Sixth grade Social Studies students at Chapa Middle School recently visited Russia using Google Earth. Students toured the Russian capital of Moscow, and they focused on the similarities between Moscow and cities in America.

 Students were quite surprised to learn that Moscow has fast food restaurants similar to the United States. Israel G., a student in Mr. Younts’ class, was especially impressed to see the McDonald’s in Moscow. “Who’s going to expect a McDonald’s in a country you’ve never been to,” said Israel. He noticed that the McDonald’s in Moscow is located in a two-story building, and he observed that another McDonald’s store, McCafe, was located in a building next door to the McDonald’s restaurant. Israel’s classmate, Annastasia L., observed that the McDonald’s in Moscow reminded her of “Kyle McDonald’s times three.” Both Annastasia and Israel noticed the number of employees and the size of the restaurant in Moscow was greater than a typical McDonald’s in the United States.

 “Google Earth is a great way to learn about a country,” said Mr. Younts, a sixth grade Social Studies teacher. Students can zoom in and see buildings and the people of Russia. According to Mr. Barrientes, another teacher at CMS, Google Earth allows students to see the architecture of Russia up close.” Both Younts and Barrientes mentioned that the activity allows students to experiment and learn information in a different way. Barrientes further mentioned that using Google Earth is a great way to “be paperless and go green.”

Manuel C. holds up his letter to the embassy in Malaysia

Students in Mr. Younts sixth grade Social Studies classes wrote letters to the embassies of Asian countries to request information. Each student wrote to a different country’s embassy, and they are anxiously waiting to hear back from their country’s embassy. Packets from the embassy should start arriving within the next couple of months. Younts described the activity as a mystery because the students never know what will arrive in the mail from the embassy. Students in previous years have received posters, brochures, CDs of photographs, and recipes from the countries. According to Younts, many countries in Asia send materials hoping to increase tourism in the region.

 In addition to writing the embassy, students also used Google Earth to visit the country virtually. Students were able to view the buildings and landscapes of the major cities in their country.

Rey H. and Azael C. display a trading card of one of Earth's biomes

Seventh grade science students learned about the major biomes, or habitats, around the world. Students focused on the hot desert, cold desert, tundra, taiga, rainforest, deciduous forest, and grassland biomes. Students researched the temperature, rainfall, plants, and animals in each biome.

 Keigan K. described his favorite trading card, the rainforest. His trading card featured a picture of the rainforest, and Keigan selected the picture to represent the rainforest because it showed abundant vegetation, such as vines and ferns. Keigan learned that temperatures in the rainforest range from 25 to 70 degrees Celsius, and that the rainforest receives between 2,000 to 10,000 mm of rain each year. “That’s a lot”, Keigan remarked about the amount of rainfall in the rainforest. Keigan enjoyed the activity because “it taught me a lot of stuff.” He especially liked deciding what facts that he read about to include on the card.

 By completing this activity, students were able to learn about the adaptations plants and animals experience to survive in a certain biome. For example, Rey H. learned that sun, rain, and temperature affect which plants live in a biome. He learned that plants and animals living in the desert need less water to survive than plants and animals living in the other biomes.

 As a result of this activity, Mr. Brewer mentioned that his students were “engaged” and they were “learning the information for themselves.” He also mentioned that the students “are getting to see what the biomes look like in the pictures instead of just talking about them.” Brewer liked that the activity was “hands-on” and that it provided his students with a different way to find and process information. Mr. Garza also mentioned that his students enjoyed the trading cards activity. “That was awesome—I think they (the students) really enjoyed it!”

 Ms. Mosser, the Campus Technologist, at Chapa Middle School collaborated with the seventh grade Science teachers, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Garza, and Mr. Woolery, to design the “Biomes Trading Cards” project. Students used the Internet to research the biomes, and they used a website to create the trading cards. Mosser suggested this activity because it provided students with an alternative to PowerPoint. She also suggested the activity because students are very familiar with trading cards, such as baseball cards.

Annamarie learns about the elements of the periodic table using the WebElements interactive website.

Ms. Swofford’s sixth grade science class recently learned about the elements of the periodic table. Everything in the universe is composed of combinations of the chemical elements, and Ms. Swofford’s class investigated the chemical elements by using an interactive periodic table on the Internet. Students selected nine different elements, and they provided facts about each one. The facts were collected from the interactive periodic table. Ms. Mosser, Campus Technologist, at Chapa Middle School, described the interactive periodic table used by Ms. Swofford’s classes. “Students click on the block in the periodic table to find out additional information about the element. For example, students can find out the everyday uses of the element, who discovered the element, and the chemical properties of the element in the interactive periodic table.”

After collecting the facts about the elements, students used a software program called Inspiration to record the information. Inspiration is software program used to create graphic organizers, which are diagrams that help organize information for students. Annamarie V., a student in Ms. Swofford’s class, mentioned that the Inspiration software helped her organize the facts about the elements.

As a result of this activity, Ms. Swofford’s said her students “are able to see what elements are used for—even ones they don’t recognize on the periodic table are used for everyday things.” For example, Taylor T., a student in Ms. Swofford’s class, learned that neon is used to manufacture advertising signs. Annamarie, Taylor’s classmate, learned that the element beryllium transmits Xrays.

Help wanted… Oil worker in North Africa…  Tour Guide on Nile River…

 Sixth grade Social Studies students learned about the different economic resources in North Africa. In Mr. Younts’s class, students used their background knowledge of the resources, economy, climate, geographic features, and government in North African countries to write help wanted ads for prospective jobs in those countries. The help wanted ads included the job title, job description, qualifications, and benefits of the position.

 Bailey N., a student in Mr. Younts’s class, learned that the countries of North Africa have a need to hire oil workers. Landry R., Bailey’s classmate who also wrote an ad for oil workers, mentioned that “petroleum diggers make more money than I thought.” Bailey also wrote job ads for clothing manufacturers and gift shop operators, two other industries in the region. In addition to his ad for an oil worker, Landry also drafted a job ad for a Tour Guide on the Nile River. Landry’s ad included qualifications for the tour guide position, such as good speaking skills, good people skills, and a knowledge of the Nile River region.

 Younts collaborated with Ms. Mosser, Campus Technologist, to design the activity. To provide room for student creativity, PowerPoint, the presentation software, was the tool selected for the project. Students can add pictures and colors to dress up the job ad using PowerPoint. PowerPoint also allowed the students to flip between job ads quickly to make comparisons about jobs in the different countries of North Africa.

 Ms. Murphy, the student teacher in Mr. Younts’s Social Studies, commented about the job ads project. “Technology is already a big part of their (the students’) lives.” She suggested that the activity was “more exciting” for the kids to complete than a worksheet, and that the project provided the students with freedom and creativity.