Feelings – Reading Rainbow and coding

Flip your classroom with Reading Rainbow.  In this episode, students are invited to explore their emotions by reading a book and reflecting on their experience.

http://vimeo.com/6239908

Many activities could be done around this episode, including expressing emotions and what is important to a student with coding and relating to mathematics.

feelings
https://c.gethopscotch.com/p/w2p2c-p

 

Flip numeracy in the world

It is a book and it is a YOUTUBE video.

http://www.amazon.ca/Si-terre-etait-un-village/dp/2762516978/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404052403&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=si+la+terre+etait+un+village+2nd+edition

In order to be successful, do start ups, address current problems and issues, we need to know the situation of the world.  Is my current problem really important in the light of the whole world.  Would I redirect my energies if I knew the world in a better light?  This is a good example of social studies question:  where does Canada fit in the world?  In order to code this program, grade 4 students need to understand numeracy.  In Canada and the U.S. there are only 5% of the world population.  In Asia, it is 60%.  Does this surprise anyone?

pop terre

Code Nation sur Terre:   https://c.gethopscotch.com/p/6ztvhix

Here it is what it looks like with a dot representing 1 person in the village of 100.

pop asie

 

code pop asie

 

get bigger

 

 

Code population Asie:  https://c.gethopscotch.com/p/qwoiume

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listening Post

Some of my comments were published in the Listening Post from Al-Jazeera, a few years ago.

Whether we like it or not, our students are in touch with what is going on in their lives, on the radio and television, in their parent’s lives and their family’s lives.  Our classroom are made of students who come from the entire world, so what happens in one country far away  might affect a young model student in ways we may not be aware of.  Students bring to class the ideas they hear at home, even if it was not on the curriculum.  Those experiences cannot be ignored and many times need to be discussed as they come up in the classroom, even if we did not plan for that.  The teacher needs to be aware of what is affecting their class in order to be effective.

My students come from all over the world, including Egypt.  I know, when we learn the ancient civilization unit, and we discuss Egypt, current events facing Egypt may come up.  The teacher better be prepared to address and discuss these issues in class.  The following link is not meant for the student, but for the teacher to be aware of what is happening around the world, for the well being of their students.  This episode of the Listening Post discusses the events in Egypt where reporters are being jailed for doing their jobs.  Students hear those horrific news in the morning on the radio or from their parents.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2014/06/caged-cairo-where-journalism-crime-2014628115412729805.html

If issues are known by the teacher, students feel included.  If their experiences are addressed, encouraged and welcomed, it allows students to build a good relationship with the teacher and the rest of the class.  It is a source of motivation when their experiences are validated.  Encouraging students to take risks and include their experience in the classroom place them more in control of their lives. It builds an opportunity for students to make better decisions instead of feeling like a victim.

Here’s an example of a product after a grade 4 math lesson  on patterns that may be healing for some students:

Free AJ staff

Here’s the code:
https://c.gethopscotch.com/p/ye1gx8aec

 

Nature, the source of inspiration – patterns

https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_parcak_archeology_from_space

In this TED talk, Sarah Parkak discuss as a child she searched for seashell on the beach and looked for patterns.  It developed into  a passion for archaeology and using space infrared technology to find lost treasures in Egypt.  She wants to share this technology so Egyptians themselves can find their lost treasures.

My angle is that at the basis of technology is coding.  Technology would not be possible without coding.  Here is a first easy program coding patterns.
https://c.gethopscotch.com/p/wsrnjjm

early patterns

 

 

Flipped classroom with Magic bus, Math, Hopscotch, infrared

Watching the program “The magic school bus” (in the French language) can be a source of knowledge for students.  They can learn French, science and inquiry at the same time.  The following link: Le Bus Magique – Il y a un lézard discusses the temperature of warm and cold blooded animals.  Students can watch the program at home the night before the class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U9_pqZdXwY

At school, students can do an experiment to see what is the temperature of animals in different environments.  They can record their finding and plot graphs of their result using Hopscotch.  The infrared camera is very useful to SEE temperature.

IR_0197 IR_0200 IR_0194 IR_0195

The first picture a the lizard in its environment.  It is the same color, same temperature.  The infrared camera cannot distinguish it from its environment.  The second picture, we take the lizard and place it on the floor.  The human hand is next to it.  We see the contrast between the lizard and the new environment.  The third picture is of a tortoise.  We can see its head is colder.  The fourth picture is of a snake held in the hands of someone.

These pictures were taken at Big Al’s  http://www.bigalscanada.com/

The classroom could be setup with lizards, turtles, snakes.  The animals could come from outside and viewed for a brief period and returned outside.  The animals could also be observed in their natural environment.

Here’s the Hopscotch code for the Temperature graphs.
https://c.gethopscotch.com/p/3hgmvc-

 

infrared

 

 

“Provide an uncommon experience for your students and ….

“Provide an uncommon experience for your students and they will reward you with uncommon effort and attitude.”

prodigy

In the last week of school, I am not asking my students to code.  We are having a relaxing week.  Art, swimming, drama, some reading, talking.

I still however have a student who is trying hard to code with his own device using Hopscotch.  I am not sure if is because he sees his work on YouTube or because he knows it is meaningful.  But Lo and Behold, he is still happily coding  in the last days of school, when most students are just thinking of summer.    He has learned in his Math Class about Prodigy, a math game.  I do not yet know this game but the student is attempting to code the game he has been playing.  I find the idea fascinating.

https://c.gethopscotch.com/p/xxfkvxs

 

 

Grade 3 students creating books for grade 1 students

Using grade 1 texts as a model, grade 3 students were asked to created books for their grade 1 friends.  The Alpha-Jeune kit was used as model grade 1 books.

http://education.scholastic.ca/category/ALPHAJEUNES_GUIDED

The books were created using Hopscotch, narrated with ExplainEverything and published with YouTube.

Here are two examples:

Mes livres:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuK76dGdnbE

and la famille des oursons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWlGOF0Jufg

 

Student were placed in  a position of leadership in this project where they were asked to model how to read a book.  In the first example, the student even underlined the words as they were read.

 

Student-created stories on Youtube

With Hopscotch, ExplainEverything and Youtube, students can create online books for students.  The books were created with Hopscotch Code, ExplainEverything for the audio/video and Youtube to make it public.

Here are two student-created examples.

Le site de Su Song, a historical tale from China:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynHkKnjArLQ

 

An historical scientific story about Isaac Newton:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V14iQ3J80Eo

The books could be used to create a Francophone online library of student created material.  Students feel quite proud when their work is so good that it can be published online.  Authentic work is a source of motivation.