ACTEM - SEED Packets 51-75

A total of 143 Packets are now available for use in your classroom. Each Packet has been linked to Maine’s Learning Results and includes a detailed description of how the Unit of Study/Learning Activity was implemented. The Packets span all content areas and grade levels.

The Packets are available in PDF format. (To view a PDF file you’ll need the FREE Adobe Acrobat reader.) The snapshot descriptions of these packets are searchable using the search field at the top left of this window. Please make sure that Site is checked in the search options and you need to use the advanced search to get anything to show up.

Learning the sounds of the alphabet and good eating habits is as simple as apple, bread, carrot. In this program for young children, students pick a letter of the alphabet then have their pictures taken with a food they select that begins with their letter. Using the student/food pictures and a multimedia computer program to draw pictures of healthy foods, the students publish a book, and create a student narrated slideshow published on an alphabet website. The website is shared with another classroom, with the final activity a videoconference between the two classrooms.

While reading Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, students form groups to research the history of Nigeria and Igbo culture, including the purpose of the mask in tribal rituals, family relationships, gender roles, food, art, music, stories, myth, coming-ofage ceremonies, and British colonialism. Students learn the basics of PowerPoint, and using a variety of sources from the Internet, gather digitized media to assemble

Roots hits high-tech in this unit of study where students produce a multimedia genealogy book. Elements of the book include researching and producing a pedigree chart, family record sheets, student writings about themselves and their family, local history and customs, pictures of family member, ancestral maps, hereditary traits and a reflection on their second grade year. Students host a parents’ and grandparents’ afternoon of research and culminate the project with traditional food and customs of their ancestors.

Prepare for blast off! In this unit of study, students need to be able to design a piece of equipment that allows them to collect data points to determine the average thrust of a model rocket engine. To accomplish this students use the concepts of the average value of a function along with Riemann sum approximation techniques. This project reinforces calculus concepts as well as provides data for a future rocketry project in a practical setting. Students 1) emulate scientists in solving an engineering problem; 2) apply calculus principles to the applications; 3) gather experimental data of model rocket engines; 4) develop a thrust curve that can be analyzed by a calculus class; and 5) determine the average thrust of a model rocket engine.

Using a classroom computer and the HyperCard program, this unit of study allows for the creation of an individualized spelling module using frequently used words. Through use of the HyperCard template, teachers can modify the list of words to suit the needs of individual students and lessons.

Celebrate the first permanent residents of the International Space Station through different classroom activities. Highlights of this unit include using the Internet to track the orbit of the space station, communicating with Russian e-pals, discussing the collaboration on the space station of our respective countries and the granting of a packet of seed pods grown aboard the ISS in nearly zero gravity.

What’s my child learning in this new health class? As part of the health curriculum, students explore issues that develop with friends and family members and the skills necessary to deal with these issues successfully, including the larger issue of diversity in our society. Each student then chooses a particular subtopic as a focus. Using the writing process, graphic design and technology skills, each student produces a Hyperstudio unit of study to share with both school board members and parents that reflects his or her learning.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine the worth of a class-created science video. Students walk dual paths of learning as they videotape their classmates riding a sled downhill. Managing video production from start to finish, students capture science experiments on digital video designed to show how a ramp works. They then collaborate to create science movies which they view, cut, review and use. Video creation allows equal opportunities for all students at any grade level to express their thoughts and ideas for any subject.

The lifecycles and ecosystem of a pond take on added importance to students, as they deliver their findings in a student- created book called The Important Thing About a Pond . Modeled after Margaret Wise Brown’s book The Important Book, students learn about classification, food webs and the many organisms that call a pond home. They also call upon links to help collect information for their books which are shared with buddies and other students, and become part of a larger year-long scrap book project shared with the community in the spring.

This unit gives students the tools to study how behavior, both positive and negative, affects our lives. Students work to identify which character traits made them feel either miserable and good inside to help them understand how their choice of behavior affects those around them. Students identify ways to achieve better relations at school and an overall sense of caring, safety, respect for diversity and shared responsibility.

How can you make high school students find all the great things about their hometown while learning its history? Have them create a marketing campaign. While creating a brochure, website, commercial and youth activity, these high school students learned about becoming responsible and involved citizens and capped their journey with a presentation before the town council.

Collaboration between AP students and graphics students result in the creation of a digital archive of students’ works and a virtual “how to” of methods used to build individual portfolios. Graphics students are matched with AP students as mentors who teach them the following skills: input (scanning and digital camera), manipulation software, layout, and output. The graphics curriculum teaches students the practical skills in retail design, magazine design, promotional design, propaganda, and newspaper and record design.

Most families keep collections of photos. Some of these are in albums, some are framed and hung on the wall, and some are simply stashed in boxes. Although we tend to keep our photos for years and years, often the stories behind the photos are lost. In this unit students recapture some of the stories behind their old family photos and save them in a digital anthology to share with future generations.

Through research and interviews with family members, students learn about the people and events that shaped their family histories. These stories provide a context through which students learn to relate events in Maine and United States history to their own personal stories.

Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet. This unit helps students learn not only how to find information on history web sites, but also how to evaluate that information for accuracy. It ties together interdisciplinary content while teaching students to be critical thinkers and lifelong learners.

Student self-portraits using traditional drawing techniques and technology highlight this unit. Students creatively express their feelings and ideas through a self-portrait, which touches on many of the elements and principles of art. Once completed, the students modify their portraits into abstract creations using the computer program Super Goo. Both the original and altered portraits are displayed together and used for discussion.

The Wescott Artists’ Guild uses the Internet to reach students who profess to hate art. The web site reflects current learning in the art room, including descriptions and visual instruction of art processes used. Also featured is a student gallery of the results, interviews with visiting artists, spotlights on artists from different periods and cultures and student reflections. Students successfully produce an art resource on the Internet for their peers and interested others.

Conservation of a natural resource takes the lead in this unit that explores the life cycles and habitat of the Atlantic salmon. Using the Internet to research and collect data students complete two major projects. The first is a Kid Pix slide show presenting information about salmon life cycles, their migration and spawning patterns and current conservation measures. The second uses data from the Maine State Library Research Database to understand the scope of salmon population decline and culminates in a letter the editor, espousing and supporting a specific conservation opinion.

A student-developed and maintained weather web site stars Solar Bear dressed appropriately for the day’s weather. Using the digital camera, student photographers record the current daily weather conditions from their classroom door. Daily temperature readings, wind speed measurement and wind direction are recorded, and students update the web page with the gathered information and pictures. After mastering a weather job, the students teach the job to their apprentices the following week. Real purpose is given to learning as students observe and compare weather patterns, make predictions, use measurement instruments, and communicate findings.

Young children get a fun introduction to Spanish in this foreign language exercise intended for integration in cross- curricular units designed to meet the Learning Results. The students publish bilingual books both in hard copy and on the web using the Spanish phrases including “Hola, me llamo____. Como se llamo?” or “Nosotros vimos las_____” based on farm animals. Book creation incorporates technology such as digital cameras, iMovies, scanners and computer graphics programs.

Want to know which bubble gum blows the best bubbles? Students find out in this fun science unit that lets kids answer the question by using the six steps of the scientific method: defining the problem, gathering information, forming a hypothesis, experimentation, analysis and conclusions. The students engage directly in all six steps and work collaboratively to define and work within specific roles, as well as address concerns of scientific bias and human error.

The study of Ellis Island and immigration using “Travel-Dolls” helps ignite students’ interest in cultures of the world. The dolls are sent out to travel and students write e-mails to host families around the world as a means of communicating with those in other countries.

The purpose of the project is to integrate email and Internet skills for web communication into a social studies project combined with real interaction that can’t be found in a textbook.

If you want to learn the difference between the North and South Poles, this is the course to teach. This multimedia unit teaches students about the wildlife of these regions, primarily polar bears and penguins. The students create food chain mobiles, learn about life cycles, various types of weather, visit web sites relating to Antarctica and the Arctic, create Arctic/Antarctic scenes using Kid Pix, and create life-size penguins and polar bears.

Students in this year-long study design and create a miniature classroom ecosystem to inform their study of larger ecosystems around the world. Student groups select an ecosystem, discover how its organisms interact and, using print and electronic media, develop a comprehensive ecosystem monograph. The unit strengthens intensive research and long-term inquiry skills over eight months of observation and maintenance of their classroom ecosystem as well as short-term tasks allowing them to integrate their learning in other areas.

Imagine a simple pen pal unit of study. Give it a dash of global flair. Add a patriotic twist. Multiply by 24 and there you have it: Real American Heroes! This unit of study teaches primary students about patriotism, world geography and enhances their literacy skills through regular e-mail contact with American military personnel stationed around the world. While emailing their heroes, students learn to use the Internet, build literacy skills, and encourage respect for our nation. This unit provides an opportunity for students to gain insight into our world, and encourages reflection and understanding of others.

To enrich and expand understanding of Latin America, students learn about South America through Internet research and direct contact with South American peers. Students collect and analyze data gathered from the Internet about their country of study. They also exchange cultural similarities and differences with their South American peers through email and videoconferencing. Using all information acquired, students create web pages featuring details unique to each country. Student web pages, combined with oral presentations to the rest of the class, demonstrate students’ attainment of the Learning Results.