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July 1, 1998
J.J.'s Adventure
by Susan Silverman
My second-grade students were working on a whale unit. I used the
ThinkQuest Junior project J.J.'s
Adventure to have my students develop information literacy, keyboarding, reading
comprehension, creative writing, online communication, and Internet navigational skills.
They worked with a partner at the computer. One student navigated the Web site while the
other filled in answers to the questions on a worksheet that I provided. While they were
working on this activity, I taught a math lesson to the rest of the class. Not once did
the students ask for my help. They were each required to type in the URL by themselves,
and all succeeded.
The feedback from my students was very positive, so I created a second
online lesson. (One student wrote on the back of his paper, "This is so much fun, can
we do it again tomorrow?") I create my own worksheets for online lessons, many from
ThinkQuest projects. When my class does a thematic unit, I surf the net for appropriate
sites and then create the sheets. ThinkQuest Junior is perfect for my second graders
because they are able to read most of the words. Below are the two worksheets that the
students used for J.J.'s Adventure.
Online Whale Activity #1
1. Go to J.J.'s
Adventure.
2. Click on "gray whales."
- Where do gray whales mate and feed?
- Where do they migrate from?
3. Click on "rescue."
- Why was the whale give fluids right away?
- Who was J.J. named after?
4. Scroll down this page and click on "glossary."
5. Define
6. Click on "authors."
- E-mail Amelia.
- E-mail Mona.
- E-mail Leah.
7. Write your name here.
8. Go back to your seat and on the back of this paper write a few
sentences about something interesting that you just learned.
Online Whale Activity #2
1. Go to J.J.'s
Adventure.
2. Click on "activities."
3. Click on "anatomy puzzle." Fill in the blanks on the
worksheet.
4. Go to "visitors."
6. Choose one of activities below:
- "Leave a comment in J.J.'s guest book."
- "Send us a poem about whales."
- "Show us your whale art."
7. Write your name here.
8. What activity did you decide to do?
9. Would you like to do another one of the suggested activities?
I hope you had fun today! I hope you and your partner did a whale of a
job!
Luv,
Mrs. Silverman
Technology Tools
I use a variety of technology resources to create a thematic unit,
including electronic encyclopedias, such as Encarta and Children's Ultimate Encyclopedia,
and the Magic School Bus CD-ROMs. The children write stories using the Amazon Writing
Machine and create illustrations using Kid Pix Studio. They e-mail experts and go on
virtual museum tours. We also use library books and magazines, invite guest speakers, and
view slide shows (many of which are from my travels).
I also incorporate the Internet in class lessons in other ways. The
students are given daily assignments and a weekly spelling list that I create in Print
Shop Deluxe. There is always a Web site to go with the theme, and the students have the
choice of writing about the site or a different activity. Not all the children have
Internet access at home. They also have the choice of handing in their work to me in a
notebook or by e-mail. They usually get a "pick your own assignment." For
example, when we were studying Mexico, one student sent me an electronic greeting postcard
with a cactus picture that read, "Having fun in Mexico. Wish you were here!"
Another student created a word search with the spelling words and e-mailed it to me. I
usually have a word search with their spelling words on Kid Pix each week. All the
spelling words are related to the theme of the week. Sometimes the work they send me is so
great that I print it out and use it as a reading lesson for the class. A few students ask
me in their e-mail to print out their work for a reading lesson.
Email: Susan Silverman
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