3-5

=Grades 3-5 Examples =

__ **Using Voice Thread to Empower Learning: Cross-Country Collaboration with Expert Scientists** __ **-poster presented in Denver, CO at ISTE 2010**

As part of a year-long study of animal behavior and adaptations, students were connected with experts practicing in the areas of student-inquiry. Throughout the year, students and collaborators communicated via Voice Threads to pose, answer, and discuss inquiry questions as well as to learn about the life of our expert scientists. Voice Threads were chosen as the ideal tool for this because of the 1. ease of use, 2. respect for our collaborators busy schedules and time available to work on our collaboration project, and 3. the ability to continue adding to our discussion in an asynchronous environment with a record of our learning throughout the year. This project was very successful and has empowered students to take charge of their own learning, building their own personal learning networks with experts in any area of study for the future.

**View these links to the Voice Threads that were made between fourth graders and expert collaborators during our animal inquiry project this year.**

[|Introduction for Expert Collaborators]

[|Biologist]

[|Parasitologist]

[|Ichthyologist]

[|Local Scientist]

[|Student Introductions]

[|Student Reflections]

[|Bird Group Inquiry Questions]

[|Fish Group Inquiry Questions/Answers]

[|Reptile and Amphibian Inquiry Questions]

[|Parasite Group Inquiry Questions]

[|Mammal Group Inquiry Questions]

[|Insect Group Inquiry Questions]

For more information, please check out the article in [|//Innovative Learning//], pages 8-9.

Feel free to post a question to my blog or send me an email (lauraslowder@yahoo.com). I'll be happy to respond with ideas that you may be able to emulate in your own classroom.

I am also in the process of setting up collaborations for the 2010-2011 school year. If you are interested, please contact me. I look forward to our future collaborations!

Here is a project my class did for Thanksgiving. They wrote a paragraph about what they are thankful for most in the world. As you can see, some of the choices were interesting.
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==_ From Karen Kliegman & Noel Forte's 5th Grade Research Class, Long Island, NY: Federal Holidays: New Holiday Proposals http://voicethread.com/#u25125.b35308.i215355 [|End-of-the-year Project] == ==4th Grade Reflection: Students were able to choose their favorite picture from the year and leave their memories on the VoiceThread. It was then exported and added to a DVD for all students to keep. On the [|ed.voicethread]  network. ==

==Global Warming was one of the issues the children chose to explore in the 4th grade. The researched their topics in depth and then created these voicethreads for the [|presentation]  aspect of their projects. ==

==When I grow up was a project run in the 3rd grade as part of their topic on [|careers] ==

==Did You Know..... This was a collaborative project between 4th and 5th grade [|TechYES] Students at Arlington Traditional School. They created this internet safety Voicethread using the TechYES Student Book. Pictures were created in Kid Pix and avatars were created using the [|Simpson's Avatar Maker] . ==

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==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Postcard Exchange: In the past I have been a part of several postcard exchanges and my students loved receiving the cards and information about each state. This year I wanted to try something new. I created a type of state information exchange using VoiceThread. ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">The Wreck of the RSS Titanic. (Grade Five) These photos were taken from our Reading Street Program. The students are retelling their interpretations of the stories we've read. ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Unit 8 Math Practice Test (Grade 5) This practice test was put up for students to share their problem solving methods on questions related to our unit test. ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Anoles by G.C. - The Lizard Man (Grade Three) - was our first <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[|VoiceThread] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> project. So far our VoiceThreads have been the vehicle for our "side trips" (as David Warlick likes to call them) and they have been received with great enthusiasm by students, staff and parents. We have created solo reports as well as class projects. To see more examples, visit the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[|Sheridan School Showcase] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> and the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[|Cherokee School Showcase] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">. Project source: [|Fred Koch], K-4 Technology Coach, Lake Forest (IL) School District 67. ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">The Hannibal-Kang Chaio Poetry Project (Grade 4) - This is one of our ongoing projects with the kids at <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[|Kang Chaio Bilingual School] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">in Taipei, Taiwan. Both groups of kids love poetry and both are working on their English and speaking skills, so we decided to merge our efforts in a Voicethread. This Mr. Liu's 4P1 class in Taipei and <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[|Mr. Smith's 4th grade] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> class at <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[|Eugene Field School] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> in Hannibal, MO. ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">The first impressions of Oklahoma History on the minds of Miss Paradise's 4th Grade Class. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">http://voicethread.com/share/11227/ ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Global Warming by Zoe <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">http://voicethread.com/share/1192/**http://voicethread.com/share/45837/** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">, K-4 Technology Facilitator, Northfield Community School. Voicethread link: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[|Kevin Jarrett] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> and writing prompts. Students were presented with photographs and were tasked with analyzing the scenes provided to brainstorm possible setting, characters, plot, etc., as a prelude to writing an essay. It didn't turn out quite as we expected, and some of the most creative comments had to be deleted because students provided their full names (usually when they role-played being a newscaster describing the photo). We also had some technical difficulties with the hardware (sound recording) but overall they enjoyed the project and learned how students could have different perceptions of the same photo. We're just getting started with Voicethread in our district so we've turned off comments; thanks for understanding! Project source: [|Northfield Community School]Picture Prompts - This was an experiment with Voicethread involving Fourth Grade students at ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[|Great Book Stories] == ==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">This project demonstrates how VoiceThread can be used to create telecollaborative projects and to breathe new life into book reports. Great Book Stories VoiceThread provides a place for students to share a favorite book and receive feedback. ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">A Voicethread that encourages comments about differences in communites. The Voicethread includes teacher directions and handouts. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">http://voicethread.com/share/20319/ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Welcome to Our World - ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Voicethread made by Tech Club <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">http://voicethread.com/#u20242 ==

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">We added our voice thread to our school wiki.
==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">VoiceThread on Open Court "Money" Unit for Third Grade class in Sacramento, CA ==

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==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Voice Thread on Coordinate Graphing from a Fourth Grade class in Sacramento, CA ==

==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">http://voicethread.com/share/122463/ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">The Aboriginal Athletes Voicethread was contributed to by a class of grade 4 and 5 students. The photos were donated to the school by a collector and the students read researched facts about the various athletes. ==

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==<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">Summer enrichment program through the <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;">[|Gifted Kids Network] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: left;"> for students in grades 2-8. We studied endangered animals and created a virtual zoo using voicethread. ==

http://voicethread.com/share/236981/

This is a voice thread about Esperanza Rising. It is a great book about hope, family values and perseverance. I would recommend it for any 4th, 5th or 6th grade class. Pam Munoz Ryan has a great website with a lot of great tools about this book and all of the books she's written.

5th Grade Flip-Book Animations
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===This is a Voice Thread that highlights student created flip-book animations inspired by the work of Leonardo da Vinci. iMovie was used to create the animations. Voice thread was utilized to showcase student work and encourage family and friends to leave comments. The "thread" begins with an intro on how to leave a comment for visitors new to Voice Thread.=== [|Flip Book Animation] [|This is a VoiceThread about the book "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan], by 4th grader Sarah Fryer. This includes images and video taken in St Louis, Missouri, at the Gateway Arch which features prominently in one of the scenes of the book. That location was changed to Nashville, Tennessee, in the movie version of the book.

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3rd Grade students at St. George's Elementary School in Germantown TN were studying a unit on school supplies and asking questions in Spanish. This 3rd grade TN class paired up with a 5th grade class in IN. One student asked the question in Spanish and the other student answered the question in Spanish.

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