Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Extending our Artist in Residency Learning with Curriculum Connections!

At the end of April our whole school had the great opportunity to dance with Jeh Kulu as part of our Artist in Residency.  We also took a whole school field trip to the Flynn theater to see the African Children's Choir.  At the same time the second graders were kicking off a social studies unit which focused on comparing cultures.  During this comparative culture unit, students were thinking about many big questions--

--What is culture?
--How is culture the different and same around the world?
--How does your life/culture compare and contrast with other cultures?
--What are the major land and water features on the globe?

The Jeh Kulu visit was a great opportunity for us to make a connection to these essential questions by looking at what we had learned about West Africa.  I was excited when the second grade team asked if I would collaborate with students to create a digital book that shared student knowledge as they thought about culture and these topics.

Each class created a book using the iPad Application Book Creator.  I met with small groups and individuals as they created pages that represented the topics that they were interested in.  Students did a great job connecting to learning in their classroom about geography, sharing some of their knowledge and learning a new technology tool.  I had a great time meeting with students in small groups and getting to experience excellent conversations with them about culture.

Below is a book created by each class. You will notice that some format items are the same (the structure of the book) but that each book shares the unique perspective of the class and students. You will also find a lot of information that shows excellent critical thinking about the essential questions of the unit.  Students not only understood what the different aspects of culture were, but they were able to apply this understanding to compare and contrast this to their lives.  It was also great to hear students make connections to learning that they experienced in art, music and library classes!

Please take time to view these books (made into videos for your online viewing pleasure) and leave us a comment!

Ms. Darling's Class Culture e-Book:



Mrs. Robinson's Class Culture e-Book:



Mrs. Riggs' Class Culture e-Book:





















41 comments:

  1. To, Ms, Darling's class
    I loved the way you worked together to make this super cool video about culture.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved the Video, There were somethings that I actually didn't know. Something that you guys taught me is when the drums are on their sides they are louder and that they sound better. I overall loved your Video! Great work!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ms. Darling's Class,
    Your guys' ebook about Africa was really interesting. I learned so much. You were so enthusiastic and your voices sounded great. Thanks for sharing your video with us. -CHMS Student

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Dear Mrs. Darlings class,
    We loved your presentation. You did a great job putting everything in your own words. You guy's had a lot of great information, and most of you spoke very clearly. You organized it very well, and your pictures were fantastic. Great Job second graders!

    ReplyDelete
  6. willem soren brodiJune 8, 2015 at 7:31 AM

    I really liked how you all put it into your own words.IT was great how lots of you new what you were saying and spoke clearly. It was also great how you listed your resources at the end. We are also learning about culture.

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  7. Dear Mrs. Darlings class,
    Your e-book was great. Some of you sounded well informed, and had great presentation. We liked how you included facts as well as opinions, and told us all about the culture of Africa. We learned many new things and greatly enjoyed seeing your e-book. -- Hannah and Leo

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ashauntia,Kylee,and SavannahJune 8, 2015 at 7:35 AM

    Dear Mrs.Darlings class,your pronunciation was awesome! There was many tricky words that you did great with! We loved how you each had a different thought,opinion and information about different subjects

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  9. Noelle and LaurenJune 8, 2015 at 8:23 AM

    All of your information is correct! Most of it we didn't know about. We loved all of the new info! GREAT JOB!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Auggie, Rob, and GilJune 8, 2015 at 8:23 AM

    Dear Mrs. Darlings Class,
    The book was very interesting. The people who were prepared and spoke loudly and clearly were great. I would like to see some videos of the dancing or drumming in the next book. Overall it was great!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lincoln, Carsen, and BeauJune 8, 2015 at 8:23 AM

    Dear Ms.Darlings class, we never knew they spoke 3,000 languages in Africa. Its cool that you actually tried the food. We never knew the dancing told a story. It was good that you all spoke loudly, good job second graders.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mikayla, Grace, and AnnaJune 8, 2015 at 8:24 AM

    Ms. Darlings class,
    We thought your video was great! We loved the enthusiastic responses. We also thought you had very detailed facts, especially the fact that there is more than 3000 languages spoken in Africa. Great job guys!

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  13. Dear Ms. Darlings class, It is interesting that there are 3000 different languages in the continent of Africa. We would have loved to see some of the dances. Some of you were very good to know when to talk. It was very professional. Great job second graders!!!

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  14. Dear ms Darlings class, We loved how a lot of you were very enthusiastic and most of you spoke loud and clear. we also didn't know that there are 3000 different languages in Africa you guys are awesome.

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  15. To Ms.Darlings class,
    We liked your e-book. We have also been learning about culture too! We have also been learning about the nine universals of cultures which includes material culture, art and recreation, social organization, language and more. We love how you spoke clearly and at the right time. Hope you had fun learning about culture! -Koa and Matthew

    ReplyDelete
  16. Helen, Bryn, and MalloryJune 9, 2015 at 6:23 AM

    Dear Mrs. Robinson's class,
    We loved how you spoke clearly and the great information you gave about food. Your presentation was very artistic and colorful. You had wonderful pictures and you guy's obviously had a lot of experience with this fascinating subject.

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  17. Ms. Robinson's class,
    We liked how you cited your resources at the end. We have to do this too at the middle school! Also it was really well spoken. We liked how you spoke about dancing in the E book, it made me put a smile on my face.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Leo, Hannah, and LoganJune 9, 2015 at 6:31 AM

    Dear Mrs. Robinson's class,
    We thought your E-Book was great! You told us about many different parts of West African culture. We thought that some of you sounded very enthusiastic and also told us many interesting facts, like how Spanish is the most common language in Africa. We are learning about culture in 5th Grade, and we think that you summarized what culture is very well. Keep the good work up!
    -Leo, Hannah, and Logan

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ashauntia and AngieleeJune 9, 2015 at 6:32 AM

    Dear Mrs. Robinson class,
    You did a very good job pronouncing everything and speaking loud and clearly. You did a very good job explaining why different things were so important to their culture! We liked how you gave clear examples of the things you were talking about Dancing, Music, and Food!!!!! We liked how you took turns talking and explaining. We liked how you didn't talk so fast but slowed down and talked clearly. We cant wait to see your next book!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Kylee,Oren,and SavannahJune 9, 2015 at 6:33 AM

    Mrs. Robinson's class,
    we liked how you used big words, like geography and currency and said them clearly. There was limited background noise. That was AWESOME!!! We learned there was three main languages in Africa. Great job!!!

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  21. Ms. Robinson's class,
    We hadn't really thought about geography being part of culture. After you said it was, I got why it would be part of culture and how it affects other parts of life like food. We didn't know so many foods were grown there. We thought food was scarce in Africa. But really there are a lot of things grown there. We didn't know all the languages that are spoken in Africa, the 3 you shared surprised us.

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  22. Sylvie, Noelle, and LauernJune 9, 2015 at 10:37 AM

    You had really good pronunciation and spoke very well. When you spoke together, it was a little shaky, but you made sure it didn't get out of hand! The information was great! We had no idea that the three main languages of Africa are Spanish, Dutch, and French. Good job on everything else!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Gil, Koa, and MatthewJune 9, 2015 at 10:38 AM

    Dear Mrs. Robinson's class,
    We liked your audio book. We learned things we didn't know, such as the languages spoken in Africa. We also liked how you spoke clearly. Keep up the good work. -Gil, Matthew, and Koa

    ReplyDelete
  24. Mikayla, Grace, AnnaJune 9, 2015 at 10:39 AM

    Ms. Robinson's class,
    Great job! Some people did a great job of speaking clearly. You had great explanation on food,and music. You also had cool facts! We never knew that drums were made out of goat and cow skins. Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Beau, Carsen and LincolnJune 9, 2015 at 10:40 AM

    Dear Ms.Robinsons class, you had good pronunciation when you spoke. Most of you were loud. You also had a lot of detail about the drums and everything else. We liked that you were not afraid to speak clearly. Great Job!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Sylvie, Noelle, and LaurenJune 9, 2015 at 10:43 AM

    You had really good pronunciation and spoke very well. When you spoke all together, you were a little shaky, but you made sure it didn't get out of hand! The information was great too. We had no idea that the three main languages of Africa were Spanish, Dutch, and French! Good job on everything else!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Robert and Brandon F.June 9, 2015 at 10:49 AM

    We liked the brand new information we learned about the 3 main languages. We also liked the pictures and teamwork. Finally we enjoyed how people knew when to speak their lines and what their lines were.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Matthew and KeatonJune 9, 2015 at 10:53 AM

    To Mrs Robinson we liked how you had lots of details like the three most common languages in Africa, because we didn't know them. your level of enthusiasm was high.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anna, Mikayla, and GraceJune 11, 2015 at 7:51 AM

    Mrs. Rigg's class, You did great! Some people did a great job knowing what they were going to say and speaking clearly. You also did a wonderful job explaining clothing and weather. Nice Job

    ReplyDelete
  30. Carsen, Lincoln, Beau, and KeatonJune 11, 2015 at 7:52 AM

    Dear Mrs. Rigg's class, You gave a lot of information and spoke clearly. We also liked how you gave an example of the drums. Great job second grade.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    We think you did a great job! Even in the beginning when someone said, "I don't know" you still used good, clear, voices and the information was awesome. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Brandon, Auggie, and RobJune 11, 2015 at 7:55 AM

    Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    Your e-book was very interesting. The people who were loud and clear were great. It made it easier to learn from you when we could hear you. Overall a good eBook!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Koa, Gil, and MatthewJune 11, 2015 at 7:57 AM

    Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    Your audio book was awesome. There was so much information that we didn't know such as, drums can be played in three different sounds. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    The drumming and the music was very interesting to learn about. You spoke very professionally. The pictures were interesting to look at.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    You spoke clearly and delivered the info well. You also had really good pronunciation, and you told us about different foods in West Africa! Awesome job!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Helen, Mallory, and BrynJune 11, 2015 at 10:28 AM

    Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    You had a lot of information about music and dancing. We loved how a lot of you spoke clearly and loudly. You obviously know a bunch and we loved how you talked about the weather because that was different from the other two classes. Great job Mrs. Rigg's students!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Ashauntia, Hannah, and LeoJune 11, 2015 at 10:31 AM

    Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    Your ebook was very interesting. We liked it when some of you spoke up so we could hear what you were telling us. All of you were great at explaining all the details of West African culture. We liked how you shared the facts you had learned with us, as well as what you thought about them. It looked like you put a lot of good effort into your ebook, and we really enjoyed listening to it!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Cameron, Dexter, and WillemJune 11, 2015 at 10:33 AM

    Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    We enjoyed the specific information you gave about the weather and clothing. We think you should speak a bit more clearly, but we loved how many of you spoke loudly. Other than that, we loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Logan, Brodie, and RileyJune 11, 2015 at 10:34 AM

    Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    We liked how you listed the universals of culture. We liked how you were enthusiastic. We also liked your pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Oren, Kylee, and SavannahJune 11, 2015 at 10:35 AM

    Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    We liked how you added weather to the list of things that is culture. Weather affects culture a lot. It was awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Braden, Timmy, and SorenJune 11, 2015 at 10:37 AM

    Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
    We thought you did a good job giving and opinion when you were talking about fruits. We also thought it was a great idea to make and intro with the African drumming. If you ever make another, you should run through it and if you can't hear each other, you should try to fix that. But overall, great job!

    ReplyDelete

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