The Grade 2s learned about using Google Sheets this term. Google Sheets is Google's version of Excel. I thought that I would use the story of the Gingerbread Man to teach the Grade2s about using Google Sheets. (I can't remember now where I originally got the actual Gingerbread house template from - but I love using it!)
1. First they listened to and read the story of the Gingerbread House on YouTube.
Today was World Read Aloud Day and we celebrated this in my Grade 2 – 7 ICT classes at school with Nali’bali. We downloaded Nal'ibali's #WRAD story, A Party in the Park, on our Chromebooks, and we all read together in unison. Then we discussed the story in the form of an oral book review. The children loved it.
Nal'ibali aimed to get 1 million families to pledge their family to read aloud the Nal'ibali special story on World Read Aloud Day 2022 - 2 February. If only parents could realise and embrace the importance of regular reading in brain development – if only they could see the big picture about this. They would then definitely make reading aloud to children a daily priority!
The importance of reading aloud to children
Here are some useful quotes from articles and studies about the importance of reading aloud to children:
“Reading regularly with young children stimulates optimal patterns of brain development, which helps build strong pathways in the brain and in turn builds language, literacy, and social-emotional skills that can have life-long health benefits.” - from '‘Reading to young children develops their brains.' https://bit.ly/3KYQnxr
"A child care provider reads to a toddler. And in a matter of seconds, thousands of cells in these children’s growing brains respond. Some brain cells are ‘turned on,’ triggered by this particular experience. Many existing connections among brain cells are strengthened. At the same time, new brain cells are formed, adding a bit more definition and complexity to the intricate circuitry that will remain largely in place for the rest of these children’s lives.
As we come out of the Pandemic, let's prioritise reading aloud to children in order to develop their reading skills. The long-term benefits are immeasurable.
Oaky and the Virus: written by Athol Williams and illustrated by Tarryn Locke. Published by Theart Press
I am a primary school teacher – a technology integration
specialist, and I used a Grade 1, a Grade 2, and a Grade 3 class to help me write this review.
We downloaded the book from the Oaky website to our Chromebooks, and used it as a class read-aloud in the three classes. We all read aloud at the same time, in unison. Each class loved the experience because the book was very relevant to the COVID pandemic. The three classes helped me write parts of this book review.
Oaky and the Virus is an educational and fun story about two acorns, Oaky and Oaket. The two acorns learn how to avoid a virus when it comes to their town. The book is the first in the OAKY series of 7 books that follow the adventures of OAKY, an acorn who grows into a big oak tree.
In Oaky and the Virus, Oaky and his sister Oaket hear about a dangerous and tiny virus that has come to town. It could make people very sick. That means the virus could also make them, Oaky and Oaket, very sick if they caught it. The two acorns think of ways that they can protect themselves from the virus and also keep themselves feeling positive and hopeful. Oaky wants to help his anxious sister, Oaket, feel safe. He teaches her a song about how she could protect herself from the virus so that she will feel comforted when she sings it.
The song is available to listen to on YouTube.
What did we like
about the book?
All three classes liked the book because it is about the Covid19 pandemic, and children everywhere are worried about the pandemic. The book gives good ideas for keeping oneself safe and positive. The pages are brightly illustrated and written in a large, clear font, which makes reading a pleasure for Foundation Phase learners.
The common favourite part of the story was when Oaky thinks of ways of protecting himself and his sister from the virus. The classes liked Oaky, as a character, because he thought of ways to help keep him and his sister safe, and he didn’t give into fear. He was kind to Oaket. Some children said they feel a bit like Oaket at times, so they liked that way she felt happier when she knew how to protect herself.
Do we think the book could be improved?
All three classes felt the writer should have created the song to a well-known tune so that they could sing-a-long. They tried fitting the words to 'The wheels on the bus' which added another fun aspect to the lesson. The Grade 3s also felt that the book didn’t have enough excitement for them. They suggested that the writer should have added some more relevant scenarios to make the story more interesting, such as: - hearing about a friend whose parent was very ill from the virus - maybe one of their own relatives could have caught the virus but fortunately didn’t have to go to hospital. As a result Oaky and Oaket had to be careful to keep away from the relative.
Would we recommend the book to a friend?
Everyone said yes to this. They let that the book gives children hope in the midst of a frightening pandemic. The Grade 1s and 2s gave the book five stars! The Grade 3s gave the book four stars!
An important point to mention is that at the end of the book there is quiz. My three classes had clearly absorbed the story content as they were able to answer all the questions in the quiz.
This is a lovely book. It is available to purchase or as a free download from www.oaky.com. The publishers recommend the book for Grade 1 - 4 learners.
The Grade 2s recently created presentations about South
Africa using Google Slides. Today I wanted to see if they could remember seven
of the national symbols and present them neatly, each with an image, as a poster
in Google Slides.
Skills focus
copy and paste
search images
find a suitable image and paste it into Google Slides
create a light-coloured, abstract background
resize images
Examples of the finished products
The examples below are from Julian, Kayla and Kaleb (the students always use their online names for anything that goes online in ICT).
I am always excited about Dot Day on 15 September. What is Dot Day? It is HUGE around the world! Dot Day was inspired by Peter Reynold's story 'The Dot'. The message is simple but profound: “Start with a dot and see where it will take you,” It is an encouragement to children to find their gift and make their mark in their community. I love this positive approach. Children all over the world love celebrating International Dot Day.
Dot Day in 2019 was especially exciting. My classes were part of a Team blog made up of students from four different continents. (The Team blog can be found at https://dotday.edublogs.org/) We did activities together and the teachers and students loved every minute. I wrote six posts about it on my blog here: https://bit.ly/3EKK0KY
This year My Grade 2s participated in Dot Day. First we read Peter Reynold's famous and lovely story, 'The Dot' online and discussed it. Children love this story. So do I. Here it is below:
Our map story activity
1. After reading and disussing the story, we used our imaginations and wrote about a dot taking us on a trip around the world I gave them maps of the world. You can find the template here: https://bit.ly/3o355dx
2. The class copied and pasted textboxes and arrows at various places on the map, and wrote about their journey around the world.
We have joined the Colour poem Global project started by Linda Yollis http://goo.gl/YtbFkg. The Grade 2s did BLUE Poems today. The Grade 2s were excited about doing blue poems. They are enjoying this global project.
Skills learned
We used PowerPoint and I we learned the following skills:
Using commas between words and leave a space after a comma
Centring the words to make it look like a poem
Using Google Images to find images
Formatting the background and selecting a matching colour
Creating the poem
We had a little revision lesson on nouns (naming words), verbs (doing words) and adjectives (describing words) first on the mat. I could see their teacher had been through this with them. First we thought of blue things that we love (nouns). Then we tried to describe them using adjectives. We talked about that those things they had chosen can do (verbs). We ended with a noun. These came out in a diamond shape. Here is the format:
Noun
Adjective, Adjective
Verb, Verb, Verb
Noun
Examples
My evaluation of the lesson
The class enjoyed the lesson and I enjoyed the lesson as well. I was pleased to see how they had caught on about nouns, verbs and adjectives.
We have joined the Colour poem Global project started by Linda Yollis. The Grade 2s did Red Poems today. What I love about Global projects like these is that the students also enjoy them and participate fully.
Skills learned
We used PowerPoint and I we learned the following skills:
Writing a poem in a triangle shape
Adding a triangle shape to the poem and sending it to the back
Formatting the shape and selecting red
Using Google Images to find a red image
Creating the poem
I brought a number of red items to school and we took turns, on the mat, examining them and trying to describe them. We chose six of them to write about and had to keep to the triangle shape to write the poem. Once the poem was written we selected a triangle shape and place it over the poem. We sent it to the back.
Examples
Here are some examples:
Evaluation
Not everybody finished in time, but the class enjoyed the lesson.
In a previous post I talked about Introducing the newly launched African Storybook website to a Grade 1 ICT technology class. In this post I report back on introducing the website to a Grade 2 class.
Step 1: A discussion about the African Storybook website
After discussing the amazing African Storybook website and its stories especially created for Grade 1 – 3 students I showed the class parts of the website on the big screen, and we read one of the stories together as in a Big Book lesson where the students are actively involved in reading the story. For more information on how to use a Big Book in a lesson click here.
Step 2: Choosing a story to read
For this lesson the class was instructed to choose a story from the English/First sentences section where there was a lovely selection of stories. When one clicks on Find am African Story one comes across this table. When I used the website with the Grade 1s we selected the ‘First words’ section. With the Grade 2’s we selected the ‘First sentences’ section.
Reporting back on a favourite the story
In our report back session on the favourite story read during the lesson I used this lovely idea found on Pinterest. This was a fun way to introduce the different aspects of a story.
Step 4: Follow up to the story
As a follow-up to the story the class opened a drawing programme and drew a picture of the story they had read. Some of the students set about drawing the very tall man in the story.
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