At the beginning of the year, the class will create a "Classroom Constitution" using Inspiration software and, as an option for classrooms w/ Palm Pilots, Word to Go. Students will brainstorm as a class a list of behaviors that they think will help the classroom environment be conducive to learning & to show how they can become better citizens in their class.
Students will use digital cameras to document their inquiries into microscopic life. Digital images will be used to assemble picture books that show the detail of an organism as seen with the human eye, through a hand lens, and at each power of the microscope.
To work on focusing on a specific topic, students will take digital pictures around the school yard. They will then use the zoom on the Olympus camera to focus on one part of the picture. Their stories will be based on the zoomed picture.