This Is Sunnyland

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.


 

Please comment!

 

What are some things you love about Sunnyland Elementary School? If you are a student at another school, please tell us what is special or unique about your school? What do you love about your school? Is there anything our schools have in common?

Monday Assembly

Each Monday, Sunnyland will begin the day with an all school assembly to kick off the week. This week, we were lucky enough to have members of the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra Woodwind Ensemble play for us and share some intersting facts about their instruments as well as teach us a little about music.

Here is a Tagxedo of what students learned about woodwind instruments and symphonic music.

Please comment!

What is the name of the large instrument in the top picture? What is the name of the small, black instrument in the third picture? Which makes a higher pitch: a smaller or larger instrument? Do you know why?

Before the man played his instrument in the video above, he asked us to listen carefully and think about what color we "heard." There is a special word in music for the "color" of what is being played. Does anyone remember that special word? What colors do you hear when you listen to the snippet in the video?

Welcome Back Everyone!

Room 12 at Sunnyland School is BACK IN ACTION! There are 31 bright, eager 4th graders in our classroom who are ready to learn and support each other. One of our first activities was to discuss what kind of classroom we would like to have. This Wordle exemplifies the views and values of our community members. I hope we can all work together to make room 12 represent what we see here.

A Sampling of Room 12's Salmon PSA's

The students in room 12 have been working diligently to complete their Salmon Public Service Announcements. We ran into quite a few technical difficulties, but all in all, the students' projects were a success. Students learned so much about teamwork, patience, creativity, and the value of persistence.  Due to some issues we had with technology, a few groups have not quite wrapped up their projects.

The following are some of the projects that have been completed.

Finnigan used a video camera and then compiled and edited his project using Windows Movie Maker. Here is Finnigan's Special Report:

Ava and Lilia gathered photos online and made an Animoto slide show. It played in the background while they videotaped their broadcast highlighting the need for cold, clean, clear, and consistent water for salmon. With some help from Mr. Pahl, they also used Windows Movie Maker to pull all the pieces of their project together.

Many students are greatly enjoying the fun one can have with Blabberize. All of these groups are hoping to embed their "blabbers" into Glogster. This was one of the areas students encountered the most problems. Until we can get Glogster to work for us again, here are the salmon "blabbers" they created.

Bebeck and Rylan:

Sylvia, Alexandria, and Ashley:

Michael, Joshua, and Huver:

Gregory, Julian, and Nik:

Jessica, Jayden, and Skye's broadcast:

Savannah, Jadyn, and Tatum:

Please comment! We love your feedback! Please tell us a few things you learned from our public service announcements, some things you liked about what you saw and heard, and please share some constructive feedback as well. What do you think we could do a little better? Were our messages positive and empowering? Could you hear and understand what was being said? Thank you!

Public Service Announcements

It has been a terrific year of learning about salmon through the Students for Salmon program with Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association. The culminating project for students this year will be to make public service announcements (PSA) using a variety of multimedia tools that encourage people to make choices that positively affect salmon and their habitat.

A good public service announcement is brief, has a clear, positive message, and gives people a resource where they can access more information. We have listened to, analyzed, and watched several PSA's to give students ideas for the ones they will create.

Here are links to some examples:

http://www.salmonsafe.org/blog/new-salmon-safe-psa-stewardship-partners

http://youtu.be/VdFB6WJeOSQ

http://www.schooltube.com/video/28dd26f16a99231e53fb/Recycling

http://www.schooltube.com/video/1fa4b5d5970d45e3a0b8/luke-psa

Here are scripts from the Copper River "Don't Run Off Salmon" campaign. Though I have encouraged students to keep their messages positive ("Tell people what they should - not what they shouldn't"), these radio scripts provide good examples of how to write to a quality radio spot.
http://copperriver.org/files/radio%20PSAs.pdf

Your Public Service Announcement should:

• Briefly and clearly state some problems faced by salmon.
• Share specific ideas or ways people can do things to help salmon or salmon habitat.
• Tell people where they can get more information or how they can get involved.
• Share where you got your information, facts, and pictures.

Resources:
This link will take you to a anti-drug campaign site that has good examples of storyboards you can use to plan your PSA.
http://www.counterdrug.org/psahelp.html

This website explains how to write a PSA and what to think about as you revise and edit your message.
http://www.etvv.org/ETVV/psapages/psaone.htm

This site provides a WEALTH of information on planning and perfecting your PSA.
http://sites.google.com/site/teacherquality/psa

When searching for images or video to use, be as a specific in your search as possible. Here are some suggestions: "pacific salmon," "clean rivers," "salmon habitat," "recycle oil," "plant trees."

Mutlimedia Sites:

http://www.animoto.com/

http://www.blabberize.com/

http://edu.glogster.com/

http://photopeach.com/

PhotoStory is a computer program, not an internet site. All of our school computers have it, and some of your computers at home may have it.

This is a link to a PhotoStory tutorial:
http://www.schooltube.com/video/6c8ce3eeb650747876a7/photostory-assignment

Windows Movie Maker is another computer based program, not a web site. We have it at school, and your computers at home may have it if they are PC's. Go to Start>Programs>WindowsMovieMaker.

Atomic Learning has MANY free Movie Maker tutorials here - you DO NOT need a log in: http://www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2