Sarah+Wooden+ELT

Sarah Wooden-Gerome Twitter: [|@sarah_wg] Blog: []

toc

**Week 1: Wordle**



 * Wordle Idea #1**

CM1 and CM2 (4th and 5th grade) English as a Foreign Langage Learners – 10 to 12 students per class

I’ve highlighted the parts of the project that I am still thinking about. I'd love your thoughts, feedback, and ideas!

I’d like to use Wordle at the beginning of the year to create notebook covers for the year. My 4th and 5th Grade students (CM1 et CM2) should be able to answer most of the questions below. The Wordle will be a theme of "me" for review and introducing dictionaries and computers. For the first phase of the project, they will be collecting words to put into their cloud. I’ll have a French-English dictionary open on the computers and they can use it for any words they don’t know. I want to get them autonomous and comfortable with dictionaries early on this year. I will provide a list of questions as a guide but I’ll also tell them to feel free to use other words that come to mind. (I plan to introduce them to the Wordle website briefly so they have an idea of what they are creating but I want them to focus mostly on collecting words at this point.)


 * What is your name ? //Sarah//
 * What month is your birthday? //September//
 * What is your favorite color or colors? //Green//
 * What are your hobbies? //Hiking running reading traveling//
 * What is your favorite food or foods? //All-food!//
 * What is your favorite season? //Fall//
 * How old are you? //Thirty-two//
 * What other words would you like to include? //Felix Mika Nature Mountains//

Should I set a minimum amount of words? Perhaps a time limit?

Next step to fill out a text box? I'm considering a grid. I’d like them to write out their words as they will enter them into the Wordle text box. I can explain that they can increase the size and importance of words by writing them several times. I can also show them how to link several words together.
 * Sarah || Sarah || Sarah || Sarah || Sarah ||  ||   ||
 * Felix ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Mika ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Mountains || Mountains ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Nature ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Green || Green ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Thirty-two ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Listening~to~music ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

Should I teach everyone about the editing options on Wordle as a group or should I work with them individually or in small groups as they finish steps 1 & 2? Perhaps there is an easy tutorial out there on the web in simple English…maybe I should make one? Maybe the one we've used in boot camp is actually simple enough...

Similarly: How do I explain how to save or print? Big group vs small groups? I only have 4 computers and on average 10 to 12 students per class. What do early finishers do? Do I assign days per small groups?

In addition to using our Wordles as a notebook cover, how else can we share them? On a class blog? With other schools in a global project?




 * Wordle Idea #2**

Students can conduct surveys on a subject of their choice and then use a Wordle to creatively present their results. The Wordle could be one aspect along with a bar graph or any other type of element they want to add to the project (images, video, etc.). Survey ideas could include family members, birthday months, hobbies, or anything else they might suggest. This project could be done with almost all age groups. (Edited to add: Now that I've figured out how to remove color it would be even better for this theme if they could color the words correctly!)



Brainstorm Session Wordle Lesson July 5th, 201CM1 and CM2 (4th and 5th grade) English Langage Learners – 10 to 12 students per class I’ve highlighted the parts of the project that I am still thinking about! Feel free to provide feedback! I’d like to use Wordle at the beginning of the year to create notebook covers for the year. My 4th and 5th Grade students (CM1 et CM2) should be able to answer most of the questions below. For the first phase of the project, they will be collecting words to put into their cloud. I’ll have a French-English dictionary open on the computers and they can use it for any words they don’t know. I want to get them autonomous and comfortable with dictionaries early on this year. I will provide a list of questions as a guide but I’ll also tell them to feel free to use other words that come to mind. (I plan to introduce them to the Wordle website briefly so they have an idea of what they are creating but I want them to focus mostly on collecting words at this point.) What is your name ? //Sarah// What month is your birthday? //September// My first attempt at a Microorganism wordle. I directly copy/pasted from wikipedia. I clicked on the words to remove the color and then changed the color to black and white so students can color in the words. What is your favorite color or colors? //Green// What are your hobbies? Hiking running reading travelingWhat is your favorite food or foods? //All-food!//

What is your favorite season? //Fall// How old are you? //Thirty-two// What other words would you like to include? //Felix Mika Nature Mountains// Should I set a minimum amount of words? Perhaps a time limit? Eliminated all unnecessary words from text and linked some phrases together. I could have taken more time to find a better font and realistically, there are still too many words but I am just experimenting. Also, I had Wordle make all words lower case which removed repeated words that were shown in both upper and lower cases.

Following the discussion over at Portfolio for Blaine Carlsen I started thinking about using Wordle for coloring or as part of a game or introducing themes, etc.

Still too many words or I need to repeat ALL words several time or repeat others less. "matters" shouldn't be there either.

Week 2: VoiceThread


I've got lots of ideas swimming in my head for VoiceThread. I can really use this tool with my students and get them speaking English in really fun and creative ways.


 * First thing I'm going to do in the fall is upload all the pages from a book we made in my 2nd grade group last year. We made our own version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle. The students illustrated the pages and we rewrote the text to go with each of their animal and color choices. The finished project looks great but I've always had it in the back of my mind to record the students reading the book. //Et, voila//, VoiceThread! After uploading all the pages, each student can read their page in the slide show and then we can invite others to comment on our book! We can also share it on the English blog for parents and our friends globally to enjoy. Plus, revisiting the book will be a great way to start off the school year in September.
 * As part of flattening our classroom walls, I can have the students take photos and then create a VoiceThread to share as part of the #globalclassroom or any other opportunity we might have to share.
 * I could create fun activities that I set up for small groups or pairs to do in the class: I spy or fun with vocab or asking questions. I could show a photo of pizza and ask, "Do you like pizza?" and each student could record their response being as detailed as they want. This would be great for many different types of students. I could put a different photo/question on each computer and they could rotate through as groups answering the questions. After, again, I put it on the blog so they can hear all the responses and share with their parents.

The list could go on and on so I will add more ideas as they come to me!

Week 3: Storybird
media type="custom" key="10037975" align="center"

Here is Storybird that my 5 year old made so that I could experiment with Storybird through his eyes!  Next the fill out a text box? A grid? I’d like them to write out their words as they will enter them into the Wordle Text box. I can explain that they can increase the size and importance of words by writing them several times. I can also show them how to link several words together. Should I teach everyone about the editing options on Wordle as a group or should I work with them individually or in small groups as they finish steps 1 & 2? Perhaps there is an easy tutorial out there on the web in simple English…maybe I should make one? Same idea: How to I explain how to save or print? Big group vs small groups? I only have 4 computers and on average 10 to 12 students per class. What do early finishers do? Do I assign days to small groups? <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% yellow; display: block; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 243px; width: 1px;">In addition to using our Wordles on a notebook, how else can we share them? On a class blog? With other schools in a global project?