people can be friends with anyone.
That when the picture showed four polar bears in the sea it was all the same bear, just like in a storyboard.
We should be kind to each other, then together you can do anything you want.
We should help each other.
No troubles will stop you from the destination you want to reach. (Edit: Wow!)
Bear and Chook had great team work, and so did we.
