Using Sketchup in Grade 1 - Yes Grade 1!

Today the students in Grade 1 made virtual restaurants as the final activity in the current Unit of inquiry about Healthy Food. The students had already made food drawings using Kidpix and Keynote presentations about what's in their lunch boxes. Today we decided to be risk-takers and try using Sketchup. I was quite prepared to change the activity if it was too hard.



So what happened? Amazing things happened! I am a firm believer that if you can use technologies you should so long as the activity is age appropriate. Some teachers prefer to only use some programs with certain classes. I think that by the time the Grade 1 kids are in Grade 5 (when we usually introduce Sketchup) there will be new software developed anyway.

So we tried it. Only after a few basic instructions the kids were off and running. One boy had finished his base, roof and windows and then went ahead trying out the different fill textures. I told him to 'go for it' and not wait for the teacher.



Soon others were looking at his screen and asking for his help. Even the class teacher was learning from the students. Of course there were some kids that needed extra help and more time - but doesn't that always happen?

By allowing the kids to go ahead the task was quickly completed and the fast finishers were able to help out their friends (which they loved to do).

The results were very good and now the class teacher will repeat this activity during Maths lessons (connecting it with the current work on 3D shapes) to further develop their understanding and skills.

Digestion Lesson - 21st Century Style

This film clip was created by Grade 5 and has used parts of the Human Body episode from the Magic School Bus. The Grade 5 students were asked to take 1 minute of film and explain the digestion process by making a Photo Booth movie capture and inserting it into the film using the picture in picture technique. The students were asked to research the digestion process first, to develop the script for their voice over. As well as this the students added a sound track to fit with the action in the film. This clip was made by Ena. Each student in the class made their own movie.

Making a Music Video IT Lessons

Here are some initial results of the grade 10 IT project "Make a Music Video". I have uploaded Gillan's video to the SWA You Tube Channel. The footage has been captured by the students to match with the music track that they had chosen themselves. Each student in the class is making their own music video. This project was initially story boarded and then shot scene by scene.

Mr Bean Speaks Chinese?

At SWA we have three languages, English (language of instruction), Indonesian and Chinese. Chinese lessons are taught by native speakers and streamed into beginner, intermediate and advanced classes. I have been working with one of the five Chinese teachers at school over the past week. Rachel wanted to use more technology in her teaching to make the lesson more engaging for her students. She liked the idea of teaching the students to dub a movie.

The original idea was to take a Chinese movie but I suggested to use something that the students are more familiar with, like Mr Bean. Mr Bean has very little dialogue which makes it the perfect choice as students can create a voice over that explains what is happening rather than trying to match with a person speaking.

I asked the class of Grade 8 students to choose three different Mr Bean movies so we could download them from You Tube. The students chose the Camera One, The Baby One and The Swimming Pool One. The students were immediately engaged and started to ask for vocab that they didn't know.

We asked the students to take only 2 minutes of the clip and to add voice overs but this was allowed to be creative and not necessarily follow the original video. After that the students changed the Macbook International settings to ITABC for Chinese characters and created subtitles.

The end results have now begun to be published on the school LCD screens at the school cafes for the other students to watch. I have uploaded Marc's video here for you all to see. Chinese is a second language for Marc and I think that he has done exceptionally well. This video was shown recently in a shopping mall at the 21st Century Learner Seminar hosted by iMac (Apple) in Indonesia. It got a lot of attention and drew a big crowd.

What's My Lunch Today - Part 2

Today in Grade 1 the students continued with their Keynote presentations about the food that they eat for lunch.

To make their presentations even more interesting the students made video clips using the Macbook webcams about their lunch.










After the students had finished this task we went to Playnormous.com and played Lunch Crunch http://www.playnormous.com/gameplay_lunchcrunch.cfm
What a fun game! It is important that children learn about healthy eating so that they can make better food choices. Playnormous is a great site with lots of games and class activities that support the games on the site.

Grade 1 - What's My Lunch Today?

In Grade 1 today the students make an inquiry into what is in their lunchbox. The kids were easily able to photograph their food by holding it up to the laptops, capture it by using Photo Booth and then labeling the different food using Keynote. The kids then made a picture search to find similar food online. Take a look:

Grade 5 making a Keynote about the Padang Earthquake

Today the Grade 5 students made a collaborative presentation. The content was taked from different online sources. The students worked together on this presentation for our school assembly today to raise awareness about the recent earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra. SWA will collect money and goods that are needed for the victims of this terrible disaster.

Grade 2 - Kidspiration

Today Grade 2 used Kidspiration to record what they had made their family model out of. The family model was made as a part of the last UOI. This new UOI is all about different materials and their properties.

Grade 1 using the laptops from the cart

Here is Grade 1 in action. They are making food pictures using Kid Pix. Look at how engaged these kids are!