This assignment is due Oct 4, and I don't want to have to wait until last minute to figure things out. I was thinking since our big project is biomes, we could make a project that involves another group of students from a different geographic location to help out. Originally I was thinking someplace vastly different than Michigan like a country in Africa since they are hot and dry, or someplace in Russia since its snowy and cold. But there might be language barriers there. So then I was thinking maybe we could do northern Alaska or Arizona, since they have vastly different climate and biomes than us. I think if we create a project that students collect information about their environment for say a month like average precipitation, plantlife, wildlife, temperature and such, and then we can compare their information to our information where the students we have would do the same thing. We could determine the classification of the biomes and how weather plays a role in it. Also the map could be of the location where the activities took place, so say somewhere near Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, or somewhere in michigan.
I only have 20 days left until my due date so I am trying to get ahead on some things so once my son is here I dont fall behind. Hopefully you guys can try to keep up too!
I really like the idea of keeping it in the U.S. because of the language barriers. We could also possibly add more locations like Hawaii and Florida to tie in more areas where there could be variations.
ReplyDeleteI think we can go ahead and start making the google docs. I would but I do not have everyone's addresses. Mine is caitlynhella@gmail.com then we can start working on the details and also then pin pointing where we want to have our penpals from.
Ok so we need to decide a more solid plan. I think having a pen pal that takes measurements for a time frame, like a month is a good plan. We need to decide if this is something we want the class to complete as a whole, or if we want them to pursuit an individual pen pal relationship. I think if we are doing it as a whole class we need to decide a location to communicate with. If we are doing it as individuals, the student can choose the biome that most interest them, then so research and find where that biome is geographically in the united states, and then contact a student from that location to be pen pals with. I am leaning towards them doing it as individuals, because it would require more in depth research from the student, but in the real world im not sure if that would be feasable.
ReplyDeleteI think individuals is good as well we would just have to make sure that we stick to 5th grade or above. Does anyone know when they actually start learning biomes? Maybe what GLCE it is?
ReplyDeleteAlso I think that they need to have a solid few things that they record so that the pen pals and the class have similar data sheets. I also like Alaska or Hawaii because they're not part of the continental US which can tie in a little bit of geography and cross-cirricular ideas.
I think individuals is good as well we would just have to make sure that we stick to 5th grade or above. Does anyone know when they actually start learning biomes? Maybe what GLCE it is?
ReplyDeleteAlso I think that they need to have a solid few things that they record so that the pen pals and the class have similar data sheets. I also like Alaska or Hawaii because they're not part of the continental US which can tie in a little bit of geography and cross-cirricular ideas.
6th grade unit 2 covers ecosystems so we can focus on that age group and those GLCE's
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea of having them as separate because we might get a larger of data.
ReplyDeleteDo we need to stay within the Elementary grade level?
Here are some GLCE's I looked up:
ReplyDeleteFirst grade:
E.ES.01.32 Observe and collect data of weather conditions over a period
of time.
Also I looked at a lesson plan that gave details of biome project in 4th-5th grade and it said no GLCE's were available.
I think in order to have the students do most of the research on their own first grade would be too young. I'm not sure if we ha e to stick to elementary but sixth grade would probably be okay. My minor I can teach through either grade and sixth grade isn't much different than 5th.
ReplyDeleteOkay then lets go with 6th.
ReplyDeleteI just made the google docs. We can then start from there.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I will also work more tomorrow.
DeletePerfect my minor allows middle school as well. I'm hoping to take a good look and get some stuff done on the Google doc tomorrow
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ReplyDeleteI have updated the document. There were several things I have edited, to make it a more fluent assignment. I think we have covered everything that is required.
ReplyDeleteIn the document Caitlyn mentioned specific locations the students can choose from. I think that limits their creativity and truly the concept of the assignment. The students should do research into the assignment and decide what interests them the most. The could choose somewhere coastal, or tundra, tropical (sort of) etc. It should be up to the student to decide what location they would like, within the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.
DeleteAs far as the google maps goes, what should we decide for what we are looking at? As I said I strongly think that it should be up to the students to decide what location they want to seek a pen pal in, so how are we going to decide what location we want to make a map of? We could make a map of someplace in Michigan as what the students are starting from, and then they can compare our region to a different biome. Im just not certain what direction the group wants to take this.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think it is hard to make a map unless we have specific places they must pick from. I get your point of saying it will constrict their creativity if they have to choose places. I guess for our map we just pick places that would be good choices to look at different biomes.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for making edits on the google doc sorry i have not been on here in the pass couple of days I have been in the hospital with my grandma.
ReplyDeleteAs well I had a family emergency and I am headed back to kalamazoo. Will be working on it around 6
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ReplyDeleteIs someone submitting the google document finalized then? I can work on the map. I think I'm going to pick somewhere in Michigan that the students would use as the beginning comparison and then they can find a location to compare to our biome.
ReplyDeletegoogle map is done, just need to post the document
DeleteThank you Tarra
DeleteI will post the google doc!
also I put a few places on the google doc that we could put on the map if we wanted to. They would just be places that they could choose if they wish to for the different biomes. But we could also put in the google doc that if they pick a different place not listed they could.
DeleteI understand we have the map and Google doc created and edited. I love the project and pen pals they are working on, I feel as though we should have some type of assessment to finalize their project. It could be the biome in a bottle, biome research presentation, or it could be a paper. Let me know what you both think, as of right now I will add it to the doc and if you guys hate it you can delete it!
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