- Hello and good morning my
second and third grade readers.
I'm so happy to see you again
here today for @Home with APS.
Today we're going to be
learning a new word of the day
with me, and we're also going
to be doing some fun work
with nouns and proper
nouns with Mrs. Craff.
And then we're going to have
a beautiful read aloud with Mrs. Kay.
And we're gonna finish up
today's episode with Mrs. Lori,
as she helps us write
an informational report.
To prepare for today's lesson
you will need some paper,
a couple of pieces, and a pencil.
All right, are you ready learners?
Let's get started.
So, last time we met, we had
a different word of the day.
It's up here.
Do you remember it?
It's environment.
And we said environment is a surroundings
in which a person an
animal or a plant lives.
And we said with our essential question,
if you'll remember, how do we
react to changes in nature?
And so we read a story that
talked a little bit about
a special environment, the rainforest.
And we were looking for
changes in that environment
while we read the book.
Well today's word of the
day is another example
of changes in environment.
And we're going to have
a story with Mrs. Kay
that talks about some of
those changes, as well.
Now this word you may have
seen before, but let me
just go ahead and take down
our word from previously.
We don't need it anymore.
I love this invention that Mrs. Kay made.
It's pretty cool.
A little tricky to do one-handed, though.
Okay, so our new word is a
word that you've probably heard
here in New Mexico.
It's pretty specific to our environment.
Do you know what our environment is?
What kind of habitat do we live in?
Well, we live in the
desert here in New Mexico.
And our word of the day, I'm
gonna hold it up for a moment
so you can try to read it.
Have you seen this word before?
This is the word drought.
Drought.
Hmm, whenever I learn a
new word, I like to say it
in a little bit of a
silly way so that I can
make sure I remember.
So I'm gonna try to do it in, like a
really high-pitched mouse voice.
Drought, that's right, our word
of the day today is drought.
And if you've heard the word
drought before in New Mexico,
it's a big deal especially in the summer.
In the summer, we often have a drought.
Sometimes we'll have years
where we don't have a drought,
but in New Mexico, it's very common.
I'm wondering if you can have any ideas
about what the word drought might mean.
If there's another
grown-up or another student
in the room with you
tell 'em what you think.
What does the word drought mean?
So I did some work before
we came here today,
and I pulled up the definition.
And a drought is a long
period with very low rainfall
leading to a shortage of water.
Hmm, I'm gonna add that
definition up here.
So we were saying, I was just
saying how in the summer,
it's a really big deal
when we have a drought.
It's a big deal.
And sometimes our city, or
even New Mexico, has rules
about how you can water your grass.
They say, "Don't water
your grass too much.
"Make sure that you don't take
showers that are too long."
And that's because we're in a drought,
and we want to save water.
You don't know if we have enough water.
So when you read our story today,
I want you to think about this word,
and what a shortage of water
means for people who live
in an area that doesn't
have a lot of water.
And this is the opposite
of yesterday's story,
or not yesterday, sorry, last time we met,
which was Wednesday, when
it was the rainforest.
Where there was a lot of
water, more than enough.
And in this case we're talking
about an area or a time
when there's not enough water.
Okay friends, so if you have
your Frayer model ready to go
that we've been using,
you can help go ahead
and get that out.
You'll need your paper and your pencil.
And I'm gonna go ahead show
you up here my Frayer model.
Okay friends, so whenever
we're on our Frayer model,
we want to start with the definition.
And our definition for the word drought.
So let's put that word up here drought
D-R-O-U-G-H-T
We always want that word in the middle.
And then we'll have the definition.
And I'm going to make a
little note here at the top
that this is where my definition goes.
In definition, we're going to use straight
from our word of the day.
So here we go, friends.
A long period with very low rainfall
leading to a shortage of water.
And you don't have to write
it exactly the same as this.
You can put it in your own words as well.
So I'm going to write it super fast.
A long period
with very low rainfall
leading to a shortage of water.
So you should have your definition written
for the word drought.
All right friends, next we get to write
our creative sentence.
And creative sentence is my favorite part.
This is where we get to think,
what does a drought mean to me?
Have I heard this word before?
And how would i like to
share it on my Frayer model?
So I'm gonna give you a moment
to come up with your creative sentence,
and to share it with somebody who might be
sitting next to you or
to just read it out loud
or say it out loud to yourself.
And write it down.
Then I'll write my creative
sentence while you do that.
So, my creative sentence
is about where we live.
New Mexico often has droughts.
And it's true for all parts of our state.
All right friends, the
next part is synonyms.
And if you remember,
synonyms are words that
had a similar meaning
to our word of the day, drought.
And so I did some research, I was like,
"Drought, I can't think of it."
But you know what, I have
tools that can help me
come up with my answers to
what could a synonym be.
And so what I came up with
in my research is that
dry spell is a phrase that
means the same as drought.
So I'm going to write
that up here, dry spell.
And that's something I don't often hear,
but then I also found some
really interesting antonyms.
So I'm going to add antonyms right below.
And antonym means the opposite.
And the antonym I heard
for drought is monsoon,
which was interesting
because if we have droughts
often in the summer, isn't
it interesting that we
also often have monsoons in the summer?
And monsoons are torrential rains.
That's just like a ton
of rain all at once,
and that would be the opposite.
It would be an overabundance of water
rather than very low rainfall.
So I added antonyms today
just because monsoon
was so interesting.
So friends, the last box
I'm going to have you
fill out on your own.
And this is our picture
that represents our word.
What picture can you come up with
that represents the word drought?
I can't wait for all
of you to work on that.
Okay friends, so today we learned
our new word of the day, drought.
And it's going to be very
important in the story
that's coming up soon with Mrs. Kay,
but first we have some fabulous
word work with Mrs. Craff.
Have a great day learning friends.
- Hi students, it's Mrs. Craff.
And I wanted to talk to
you again about the nouns
that we were learning about last time.
So remember, we talked about
a couple of types of nouns.
The singular was our signal for singular,
and our plural nouns
meaning more than one.
Can you refresh your brains
about what a noun is again?
Say it into your TV.
If you said a noun is a
person, a place, a thing,
an idea or an animal you
are absolutely right.
Good job, you're so smart,
and your brains are really thinking.
So remember we talked
about singular nouns,
which means only one thing.
And then we talked about plural,
which means more than one.
And then we moved into talking about
how to make those nouns plural.
Now usually you just add an S,
but we have some that are that
are a little bit irregular.
And so we talked about
how we're going to make
those plural also.
Let's do a quick review
of what we learned.
Remember we said when the
noun ends in a Y like bunny,
if it has a consonant
and then the letter Y,
we're gonna drop that Y and add an I-E-S.
It becomes bunnies.
If the noun ends in Y, but it
has a vowel and then the Y,
we're just gonna add an
S, like that word keys.
And then finally our
last one was if it ends
in a strange letter like a D or an X,
you are gonna add an E-S, like boxes.
Makes it easier to say for us, doesn't it?
All right, I wanted to talk
about a couple of more ways
to make nouns plural that are
not quite, they're irregular.
They're also irregular and some
of them don't follow a rule.
So I'm gonna test your
brains now, are you ready?
All right, let's come and
look at this poster back here.
I have some words, some
singular nouns, right?
Man, mouse, child, tooth and person.
Those all mean one, don't they?
So if we were playing our game,
you'd be holding up your one finger.
Now I'm gonna test you.
Do you know how to make
these nouns plural,
which means more than one?
Let's look.
If I have the word man, am
I gonna say mans or men?
Let's use that in a sentence.
There are lots of mans in my house.
No, that doesn't sound quite right.
I think I'm gonna try men.
There are a lot of men in my house.
Yeah, let's circle that one.
Good job if you knew that.
Let's try the next one that's irregular.
Mouse, am I gonna say mouses
or am I gonna say mice?
I've heard that word mice, so I think
that's gonna be our best bet.
If you thought mice, good
job, pat yourself on the back.
Here's a really different one
that doesn't follow a rule.
Child, so I have a child.
But if I have more than one child,
do I have childs or do I have children?
My mom has lots of childs.
That doesn't sound quite right, does it?
My mom has many children.
That sentence makes sense,
so I'm gonna go ahead
and circle children.
Let's just revisit that real quick.
Look it, to make children
plural, we added an R-E-N.
That is really outside the box right?
You talked about those rules at school
and how sometimes you can break that rule.
This is definitely breaking that rule.
So that's something we
just have to remember.
Let's look at our next one, tooth.
Am I gonna say teeths,
or am I gonna say teeth?
Interesting isn't it?
We don't need the S,
it's just gonna be teeth.
And that means plural.
See how smart you are?
Wow, good job guys.
Let's try another one.
Here's a really different one also.
Our word is person, so I have one person.
How am I gonna make that word plural?
Am I gonna say persons
or am I gonna say people?
Which one have you heard?
I bet it's people, right?
Look it, that's almost a
completely different word.
It starts with the same
letter, but who knew?
Lots of people around, right?
All right, good job,
let's do just a few more.
And I wanted to show you a couple of these
because they do have a rule.
So let's look at this first one, leaf.
The leaf, the leaf is on
the tree, but in autumn
many leaves fall off the tree, right?
So we take this F,
because this word leafs.
Say that with me into the TV, leafs.
Wow, that sounds kind
of funny, doesn't it?
It's hard to say, it doesn't
really roll off your tongue.
Leaf, so our language took that F
and it made it into a V-E-S.
And now we can say leaves.
Wow, that sounds prettier, doesn't it?
All right, say that with me, leaves.
Nice job.
I'm gonna jump down to the
second, the number 8 down here,
just so you can see the same rule applies.
So we have that word elf.
Sometimes maybe your mom
calls you a little elf.
I know my mom did.
So if I have the word
elf, am I gonna say elfs?
Say that with me, elfs.
That doesn't sound quite right, does it?
That's that same rule,
look it we have an F.
We're going to change that
F into a V-E-S, elves.
All right, good job on those.
What I wanted to tell you about today
is a new kind of noun.
Well, not new, you've
used it all your life,
believe it or not, because
you are this kind of noun
and so am I.
This is a common noun
and a proper noun, huh.
What does that mean?
So, you are a common noun
because you go to school
and you are a student.
And you're learning from me right now.
I'm a common noun because I'm a teacher,
but I also have a name and so do you.
That's what makes us unique.
So my name is Mrs. Craff,
and when I write that,
I'm gonna write that with a capital letter
because it's a proper
noun, right, very proper.
And you're gonna write your
name with a capital letter
because that makes you proper.
Did you know you could
go from common to proper?
You sure can.
All right let's talk about
some common and proper nouns.
And I want to see if you
can figure these out for me.
All right, so we have a little chart here,
and I have some to test you with.
So our common nouns.
If I say the word restaurant,
could be any restaurant right?
All right so let's put that
into our common noun box.
But if I give you the name
of a restaurant, McDonald's,
that is a proper noun.
What about another word, river.
I love to go to the
river, but you don't know
which river it is, do you?
So that's not quite as specific.
If I wanted to be more specific,
i could say the Rio Grande.
I'm gonna capitalize that
because that's a proper noun.
Rio Grande and then its match is river,
which is a common noun.
You're doing so great.
All right, let's try another one.
What about the word person?
That could apply to you right,
and me, we're all people.
Remember our plural.
Person but what's the name of a person?
What if I say Martin Luther King, Jr.?
I'm gonna capitalize those letters, right,
because that's his name.
So that becomes our proper noun.
All right, let's try one more.
If we eat for breakfast,
if we eat some cereal,
that's a common, right?
Well I don't know what
kind of cereal you eat.
It could be lots of different varieties.
Let me tell you what kind of cereal I eat,
and that is Raisin Bran.
You guys like Raisin Bran?
I love the raisins.
That do you see how I capitalized it?
Because that is a proper noun.
So let's put that on our chart.
Are you guys getting the idea?
If you are, give yourselves
a pat on the back.
You're doing so great.
Common and proper nouns
are so very important.
And I would like to play
a game with you right now.
Remember I love these games.
So I'm gonna invite my friend Mrs. Kay up.
And she's gonna help
us with our game today.
We are gonna stand up,
do a little stretching,
touch your toes.
Because we are going to play
a common and proper noun game.
Hi Mrs. Kay.
Thank you for joining me.
Here's our game.
If I say a common noun I want
you to do three jumping jacks.
And if I say a proper noun I
want you to do arm circles.
Okay are you ready?
And here's the key.
If you guys keep getting them
right, I'm gonna go faster.
So, you ready?
All right, get out those wiggles.
Make sure you have
plenty of room around you
that you're not gonna hit anything
when you do your jumping
jacks, and let's try this.
All right, Burger King.
That is a proper noun.
Yeah, Mrs. Kay got it.
She's gonna do her circles.
Let's try one more.
School.
Is that common or proper?
Oh, Mrs. Kay got it right.
She's doing her jumping jacks.
Remember you're gonna do three.
Awesome job, are you ready to play?
I'm gonna have Mrs. Kay,
thank her for her time and
showing you what to do.
And let's play.
Here we go, ready, bug.
Is that a common?
You did your arm circles?
Great job, oh I'm sorry
that's jumping jacks, right?
Remember, common we're
doing jumping jacks.
Awesome, all right.
How about school?
So we just did school, all right.
Cochiti Elementary School.
That is a proper noun, that's right.
You're gonna do your
arm circles, great job.
How about teacher?
Whoo that one is gonna be
some jumping jacks, great job.
All right, what about something
we learned about last week,
the Diamondback Rattlesnake?
That's the name isn't it?
That's right, that's gonna be arm circles.
Yeah, proper noun.
All right, let's try one more, video game.
Do your jumping jacks, video game.
And what if I say PlayStation?
Arm circles, all right guys.
You can keep playing this game at home.
Maybe you can have play with your parents.
Maybe you can go out into the yard
and call out common and proper nouns.
It's a really good practice for you.
I'm so happy that you
were able to join me today
and learning about nouns.
Remember, nouns are incredibly important.
They belong in every single sentence
that you are going to write.
Sometimes it'll be a common,
sometimes it'll be a proper,
and sometimes it's going to be both.
You wrote some sentences for me yesterday
when you were making
words singular and plural.
Do you think today you'd be
able to write some sentences
using common nouns and proper nouns?
That would be really cool.
Remember proper nouns need to have what?
They need to have a capital letter,
just like you're gonna
begin your sentences with
a capital letter.
Make sure you make those finger
spaces in your sentences,
and you put an end mark, period, comma,
question mark, your choice.
And make sure you reread your sentence
to be sure it makes sense to you.
All right guys, I'm
gonna see you next time
as we continue to talk
about our types of nouns.
- Hello and welcome back.
I'm Mrs. Kay, and I am so excited to share
a wonderful book with you today.
Today we're going to be reading
"Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain"
Now my good friend Ms. Kathy
let me borrow this book.
I love it when friends
share books with me.
So because this is someone else's book
I'm gonna take really good care of it.
while we read today.
Now before we read, I want to go back
to our wonderful word of the day.
What was this word?
Drought, exactly.
And if you'll remember, a
drought is a long period
with a very low rainfall
leading to a shortage of water.
While we read this book together today,
did you know this book is a folk tale?
Have you heard that word before?
I love folk tales.
Let's talk a little bit about that word.
Maybe you've read some
folk tales at school,
or maybe at home or at your local library.
A folktale is a story
that's passed down through generations.
So when we say passed
down through generations,
we mean maybe parents or grandparents
told this story to their kids.
Who then told it to their kids.
Who then told it to their kids.
So when we think of
folktales, we think of a story
that has been told orally,
maybe through storytelling.
So some folktales weren't written down
when they were first created.
They were just shared out loud,
kind of like maybe you tell stories
with members of your family.
This folktale comes from the Nandi people,
who live in Kenya, which is in Africa.
And as you'll hear in this story,
our main character, maybe
you can see him here.
He's a herdsman, that means
he takes care of the cattle
on his farm and he has
a very important job
to make sure his cattle
get what they need.
Think to yourself.
What are some things that cows might need?
Food, water, maybe a place
to live, kind of like us?
As we read this story, we're
going to hear about a drought
that comes to Kapiti Plain,
and how that impacts the
environment of the animals
and the people that live there.
Our main character also
has to come up with a
very creative and exciting
way to stop the drought
so that his cattle get what they need.
Okay, let's read it together
and see what he does
to solve the drought problem.
"Bringing the Rain to Kapiti
Plain" by Verna Aardema.
Pictures by Beatrice Vidal.
And this book was published
by Penguin Publishing.
"This is the great Kapiti Plain,
"all fresh and green
from the African rains.
"A sea of grass for the
ground birds to nest in,
"and patches of shade for
wild creatures to rest in.
"With Acacia trees for
giraffes to browse on,
"and grass for the herdsmen
to pasture their cows on."
Yesterday we talked about
the word environment,
or the surroundings where
plants, animals, or people live.
Look at this beautiful
environment for all these animals.
"But one year the rains were so belated
"that all of the big
wild creatures migrated.
"Then Ki-pat helped to
end this terrible drought,
"and this story tells
how it all came about"
By the way, I heard an important
word in there, migrated.
You've heard that word before?
Let's read our picture.
These animals are migrating,
what are they doing?
Yeah, they're moving, they have to leave.
They have to move from one
environment to another.
Maybe because they don't
have what they need
in this environment.
Let's read more.
"This is the cloud all heavy with rain
"that shadowed the
ground on Kapiti Plain."
Have you ever seen a big
dark cloud like that?
Maybe right before it
starts to rain or thunder?
"This is the grass all brown and dead
"that needed the rain
from the cloud overhead.
"The big black cloud all heavy with rain
"that shadowed the
ground on Kapiti Plain."
Oh, what happened to all the grass?
It didn't have enough water so it's dying.
I have a feeling that's gonna be a problem
for all those birds.
"These are the cows all hungry and dry
"who mooed for the rain
to fall from the sky
"to green up the grass all brown and dead
"that needed the rain
from the cloud overhead.
"The big black cloud all heavy with rain
"that shadowed the
ground on Kapiti Plain."
So, it said that these
cows, this group of cattle,
was hungry and thirsty.
Why were they hungry?
Was it because if there wasn't rain,
the grass couldn't grow.
And the cows eat the grass, so
they didn't have enough food
and they didn't have enough water.
Yikes, that's a big problem.
"This was Ki-pat who watched his herd
"as he stood on one leg
like the big stork bird.
"Ki-Pat, whose cows were so hungry and dry
"they mooed for the rain
to fall from the sky
"to green up the grass all brown and dead
"that needed the rain
from the cloud overhead
"The big black cloud all heavy with rain
"that shadowed the
ground on Kapiti Plain."
I love this picture.
This is a good page, are you ready?
"This is the eagle who dropped a feather.
"A feather that helped
to change the weather.
"It fell near Ki-pat who watched his herd
"as he stood on one leg
like a big stork bird.
"Ki-pat, whose cows were so hungry and dry
"they mooed for the rain
to fall from the sky
"to green up the grass all brown and dead
"that needed the rain
from the cloud overhead.
"The big black cloud all heavy with rain
"it shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain."
Wow, look at this
illustration of the eagle.
I love how detailed his feathers are.
This makes me think maybe
I'll use this illustration
as an inspiration to draw my
own picture of an eagle later.
Maybe that's something you could do.
I like to take inspiration
from illustrations.
Let's see what happens with that feather.
"This is the arrow Ki-pat put together
"with a slender stick and an eagle feather
"from the eagle who
happened to drop a feather.
"A feather that helped
to change the weather.
"It fell near Ki-pat who watched his herd
"as he stood on one leg
like a big stork bird.
"Ki-pat, whose cows were so hungry and dry
"they mooed for the rain
to fall from the sky
"to green up the grass all brown and dead
"that needed the rain
from the cloud overhead.
"The big black cloud all heavy with rain
"that shadowed the ground on Kapiti Plain.
"This is the bow so long and strong
"and strung with a
string, a leather thong.
"A bow for the arrow Ki-pat put together
"with a slender stick and an eagle feather
"from the eagle who
happened to drop a feather.
"A feather that helped
to change the weather.
"It fell near Ki-pat who watched his herd
"as he stood on one leg
like a big stork bird.
"Ki-pat, whose cows were so hungry and dry
"they mooed for the rain
to fall from the sky
"to green up the grass all brown and dead
"that needed the rain
from the cloud overhead.
"The big black cloud all heavy with rain
"that shadowed the
ground on Kapiti Plain."
Let's make a prediction.
What do you think our
main character, Ki-pat,
is going to do with this bow
and this arrow?
Let's find out.
"This was the shot that pierced the cloud
"and loosened the rain and thunder loud
"A shot from the bow so long and strong
"and strung with a string, a leather thong
"A bow for the arrow Ki-pat put together
"with a slender stick and an eagle feather
"from the eagle who
happened to drop a feather.
"A feather that helped
to change the weather."
So tell me in your own words
what happened on this page.
Yeah, so he used that arrow
from the eagle feather
to shoot up into the cloud
and pierce the cloud.
And then down came the rain.
It's almost like that
antonym for a drought
that Mrs. Kathy taught us.
Remember that word, monsoon?
"It fell near Ki-pat who watched his herd
"as he stood on one leg
like the big stork bird
"Ki-pat, whose cows were so hungry and dry
"they mooed for the rain
to fall from the sky
"to green up the grass all brown and dead
"that needed the rain
from the cloud overhead.
"The big black cloud all heavy with rain
"that shadowed the
ground on Kapiti Plain."
Look how it's starting to turn green.
Wow, I really like to
go out after its rained
here in the desert and
to look how much greener
all of our plants look here.
It's kind of like Ki-pat.
"So the grass grew green
and the cattle fat.
"And Ki-pat and his wife
had a little Ki-pat."
Wow, it's back to how everything
was before the drought.
Because they were able
to get all that rain,
all of the animals were able to migrate
back to Kapiti Plain, lovely.
"Who tends the cows now
and shoots down the rain
"when black clouds shadow Kapiti Plain."
I like the way this book ends because
our main character's son
is now the new herdsman.
This kind of reminds
me of how our folktales
are passed down from
generation to generation.
These very strong stories
that we carry with us,
just like their job being a herdsmen
was something they carried with them.
I love this book.
I have a challenge for you today.
Ms. Kathy talked a little
bit about how we can
think about this word drought.
And what we can do to make sure
that we are saving the water that we have
because many of us live
in a desert, right?
I'm gonna challenge you
today to think about
two or three ways that you
could preserve that water.
Maybe turning off the water
when you brush your teeth.
Or maybe turning off the water
while you're putting soap
on your hands and rubbing them together
so we don't waste water.
I also encourage you to
maybe in your library at home
or maybe when you go back to school,
ask your teacher or a librarian
if you can check out some folktales.
I bet you'll find some
other really good books.
Next up we have a really wonderful
writing activity with Miss Lori.
I can't wait to see what she has for you.
- Welcome back, friends.
I am so glad to be with you again today.
I'm Ms. Lori and we're gonna continue
our informational report writing.
I'm very excited about it
because something really fun
and exciting happened last night.
And I'm going to talk to you
about that in just a minute.
But first I want to say a big thank you
to Miss Anna for reading to us today.
I love "Bringing the
Rain to Kapiti Plain".
That's such a wonderful book.
And we got to hear about some
of those non-fiction ideas
inside a fiction story, right?
We got to learn about drought and
what happened to the
animals during a drought,
which is a real thing that happens
even though it was
within a fictional story
because unfortunately when we need rain,
we probably can't shoot
an arrow up into a cloud
and then have the rain come down,
but it was a beautiful story.
So we are going to continue thinking about
doing a writing project that's gonna go
over the next few episodes
that we're together.
So if you would please
make sure that you have
your writing journal out and
with you, so that you can
follow along with what
we're gonna be doing today.
And if you don't have a
writing journal with you,
if you could just get a piece of paper
and put down the things
that we're going to
talk about today on it,
that would be great.
And keep it somewhere special
because the next episode
that we do when we come back
together, we're gonna be
taking the work that we've
done on our last episode,
the work that we are
continuing to do today,
and we will build on
that in our next episode.
So that at the end, if
you're following along
and you're doing what
we're doing together,
then you will end up with your
very own informational report
on a topic that you're interested in.
So let's think about
what we did yesterday.
So yesterday we talked
about the first thing
that we needed to do was to brainstorm.
So one of the things that
we can use to help us
in our brainstorm is our vocabulary
that we've been going over
this session, this theme.
And remember that our theme is
how do we react to changes in nature?
So we've been talking
about the environment
and what happens when we take
things out of the environment.
That was our book yesterday.
What happens when we cut down trees?
How does that change our environment?
And then today, we talked about drought
and what happens to our
environment in drought.
So those are things that happen in nature,
and we have to think about
how people and animals
react to those changes.
So these are two words that you could use
as part of your informational report.
So I'm gonna move this over now
since we've done our review,
so that we can get a
full view of our chart
that we're gonna be working with.
Okay, so yesterday we started
by talking about brainstorming,
coming up with a whole
bunch of different ideas.
I hope that you had some
ideas that you came up with.
And you know you can always
Tweet those out to our APS@Home
Twitter feed, and we can
share them with our friends.
So here we go.
So yesterday we learned about the Amazon,
which has a rain forest in it.
We could add some things to the Amazon
if you wanted to that we're nonfiction.
You could talk about the
different types of animals
that live there, the different
types of weather they have.
Which brings us to our next
area that we talked about
maybe doing a report
on, which would just be
weather in general.
And there's different types
of weather that happen.
Then we had the word technology
because technology was our
focus of our learning
the last couple weeks
that we were together.
I need to get a pen.
What color do I want today?
I used red yesterday.
I think I'm just gonna use
a nice thick black one.
So we talked about
technology and you could have
different types of technology.
And then we talked about
the night sky as maybe being
a topic that we would like to explore.
And the stars, the planets,
and the moon are all things
that are found in the night sky.
And then I was thinking
last night, you know what
would be something else?
Because just because we
were done with our lesson,
my brain was still
really thinking about it?
Was your brain still thinking about things
that you are interested in that
you could write a report on?
So I was thinking something that would be
really timely for us
is we could do a report
on the Coronavirus, right?
That is something that has
changed our whole world
and the way that we're doing everything.
It's the reason that I get
to be with you here, friends,
instead of in a classroom.
So we are going to, I'm
gonna put that up here.
So that could be a topic.
That didn't come out very thick.
So the Coronavirus,
that's something that we
could also do a report on.
So I talked to you just a minute ago
when I started out today
saying that something
really cool happened last night.
And I'm wondering if any of
you thought of what it was.
We had a special type of moon last night.
Does anybody know what
kind of moon we had?
Well, I'm going to try and show you
because we're going to be
talking about technology,
using our resources online
to find information today.
So I found some pictures,
and we'll see how this
is going to all work out.
So I'm going to go into a search.
And I'm going to, I Googled something,
which is a word, right, meaning
that we put it in to Google
to find something.
And we had what was
called a pink super moon
or a super pink moon.
And I wanted to find a picture.
Let's see if we can see that.
It was big a second ago.
Let me see if I can get it.
So that is the super moon, and
the way I found out about it
was I have a friend who lives in Durango.
And she put a picture
of this that she took
out of her window up on Facebook.
And I saw it this morning and I thought,
"Oh my gosh, I've never
seen anything like that."
And then I was texting
with another friend of mine
that doesn't live close by
but is really in to astronomy.
And Mark told me that
he, when I showed him
a picture of the pink moon, he Googled it.
And he sent me this definition,
which I thought was interesting.
It said, "A pink moon was named after
"one of the first flowers
to bloom in the spring,
"the wild ground phlox,
which also goes by the
"name of moss pink."
So that was something that we did
and found some information.
And we did it by social
distancing because we can't
all be together right now
because of the Coronavirus.
So I found that really interesting.
And I think maybe if I was
going to write a report,
I might do it on the moon
and see what other kinds
of special moons there are.
So we are going to talk
today about how to use
online resources to find
information for our reports.
But before we do that I want to go back
and revisit our checklist.
So we started talking about
this checklist yesterday,
or the last time we were together.
And we will continue to
add to this checklist
across the rest of our unit.
So yesterday we want to think about,
did you brainstorm a topic
that you're interested in,
and that you can research
using available resources?
And I touched on what
available resources could be.
Maybe you have some books at home,
or we're going to talk
today about online resources
because those are the ones that probably
are gonna be the most accessible right now
because of the social
distancing and the stay at home
that we have to be doing.
So we're gonna learn about that.
So today what we're gonna
focus on on our checklist
is select, how to select a
credible and reliable source.
And we're going to talk
about taking notes.
So let's get ready to do that.
Hopefully you have your journal out.
Hopefully you've done all of your work.
So before we go on, I
do want to refer back
to the lovely report that
Ms. Kathy wrote yesterday
on the book that she read.
Because this is exactly what
we're going to be doing,
is we're going to be
working together to learn
how to write an informational report.
And that's basically what Ms. Kathy did.
So she chose the Amazon
because it was the book
that she read with you.
And I'm gonna read it to you again,
so that it's back and
it's fresh in our mind
about the things that she found important.
So she started with a topic sentence.
And we're gonna talk all
about topic sentences,
and how a paragraph is laid
out in our next session.
"The Amazon rainforest is
an important environment
"full of diverse plants and animals.
"Humans need the rainforest
because it produces 20%
"of the world's oxygen.
"If humans continue to
cut down the rainforest,
"we will lose beautiful
plants and animals.
"What do you think humans should do
"to protect the rainforest?"
So this was her informational
paragraph that she wrote
based on one book.
We're not going to use a nonfiction earth,
I'm sorry, we're not
gonna use a fiction book
to base our information on.
We're gonna try to find only good reliable
non-fiction sources to
make our paragraphs.
So, let's go back to thinking
about how to select those.
So if you have access to Internet,
you may have a computer at home,
or you can use an iPad,
or you can even do this on your phone.
And if you don't have a smart
phone maybe your parents do.
Anything that can search the Internet,
is anything that you can do a report,
use to do a report on.
Okay, so we're going to talk about
different types of websites.
And first I have a chart that I made.
I'm gonna put that up,
so that we can talk about it.
So who knew that there are
different kinds of websites?
I can tell you a long time
ago that I did not know
that there were different
kinds of websites.
And I actually have a very
short story I'll tell you
that'll probably give you a good laugh,
or it should give you a good laugh.
So a long time ago before
any of you guys were born,
I used to teach fourth
grade at Zuni Elementary.
And we were a technology school,
and this is back when
technology was not being used
a whole lot in schools.
We were just starting to
get to using it in school,
so we would go to the computer lab.
But back then we just had a projector
that projected whatever
was on my computer.
And I learned a huge lesson that day.
So, we were studying in
fourth grade US history.
And I was showing the kids
how to take a virtual tour
of the White House in Washington, DC.
And I told the kids to type in a website
that was a dot-com website.
And when we went to that website,
it was not what I expected at all.
And I was like, "Oh. my
goodness. this is not the website
"I want you guys to be seeing."
So I learned right then
and there that there was
a difference between dot-com and dot-gov.
Because the website I
wanted the kids to see
was a dot-gov website that had a tour
of the actual White House in Washington.
So that was my lesson.
And I learned it very fast in a little bit
of an uncomfortable way, but
we did okay and we moved on
and got to see our virtual tour.
So there are several
different types of web sites.
And I'm gonna show you
right here some of the ones
that are out there and
whether they are good for you
to use as research websites
for the information report.
So if you have a website
that says dot-com on it,
the type of website that means commercial,
dot-com means commercial.
So amazon.com, right?
I'm sure everybody's heard
of Amazon or target.com,
Walmart.com, those are all commercial.
The purpose of those websites are usually
to sell you something or sell you an idea.
So we're gonna call that
not a credible website
for the purposes of what we're doing
in this next couple weeks, okay?
And that also brings us to
this dot-net, sometimes.
This is not one that you
hear of all the time,
but it's one that is out there.
That means network, and
it's also used by businesses
so I wouldn't call that
one credible either.
Now we have other ones
that are called dot-org.
So those are organizations.
So you have the heart
society, the lung society,
those are different that are dot-orgs.
If you have a dot-org, it
could be that the material
on it is appropriate, but
you have to think about it.
And you have to maybe talk
to the adults in your home,
and ask them "Do you think the information
"on this dot-org site is
something that would be
"good for me to use as
a source for my report?"
Okay, so you have to think about that one
because sometimes the information can be
very good high quality,
sometimes you might
have to think about it.
Dot-edu, you see this a lot, right?
We have APS.edu.
Since I work for APS, that's our website.
It means that it's education.
So sometimes it is to sell a school,
so you might have a college
that's looking for it.
And that is what you're doing.
Then we have dot-gov and I went over that.
Those are government websites.
Those are pretty good,
and you can use those.
So always, yes if it's a dot-gov.
That'll give you good factual information.
And then I put this one down here
because I'm interested in my other chart,
the night sky, the moon, so
NASA is our space agency.
And so they have a lot
of wonderful information.
It's a government agency,
and it is to inform us
about astronomy and science.
So it's a yes, always.
Okay, so these are the different types
of online resources that you can use.
And this information will be
in the packet for this week.
So I'm gonna have to go more
quickly than I thought I was.
Wow, okay, so what I did
is I pulled up nasa.gov
And it has all kinds of different sites
that have all kinds of
different information around it.
It has, I'll read 'em
to you, Earth's moon.
It has Artemis, which is a
project that NASA is doing
that has to do with the moon.
It's a program to return
astronauts to the moon in 2024.
So I just learned something right there.
They have a video about
the moon, about Apollo 13,
when they went.
There's another article on
moon dust that is settling.
So there's all different
kinds of articles on here
around the moon.
So I would be choosing
one of these articles
to start my research for the moon.
Okay, very quickly and
we will go over this,
we'll start with this next time
is taking notes on
on your websites.
Okay, so you're gonna identify a website
that you want to use for your information,
and you're going to make
a graphic organizer.
It does not have to be
this graphic organizer,
but you will want to
make a graphic organizer.
So this will be included in the handouts
that are on the website
so you can use this, okay.
So we will come back and
we will start with this
actually next time we get together.
So I just want to
remind everybody of the
wonderful work we did today
and say a big thank you
to Mrs. Craff and Mrs. Kay
and Ms. Kathy for the wonderful
things that they showed you.
And again I just want to
thank you guys for tuning in
and joining us today for @Home with APS.
