Working with students is something I always look forward to, and this service project is no exception. I have been looking forward to meeting with my students and starting our learning adventure since I heard about this project. Now that it is actually here it is even better than I had hoped. I met up with the two students I am working with for this project on Thursday afternoon. One is a first grader named Manuel and the other is a fourth grader named Hudson. When I finished explaining to the two of them what exactly this project entailed they were both ecstatic about getting started. We began by making a list of potential topics that they were interested in researching. The list consisted of several topics, but the one both seemed most excited about was the ocean. After settling on our topic, the students came up with an essential question of "What kind of life is in the ocean?". The students then came up with two unit questions each to answer. We then began our KWL chart. While we worked on the KWL chart I began to introduce the students to how to research for reliable data on the internet. When they came across a minor question such as, "what does a whale shark look like", I would plug the question into either Youtube EDU or sciencenewsforkids.org and either pull up an image or video.
The students' enthusiasm for the project didn't fade at all during our first hour together. Upon completing the first two columns of the KWL chart we began the students' blog page. After deciding on a name, I had each student come up with a one sentence introduction to themselves and their blog. After writing the sentence on paper, I had each student type their own section of the first blog post. With the first grade student I had to assist him in using the keyboard as he hasn't had much experience with that yet. The fourth grade student was already proficient at typing, and all I had to do to assist him was edit a few punctuation errors in his sentence. By the time we finished posting their first blog entry and deciding on a template and background for the blog we were out of time. I told the students that next week we would be designing our storyboard and doing research on our topic. They were both so excited about this that the first thing they mentioned upon meeting back up with their parents was the fact that they get to make their own storyboard next week. This week could not have gone any better than it did. I am not sure who is more excited for next week, the students or myself. The parent permission letters can be found here and here.
