Category Archives: Primary Grades

This category of recommendations would work well with students from Kindergarten to about the third grade.

Winter Traditions Collaboration (Grade 1 and High School)

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Winter_TraditionsToday, my new friend, Brenda Cleland and I wrapped up a collaborative project that my ComTech 10 class and her Grade One class did together. The Grade One class (the Clients) have hired the high school class (the Freelancers) to animate their drawings. The students were paired up and assigned a blog post in which they were able to have a conversation in the comment section. The Freelancers asked the Clients how they wanted their drawings to be animated. They were not allowed to change the artwork in any way; it would be like changing a client’s logo! We hope you enjoy the results below. Be sure to read the comments in each blog post to get a feel for how well the two groups communicated without meeting in person.
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The URL: https://sites.google.com/a/epsb.ca/winter-traditions/home

And on that note, Mrs. Teacher List and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and all the best in the coming year! Rest well and we’ll connect again in January.
– Pete

Using LEGO to Build Math Concepts

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legoEdmonton teacher, Leslie Friesen, passed on this interesting article from Scholastic. The author makes a good case for using the different pieces of the popular Lego sets to illustrate fractions in different ways. There are some printables to help students use the manipulatives. I thought it was good advice given to pre-pack the pieces you need in a bag rather than give the set out.
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The URL: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2013/12/using-lego-build-math-concepts

Build Your Own Caterpillar

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caterpillarHere’s a great activity for younger science students learning about habitat and camouflage. Students are asked to build a caterpillar and to consider different characteristics such as color and spines. Rather than just move through the exercise blindly, students may proceed only once they have entered a response about why they chose that particular feature.
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The URL: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorer/ecosystems/be_an_explorer/map/caterpillar_play.htm

Jim Henson Teaches Puppetry

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I’m not sure if I would have seen this or not as a child but I sure enjoyed it as an adult! Here’s a 15 minute clip of Jim Henson demonstrating puppetry techniques that are simple and entertaining. The article states that he made this just before joining Sesame Street but you can see some of his iconic design in this early work.
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The URL: http://bit.ly/1aUSr6a