Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

Will and Bud both have thoughtful posts up about "the speech" next week. I'll just point you to some fifth graders at East Elementary in my school district who will be watching the speech and live blogging it. They'll watch, ask questions, and - knowing their teachers Chris and Niki - have a meaningful discussion about working hard and the importance of a good education.

Huh.

Powered Up Writing

We have a pilot project in some of our elementary classrooms where they are using eeePC's as part of a writer's workshop model (grant funded). Dan Maas, our CIO, recently posted on his blog asking for feedback from some of the fifth graders and others in those communities.

Many people are asking about how your classroom has changed now that you have the EeePC laptops. Can you help us tell your story?

Here are some questions we have:

How does having a laptop computer help students write better?

What happens in your classroom now that you have laptops that could not happen before?

Now that you have had laptops in your classroom, how would you feel if you didn�t have them next year?

What do next year�s 5th grade students coming to your classroom have to look forward to?

As of this writing, Dan now has 84 comments, mostly from students, but also from parents, teachers and principals. You might stop by and read through them, and perhaps leave your own comment. This comment from a parent caught my eye:

I like a father of the family am very proud because my daughter Lupita is the future with triple E's.I'm very thankful for Dan Maas for letting the 5th grade at East Elementary be part of them.Wow!I never thought Lupita would ever like writing so much.When we would tell her that it was time for her to write her patch she would say.�I don't like doing them.�But know she gets on the computer and does her patch on there without us having to tell her.That amazes me and even brings a little tear in my eye.

From Lucio (parent of student at East Elementary)

Please Help Abby with Her Homework

My eight-year-old, third grade daughter just began an assignment for school. Each child received a composition book to use for their �travelogue journal.� Inside was pasted this greeting:

Dear Friend,

I am a student in the 3rd grade at Renaissance Elementary School in Castle Rock, Colorado, USA. I am learning about U.S. and world geography. With your help, I can learn more about many different places. Here�s how you can help me:

1. Complete one journal entry in my attached journal by writing about the city in which you live.

2. Send a postcard from your city addressed to me at the school address below.

3. Send my journal on to a friend or relative who lives in a different region of the United States or another country.

Then there�s some additional information, a �return by� date of April 15th, 2009, and her school address. Then in the next couple of pages each student wrote a little bit about themselves, what they like to do, and about the Castle Rock area. Each student is supposed to then mail this to someone they know in a different part of the country, that person adds to the journal, then sends it on to another person.

I think this assignment is fine as far as it goes, and we mailed it off to a friend in Kentucky on Friday. But, and you�ve got to know what�s coming, I thought this assignment was ripe to have a �virtual companion� to it. So, I haven�t asked for much on this blog (well, other than changing the world), but I�d like to ask those of you who are still reading this blog to consider contributing to Abby�s travelogue wiki. There�s an explanation on the wiki itself, but here�s the basic idea:

1. Add your information to the wiki (first name, last initial, city, state/province, country).
   
   
2. Upload or link to a picture (a �digital postcard� if you will) that�s representative of your city.
   
   
3. Write a short description of your city.
   
   
4. Then, if you want, send the link to the wiki on to friends or family that you think might be willing to participate. (Note � please not �send this to everyone in your address book!� � I don�t want this to be Fischbowl-generated spam.)
   
   
5. Then, if you really want to go the extra mile, actually send a postcard to Abby at her school (pdf).

Now, I really have no idea if we�ll get five or five hundred responses, but I figured it was worth a shot (and it takes a lot less postage). Not only would you be helping Abby and her classmates learn more about the world, but also helping other students (and adults) that visit the wiki learn about the world. I think it would be especially nice if other students added to the wiki, in addition to adults, but we�ll see what happens.

Update 9-23-08: Wow! The response has been great. Thanks to everyone. That original page on the wiki has so much on it that it's becoming difficult to edit, so please add all new entries to the second page I've created. If you already have info on the first page and need to change/add to it, please email me with the changes and I'll update it (I've locked it now so that people don't accidentally try to add to it). Thanks again to everyone that's participated and, if you haven't yet, please go ahead and contribute.