Oil Map Activity

Assignment:

Goal:
Work with Google docs, discussion of standardized tests, sharing documents,
Web sites used in this activity:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/11/06/business/20071107_WINNERSLOSERS_GRAPHIC.html#
http://docs.google.com/

Standardized tests today nearly often involve problem solving skills.
Several require students to take information from graphs and charts and use it to answer questions.
Visit the World Oil Map listed in the New York Times.
Make a simple worksheet (using google Docs) or word if you prefer that requires students to gather information from this site.
Five Questions is all you need. At the bottom of the worksheet - list the answers.
The hardest should require some real thinking or problem solving skills (appropriate for your age group)
Share the document with one of your computer neighbors,
Post if on your blog.
Please note that there are three tabs which give different types of information. There is also a zoom feature on each map.
If you like this type of interactive map and data, there are many more found at the New York times web site. Search for the word interactive or talk to me.
When finished, make a blog post about this acitivity, include appropriate links and discuss what you can take from this to use in your classroom.

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Oil and the Economy

Questions:

1. Define consumer in your own words.

2. Who is the #1 oil supplier for the US?

3. On Average how many barrels of oil does the US consumer in a day?

4. What do the circles on the map represent?

5. What are the top three suppliers to the US?

Answers:

1. someone who buys something

2. The United States of America

3. On average, the United States consumed 20.6 million barrels per day.

4. They are the number of barrels.

5. United States, Canada, Mexico

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This was a fairly easy activity to create. It is definetly something I can use in my class, which can be modified for any topic.

Stock Market

We did a mock stock market trade. It was somewhat stressful, to tell the truth.

Favorite Book

Assignment:


Please post on your blog about the favorite book you have read this year. Be sure to include a picture!

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This year, I read all 4 of the Twilight books...again! Recently, I read Eclipse a third time, so I would be prepared to view the movie in the theatre.

I have always been interested in reading books about vampires and such, as well as historically related stories. This book works in both!

Google Sites

Our assignment was to create a page on Google Sites that would include a list of top 20 webspages. Working with Google Sites is not too difficult. I definitely prefer the original Google Pages, though. Also, I found that I prefer to build my site from scratch rather than from a pre-made template.

Click here to view my site.

History Quest (Titanic Activity)

At the beginning of class, each of us were given a key word to search about the Titanic. Mine was "beginning." We each did a short and quick search and came back together as a class right before lunch to have a discussion. One at a time, we all told about what we had found. Amazingly it gave a very broad, but brief overview about the Titnic.

This would be a fabulous way of introducing any science or social studies unit. I think it is better suited for the upper grades, as they have more background knowledge and abilities to surf the web (nettrecker) for information. In lower grades, students could do this in groups. I would'nt give it as homework the night before, as I would an older student, but perhaps 20 minutes prior to introduction of the activity.

Wikipedia Simple English vs. Wikipedia English vs. Encyclopedia Britannica Online

The assignment was to compare Simple English, Wikipedia, and Britanica; as well as make changes in any wikipedia article.


The chart below depicts my findings on the comparisons.

I made a change in an article about marker pens. I did what was called a "minor edit." Simply put, I expanded upon the word material and wrote "pourous, pressed fibers," which was changed a day later by another editor. His change was simply to respell fiber as fibre.

Scavenger Hunt

Assignment:

Create a online scavenger hunt that is appropriate for the age of your students.
If you want to limit the web sites that your students can search from, list them at the top of your document. Have a mininum of 15 questions. Some easy, some hard.
Put the 15 word answers into one of the puzzles available at the discovery channel puzzle maker.

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I teach 2nd grade, and our social studies curriculum includes a unit on the Georgia Regions. I use this one website every year (http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0213900/) and do an entire lap book with the kids. The website is actually created by middle school students, so it is written in kid-friendly language, and should be easy to use to search for the answers to the questions.

I created the document in word, rather than google docs because the wordsearch itself failed to format correctly in that application.

I love this idea for my class. It would be a great center/ small group activity for the kids.

Wunderground Activity

In class, we were given the following directions:

• Pick a place I've always wanted to go


• Using the weather history link on Wunderground, write down the high and low temperature for the 15th of every month in 2009.


• Enter the data into the spreadsheet program in Google Docs.


• Create graph/chart

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I chose to search for Minsk, Belarus. My family used to host a little girl from there, and I've always been interested in going to see her. She came several summers in a row during my teen years. She always complained that it was very hot in Georgia. While I agree with her statement, I definetly see why she made that observation. It never really got too far above 80 degrees in Minsk!

Below is the chart that I created, using the information I found at Wunderground. It includes the High and Lows from 15th of each month in 2009.

For the complete chart of this activity, click the here.

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It's hard for me to say exactly how I would use this with my second graders. I could have them pick a city in any Georgia region that they want, and they could search the highs/lows for a year like I did here. I think it would definetly have to be a two-fold activity; where we do one together as a class and then they do one on their own or in a group. Middle school helpers would be fantastic to utilize for an activity like this, though.

How could I use something like the Lincoln Powerpoint example in my teaching situation?

I love the idea of using the Google Docs (mine was slide 6) - presentation form to create an interactive class powerpoint that all students have a hand in making. I see it working out better with older students, but I can also modify for my second graders. Ideas are already swirling around in my head!

• Georgia Regions - Break students up into groups (5 regions = 5 groups). with in those 5 groups, each child would have a specific characteristic for that region (animal life, vegetation, climate, etc.) that they would have to learn about. Each region/ characteristic would have a slide. I would have already set it up so that all they had to do was maybe add a picture and a few notes.


• Georgia Heroes - Break students up into groups based on the heroes. You can have 5 groups, each group would have 1 hero to research. As a group, they would come up with specific information such as; character-traits, general characteristics, important things they did, etc.
  

I am so excited and bet I could find uses in math,science, and reading as well!

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Below is a screenshot of the slide I created for ou class powerpoint.