Final Version of Concept Map

Final Concept Map Rough Draft

The only thing I could think of adding was "Weeded". :) Let me know what else you guys think should go in there.

adding podcast

hey ladies,
I am having a hard time getting my podcast on the website. I added it in the attachments part but I do not know how to get it to work right. Also do they all need to be put together or can they be seperate like we have them? If either of you know how to get it to work could you let me know or if we need to post it through youtube, just let me know
thanks, Angel

Module #10

Happy rainy Wednesday!

We have our final concept map as well as our team website that are due April 25th. I'd like to get started on them soon because I'm going to be moving for the rest of the month (between Curtis and me). That way I can work on it whenever I have free time. The website has a lot of details too!

I pulled this from the Module just for a reminder (and a quicker glance):

Remember, the target for this web site is for teachers. It will contain information and resources on how to implement project-based learning, walking students through the process of a a specific project. The web site should be developed in a clear, logical way with activities, examples, etc.

NOTE: You will be graded down if your team creates pages according to assignments -- as stated above, this web site should be developed in a clear, logical way so a teacher could use it to go through the steps to teach this unit.

NOTE: There should not be a resource page ..... everything should be plugged in to appropriate areas and it should be presented in a clear and logical order.

This should get us started at least. Please post any ideas that you guys have! I'll be thinking about it as well. Just wanted to get this is the blog early. Hope you both are having a fantastic week!

Katie

Podcast

Hey ladies!

I hope you two are having a wonderful sunny week. I've heard it's going to end tomorrow for a short time. :(

Any thoughts on how we should divvy up the podcast? Do you guys want to work together in the lab on it or even somewhere else on campus? Or would you rather just communicate through the blog and/or email? Just looking for suggestions and thoughts. (Plus our blog has probably felt a little neglected this week).

Hope you both are doing well this week!

Katie

Final Draft of Revised Concept Map

Concept Map Rough Draft

Hey-
Here is the rough draft of the concept map. If there is anything that either of you think should be changed or added let me know. I will check back later tonight and make any changes and then post the final copy.

2nd concept map

Hey ladies,
We are also supposed to revise our first concept map this week. I did the first one so the two of you will have to decide who wants to do it this time. The only part that I would add from the lesson that I have done is that plant have lifecycles, and then I would include the basic three stages of the lifecycle, seed - seedling - adult. I was also thinking about how we could add that plants differ by region, but Iam not sure exactly how to add that. Let me know if you need any more help with this.

Lesson Plan Two

So lesson plan two with Excel is due this Sunday. Have either of you decided what you are doing yours on yet? Directions for this week said that we were supposed to discuss in a post who is going to do what so that there are no repeats. I was going to continue off of the first lesson I did and have the students collect rainfall for the entire year (they were collecting it for just a month in my first lesson) for Michigan and Arizona. They would put their data into Excel and then graph it to get a better visual for the weather differences and growth patterns related to plant growth. Let me know if either of you have a problem with this or if it is too close to anything that you are already working on.

Week of 2/22/10

Happy Monday ladies!

This week's assignment of the MovieMaker movie is also individual. Let me know if either of you would still like to meet for open lab though.

I think I will keep my movie parallel with my lesson plan. I'll make a movie on the steps to planting the garden--but I don't know if I'm going to make it into a "story story" ...probably will. Post your thoughts and ideas and what topic you decide on as a comment so they all stay together. One more week until spring break!! :D

Have a great week! Stay warm! (stupid snow...)

Katie

Friday

Hello-
I know we talked about getting together this Friday for open lab and I was just wondering if you still wanted to do that since the projects this week are individual. Just let me know if yous still want to. Have a good week!
Dana

Task Stream

Hello-
Hope you guys are having a good week. I was just curious what you both are doing your lesson plan on so that I do not end up doing something similar. The directions said that no two group members can do the same thing. I have had a busy week and was going to write my lesson this weekend so if you could try to get back to me before then if you have already started working on something that would be great otherwise I will just post what I end up doing. Thanks!

Gardening--PBL ePals

Gardening

ePals: Project-Based Learning 

 

 

Who are the students your students will communicate with (specific location, grade level)?

A second grade class in Phoenix, Arizona

When would your students contact these other students (at what point in their project work)?

Our students will contact the other students in Phoenix at the beginning of the project so they can compare and contrast their entire gardening planning, process, and results.

What kinds of questions would they ask each other and what kinds of information would they share?

Our students will ask questions about temperature, climate, rainfall, and soil type. They will find out when the growing season is in Phoenix as well as special requirements that their gardens need, such as fertilizer or watering (irrigation) and how much and how often. Our students will share the same information as the questions they will ask.

 

Furthermore, both classes will collaborate once a week about the planning of the garden, the tools needed, what vegetation they're growing (maybe even try the same crops to see which grows better where!), and weekly updates--including pictures--on how the garden is doing along with the weather and if they've had to water or give any other special care to the garden. The students in each class can create a weekly log of temperature, weather, and plant growth and send them to each other at the end of the day on Friday or beginning of Monday.

 

The students will write a weekly reflection in their gardening journal about their gardening experience for that week. The students will then collaborate to create a single reflection to send to the other class with the weekly logs.

What will they do with the information they get from the other students?

Our students will keep a running comparison chart of the two gardens--pictures included. A Venn diagram can be used to compare the land in both cities. One can also be used to compare vegetation in the two gardens: do certain plants grow better in one city than the other? At the end of the project, the students both classrooms will write an individual summary about their gardening experiences. They will compare the outcomes of the two gardens--what was similar and what was different. They will use the pictures taken and their weekly data logs to support their responses.

Final Google Map

View Growing Our Gardens in a larger map


The students from both classrooms will use this map to compare the land between Kalamazoo, MI and Phoenix, AZ. They can look at different views of the map by clicking on "satellite" and "terrain". Zooming in on each city will also help them compare the land of the two cities--the similarities and the differences.

Adding our Doc and Map

I'm going to wait a couple more hours to submit our document and map, just in case either of you have more things to add/change. I want to make sure you've had enough time to look at it. I haven't heard from Dana yet.

Katie

Hey Ladies, what you put together looks great. I like how you put the information about what the students can use the map for right on the map. I did try to follow the roads with the first line I made but then it changed to the straight line, so thanks for adding the other line. Looks good and 2nd grade is fine with me.

ePals and Map (continued)

Hey ladies!

I edited the map a bit. I wasn't sure if Angelina wanted a straight shot line or one that followed the roads, so I created a "flying distance" and a "driving distance". I added descriptions into each box--the two cities and the two lines. Check them out and let me know what you think! If you both are fine with or (or make changes), let me know when you think it's complete and I will add it into our blog with a brief description about how the students will use the map.

As far as ePals.... I have no idea if we are actually supposed to contact another school or not... There is minimal information about ePals in the module. And nothing says that we need to contact someone/a class.

For the PBL Description in Google Docs:

I will be adding a document tonight answering the four specific questions she gave us. Take a look at that one too and add/change what you want to in my document. Let me know when it's final and I can publish that in the blog too!

Have a wonderful night,

Call me if you have questions early tomorrow (269) 317-8492. I won't be by a computer until later in the afternoon, but might be able to still help!

Katie

ePals and Maps

I went ahead and created an ePal account just in case we all need one. I looked at the map, the line from MI to AZ was on there. I think having students compare landscapes is a good idea this will make them think about growing conditions. Do either of you know what else we need to do to the map? Or do we just explain the way we are planning to use it with the lesson?

Google map

I recieved the mapp from Katie now I am just wondering what the two of you are thinking we should use the map for. I tried putting a line on the map from kazoo to phoenix, hopefully it worked, I don't know if that would be useful or not. Maybe the students could look st the satelite images on the map to notice the difference in landscape or something like that before they start ePals ex: MI is really green with lots of tree compared to Arizona. Then they could make some preditions

ePals

Do we each need to create an ePals account now? Module 4 doesn't specifically say anything about actually creating an account, but Kelsey said that we needed to... either of you know the answer? Either way, I have created an account on ePals.com. My ePal username is KatieS7911 (and email is katiesmith7911@gmail.com). I also started a google map and there should be a link in your email account!

Fridays

I am normally available on Fridays also, just not today. But if we want to get together some time that would be fine with me.

Fridays

I always have to work on Fridays until 1:30 but I would be able to meet up after that any Friday during the semester.

Open Lab for EDT

In case you two didn't know, there is an open lab on Fridays from 1-4 pm in Sangren, room 2202.

If either (or both) of you are free on a Friday and would like to meet up face-to-face, let me know! Plus we can ask questions if we have any. My Fridays are usually free.

-Katie

Compiled List of Websites

Here is a compiled list of everyone's websites:


Dana:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0218e/a0218e00.htm
http://www.kiddiegardens.com/
http://www.copper-tree.ca/garden/contact.html


Katie:

http://www.kidsgardening.org/

http://www.urbanext.illinois.edu/firstgarden/

http://questgarden.com/31/40/8/060723205949/process.htm

Angelina:

http://www.weekendgardener.net/

http://www.garden.org/home

http://www.bhg.com/gardening/

Google Document

Hey! I got Angelina's invite for the Google folder.

I was thinking about ideas to do for cultural understanding and global awareness. I am assuming we'll be using ePals for the project or was that just a suggestion? If we are doing early elementary we should definitely keep it within the United States. We could have them ask and discover about the other location's temperature, growing season, vegetation, gardening techniques, etc.


What are your suggestions? Any other ideas as well?

Module 4

Hey I went head and started a Google Document for us to use in Module 4 and I invited everyone so that we can start. What topic do we want to go with? I am also early childhood but I do not mind if anyone has an idea that they are really interested in doing.

So I was trying to post the websites that I picked so you guys knew which ones they were but I kept getting error messages. So I'll post them tomorrow I need to look at it a little bit more to see what I am doing wrong.

And I just wanted to let you guys know that I did not even realize that there were comments under some of the posts. Sorry this whole blogging thing is new to me but I am learning!! I just realized it today when I saw Katie's underneath my question from Tues. So I have got it now sorry again.

Question for you guys...

So I was reading the assignment again for this week and do you think that we are supposed to submit ALL of our web evaluations as one or are we supposed to just make sure that we put our own three assessments into one word document but each submit our own set of three separately? Let me know what you think. Thanks!

My Chosen Websites

Hey guys,


These are the websites that I found to evaluate:

http://www.kidsgardening.org/

http://www.urbanext.illinois.edu/firstgarden/

This is an actual WebQuest that could be used in the classroom--K-2 and 3-5 and it has links to the previously listed website.
http://questgarden.com/31/40/8/060723205949/process.htm

And I'm thinking we should have them evaluated and posted/emailed whatever we need to do by either Friday night or Saturday morning. How does that sound? That should be enough time to get everything into one document.

Hey guys!
Angelina the concept map looks great and I agree with you about photosynthesis, I do not think that we need to take it that far. I have not started evaluating any websites yet but I am going to start it soon. Should we pick sometime before Sunday to have them all done since we have to submit them as one word document? That way we can have them collected before the due date and I dont mind putting them all into one Word Document since that is the way that she wants it submitted into the drop box.

how is this?

Beginning draft for concept map

Hey, here is what I have so far. Basically i just used Katie's suggestions and linked them all together. If you have any ideas as to different links or any additions you want to make just let me know by Sunday afternoon or early evening. Also i don't know if we should go into photosynthesis or if that would be getting to off topic.

Website Evaluations

I started looking at what is due for next week, so i can get started, if neither of you mind I was going to evaluate...
http://www.weekendgardener.net/
http://www.garden.org/home
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/
If you have already started evaluations for any of these just let me know and i will find different ones.

Also, I just downloaded Kidspiration and I'll be starting the concept map probably in the morning.

Yeah I am also a little unclear on where to go with this. I looked at module 2 and it said this is going to be an on going project that we will be revising as needed so maybe started broad would be a good idea and then we could narrow everything down as we need to.
I do think that if we had to pick something to focus on growing fruits and/or vegetables would be fun. Kids have a great time planting and then watching a food grow, they can actually see a reward for their effort.
So we have to make a concept map and then attach it to our blog, correct? Katie it sounded like you were working on that do you need any help or should one of us be working on that? I like all the ideas that you had so far. Somethings that I think could be added to the concept map would be:

-Kinds of fruits or veggies (plants) like midwest vs tropical etc
-How often a plant would need to be watered
-How much sunlight/shade a plant needs to do the best

So i was woindering what we want to focus on when it comes to gardening. Do we want to talk about planting a vegtable garden, flowers or a variety of both. Do we want to look at how to arrange a garden or different gardening techniques. I guess I feel like gardening is sort of a big umbrella and could be divided up into many different parts. Let me know what you are thinking. I am not really sure where we are supposed to be going with this, Katie has a good start, I'm just not sure where to go next.

Some Brainstorming Ideas for Gardening

I have NO idea what grade level this is supposed to be or anything, so I've got some pretty basic items for the concept map. Let me know if I'm on the right track!! I'll list them by sections that way it's a little more organized. I have three main groups: Necessities for plants, what to plant, and tools:

Focus Idea: Gardening (obviously)

Necessities for plant life
Air
Soil
Water
Sunlight

What to plant
Seeds
-fruit
-vegetables
-flowers
-plants

Tools
Shovel
Hose/watering can

Hey!

Okay I made you an Admin. So I think we are all set, I'm just waiting to here from Angelina. My number if you need to reach me is (269) 325-1991

Hello!

Hello Dana! I made it in. :) Thanks for setting the blog up. If either of you need to get ahold of me quickly, my number is (269) 317-8492.

Katie