Mrs. Tamargo's Class

We began our study of apples with the book "Johnny Appleseed". The legend of Johnny Appleseed is very prominent in Ohio because he spent much time here planting trees and helping the early pioneers plant apple trees. Mrs. Knox, our school Technology Specialist, created an Apple Unit page on our school website with links to many apple sites. We particularly liked visiting the Dole5aDay website where we read all about apples. We also really enjoyed using the neat activities from Apple Bytes that Mrs. Silverman and the other teachers made.	We worked with partners to study and list the attributes of 8 of the apples we found on the web pages. Then we individually graphed our favorite attributes.
This is the Picture Graph that we used to record our votes. Mrs. Knox helped us make it with our computers and The Graph Club program. At first, a few of us had trouble understanding why we had pictures of half an apple in some of the columns...but Mrs. Knox explained to us that each apple on our graph stood for TWO votes and then we knew that a half an apple was really one vote! Now we understand what "scale maximum" is. (WHEW... that was a lot of thinking!)	Mrs. Tamargo cut up six varieties of apples and we held a taste test to see which ones we liked best! We each took a slice of apple off of each plate and took one bite slice. We used the descriptive words we had been studying (tart, sweet, crisp, juicy, tangy, etc.) to judge what we liked or didn't like about each type of apple. First we voted individually for our favorite variety of apple. Then we used the computer to graph our favorite apples by color. Mrs. Tamargo and Mrs. Knox voted too! We produced several types of graphs, including bar, line, table and pie (our favorite!).
Next we created our own variety of apples using the descriptive words and attributes we had learned. This was a quick (and fun!) assessment. Then we took our work to the computer and using "Kid Pix", drew and described our new varieties of apples. We also wrote cinquains (5 line poetry) about apples. We our used our newly created apple varieties and our poetry to create a class book about apples. In conjunction with our study of apples, our art teacher, Mrs. Taylor, also had the class weave apple baskets and fill them with self-created apples...a nice culminating activity. We love art class!	Here is another way of showing the results of our voting. Mrs. Knox called this our APPLE PIE chart! We all thought that was very funny..but Mrs. Tamargo groaned when Mrs. Knox said it!

ASSESSMENT Mrs. Pam Tamargo, second grade teacher, and Mrs. Pattie Knox, Technology Support Specialist collaborated on this project with the intention of integrating technology into a classroom unit focused on apples. Children were assessed using the NETS (Grades PreK-2) performance indicators as follows: National Educational Technology Standards for Students (Grades PreK-2) All students should demonstrate the following performance indicators at the completion of the unit: Use input devices (mouse and keyboard) and output devices (printer) to successfully operate a computer (1) Use a variety of media and technology for directed and independent learning activities (1, 3) Communicate about technology and the task using developmentally appropriate and accurate terminology (1) Work cooperatively and collaboratively with peers and teachers when using technology in the classroom. (2) Demonstrate positive social behaviors when using technology. (2) Practice responsible use of technology systems and software. (2) Create developmentally appropriate multimedia products with support from teachers or student partners. (3) Use technology resources for problem solving, communication, and illustration of thoughts, ideas and stories (3, 4, 5, 6) Gather information using telecommunications, with support from teachers or student partners. (4)