Collaborative Wiki: Sharing Perspectives

What a great opportunity the PDS boys have as they team up with their Nespelem friends to improve on their writing skills! The focus of their writing collaboration will be how to write with a purpose and audience in mind and how all writers express themselves using a unique voice and style. They will also see the importance of writing in organized ways as they strive for the great development of their ideas. The best part of all is that they will learn in an authentic way that is most meaningful. We look forward to reflecting, providing positive feedback, and learning more about our writing partners who are over 2,ooo miles away!



Self-awareness:
We are thinking critically when we

* weigh the influences of motives and bias, and
* recognize our own assumptions, prejudices, biases, or point of view

I was:
Reviewing the past thoughts: Our actions reflect what we know and believe at the time; reflect on your past ideas, thoughts, feelings, beliefs before your interaction with other ethnic groups and cultures.

What did you know, think, and feel before you began learning about other ethnic groups?


I am:
Understanding the present change: After an experience, reflect on how the experience affects (changes, revises, renews, validates) your own ideas and values.

How have your ideas, knowledge, and feelings changed after working with and learning from another ethnic group?


I will:
Making the future happen: decide to act in ways that demonstrate the values you believe in. To change your future and that of others, make a conscious effort towards sharing and being what has been learned.

How will you set examples and influence others in positive ways based on your current ideas, knowledge and feelings?

How do these ideas, knowledge, and feelings help you make decisions about the the acceptance of other cultures and ethnicities in the future?

Perspectives: I Was, I Am, I Will

Click on our collaborative wiki site that we are now sharing with Nespelem School!

Canvasing Writing Ideas

This is a larger view of the picture needed to complete one of the lino writing activities.


Click on the canvas and begin your assignment for improving on writing attention getters, using vivid verbs and specific nouns, and writing with syntactic variety.

Here are the results to some great collaborative writing! Lino Activity

Walkin' in Memphis with MapSkip

Our latest writing assignment was to write a five paragraph essay about helping our friends from Nespelem School learn a little bit about our life in Memphis, TN. We wanted to show them around town by identifying and writing about the city's hot spots.

The writing process was used to help turn a few ideas into a well developed ESSAY. Some of the great attention getters that were used to hook the reader are as follows:

• What city has the best barbecue, is home to the king of rock-and-roll, and is always hopping?
  
• The sweet sound of Memphis blues fills the streets of Memphis.
• "Yes!" I exclaim, with a rib in my hand, while the Memphis Tigers' point guard, Tyreke Evans, makes a three pointer against Tennessee. Oh, how I adore the Memphis Tigers and ribs.
• This city is like a playground for hyper children, but even more entergetic. This awing urban area is known as the soul of the Mid-south.
• Exhilarated, enthusiastic, and fully prepared, the sightseers are eager to arrive.
• "Walkin' in Memphis" is a song of the great City of Blues.
• Get ready to “put on your blue suede shoes” and head to the “land of the Delta Blues!"
• Dismissing the powder-like snow from my mind I thought about Bar-B-Q, basketball, and blues. As I took off on a plane from Denver I wondered what it would be like to show an out of town person the sights of my hometown, Memphis.
• The birth place of the blues, the new city sensation, and the loving generations make up the great city of Memphis!
  
• Sights, sounds, and great food are all a part of one of the greatest cities in the United States.
• Rendezvous, Graceland, and Beale Street are Memphis at its finest, but the Tigers, Grizzlies, and all the Rock n' Roll are, too.
• Flashy lights and beautiful music bring the town of Memphis to life everyday. When Memphis comes to life you have no chance of stopping it.
• The sky revealed its blanket of blue over Memphis, the city of history. Over time, many things have changed in our aged city, but some have not moved on.

After putting the finishing touches on the essays, it was time to take our visitors to these locations on the map. Each student located a favorite Memphis site and added a descriptive paragraph of support from the essay. Before long, stories were present all over the city and pictures were uploaded to provide a great visual.

To complete our unfinished project, we will be adding our voices which is another great feature of MapSkip. We hope our friends from Nespelem School will enjoy learning about Memphis history and its many wonderful sites. Before long, they will have the option of listening to them as well. Click on the picture for a short cut to MapSkip.

Here is a direct link to St. Jude in Memphis, TN where a student added his voice. Click here!



We have received a wonderful message from the co-founder of MapSkip where he comments on the fabulous work that the PDS boys have done! Check it out by clicking on the links below:

First Message
Second Message
Third message
Fourth Message

Prezi Presentation Using Linking Verbs

We have been practicing using linking verbs, distinguishing between linking and action verbs, and justifying why one is better to use to enhance writing than the other one is.

Prezi.com is a nonlinear presentation that allows so many options that a PowerPoint can't. It is a great way to display information, and at the same time, provide visual representations by uploading pictures, drawing arrows or lines, highlighting, etc. It is a great way for a visual learner to analyze a sentence for parts of speech. The frames on Prezi can help to organize and keep ideas separate, and a path can be created for the order in which the information can be presented.

I am looking forward to an opportunity for the students to be able to have their own account because it will benefit all of the different learning styles.

PDS Meets Nespelem School

Google Map of Grand Coulee Dam, WA and Memphis, TN

Out of the several listed "hot spots" of Memphis, which three would you recommend to Nespelem school? Give specific reasons to support your location of choice that is flagged on Google Map.

Connecting Perspectives

Connecting Perspectives: Honor the Past to Plan the Future



Nespelem School

Living History | Linking Friends | Honoring Pasts | Valuing Visions

A WebQuest for 5th Grade Language Arts and Humanities


Presbyterian Day School

Mind Mapping With Linking Verbs

Mind Map created by Kim Pruitt with GoConqr Forms of "Be" verbs:

is
am
were
was
are


Other linking verbs:

seemed
tasted
appeared
became
grew

Check out my new digital learning website: GrammarCloud!

"Linking" to Blooms Taxonomy

Blooms Taxonomy

Knowledge: Can you recall a list of linking verbs?
Comprehension: How would you compare a linking verb to an action verb?
Application: How would you show your understanding of a linking verb?
Analysis: What is the relationship between the two words that the linking verb connects?
Synthesis: How can you test whether or not a verb is linking or action?
Evaluation: Justify which verb, action or linking, enhances writing.

Inaugural Words: 1789 to Present

Choose one president from the past on the presidential time line and click to analyze his words used during his inaugural speech. Then click on Barack Obama to compare. How is their language alike? different? Give reasons for the likenesses and differences that you list.

Inaugural Time Line: 1789-Present

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

I found this Glogster created by Brenda Dyck that is great support for our study of the Civil War. Make sure to click on the links where you can find more information on President Lincoln.