Community

This first month of community we spent a lot of time generating ideas of what our community is.  It was interesting noticing how kids didn't realize that we have a lot of different communities that we belong to (and how in each of those we have different responsibilities).  We noticed in Nate's video that he stressed the importance of a strong community is how they help each other.  We focused on that theme and accepted Nate's challenge.  He challenged us to think of ways that we can help the different communities that we belong to.  We created a classroom version together to generate ideas and the kids continued on their own by creating slideshows (in the Keynote app) to demonstrate and challenge themselves to help out in their communities.  As students complete a challenge they can take their picture and attach it to their Keynote slide.  I think this is a perfect way to lead into the second month of Community which I hope to broaden their understanding of community to a larger scale of our city and even a global approach.

As a side note I am always a firm believer that kids can do anything if they have the right motivation.  I had a naysayer tell me that my students were too young to use the Keynote app and that they wouldn't use it appropriately.  They loved the app and have found so many cool features to make it engaging for others to see.  I have attached some screenshots of their Keynotes (which really doesn't do them justice).  I definitely need to record them because they made them so interactive and what a fun way to learn about all the ways that we can help our community!!  We will for sure be sharing these with (anyone that we can!!).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.7
Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8

Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.4
Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.