The Flat Stanley Project

Mrs. Catherine Acera-Cabrera
SAES - 3rd Grade

This project was an awesome experience for me. I had never done it before so it was a first for me as well as the students. This was done as a group effort and I commend my friends and classmates who worked on this project with me. Our lesson plans were not only based on the Flat Stanley Project itself, but it also incorporated some social studies themes as well as language arts. On the first day of the project we introduced the whole idea of the Flat Stanley Project to the students and had them create their own flat friends. The students were very excited about creating their own friends and took their time in making their friends unique and special to them. After they created their friends, we gave them a whole week to spend with their flat buddies and every day in class they had to write a journal entry about what they did with their friend. We edited their journals every time they finished writing to give them time to edit and correct their papers. We also took some pictures of them when they were working on their letter and when they brought their friends with them to the morning assembly. Before the projects were sent off, we used google earth to find out where exactly our friends were going, how far away it is from here, and how long it might take for them to come back. We also used the internet to get some facts about the CNMI to be included in the kids' letters that accompanied the flat friends. I think the students learned alot from this experience and they enjoyed learning about it. I was able to register the teacher on the official flat stanley website and a few weeks after that, the class received a flat friend from New York. Although, they did not send any flat friend to New York, they were very excited to know that other people out there wrote to them and wanted to get to know them. I saw how the kids were so excited to find out where New York was and how it was different/similar to Saipan. The project made them want to learn about other people and the world and how other places compare to Saipan. I felt this was important because as 3rd graders, they are supposed to learn about their community and the global society as well. I absolutely enjoyed this project and will do it again when I become a teacher. I think it is an excellent way to improve students' writing and, at the same time, teach them about other cultures and the world we live in.

To see photos of the project, please click here:http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd146/franoraliah/?action=view&current=3b4de3bf.pbw

Here's a short video of the students and their flat friends:

Web Portfolio

Hi everyone, here's a link to my professional portfolio. Take a look.
http://corined480.weebly.com/

Flat Stanley Rubric

I absolutely recommend using a rubric when assessing students' work. It is a much detailed and clearer way to justify why and how students get the grades they get. When a student is given a rubric ahead of time, the teacher will get better end products because the students know what is expected of them. Rubrics make it easier for the parents to understand how their children are graded and it makes grading easier for the teacher as well. www.teach-nology.com is a great website to get rubrics from. You can create your own rubric to suit your specific need and the website is very easy to navigate and use.

Teachback: Mobile Learning

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Flat Stanley Crossword Puzzle

This assignment was very interesting. I have used Excel to do many other projects in the past, but never have I used it to generate a crossword puzzle. I found it really difficult and time consuming at first, but I eventually got it. After I figured it out, it was easier. I think that if students are taught to use this to create or even to solve a crossword puzzle it will help them not only learn about the content, but how to work Excel as well. It is a great tool to use because it also incorporates mathematics. If I had to do another crossword puzzle, I will probably use whatever is available online just to save time, but I will definitely want my students to learn how to use this program.

Edit Grid

Edit Grid is definitely a more user friendly grading program, compared to engrade. I was able to sign up an account and use it fairly quickly. It is pretty much the same as using Microsoft Excel, but it's available online and you are able to access your grades anywhere at anytime as long as there's a computer available with internet connection. I would like, however, to try and use engrade once I become a teacher. I have seen other people use it and it seems to be a very good program for teachers, students, and parents.

Ocean Life WebQuest

This project is a web quest about ocean life focusing primarily on the CNMI. My group mates and I decided on this topic because we wanted to bring awareness to the students in the CNMI about the importance of our marine resources. After completion of this lesson the students will be able to demonstrate greater understanding of our marine environment and the life forms that exist in it. In addition, they will be able to identify different ways we can help maintain and preserve our marine resources. This process will improve students' learning because it addresses differentiated instruction where students are able to explore and work collaboratively to accomplish a common goal. This type of activity gives students opportunities to work creatively with the use of technologies in the classroom.

I think the most important lesson I learned from this activity was basically learning how to use a web quest as a tool inside the classroom. I had never made one before so this was kind of difficult at first, but thanks to the people I worked with we were able to figure things out together. The online tool that we used, instantprojects.org, was very easy to use. I liked that everything we needed to do was right there on the first page, it was easy to follow. The only thing I didn't like was how difficult it was figure out some things such as changing the background picture or adding a sound clip. Other than that, it was a good tool. I would probably use it again if I don't find anything better.
Next time I do this activity I will probably explore more options that might be available for me to use online. If I happen to use this tool again it would probably be a little easier since I've had the experience, but I would really like to look into more web quest tools available out there.