Blogging About Holidays Around The World: 3rd Grade

Task Preview 11/30/09 12:29 PM

Feliz Navidad! God Jul! Buon Natale!
TITLE:
Blogging About Holidays Around the World
TASK DEVELOPER: Colleen Johnson and Eleanor Hall
CONTENT AREA AND
Language Arts- Grade 3
GRADE:
SCOPE AND SEQUENCE Writing
TARGET TEACHING DATE: Early December
SCHOOL: Rockburn Elementary

Modified by Colleen on 10/27/2009 at 1:59:46 AM

Modified by MsTiggywinkle on 10/27/2009 at 10:43:53 PM

Modified by Colleen on 10/28/2009 at 3:45:48 PM






Modified by MsTiggywinkle on 10/28/2009 at 10:29:14 PM

STANDARDS:
http://learningfront.com/taskbuilder/tbdesignpageview.cfm Page 1 of 15


Reading/Language Arts - Grade 3

Standard 4.0 Writing:
Topic
A. Writing
Students will compose in a variety of modes by developing content, employing specific forms, and selecting
language appropriate for a particular audience and purpose.

Indicator: 2. Compose oral, written, and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, and persuade.

Objective: a. Compose to express personal ideas to develop fluency using a variety of forms, such as journals,
narratives, letters, reports, and paragraphs

Indicator: 7. Locate, retrieve, and use information from various sources to accomplish a purpose

Objective: a. Identify and use sources of information on a topic

Objective: b. Use various information retrieval sources (traditional and/or electronic) to obtain information on a topic

PERFORMANCES:

The students will write a fictitious blog about their experiences celebrating Christmas in other countries. They will
post photographs on the blog. They will also compare/contrast their "experiences" by commenting on other blogs of
students in the class.

SETTING:

Real World Setting: Travel and Leisure

You and your family are going to go away for the holidays this year. After school lets out for winter break, you will
travel to Italy, Sweden, or Mexico to experience their Christmas celebrations. Your extended family: grandma,
grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins are disappointed that you will not be celebrating with them this year, but are
very excited to hear about your trip. They want to know all about the different customs that other cultures have
when celebrating Christmas. Since you will be traveling abroad, it is very expensive to call the United States so you
are going to keep a blog of your experiences. Throughout your trip, your family members will be able to check your
blog and read about everything you have been doing. They will even be able to see the pictures you have taken.
Your classmates will also have a chance to read about your experiences and you can read about theirs from the
countries that they are visiting. You will have a chance to compare the different cultural celebrations and comment
on each others' trips abroad.



SMARTSKILLS:

Level I: Acquiring Data - Data that are acquired in this standards-based task:

Vocabulary: blogging, photo sharing, uploading, commenting, customs, traditions, celebrations

Content Vocabulary:

Mexico: La Posada, poinsettia, pinata

Sweden: St. Lucia Day, Tomte

Italy: La Befana, Epiphany, Novena

Concepts: blogging, photo sharing, uploading, commenting

Level II: Visualizing Information - Data from Level I that are visualized as information in this standards-based
task:

Organizing:

Creating meaning: Students will create meaning of the cultural celebrations in other countries by comparing them to
similar traditions that they celebrate in the United States.

Level III: Applying Knowledge - Visualized information from Level II that is applied knowledge in this standards-
based task:

Making decisions: Students will determine what information to include in their blogs based on what they think their
intended audience would want to know (friends and family members).

PREFERENCES:

Student Involvement -

This project will be completed by the 9 students in my above grade level reading The students will complete the task
in groups of 3.

Differentiating Instruction Phase 1:

The task will be differentiated based on data from student interest surveys. I will ask the students several informal
questions to be answered in their language arts journals. I will group the students based on their answers. I would
try to put them in groups based on which place they wanted to study the most if it works out that there are 3 that



want to study each. I might have to go to 2nd choices if that does not work out. I will also see what information
students already have about the places when assigning groups. I want the students to learn new information and not
go into the project with misconceptions about various countries or cultural celebrations. When assigning researcher
roles in the group, I would use the responses from my 3rd question.

1. If you had to learn about Mexico, Sweden, or Italy, which would you choose and why? What would be your
2nd choice?
2. What do you already know about these places?
3. When you learn, would you rather read a book, look at pictures, listen to an expert, or research on the
Internet?


The data-driven task will be differentiated by each students' instructional activities. Based on their responses from
the 3rd question, I will assign different researcher roles. Some students will be watching videos from United
Streaming and You Tube about their topics, others will be using non-fiction texts, while others will be conducting
Internet research.


The process in Phase 2 will be differentiated by learning preferences.

Differentiating Instruction Phase 4: The students will be contributing to a team graphic organizer based on the
information that they find in their research.

Special Education Accommodations - Students with special needs will receive accommodations
as specified in their IEPs.

Use of Resources -

The school will provide classroom materials such as pencil, paper, notebooks, computer hardware with Internet
connection, an Edublog subscription, and classroom time to complete the task. The students will provide homework
time. Students and parents are going to be required to comment on other students blogs and respond to comments
written on their blogs.

Customer for Student Work - The student will present their work as evidence of task completion to their
peers, teachers, and administrators.

Assessment of Student Work - At the completion of the task, the student's teacher will be assessing the work.

Assessment of Student Work - The following forms of assessment will be used to determine progress and results:

1. performance assessment

2. checklist

Reporting Results - The assessment results will be reported:

1. as the total points for a checklist

2. an assessment of how the student was able to effectively use the blog as a tool to communicate ideas with
classmates and parents



Timeline - The estimated time needed to plan, teach, and score this task is about 2 days of planning and 3 days of
group work. The students will be given time during the language arts block to research, contribute to the organizer,
and blog each day.

ACTIVITIES:

Day One - Activity One: Student Interest Survey, Groupings, Introduction
Estimated Time: 30 minutes

Step 1: Give student interest surveys.

Step 2: While determining results, students will independently read "Christmas Around the World" article.

Step 3: Group students as discussed in preferences section. Students will be grouped based on results from survey
questions about which country they would be most interested in learning about and why. Students' second choices
may be used to create groups of 3 if necessary.

Step 4: Explain real world setting.

Step 5: Explain to students that they will be researching the customs of their culture's Christmas celebration. Each
student will have a researcher role depending on the results from the survey, but since it is a cooperative project,
they can share the roles if they want as long as the team organizer is complete.

Step 6: Give each team a research bin and graphic organizer. See attached document titled "My Christmas Vacation
Blog".

Step 7: Explain graphic organizer and answer any questions.

Technology: No technology is needed for this small group.

Materials: student interest surveys, "Christmas Around the World" articles, research bin with predetermined
materials for each team, team graphic organizers

Team Graphic Organizer link: http://www.slideshare.net/cajohnson1/team-graphic-organizer

Articles and Websites:

Christmas in Sweden: http://whychristmas.com/cultures/sweden.shtml (Article 1)
http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/knowledgesafety/qt/xmassweden.htm (Article 2)

Feliz Navidad: Making Merry in Mexico
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1945-feliz-navidad-making-merry-in-mexico

Celebrating Christmas in Mexico: Las Posadas



http://www.mexonline.com/christmas.htm

Christmas in Italy websites:
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~ngargano/corsi/100/wk11.natale.italy.htm
http://www.initaly.com/regions/xmas/xmas.htm
http://www.italylogue.com/planning-a-trip/christmas-in-italy.html

International Christmas Articles (for teachers):
http://customsholidays.suite101.com/article.cfm/international_christmas_traditions
http://geography.suite101.com/article.cfm/celebrating_christmas_around_the_world

Additional Online resources for Christmas Around the World:
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson041.shtml
http://www.henry.k12.ga.us/PGES/xmas_around.htm
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/denise/ChristmasCelebrationsAroundTheWorldWorksheet.htm

Student Product or Performance: Student Interest Surveys

Scoring Tool: There will not be assessments during this portion of the project.

Day One - Activity Two: Team Research Time
Estimated Time: 1 hour

Step 1: Teams will use the materials in their bin (books, articles, directions on how to access predetermined videos
downloaded from United Streaming and You Tube, and directions on how to access various websites) to research
items on the graphic organizer.

Step 2: Teams will complete the graphic organizer.

Technology: The students will be using the mobile lab laptops to access the videos in my network folder, as well as
conduct Internet research.

International Christmas Video links:

General: Multicultural Christmas Traditions-

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=62EC5B68-3120-4D79-AD9F-
48D032CAE2FC&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

Mexico - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ebSyRJCxQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AFzx-stys&feature=related

Sweden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk0FyZqNp5Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lP3ytEs3BY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BzmXBKjU7I

Italy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0vrwr_mRSc&feature=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG4sppEP0mE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OJsYUnRfAM
http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=8F5607BC-0A15-4F91- A1BA-
0131435C2A77&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

Materials: mobile lab, research bins, team graphic organizers

Student Product or Performance: Teams are expected to complete the graphic organizer. '

Scoring Tool: I will be using the star plus, star, smiley, sad face to evaluate team graphic organizers.

Day Two - Activity One: Searching for Online Photographs


Step 1: We will begin by reviewing the team graphic organizer to make sure that each team has finished each
section. Students will each share 1 interesting fact they learned the day before.

Step 2: We will discuss the text feature, photographs, and how they help the reader to visualize what he/she is
reading. In order to conduct this conversation, I will show students a picture of my family at Christmas time. Each
student will have to tell me something they can infer about the picture by using the skill of visualizing. After each
student has shared, I will ask if anyone has heard of the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words." We will
discuss this quote and how it applies to my family photograph.

Step 3: Using the LCD projector, I will show the students various websites they can use to find photographs of
people celebrating Christmas in the country that they are researching. The websites will be housed in my network
folder for the students to easily access.

www.flickr.com - Sweden

www.smugmug.com - Mexico

www.images.google.com - Italy

Step 4: I will show the students how to copy and paste the photographs into a word document to save for later use.

Step 5: The students will be asked to find 3 photographs to help the reader of their blog to visualize the way their
culture celebrates Christmas. Each team will save the photographs into a word document.

Technology: laptop, LCD projector, bookmarked photo sharing sites to model for students

Materials: laptop and LCD projector

Student Product or Performance: There is no expected product from this group.

Day Two - Activity Two: Team Photo Hunt



Step 1: Teams will use the photo sharing websites and other links in my network folder to locate photographs.

Step 2: Teams will copy and paste each photograph into a word document to use during Day 3's blogging activity.

Step 3: Teams will find at least 3 photographs.

Sample Photos:

Sweden (Photos):
http://www.infohostels.com/immagini/news/531.jpg
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/media/upload/content/55.jpg
http://www.americanswedish.org/pics/lucia07.jpg

Mexico (Photos):
http://www.z-mation.com/phpbb/files/ny_mama_mexico_christmas_windows_broadway_at_102nd_10_189.jpg

http://www.ontheroadin.com/Mexico%20christmas%20flash/images/christmas%20guadalajara%20santa%20claus.jpg

http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4672292/91074-main_Full.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pdJDY9PvxRM/SUAY-0VWHhI/AAAAAAAAZ3U/Nm2C5YQf17E/s400/christmas in
mexico for children.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/gomexico/1/0/2/A/-/-/giant_nacimiento.jpg

http://www.hispanic-culture-online.com/images/christmas-in-mexico-1.jpg

Italy (Photos):

http://www.italylogue.com/files/2007/11/duomo_christmas.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/goitaly/1/0/8/9/-/-/nativity-scene-siena.jpg
http://www.mamicamilla.com/images/picture_christmas10.jpg
http://www.initaly.com/regions/xmas/pix/xmas004.jpg

Technology: mobile lab

Materials: mobile lab. bookmarked photo sharing and other sites for students to use in my network folder

Student Product or Performance: Students will have found at least 3 photographs and saved them in a word
document. One student in the team should save the photos into his/her document folder so that they can easily be
accessed the next day.

Scoring Tool: Students will receive a complete or incomplete for this activity.

Day Three- Activity 1: Introduction to Blogging


Step 1: Show students real world examples of blogs, especially travel blogs. Create one of your own if necessary.



Sample Travel and Holiday Blogs:

Mexico Christmas blog:
http://bloggeratto.blogspot.com/2006/12/feliz-navidad-merry-christmas.html

Sweden Christmas blog:
http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Traditions/Celebrating-the-Swedish-way/Christmas

Christmas in Italy (Sample Blog):
http://sampleblogassignment.blogspot.com/

Step 2: I will explain to students that blogging is a public journal that everyone can read and comment on. I will
remind students about the real world setting that we are working within and ask "Why would a blog be better than
calling your family to tell them about your experiences or writing a letter/postcard?" Discuss responses: calling is
too expensive, you would need an international cell phone or calling card, they will not be able to see photographs
and visualize what you are saying, postcards/letters take to long to get to a person, etc.

Step 2: I will show students how to start their own blog using the Edublog site. They will be writing a journal entry
about their "experiences" (aka what they have learned through their research). They will also be using the
photographs they found from day 2 to enhance their blog entry.

Link to Edublog site: www.edublogs.org

Step 3: Model using the site to write my own blog about Christmas in Italy. Demonstrate the expectation of 3
paragraphs and including 1 photograph.

Sample Blog Assignment: http://sampleblogassignment.blogspot.com/

Step 4: Explain to each group that each team will need to include at least 3 paragraphs in their blog entry and 1
photograph from the day before. Their paragraphs should reflect their research and how the culture they researched
is different from the way we celebrate Christmas in the United States.

Step 5: Answer any questions students may have about the expectations or blogging in general.

Technology: LCD projector, laptop, Edublog site

Materials: LCD projector, laptop

Student Product or Performance: There is no expected student product from this activity.

Day Three- Activity 2: Team Blogging Time


Step 1: The team will use the student who saved the photographs from day 2's log-in to begin. Each student in the
team will contribute to the blog entry by writing 1 paragraph.

Step 2: Once the blog has been written, the students will upload at least 1 photograph from day 2.



Step 3: Students will review their blog for CUPS.

Step 4: Students will post their blog and send invites (via the blog) to family members asking them to subscribe to
their blogs in order to read them and leave comments.

Step 5: Over the next few days, students will be able to go on to their classmates blogs during computer lab and
center time to read and post comments. Students will also be able to respond to the comments left by family
members and classmates.

Technology: mobile lab

Materials: one laptop per team, team graphic organizer

Student Product or Performance: By the end of this activity, students will have written their blog entry.

Scoring Tool: I will be using the star plus, star, smiley, sad face to evaluate team blogs.

BENCHMARKING:

Student Performance One: Blog

Real World Benchmarking Example:

Christmas in Italy (Sample Blog):
http://sampleblogassignment.blogspot.com/

Highest scoring projects will meet the following criteria:

- Blogs entries will be well researched and factual.

- Each blog entry will be a minimum of three paragraphs in length

- Each blog entry will include a minimum of two photographs.

- Successful blogs will compare and contrast Christmas traditions in the U.S. to Christmas traditions in the assigned
country.

- Successful blogs will prompt discussions and comments/reactions from classmates.



SCORING:

As noted in the activities section, I will be using the star plus, star, smiley, sad face to assess most parts of the
lesson. The students understand this grading system and how it translates to 1, 2, and 3 on their report cards. The
students will also receive the following checklist to make sure they have completed all of the sections. I will be
putting their symbol (star, smiley, etc.) on the checklist and comments as each part is completed.

Activity Completed? By Whom? Score Comments
Student contributed to the
completion of a team
graphic organizer by using
various print and Internet
resources to locate
information.
Student located photographs
using various photo sharing
websites that were relevant
to the group's topic. Student
was able to discuss the
photos using information
he/she found through
research.
Student contributed to at
least 2 team blog entries
about his/her experiences
abroad. Student included
important information from
the graphic organizer and
made comparisons to the
way Christmas is celebrated
in the United States.
Student posted at least 1
relevant comment to a
classmate's blog and
responded to at least 3
comments left on his/her
blog.



METACOGNITION:

Cognitive Information: I will collect the following information at the completion of all activities. Since it will be
completed with only 9 students, they will all participate. It will be done as a whole group discussion.

1. Describe what skills you needed to complete this task.
2. Explain how you solved the goal, problem, or issue in this task.

Attitude Information: I will collect the following information from the students in written form. Students will
complete as an independent seat work follow-up to the Cognitive Information discussion.

1. Do you feel that you are good at researching and using technology?
2. Did you find this task to be difficult?
3. Did you see the usefulness of what you were asked to do in real life?
4. Did you enjoy the task?
5. What would you tell your parents/guardians about this task?
6. What would you tell your friends about this task?

RESULTS:

This table is similar to the checklist students will be using. On the student checklist, I will be putting comments that
will help kids to go back and edit or change their blogs. I will be using this table to report scores to parents after all
aspects of the project are edited and completed.

Activity Score Comments
Student contributed to the completion
of a team graphic organizer by using
various print and Internet resources to
locate information.
Student located photographs using
various photo sharing websites that
were relevant to the group's topic.
Student was able to discuss the photos
using information he/she found



through research.
Student contributed to at least 2 team
blog entries about his/her experiences
abroad. Student included important
information from the graphic
organizer and made comparisons to
the way Christmas is celebrated in the
United States.
Student posted at least 1 relevant
comment to a classmate's blog and
responded to at least 3 comments left
on his/her blog.

Self-Evaluation of a Standards-Based Lesson Developed by School Leaders: The following self-evaluation
reflects my analysis of the quality of my standards-based lesson.

Criteria for Evaluating Standards-Based Lessons
Developed by School Leaders

LearningLayout: Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development

Standard. Combine technology with curriculum, instruction, assessment,
professional development, and school improvement to improve student
achievement.

Indicators. School leaders will:

1. Facilitate the use of technology to plan, teach, assess, and act on the results
of standards-based, customized, and data-driven daily lessons.
2. Collaborate with students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders through
Web 2.0 technologies.
3. Support the delivery of online professional development aligned with
standards, assessment results, job expectations, research findings, and
evolving trends.

Program Products and Performances. According to the program schedule,
participants will:

Standards-Based Lesson. Use TaskBuilderOnline to plan, teach, score, act
on results, and share a standards-based lesson. [Individual Product]

Optional



Online Professional Development Component. Develop an integrated
component of an online professional development program to meet a district,
school, or teacher need or requirement. [Optional Team Product]

Online Template. Design and post one research-based template for use in
the TaskBuilderOnline 10 link development process.
[Optional Individual Product]

Real World Setting: "You are a leader in a school that is implementing standards-
based and data-driven teaching and assessment. You and other members of your
instructional leadership team are faced with helping teachers on a daily basis to use
technology to develop and share standards-based lessons and aligned assessments
as part of your school's plan for improving teaching and student achievement. You
must develop and share a model standards-based lesson with TaskBuilderOnline to
learn how to do what is expected of each teacher and be comfortable and able to
coach all teachers as they strive to plan, teach, score, and act on the results of data-
driven lessons.

As you develop and after you have completed your standards-based lesson, you will
self evaluate the lesson according to the following "Criteria for Evaluating
Standards-Based Lessons." Then, you will clone your self evaluation to your school
district liaison with your final standards-based lesson. Finally, you will make a
WikiTask of your standards-based lesson to share with other leaders,
administrators, and teachers worldwide.
"Criteria for Evaluating Standards-Based Lessons"

My standards-based lesson shows evidence Maximum My
of how I: Points Points
1. Completed each of the 10
TaskBuilderOnline Links for my content area 25 20
and targeted student needs.

2. Aligned all of the TaskBuilderOnline Links
for instructional and formative assessment 15 15
purposes.
3. Demonstrated my understanding of content
knowledge, skills, concepts, and technologies
15 15
for teaching and formative assessment
purposes.

4. Selected instructional activities, strategies,
and technologies that are supported by 15 15
research findings and promising practices.
5. Posted my standards-based lesson as a
WikiTask for sharing and seeking ongoing 30 30
feedback for improvement.

TOTAL POINTS: 100 95



Supporting Comments:

We believe this lesson is an illustrative example of how to
incorporate Web 2.0 technologies into an elementary school
setting. The students are tasked to work within a real world
setting to accomplish their assignment. The lesson helps to
inform and connect students to each other.

This lesson allows students to learn new methods of using
technology in the classroom. They perfect their internet
searching skills, learn about blog design and moderation, and
learn how to filter and organize internet resources into cohesive
subject areas. These learning outcomes will be combined with
cultural awareness and geographical information to give students
new skills for learning and researching other cultures online.

The lesson also involves the parents and allows them to play an
active role in their child's education.

Scoring Rubric for a Standards-Based Lesson:
Proficiency Levels and Descriptions
A- The school leader completes all required Criteria for Evaluating a
Exemplary Standards-Based Lesson and communicates ideas clearly.

90-100 Click here for a benchmark standards-based lesson
Points

B- The school leader completes most required Criteria for
Proficient Evaluating a Standards-Based Lesson and communicates ideas
clearly.
80-89 Points

C - Novice
The school leader completes some of the Criteria for Evaluating
a Standards-Based Lesson and lacks clear communication.
70-79 Points

Final Assessment - Check One: X Exemplary _____ Proficient _____ Novice


Blogging About Holidays Around The World: 3rd Grade

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