Assignment 7 (7th and 8th Grade), Assignment 9 (6th Grade): Planet Earth Exposed!, Part 2: New York City Wildlife

Oceans, grasslands, and rain forests aren’t the only place with wildlife, New York City has it too!

1. Watch the slideshow below to see some of New York City’s wildlife:

2. Now, pick a habitat below and watch the slideshow.




3. Next, use Kidspiration to draw the habitat you chose for its animals.
Click HERE to see how to use Kidspiration for this project.

4. Finally, put your Kidspiration on your blog and explain why you chose to create it the way you did.
Click HERE to see how to put your Kidspiration on your blog.

Assignment 6 (7th and 8th Grade), Assignment 8 (6th Grade): Planet Earth Exposed!, Part 1

1. Get ready to see some incredible videos of nature.  Choose 3:

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Birds
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Fox and Ducks
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Grass
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Rainforest
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Shallow Seas
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Sharks

2. Now answer the following questions in your blog:

a) Describe the environments shown in the videos you chose. What plants or animals lived there?
b) How are the places you saw different from the nature we have in New York City?  How, if at all, are they similar?
c) Of the environments you saw, which were the most interesting?  If you could travel to one, which would it be and why?

–> Click HERE to see an example


Assignment 5 (7th and 8th Grade), Assignment 7 (6th Grade): Photo Inspired Poetry, Part 2

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Now that you’ve used images I chose to create a poem, it’s your turn. One little thing, though: many of the images on Flickr are copyrighted– meaning you’re not allowed to use them without permission.  But there’s a section of Flickr called “Creative Commons”.  Pictures in Creative Commons are free to use in your as long as you give credit to the photographer.

Go to Flickr’s Creative Commons page by clicking HERE.  Find a picture that sparks your imagination or makes you feel something deeply.  Write a poem about it in your blog.

Assignment 1 (7th and 8th Graders): You Know What You Did Last Summer…

…so let us in on it! Welcome back 7th and 8th graders. Your first assignment of the year is to create a slideshow of what you did this summer. Think your summer was boring? In that case create a “top 10 list of why my summer was boring“. Was your summer A M A Z I N G ? Tell us all the details and don’t forget to include pictures.

Below is slideshow about my summer:


Now it’s your turn:

Create a Powerpoint about your summer. Click HERE to see how. If you don’t have pictures to bring in, you can use other people’s photos from Flickr that are similar to what happened to you.

Ayiti: The Cost of Life

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In Haiti only about half of the children receive an education and only two percent finish high school.  Without a proper education, the poor stay poor in Haiti (and many countries like this.)  While education is the key to rising out of poverty, many parents are not able to send their kids to school.  Why not?  Play the game below to find out:

Play the game Ayiti  about life in Haiti by clicking HERE.  In your blog answer the following questions:

1)  How is Ayiti different from 3rd World Farmer?  How is it the same?

2) What strategies did you use? For example, did you combine work and school, or did you send everyone to work? Which worked? Which did  not?

3)  Why would parents choose to devote so much effort to sending their children to school?  What obstacles did you face in trying to keep them in school?

** BONUS **

4. Explore a Google map of Haiti by clicking HERE.  What are some things you observe about the country?  For example, which city in Haiti has the most houses?  What part of Haiti seems the emptiest?   What countries are near Haiti?