Math, Reading, Social Studies, and Science
Activity Structure
Teleresearch and Telecollaborative
Content Standards Addressed
Reading (Language Arts) and making of graphs (Math) along with mapping skills
(Social Studies) and the taking and disseminating of weather information (Science).
Music and Technology were also used. T.A.A.S. and T.E.K.S. strands were used throughout all of the above and below subject areas.
Overview of Unit
This unit is not only seen by this teacher as cross-curricular but also cross-cultural as a wide connection of the learning actually takes place between language arts, math,
social studies, science and fine arts.Time Required
The time required is about 6 to 8 weeks.
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The intended outcomes are that the students learn to read the thermometers and other weather-related instruments. The students also can do this by gathering information from the Internet. This also spurs interest with the curriculum. This action was taken mainly within the fields of Social Studies and Science. Intended Outcomes/Curriculum Competencies
Materials used included the classroom internet computer and printer. The song "London Bridge Is Falling Down" was used to spur student interest. Dickens' Christmas Carol was read for setting purposes. The following web sites were used in the course of this weather/map unit: Resources
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/california_map.html
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ci.html
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/texas_map.html
http://www.lsjunction.com/flag.htm
http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/6flags.htm
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html
http://members.aol.com/schneidl3/midisearch.html
The students sang "London Bridge is Falling Down" for interest in the epals that we worked with over the past 4 weeks. Part of the book/story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was read to show a somewhat different setting. The 2B students had been working on making graphs in Mathematics and Social Studies; they were working on settings in Language Arts. Preliminary Activities/Introductory Activities
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The school's (Douglass Elementary School) internet computers were used. These internet computers are found in the library and in the multi-media computer laboratory run by a fellow colleague (same school) of this Wetware Workshop. My classrooms' internet computers were a big help. My room is fortunate to have three computers. One IBM Aptiva™ supplied by the El Paso Independent School District, two G3 All-In-One™, and my G3 PowerBook™ connected to an ethernet box . Technology Used
My G3 PowerBook™ was also used to both hook into the web and hook up using the S-Video output into my VCR that was hooked into the LaserDisc Television. This was used, of course, as an overhead with Vís-a-Vís™ markers to highlight portions of the internet and/or presentation(s). This could have been done with the jacks in the back of many Macintosh™ and IBM™ (clones) computers or one could have hooked up the computer to a projector in order to enlarge the screen so the students could see better. Also, my Sony Mavica FD-88™ Digital Camera was used to take pictures of the student work.
The student in this second grade class started the F.O.S.S. unit on 'Air and Weather'. We drew thermometers in order to better read the temperatures that we were going to soon collect. We made bar graphs on temperature comparision within a three-week period from our data collected from Douglass Elementary School in El Paso, Texas. We then made a temperature comparision within a three-week period between our temperature information collected in El Paso, Texas (both at the school and from off the Internet http://www.weatherbug.com ). We made a temperature comparison of the first week we started sharing with our epals.com friends in a first/second grade class at the Guilsborough Primary School in Northampton, England. We had mapping studies between any information (hits) from epals.com http://www.epals.com trying to gather other information from around the globe, including the four different maps and flags (Texas, California, Chile, and England). Procedure
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/texas_map.htmlhttp://www.lsjunction.com/facts/6flags.htm
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/california_map.html
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ci.html
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html
We even looked at different factual information as found off the Internet about the four different places (Texas, California, Chile, and England).
The students got a 'kick' from finding the town of our epals in Northampton, England on a map as supplied on the web.
We received a hit via ePals.com from a second/third grade class at the Marquez Charter school near Santa Monica, California that wants to start sharing information with us in January 2002.
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WEEK ONE
Type of weather information was viewed and observed.
WEEK TWO
Weather gathering was started as well as writing in their journals. The students at Douglass Elementary School refer to these as their 'Agendas'. Also, the students are writing down (making) symbols for the different weather phenomenon (sky, rain, snow, thunder, etc.) WEEK THREE
Weather gathering continues with increased information coming in from Weatherbug.com and ePals.com. We registered with both websites and posted our class profile so that others also registered with ePals.com could get in touch with us. We put out broadcasts through ePals.com that we (2B) were interested with other classes in sharing of both of our weather information having been gathered. WEEK FOUR
Weather gathering by the students continue with outlooks for hits from ePals.com. We continued and increased with interest our mapping skills as we received our first ePals.com hit from Chile in the beginning of the week but as of yet have not received anymore emails from our friends in Chile. We also accessed information about Chile from the Internet. We received a ePals.com hit from Northampton, England and agreed upon a Microsoft Word™ document format and metric measurements for the sharing of weather information. Our friends in England tell us that they are watching the television about our tornadic weather in Texas (some 1300 km from El Paso, Texas). This week of weather information was sent from El Paso, TX and received from Northampton, England. ELPTX (weather week 1).htm
NRTHMUK(weather week 1).htm
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WEEK FIVE
Weather gathering by the students continue with renewed interest as we are actually sharing weather information with our new friends in Northampton, England. We are accessing the Internet to gather information (census, mapping, geography, flag, etc.) about the country that our ePals.com are living. We start to compile our information gathered now over 3 to 4 weeks into a 'Temperature Comparison Bar Graph'. This shows the differences in temperatures in El Paso, Texas over the past three to four weeks. We are continuing to receive information from our friends in Northampton, England. We are giving special information to our friends in Northampton, England concerning our wind advisory this past weekend. The unfinished 'Temperature Comparison Bar Graphs' are seen below. They are unfinished as each does not show the title for what it is. This week of weather information was sent from El Paso, TX and received from Northampton, England.
ELPTX (weather week 2).htm
ELPTX (wind advisory).htm
NRTHMUK(weather week 2).htm
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WEEK SIX
Weather gathering by the students continue with even renewed interest (if possible) when we get a second sustained hit via ePals.com from a charter school in California. There are two students in 2B that have family ([a] Uncle/Aunt & [b] Grandparents) living in California. We, of course, are looking on the Internet for census, mapping, geography and flag information about California. We are continuing to receive information from our friends in Northampton, England. We are giving special information to our friends in Northampton, England that we had snow (not even 2.5 cm) this past week with 'black ice' making driving dangerous. We have finished our 'Temperature Comparison Bar Graph'.
This week of weather information was sent from El Paso, TX and received from Northampton, England. Side note (no weather report received from Northampton, England since 1119-1126 report because there were problems disseminating information from school computers.).
ELPTX (weather week 3).htm
NRTHMUK(weather week 2).htm
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WEEK SEVEN
Weather gathering by the students continue with a new 'Temperature Comparision Bar Graph' (TCBG) begun. This time, the TCBG is not just comparing temperatures in
El Paso, Texas over a three-week period but rather comparing temperatures in El Paso, Texas and Northampton, England over the last four weeks of weather information having been shared. We hope to finish some by week's end so as to have this posted on the Internet for others to see. This week of weather information was sent from El Paso, TX and received from Northampton, England. Side note (no weather report received from Northampton, England since 1119-1126 report because there were problems disseminating information from school computers.).ELPTX (weather week 4).htm
NRTHMUK(weather week 2).htm
WEEK EIGHT
Weather gathering by the students continue with the finishing of the last 'Temperature Comparison Bar Graphs' based upon temperatures
from El Paso, Texas and Northampton, England.
This week of weather information was sent from El Paso, TX and received from Northampton, England. Side note (no weather report received from Northampton, England since 1119-1126 report because there were problems disseminating information from school computers.).
ELPTX (Weather Week 5).htm
NRTHMUK (Weather Week 2).htm
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Extension Activities
The singing of music either from the country or state itself was also a plus and added in the students a sense of connection with their epals.com now (Northampton, England) and the ones expected in the new year (Santa Monica, California). The addition of reading part of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was also an impetus to the students' interest in the gathering and receiving of information on weather. Assessment
Student writing their synopsis or feelings (reflections) about this NEW type of learning is expected to be shown. Student achievement was improved (the care and quality of work) when they were told that their work (not their names)
MIGHT be on the web for others to see.Reflections
This is one activity that this teacher plans to continue with even though it is a lot of work. The students are actually the end product. One student's reflection was seen immediately after he (and the class) was informed that their work (not their names) MIGHT be posted on the web. That student started to smile at which I informed him that his family most likely could tell what was his work and what was not his work. This student stated that he was wondering how I knew what he was thinking. I told him that it was a guess. He then tried his hardest to get the bar graph done right as he was one of the first ones to get his done and it was legible.
Other teachers and administrators at my school have wanted to know the steps in getting the Weatherbug.com unit on their computers. The URLs listed above have also been requested to share in their classes Internet research.
I would certainly begin the attempt to get hits from ePals.com earlier than before because I saw a heightened interest manifest itself once the first real hit occurred with our friends from the Guilsborough Primary School in Northampton, England.
Weather Information Gathering Unit
Presented by H. J. New
hjnew@episd.org
hjoen3@juno.com
hjoen3@yahoo.com
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