--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:
To, Ms, Darling's class
ReplyDeleteI loved the way you worked together to make this super cool video about culture.
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!!!
ReplyDeleteMs. Darling's Class,
ReplyDeleteYour 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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ReplyDeleteDear Mrs. Darlings class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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!
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.
ReplyDeleteDear Mrs. Darlings class,
ReplyDeleteYour 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
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
ReplyDeleteAll of your information is correct! Most of it we didn't know about. We loved all of the new info! GREAT JOB!
ReplyDeleteDear Mrs. Darlings Class,
ReplyDeleteThe 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!
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.
ReplyDeleteMs. Darlings class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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!
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!!!
ReplyDeleteDear 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.
ReplyDeleteTo Ms.Darlings class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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
Dear Mrs. Robinson's class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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.
Ms. Robinson's class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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.
Dear Mrs. Robinson's class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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
Dear Mrs. Robinson class,
ReplyDeleteYou 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!
Mrs. Robinson's class,
ReplyDeletewe 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!!!
Ms. Robinson's class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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.
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!
ReplyDeleteDear Mrs. Robinson's class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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
Ms. Robinson's class,
ReplyDeleteGreat 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!
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!
ReplyDeleteYou 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!
ReplyDeleteWe 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.
ReplyDeleteTo 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.
ReplyDeleteMrs. 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
ReplyDeleteDear 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.
ReplyDeleteDear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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!
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteYour 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!
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteYour 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.
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteThe drumming and the music was very interesting to learn about. You spoke very professionally. The pictures were interesting to look at.
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteYou 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!
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteYou 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!
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteYour 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!
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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!
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteWe liked how you listed the universals of culture. We liked how you were enthusiastic. We also liked your pictures.
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteWe liked how you added weather to the list of things that is culture. Weather affects culture a lot. It was awesome.
Dear Mrs. Rigg's class,
ReplyDeleteWe 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!