Flip Book due Monday 5th June

Your homework this week will be to make a mini flipbook.

You can visit this link for instructions http://www.nga.gov/kids/stella/activityflip.htm#sequence

You can also visit here http://home.att.net/~RTRUSCIO/FLIPBOOK.htm

So get some paper and make one. I want you to use at least 10 pages.

Check out this link to see some videos of some really amazing flipbooks. http://www.flippies.com/gallery.htm

Please make a post to your blog about your flipbook.

Well Done GGM!

Today we got our Mac Mini computer using GGM money. It is now working and we will use it to do a lot of wonderful things. I am very keen to explore the program called Garage Band. Tomorrow on Wednesday we will learn to play Beethoven's 9th Symphony on the recorder and I will record this using Garage Band. I will teach the students how to add sound loops to make complete musical masterpieces!

Welcome to Moodle!

Today in the school labcom, the Grade 3 tried out the learning platform Moodle. I have made a virtual classroom online for Grade 3. It was quite exciting for the kids to try this new tool. I have put 3 tasks on there. There are 2 kinds of forums and one assignment. Click here to go to our Anak-Online www.anak-online.com

Next week we will teach the parents of Grade 3 how to use this tool. All Grade 3 parents are invited to come to the labcom next Wednesday at 1.30pm for eLearning training. I hope to see you there!

A Slideshow About My Family

Thanks to Vanessa for this great link. You can get your own by clicking the link above. We will use this next week for our Moodle task.

My Masters EDU 5471 Update

Wow so much is going on at the moment. I have to participate in an online debate with the people in my class from all over the world. I am on the PRO team and the debate is about 'Computers in schools SHOULD be placed in classrooms and NOT in labs.'
My persepctive is that if the computers are stuck in labs the students can only access them once or twice a week. If they are in the class they can be used as tools whenever needed. I wish that I had 5 computers in my classroom. Oh what I could do if that were the case! I don't acually need a computer per child. I prefer to use them in small groups so that the students can work collaboratively. I have one computer, SIGH which I use all the time in my teaching.

I have been so busy setting up a learning platform for my wonderful Grade 3 students to try out. I am using Moodle which is open source and very good. USQ, my university plans to switch from WebCT to Moodle next year. I have hired a hosting site with 100MB which has cost me Rp275.000 for a year. It's not that great but I only want to trial this. I hope that I can get my school to become interested in Moodle for our PYP. The MYP is intent on using Google Apps which is totally free. I have my reservations about free because Blogger is free and doesn't work that welll. Also you get bombarded with ads in Google Apps that are not suitable for my students. As well as this one of the MYP students has already successfully hacked into the school's Google Apps. Moodle is much more secure. It is being used by so many educational institutions. I like it because my students will be safe inside protected by username and passwords that I will provide.

My problem this weekend is, although I've got an ICT person helping me out at home (he's not free either!), it is really hard to figure out how to integrate Moodle with ELGG. I want to use ELGG because it will allow my students to create ePortfolios which are multimedia.

Anyway, on Monday I will tell my students in Grade 3 all about this. I will arrange a time during the week to have a special lesson in the lab with their parents to introduce them to Moodle. I set up accounts for the parents as well. The parents will have a special forum which is only able to be viewed by them. They will also have access to see all of the kids' work too. My students will get a forum and be able to submit their work to me via Moodle. Now if I can just get the ELGG to work they can have blogs in there too.

I am really keen to make eLearning a part of my regular teaching program. I think that other teachers in my school would be interested in this too. I know that I already have ibu Shirley converted!

Beethoven's Ode to Joy

I have found this really cool page with Beethoven's music that we will learn to play on Monday. Don't forget to bring your recorders to school! Here is the link: http://www.musiccorner.co.uk/images/free/odetojoy.htm

You will need to download the player to see the music.

Then you can learn to play the music whilst it plays with sound on your computer.

How cool is that?

How well do you know your teacher?

Create your own Friend Test here

Hi Grade 3,

Try this test and I will see who knows me the best. 10 bonus English points if you get 100%. You can follow the link and make one for your blog too. Ask your parent's first as you have to put in your email address to become a member. Thank you to Melvin who found this quiz and used it on his exhibition blog.

Mrs. Jane

This Week in Grade 3

As usual we had a busy week in Grade 3. Just to be clear you need to have these things posted on your blog by Monday morning:

• Your musical instrument plan using pictures or mindmap. You must make the instrument that you made a commitment to make. If you read the rubric you will see that it doesn't have to look like the real version of the instrument but it must work. I will teach you how to play it. I myself, am making a guitar.


• Your Cup-A Phone writing from class with a diagram/picture that you have made yourself using any program that is on your computer. You must save it as a jpeg image and upload it to your blog. Can you explain what program you used to make the picture?


• Post 5 comments on your friends' blogs about their Cup-A Phone writing. Try to choose people who you usually don't comment on. Make sure that everyone gets a comment.

I will assess the mud research this weekend and put your results in the post comment.

Our Experiment about Sound

Today in class we made an experiment about sound. This is in connection with our first inquiry into 'What is sound?"

We wrote our inquiry results together as a class.
Here is our work:

The Cup-A-Phone
How does it work?

• The string has to be tight and straight.


• You need two people.


• Sound travels in waves.


• When the string is loose you cannot hear your friend talking.


• If someone grabs the string the sound will stop.


• You can hear your friend’s voice and also feel the vibration.

Our Instrument Rubric due Friday 11th May

Hi Grade 3,
Here is our rubric from class today. 3 = 3 points, 2= 2 points and 1 = 1 point. Your total is 9.

The Function
How can we use it?
3. It works. It is strong and able to make a big sound.
2. It works a bit but the sound is not loud.
1. It doesn’t work at all.
Form
What does it look like?
3. It has to be well made. Colourful, with decoration.
2. It has 2 colours only, has no decoration and has some untidy parts.
1. It looks very messy. Only one colour.
Understanding
How do we know?
3. We must be able to explain about how we made it. How we can use it. Explain how we got our ideas.
2. We know about the instrument but we cannot share our knowledge very well.
1. We cannot say how we made it. We don’t know how we got the ideas.

Please put your plan on your blog. You can make a mind map with any program or use kidspiration. You can download it for a free trial for 30 days from the Internet. Here is the link :
http://www.inspiration.com/freetrial/index.cfm

The Grade 3 Were Teachers Today

Today Grade 3 all became teachers! They taught the Grade 6 how to improve their blogs. You might think that Grade 6 should know more than Grade 3, but actually when it comes to using blogs - mostly the Grade 3 know more. This is because Grade 3 have been using blogs since early March 2007.

I paired up all the students. For a full hour everyone worked on sharing their knowledge about using the Blogger.com platform. It was a very productive lesson. Initially some students were a little hesitant but once they got into it, all the awkwardness was forgotten.

I think that it was very successful. These children got to know one another better and got to share their knowledge in a meaningful way. Everyone has agreed to 'visit' each other's blogs. Such is the power of eLearning!

Make a Musical Instrument Out of Junk

Check out this link http://www.physics.unc.edu/~mcneil/stringinst.html

Hi Grade 3,
Your task for homework this week is a little bit different. You need to make a musical instrument out of recycled stuff. Decide if your instrument will be for melody or percussion. We will make an orchestra. Tomorrow, we will make a rubric to help us understand the expectations for the instrument.

Remember the Internet Rules.

I just wanted to remind all of you again.

1. Never put your phone numbers, full name or house address in your blogs.
2. Always use your best manners (netiquette – internet manners) when posting messages on your friend's blogs and using emails.
3. Tell your parents and Mrs Jane or Ibu Shirley if you get any strange comments posted on your blog or sent to you by email that you don't understand or make you feel uncomfortable.
4. Never tell anyone your password (except Mum and Dad! - they should know)
5. Remember to keep safe from virus by following Disney Safe Swell Island
6. The information on the Internet can be true and false so don't believe everything.
7. Always ask Mum and Dad first before going on line.
8. Only post free animations and images. Make sure that you don't use something from a CD unless it is a free image. You don't want to break copyright!
9. Write using your own words - don't copy and paste! Always include an alphabetical bibliography. (Bibliography should include pictures sources as well)
10. Consider carefully what personal photos you publish on your blogs as the Internet can be accessed by anyone.

Please help each other to remember these agreements. Report any concerns to your parents or your teachers.

John's New Bike

Grandad and Grandma gave John a new bike. What do you think?

Happy First Birthday, Baby John!

Layouts & Images

Is this true?

The Brothers Grimm

In bookweek we will study the folktales of Germany and Switzerland. I have found a great website for you to go and visit. I want you to read the story about the Brementown Musicians and the story about Faithful John. They are interractive and a lot of fun. Here is the link http://www.brementownmusicians.com/en/main

Another famous story from the Brothers Grimm is Cinderella. You will get a BIG surprise if you read this version. The step sisters actually CUT their feet so that they could fit them into the GOLDEN slipper. The link is here http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html

A Special Task

Hi Grade 3,
All of your blog homework is due on Friday, 4th May. I have one more task for you this week. I need everyone to visit Rinaka's blog to comment on his 'Sorry' post. Rinaka needs our supporting comments so that he can learn not to ever again copy and paste from his friend's work and pretend that it is his own. I have reminded you all about the Internet rules. I think that this is an opportunity for all of us to remember to be open and honest just like

God wants us to be.

Christian Glitter by www.christianglitter.com

Upload Your Creative Writing to Your Blog

Create a Myspace LED Scroller

Hi Grade 3,
Please upload your creative writing that we did today in class to your blogspot. You need to include a picture. Please visit 5 of your friend's blogs and leave a comment.
Make sure that everyone has at least one comment about this post.
You need to give a mark out of 10. This is called peer assessment.
You must look for correct spelling, interesting words, past tense, paragraphs and creative writing by making comparisons. Please explain to the person about the mark that you have given them.