Online Student Portfolios

My second graders have begun to create an online presence in the form of a digital portfolio. We've been using the school's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) platform to do this. They will be including learning pieces that show their learning journey in their UOI (unit of inquiry), literacy, math, and their Learner Profile and Attitudes. 

we have computer lab time once a week for students to post their learning

When we have student-led conferences, students will be using what is posted on their online portfolios as the starting point of their conversation with families. Allowing students to have some choice in what they post is important as it empowers the students and involves them in their own learning.

Also, having it online means students’ thoughts and learning can not only be read, but responded to as well. Students have relished the feedback from even a simple comment, whether it is from a classmate, a parent, or someone they have never met. 

Besides posting their learning, students have been learning to reply with a "good" comment. This has been a challenge for students to go from comments such as "Cool!" or :) to "Dear__, I really liked hearing your funny story about house games. I liked the sponge toss too. What else did you like about the house games?" 

A simple format I have used with my students to encourage good comments include:

1. Saying something nice. What specifically did you like about the post? What made you smile?
2. Making a connection. What did it remind you of? Does it make you think of something you know or have done? Something you saw in a book or on a video? 
3. Ask a question. What do you wonder? What did the writer not include in their post that you wish had been? 
4. Re-reading your comment. Students are realizing how often they need to change something they had written to make it better.

My teammate created this nifty organizer to help our students to remember the comment format. 

blog commenting etiquette organizer for students

Does your school utilize online student portfolios? 

Bedrooms Around the World

Central Idea: 
Learning about similarities and differences between cultures can help us understand ourselves. 

Lines of Inquiry: 

• Similarities and differences within and between cultures 
• How to investigate cultures 
• How our thinking about 'others' can change 

Learner Profile: Open-minded, Reflective 

Attitudes: Respect, Appreciation, Curiosity

During this unit, my second graders and I have learned that everyone has a culture and that culture shapes how we see the world, ourselves, and others. 

We started off recognizing the aspects of culture that are most visible, such as food, language, and clothing, but now we're recognizing that others are not as visible, such as our values, assumptions, and priorities.

Children have been exploring how our interaction with the environment and others shapes one's culture. 

One of the activities has been to look at the similarities and differences of children's bedrooms around the world. Children sorted the bedrooms into their own categories like: Beautiful/Not Beautiful, Poor/Not Poor, Toys/No Toys, Clean/Dirty, Comfortable/Not Comfortable.

I asked my students to continue the conversation at home with these questions:

• What photographs interested or surprised you most? Why? 
• What questions did those photos raise for you? 
• What can these photos tell you about the lives of the people pictured? 
• What do you think they can’t tell you?

Some rather insightful comments have come up because of this activity: 

• "It doesn't seem fair that we have such nice bedrooms just because our families have money." 
• "I would be very sad if I had that bedroom."
• "Why do some children have more or less than others?"
• "I'm lucky to be born into my family."
• "What if I was that child?"
• "I think having too much in your bedroom or too much stuff in your house doesn't make someone happy. Just because some of the bedrooms don't have much it doesn't mean that those kids are not good or that we are better."

Our Family Culture

Central Idea: 
Learning about similarities and differences between cultures can help us understand ourselves. 

Lines of Inquiry: 

• Similarities and differences within and between cultures 
• How to investigate cultures 
• How our thinking about 'others' can change 

Learner Profile: Open-minded, Reflective 
Attitudes: Respect, Appreciation, Curiosity

As part of our unit of inquiry, we have been looking at culture and what better way to do that than by incorporating the families’ presence in the classroom environment. It's so important to set an atmosphere of comfort, safety, and family. I believe the way you make your class feel is how they will respond while in your classroom. 

adding students' family pictures helps to make it their classroom too

A simple way we've tried to make our classroom more comforting and homey for the children is for them to see their family photos displayed in the classroom.  Families were asked to email a family photo to add to our window. Each student was given the chance to explain who was in the photo and answer questions about their family. Not only did they enjoy sharing about their family, it gave everyone a common ground to start from when discussing how families are a part of our cultural identity.

I had my students further the school to home discussion by asking their families the following questions: What is your favorite family tradition?

Nepal Earthquake Teachable Moment

As part of our unit of inquiry on migration, we asked our second grade students to reflect on the many reasons why people choose to, or are forced to leave their homes.

One student started a really intense conversation by connecting what we were learning to the tragedy of the Nepal earthquake. What a teachable moment! When the students broke for recess, our team quickly pulled together some before and after pictures of Nepal to continue the conversation and to show a very real migration event that was happening in "real life."

Here is what we presented to our students for them to reflect and connect to our unit of inquiry:

On Saturday 25th April, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in Kathmandu, Nepal. According to the UN 8,000,000 people have been affected by the earthquake. UNICEF says 1,000,000 children will be affected. 

Student Led Conference Parent Exit Slips

After having the opportunity to engage, witness and be a part of their child's learning, we asked parents to share with us their experience during student-led conferences by answering the following questions:

1. What skills and understandings did your child show?
2. What do you and your child think their next steps in learning should be?

student led conferences