Our Finished Kobe Bryant 81 Point Game Graphs

The 5th grade recently completed a neat little data activity, one I posted on awhile back titled Kobe Bryant Teaches Data Collection and Analysis. I'm going to restate some of what is said in that post, and provide the links again. First we started out by viewing the video that you will see embedded at the bottom of the post. Students were each given a slip titled Kobe Stat Sheet (you can download the Excel document for this by clicking the link).

From there, students had to graph how many Kobe Bryant scored in his historic 81 point performance back in 2006. We kept data by minutes in each quarter, and used that completed data to make some different graphs. 

It's important for students to know the purpose of each graph type (some students had been led to believe that you can use any type of graph for any purpose, it was just up to personal preference, and that is not true). Here is a simple explanation from nces.ed.gov.

So once the data was collected, students had a line plot that looked like this:

From this data, they completed a line graph showing point growth over the course of the game:

They made a pie chart showing the percentage of Laker points in the game scored by Kobe:

And they made bar graphs showing the top 10 scoring games in NBA history (that one can be seen at the top of the final photo). 

Finally, here is the Youtube video we used:

We Are Small

Today I was thinking about what it is that makes us feel so small. Our students, mostly still egotistical children, don't conceptualize the greater world and universe that exists out there. I like to take a moment each year with my students and discuss the concept of other people, other cultures, and the fact that our lives are quite small in the scheme of things, and that we must make every effort to become productive members of society, and to learn to co-exist with others.

But yeah, it's hard to get this concept across in a simple little lecture, so I like to show these amazing, world-view-defining videos. So, for tonight, enjoy:

Ascent, by Brian Eno: This amazing little piece of music that is accompanied with photos of the earth. Its 4 minutes really put me at ease and show me how small we really are.

Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan: If you want to prove that we're a speck of dust out there in the universe, here you go:

PARCC Assessment: Yes, It's Coming, Yes, You Can Prepare

Soooo, I don't want to freak anybody out, but if you live in:

• Arizona
• New Mexico
• Colorado
• Oklahoma
• North Dakota
• Arkansas
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Alabama
• Georgia
• Florida
• Tennessee
• Kentucky
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• New York
• Massachusetts
• New Jersey
• Delaware
• Maryland
• Washington DC

You are only a year and a half away from a new state mandated test, called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC from here forward) assessment. That's right, your state testing is about to change, and the change will be dramatic.

What makes this test difference is, well, a few things. First of all, it's computer based. That's right, students will be taking the high stakes test online. Plus, now, when we want to compare data across states, we won't be comparing apples to oranges to bananas. We will be comparing states using the identical assessment. So for those 22 states and DC, greater accountability is at hand.

But don't freak out! It's good news (hopefully). When the PARCC Assessment goes live during the 2014-2015 school year, each of those listed states will be fully aligned to the Common Core (CCSS from here forward). 

We're talking about an assessment that will be taken in grades 3-12 by over 25 million students (according to the website).

I highly recommend teachers from any one of those states listed above to go to the PARCC website (which I've linked to twice, you can click the logo or the other link... oh heck, HERE IT IS AGAIN). Start digging through it and see what's waiting for us all right around the bend. 2014 is a lot closer than you think, A LOT CLOSER!!!!

History Webs: A Great Social Studies Project Idea

My 5th graders just finished Civil War History Webs. This little project only takes a few periods of work, and really involves creativity and writing.

I found the idea for History Webs in "Super Social Studies," a Scholastic teacher guide that has served me very well over the years (I HIGHLY recommend this little book, it's amazing).

I don't want to quote directly what they call a history web, to respect their copyright, but as I've changed it up quite a bit from what is discussed in this book, I'll let you know about my version of this great project. BUT, you should go buy this guide, it really is one of the most used resources in my possession.

To make a history web, I recommend the large construction paper (I use the 12" x 18" paper that my school keeps in stock). You want your students to draw a rectangle in the middle of the paper, and from there, divide the paper into however many sections you want them to (I've done 4, 6, and 8). I recommend 6, it's a good number for drawing pictures, they don't come out too small at that size.

However many sections you've divided the paper into is how many different topics you will assign. We just completed these for the Civil War, and their options to choose from included (but were not limited to): Abraham Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, the First Battle of Bull Run, General Lee, General Grant, General Stonewall Jackson, the Emancipation Proclamation, the end of the war, the battle of the Ironclads, Lincoln's Assassination, the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, the fall of Richmod, Sojourner Truth, and Nat Turner. You can obviously choose many other things for this.

The assignment for students is to research each of their six topics (or four, or eight, depending). Students will be asked to draw a color picture depicting the topic, and write a paragraph in their own words about that topic, either on the back of the paper or on index cards.

Here are a few examples of exemplary work. Some have the work on index cards, and some have it written on the back:

How to Make Groups for Texting on an Android Device

In my previous post, I outlined many of the reasons it's a great idea to send daily mass text messages to your parents. If you're tired of looking back one post, it's called Some Rules for Teachers Who Text Parents or Want to Text Parents.

It's a great thing, and when you pair your Android device with a great app called Handcent SMS, you will have the ability to write a single text and send it to as many as 60 people at once.

OK, this sounds great, but there are plenty of people out there who don't know how to make groups.

It's easy, you can do it on your computer (in fact, I recommend you do it on your computer, it's much faster that way). You see, your Gmail contacts are your Androids contacts, so we're going to go into Gmail.

1.

Once you're in Gmail, you'll want to click on the "Gmail" above the compose button. All of what I will show you happens in the left hand column of the Gmail layout.










2.

Now, a drop down menu will come up, click on "Contacts."










3.

On the page that comes up, look near the bottom for "New Group." Click it.










4.

You'll be prompted to name your group. Once you've done that, the page will refresh. Now, at the top of your list, you'll want to click "My Contacts" so it opens up. Your new group will be listed.








5.

Now, for this last step, I'm going to assume that you've already added all the parents to your contact list. If you don't know how to do that, let me know. That's a good idea for another "how to" post.

Now, when you open up the contact you want to add to your group, you'll be taken to the page shown to the left. Click the image of the three circles above the body (GROUPS), and click a check mark next to the group you are adding this contact to. That's it, you're done. Repeat this last step for everyone you want in your group.


Now, finally, on your Android phone, this will automatically sync. Depending upon which Droid operating system you use, you'll have a group listing in your phones address book. If you decide to use Handcent SMS, it automatically syncs the phones data to it, you don't have to do anything else.

I hope that's helpful!