4th Grade Community Connections Project

How has our community changed over time?  And what has stayed the same?  Why do you think those changes happened?  What might our future look like?

4th grade brainiacs say:

5th Grade OPALees weigh in on the brain...

~BRAINS~!?!?!?!

Third-graders weigh in on what they've been learning about during the first several weeks of iOPAL (Module 1). (click on the comments link)

Competition challenges kids to submit their coolest invention idea

A new online science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) contest developed by Time Warner Cable and entertainer will.i.am launched today. Wouldn’t It Be Cool If…challenges youth ages 10-15 to think up the coolest thing to make their life, community, or world better, and then to think about how math and science could bring those ideas to life.

Beginning today through March 28, 2012, eligible youth can submit their ideas at http://www.edmodo.com/link?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wouldntitbecoolif.com

One winner will be selected to receive the ultimate prize – the opportunity to collaborate with Fahrenheit 212, an innovation consulting firm that works with global companies and brands to develop and bring to market industry- or world-changing ideas. The winner will work with Fahrenheit 212 over the course of several months to refine their idea, develop a business model and strategy, and explore how to bring the idea to market. This process will culminate with the winner presenting the refined idea to prospective investors.

(source: http://www.techlearning.com)

Grade 5 survival "brain dump"

Survival....it's the name of the game.  But it can mean a lot of different things to different people.  Today, Glendaal 5th grade OPAL students made connections to the topic of survival in all of its various forms.  This real-time, collaborative brain dump empowered students to share their creative ideas about survival.  It also inspired students...many picked a topic for intense further investigation before the class was over! 

Check out the site!

iOPAL Selected for the Target Field Trip Grant!!

We're excited to report that....we've won the Target Field Trip grant for our Grade 4 iOPAL field trip!

The culminating project for our Grade 4 'History's Mysteries!' module will consist of visiting the sites of original primary source photographs that we've analyzed and taking a new photograph (to juxtapose with the old photo).  This which will be shared online in the global “Looking Into the Past” project in Flickr.com (http://www.flickr.com/groups/lookingintothepast/).  The students will also annotate their photo with the other results of their research.  The students can also post the photos and annotations to Google Earth as a follow-up project.

Grade 4 iOPAL students from each elementary school will be able to attend the field trip as a result of the grant.