Native American Presentations/Presentaciones sobre los indígenas de Texas

Well, we did these back in the fall, but I didn't get them uploaded until now. We used Animoto.com to create presentations on what we learned about different Native American groups in Texas. Each class was divided into four groups. Group members searched for images online that represented what they wanted their audiences to know about each tribe and they saved them to a folder on a shared drive. Then we returned to the classroom, and each group got a turn to work together at a single computer to create a presentation with their images using Animoto.com. The entire process took about an hour and a half per group. Enjoy!

Bueno, hicimos estas presentaciones en el otoño, pero yo no las había subido hasta ahora. Usamos Animoto.com para crear presentaciones sobre lo que aprendimos acerca de varios grupos indígenas de Texas. Dividimos cada clase en cuatro grupos. Los miembros de cada grupo buscaron imágenes en línea que representaban lo que querían que su audiencia aprendiera sobre cada tribu y las guardaron en un servidor compartido. Después regresamos al aula y los grupos se turnaron en una sola computadora para crear una presentación con sus imágenes usando Animoto.com. El tiempo completo que cada grupo se demoró fue alrededor de una hora y media. ¡Disfrútenlas!

Haiku

Toward the end of the school year we did a poetry unit. One type of poem that everyone wrote was a haiku. After everyone turned in his work, I used some of the students' poems to create the document below. It is called a glog. A glog is a digital, multimedia poster. Click on the different elements of the glog to explore the world of haiku and listen to some of our student authors read their poems. If for some reason you can't hear the music or the authors' voices, try the link below. Enjoy!
http://rtbut8396.edu.glogster.com/haikuglog/

Fiesta Mexicana

This past Thursday our class participated in our school's annual Fiesta Mexicana, a celebration in dance of Mexican culture. People from MISD's communications department came by and filmed part of the show. Afterwards, they uploaded the video to YouTube. Our presentation has been so well received that this year a principal from another elementary school asked us to perform there also. We did that on Friday. It was a hot day, and our students had to dance in unfamiliar conditions, but they did a great job, and we're really proud of their effort. If you take time to watch this eight minute video, students from our class participate as announcers and as the dancers in the second song on the video. Congratulations, guys! Y'all were great!

Este jueves pasado nuestra clase participó en Fiesta Mexicana, una celebración anual de la cultura mexicana a través de música y bailes. Unos representantes del departamento de comunicaciones de MISD vinieron para filmar parte de nuestra presentación. Después, subieron el video a YouTube. Nuestra Fiesta Mexicana ha sido tan popular que la directora de otra escuela pidió que vinieramos a su escuela para bailar también, y eso mismo hicimos el viernes. Hacía mucho calor, y nuestros alumnos tuvieron que bailar bajo condiciones que no les fueron familiares. Sin embargo, realizaron un trabajo excelente y estamos muy orgullosos de su
esfuerzo. El video dura ocho minutos, y si lo miras verás a nuestros alumnos presentando los grupos y participando en el segundo baile. ¡Felicidades, chicos! ¡Fueron estupendos!

Interactive Technology Feature

In March, a team from the instructional technology department came to film our class as part of a feature they were preparing to show off some of the interactive technologies that are being used in our district. We were excited to be asked to participate, and we showed them everything we do with our Promethean ActivBoard. Not everything we did was included on the video, but it was a lot of fun to see the final product. The team went to visit a math class as well, so some of our friends from other classes were included, too. The students got especially excited when we told them that not only would the whole district be able to see them, but that they were going to be on YouTube, so anyone in the world could see the cool things that we're doing at our school. See for yourself!

Native American Studies/Estudios sobre los indígenas de Texas

We recently completed our study of Native American groups that lived in Texas prior to European contact. The class was divided into four groups, each of which studied a different tribe. Groups had to use the textbook and information from the internet to research what daily life was like for their tribes. They were responsible for obtaining information about the following topics: the region in which the tribe lived, shelter, clothing, food, dealings with other tribes, and any other information they thought might be of interest. The groups then used their research to create murals representing typical daily life for their tribe. Once the murals were finished, each group presented its work to the class, explaining the details in its mural while classmates took notes on each presentation. Click on any of the pictures below to view an interactive version of that mural. Move the mouse over different areas of the mural to learn more about each tribe.

Recientemente terminamos nuestros estudios sobre los indígenas que vivían en Texas antes de la llegada de los europeos. La clase se dividió en cuatro grupos, y cada uno estudió una tribu diferente. Los grupos utilizaron sus libros e información del internet para investigar la vida diaria de su tribu. Fueron responsables de encontrar información sobre los siguientes temas: la región en la que vivían, sus viviendas, su alimentación, sus relaciones con otros grupos indígenas y cualquier otro dato de interés. Después de completar sus investigaciones, los alumnos usaron la información que encontraron para crear murales representativos de la vida típica de su tribu. Luego, cada grupo presentó su mural a la clase, explicando los detalles mientras los compañeros de clase tomaban apuntes sobre cada presentación. Haz clic en cualquiera de las imágenes de abajo para ver una versión interactiva de ese mural. Mueve el mouse sobre diferentes áreas del mural para descubrir más sobre cada tribu.

Natural Regions of Texas/Las regiones naturales de Texas

Last Friday we made salt maps showing the natural regions of Texas. It took about an hour to finish, and we all had a lot of fun. First, students drew the natural regions on a map of Texas. Next, they filled in the regions with different colored salt mixtures. Once the maps were complete, they cut the wet maps out and glued them to a piece of sturdy card stock. The final step was to create a map key and give the map a title. If you would like to try this at home, we used the recipe below for each color of the salt mixture. The measures given make enough salt mixture for two full classes, so you will probably want to cut the recipe in half.

1 cup salt
2 cups flour
3/4 cup water
1 small tube or bottle of food coloring

Make sure you get help from an adult if you decide to try this. I hope you have as much fun as we did!

El viernes pasado hicimos mapas de "mazapán" de las regiones naturales de Texas. Nos demoramos una hora para terminarlos, y nos divertimos mucho. Para empezar, los alumnos dibujaron los límites de las regiones en un mapa en blanco de Texas. Después, llenaron cada región con un color diferente de "mazapán," una mezcla de sal, harina y agua. Una vez que terminaron los mapas, los recortaron y los pegaron a una hoja de cartulina. El paso final fue crear una clave para explicar el significado de cada color y ponerle título a los mapas. Usamos la receta abajo por si acaso te gustaría hacerlo en casa. Las medidas hacen suficiente "mazapán" de cada color para dos clases, así que a lo mejor querrás usar la mitad de las medidas dadas.

1 taza de sal
2 tazas de harina
3/4 taza de agua
1 tubo o frasco pequeño de colorante

Asegúrate de conseguir la ayuda de un adulto si decides intentar esto. ¡Espero que lo disfrutes tanto como nosotros lo hicimos!

Story Wheels/Ruedas Narrativas

We just finished our first book report project of the year, the story wheel. Students had to read a fiction book and retell the plot on the story wheel with pictures and only a minimum of words. Once they finished their projects, each of them presented their work to three different classmates. Check out some examples of how they turned out. Click on each example to see it in a larger size and turn the wheel at your own speed.

Acabamos de completar nuestro primer proyecto literario del año, la rueda narrativa. Los alumnos tuvieron que leer un libro de ficción y contar el argumento en la rueda narrativa, usando dibujos y sólo un mínimo de palabras. Después de terminar, cada uno presentó su trabajo a tres compañeros diferentes. Abajo puedes ver algunos ejemplos de como salieron. Haz clic en cada ejemplo para poder verlo en tamaño más grande y girar la rueda a tu propio ritmo.