Thing 26 Note Taking Tools

I read this information about a week ago and didn't have the time to post my blog.  I was interested in this topic as every year I do a research report with fourth graders.  It is a common core requirement that fourth graders collect information from a variety of sources.  For this assignment the fourth grade students work with me on note taking and then they use their notes in class for a writing assignment that is spearheaded by the classroom teacher.  The fourth grade teachers are more than happy that I do this part of the assignment as it is like volunteering to do a spring cleaning of the yard when you have a couple of dogs; it is messy, hard work and not very pleasant.  So, I was interested to see if there were any note taking apps that would be useful for this assignment.  There were not.  However, personally, I think I will a great deal out of google keep.  I will be staying with my current method.  I use excel to generate cards, two for a book, one for an encyclopedia and one for a database.  I have questions on there that will help the student refine their focus when they get to writing the assignment.  I actually  have the cards in publisher.  Here is a copy of an example that I show the kids:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LecGmjarrtsBse6YlR47_Hr3DYWaNVUeWlw61uz4mP8/edit?usp=sharing

THING 8 DATABASES

I am a big fan of databases.  This week in library for third grade we have been studying Australia and will be moving into books about Egypt.  I read the book, The Sandwich Swap, to the students and we talked about how different countries have different foods.  I then showed students that they would be using SCHOLASTIC GO and would find another thing that was different about the two countries.  They also had to match up two pictures, The Great Sphinx and Ayers Rock and determine which of the two countries it was located in.  My students are used to using Pebble Go and I always make my research projects from scratch because what Pebble Go has to offer is the lowest level of Bloom's.  Still I was surprised how many students found this assignment to be difficult. 
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rGApsR2vUeUCrj8iQXsi0_AUoWl0Hgw7Gr64X6t4788/edit?usp=sharing

I came across this idea for this particular assignment when I was checking out NOVEL's Brittanica.  There is a feature where the names of two countries are typed in and comparative data is shown.  I also like the geography game that they have for younger kids.

I read the articles and especially liked the piktograph and the comparative chart of databases versus the general internet.  I sent them both on to colleagues who hare going to present to faculty on databases.  This year the three of us are polling our respective faculties to see what databases they are using and/or would like to use for purchasing decisions.  Below is a copy of my survey:

https://goo.gl/forms/dCjkK0jzm0J3oVmm1

Thing 7 Audio Tools

This past week I used seesaw with kindergarten and the kids loved the audio part of that.  They made on-line valentines and then added the audio that was sent home to mom and dad.  I wanted to follow up using seesaw and I plan to do something with 100 Days.  I made a template where the student could in theory, click and drag to their picture to add to it but that is not possible in Seesaw.  This led me to think about how I often mistakenly click on the record feature in slides/documents.  I designed a Choose Your Own Adventure where students can pick a character, pick a setting and then type in a problem and the solution.  Afterwards they record their story and submit it to me.  I will probably do this in Schoology because it organizes submissions and I will probably do it with fourth graders. Skills to practice are clicking and dragging, the audio portion, typing as well as the creative side of story making.  I think they will have a lot of fun with this.  I know I did!  Here they are:

Template
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1U0IUWTR6uq4k_I94bPopqsh3CVlJcULaRxSmEUQTOB0/edit?usp=sharing

My Example

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1feVuLHjspK2zPl1cbd7AmSONxtvyzhVkPoHqEsAGJhc/edit?usp=sharing

I plan to refine this page, make the girl as big as the boy, have more room for the pictures and less for the text as needed but my home computer was not cooperating so I will do that at work.