Henrico Staff Development

Play "Ancient Mummies"

Students in Ms. Searle’s  cross-curricular reading classroom read and researched about the ancient Eygptian pyramids. After a general introduction to the material, her students picked a specific topic and learned how to safely search the internet and gather information. A big part of the lesson involved how to determine a website’s accuracy, reliability, and validity, and a clear understanding of copyright law. In collaborative groups her students created informational presentations and shared them with the class in formal presentations.

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Students in Ms. Dyson’s Earth Science classroom researched information about earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis. In part one of the project,  students were taught internet safety and copyright law while gathering information from traditional and digital sources. In part two of the project, students were asked to create informational movies or news broadcasts like those seen on the evening news or on learning channels such as Discovery. As part of the process, students created a storyboard to organize their work, wrote and recorded their scripts, and organized their pictures in a video presentation. To accomplish the creative portion of this project students used Garage Band.

Students in Ms. Hall’s Earth Science classes are given a country to research using www.water.org. They then use this research to make an imovie “documentary” or infomercial about the Global Water Crisis in their country.

[flv]http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/fairfield/marshall_g/files/K Smoot Honduras.flv[/flv]

[flv]http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/fairfield/marshall_g/kiya ethiopia.flv[/flv]

The 7th grade students in Mrs. Greene’s science class did research dealing with a specific element from the periodic table.  After finding the information, the students created websites using the iWeb program.  Through their websites, they communicated the information they discovered using first person narratives, as if they were the element.  The students used critical thinking skills to determine what information they would like to share and how they would share it.

This project also allowed the students to tap into their creativity skills as they worked with the layout of the webpage and finding ways that they could personify their researched element.  Students found and added music segments that were related to their element and wrote original poems about their element.

The finished websites were collected on one webpage where all the students would have  access, creating a “social network” type site for elements.

Click here to visit ElementSpace.

The 8th grade students in Ms. Cosby’s World History class became news anchors for WRMN Channel XII news for a day.  Students formed small groups from the students in their class and collaborated on ideas of ways they could present the information they researched about a topic from Roman history. They were challenged to use their creativity and problem solving skills to communicate what they had learned about their topic and present the information in a way that was not only informative, but also entertaining.  The groups then wrote scripts based on their ideas and video taped their presentations as if they were broadcasting the news live.  The footage was then imported into iMovie where the groups worked together to edit and fine tune their final product.

Through this project, the students became more connected with the information they researched and learned how to work with others in an highly productive way.

In Ms. Brouillier’s 6th grade English Classes, students had the assignment to write a script for a public service announcement about a selected disease.  Topics ranged from pneumonia and allergies to poison ivy and warts. Students spent time in the library and the henrico county database researching the chosen topic and learning how to correctly site the sources.  Students then used Garageband and the library of sound effects to create an enhanced podcast about the disease.  Students then were able to write comments to one another on the class blog page.  Additionally students ranked how well they liked each other’s enhanced podcasts after listening to the PSA’s.  Click here to view the webpage of all projects from this class. Be sure to read the comments and how well students collaborated and communicated with each other on this project. 

Mrs. Sharpe and Ms. Saunders 7th grade English classes did research projects about mammals.  They spent the week researching, both online and in the library, the animal of their choosing.  Once they had the required information, students were able to begin designing their webpage.  Students used iWeb to design a webpage about their animal.  Most students did a bio page from the viewpoint of the animal.  Students used videos from Discovery Education and embedded them within the website.  In addition to the webpage, students were required to turn in their research and a complete outline of the information on the webpage.  Once all pages were complete, they were complied into the teacher’s webpage.  Students then went on the pages to view the research about each other’s animals and rate them on information, visual appeal, and creativity.  Click here to visit Mrs. Sharpe’s website.