Hello Everyone!
As a lower el team for home projects this year, we have decided to align them as much as possible with what we are doing in cultural. I have attached the 3 schedules for home projects. If your child is in 1st grade you will use the level 1 guide, if you child is in 2nd grade you will use the level 2 guide, and if you child is in 3rd grade you will use the level 3 guide.
Level 1 HP 19-20
Level 2 HP 19-20
Level 3 HP 19-20
In the past, students have always brought in amazing home projects with great information to share, however, when they present them they have a hard time reading the information that is on their board/power point etc. In their best effort to convey the information, they are not making eye contact with their audience, nor are most of them speaking loudly and clearly. As a result a lot of our friends are losing interest and stop being engaged. Students feel success when presenting when they see an engaged audience.
This first home project will be a picto-presentation; meaning that the poster board, power point, etc. should only contain pictures, which the children then will use as talking points. . Here is some information about why we feel a picto-presentation would be perfect to get the children started on engaging presentations:
“Firstly, the places where pictograms are used are typically places where there’s a necessity to convey a message quickly, like for example a stop sign that helps to prevent an accident. Secondly, a pictogram needs to be memorable, and since an “image speaks a thousand words”, it serves this purpose much better than text, in terms of memorability. In other words, a pictogram tells a story very fast without someone needing to actually read anything.” -Successful Presentations for Elementary Students
Having your child use a few note cards with their own handwriting and their own sentences or key words is a good way to remember their key info. Our goal is for your children to be able to stand in front of a group and re tell the information they learned through their research without reading directly from a typed text or excerpt. We truly believe that learning to speak and share information at a young age enables children to grow into young people that are not afraid to speak, and express themselves in front of a group. This is a skill that when learned at an early age will hugely benefit your children for the rest of their school career. Please take a few minutes at dinner or bedtime to have your child retell to you or their siblings five key points that they think they would like to present to the class when the time comes. Not only does this keep the other kids engaged but it also helps the child presenting gain more confidence in themselves and be more eager and willing to present to a group.
Level 1 parents, your child is basically doing a picto-presentation with their first home project. Please do include the writing with the picture for this presentation, and please still practice with them on their presentations. Please help them but do not do it all for them.
These first home projects will be due the week of October 7th. As this date gets closer, I will send your child home with a paper informing you which day of the week your child will be presenting. This way, we can spread the presentations throughout the week and not have them all come on Friday.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions!
Jalee