French Class

This past December, in French, students took a quiz online in the lab, listening to a recording of the teacher on the website podomatic.  This allowed students to review at their own pace before taking the quiz, versus in the classroom where they must take the listening section as a class.  This also allowed the teacher an opportunity for differentiation, instructing challenged students to pause and re-play as necessary.

M. Parrack's podomatic recording

What if You Designed the Next Hunger Games?

8th grade students were asked to write a persuasive letter based on their class novel study of the Hunger Games.  They used Google Docs to write the letter, which allowed the teachers to check on their progress and leave comments on how to improve their writing as they were working on the project.  They also created a muttation, a suggested combination of two animals to be added to the next installment of the Hunger Games for the Capital.   Students used PowerPoint to combine photos of animals into a new creature and then created an online multimedia presentation about their mutation using Smore.


Here are a few student samples of their muttations:

• Sharkodile
• Skishes
• Wooian
• Kangrilla

Road to Revolution

Seventh grade students in Texas History learned to use PowerPoint in a new way this week as they made info graphics.   Armed with information about the events leading to the Texas Revolution, students set out to show that information in a graphic way.   Here are a few student samples from Ms. Dyer's classroom:

Biographies Come Alive

Students in 6th grade English Language Arts are working on creating movies about the biography book they have just completed.  Students are summarizing the life of a famous person into a first person narrative that includes giving factual information and using proper citation with the help of EasyBib.com

Here are a few samples from this project:

• Pierre Omidyar - founder of eBay
• Alexander the Great
• Roger Williams

Reviewing for the American Revolution

In Mr. Tong's class students are learning to review by making their own Quizlet set of cards that includes images of the famous people or events.  Students then can use these sets to prepare for the upcoming test on any device that has internet access.

Here are a few sample sets from  students:  http://quizlet.com/_gap52

http://quizlet.com/_ig8im

Students Become Virtual Archaeologists

Ms. Woods' Texas History classes are learning to become archaeologists as they work through the remains of the La Belle from La Salle's early Texas Expedition.  This activity lets students explore the artifacts and learn about the times of this French Exploration as well as how scientists can piece together history from the pieces being excavated. Students were highly engaged and were excited to discuss what they were learning!


Check out the website here:
http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/kids.html

Historical Figures of the American Revolution meet Quizlet

8th grade History students are preparing for their upcoming test by creating Quizlet sets of the famous people they are learning about.  Students took notes over the important people of the time period and then use the program to make sets of flashcards that can be used to study in various games on the website.