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Mo Willem’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Lesson

What it is: Isn’t it great when author’s have websites as enchanting as their books?  Mo Willem’s has a collection of wonderful websites starring his characters including my favorite, the Pigeon.  On the Pigeon Presents website, your students will find fun games starring their favorite characters.  They can learn more about Mo Willem’s books, meet the characters he has created, and even watch video interviews where he talks about his love of writing and illustrating.  In the teacher’s section of the site, you will find printable posters for your classroom.  On the Go Mo! site students will find Cat and her friends.  Here students can play games, learn animal sounds, color online, and see Cat the cat’s gallery.  Here students can see pictures that other students have drawn of cat and even submit their own.  My favorite discovery of all: Mo Willem’s Pigeon has a Twitter account! How to integrate Mo Willem’s Websites into your curriculum: If you are a Mo Willem’s fan like I am, you will be thrilled to introduce your students to his site starring his characters.  Mo Willem’s has been a Caldecott Award honor for several of his books.  His first, in 2004, was Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  I used this book to teach my younger students about the Caldecott award, and to help them identify shapes.  Since I was in the computer lab, I taught my students to draw the pigeon using computer drawing applications.  This was a great way for my students to learn how to use digital drawing tools, while creating Caldecott worthy results.  The students pigeon’s always turned out fantastic and looked so much like the original that the kids felt like they too could be Caldecott honorees.  If you are interested in my lesson, you can purchase it here.   Mo Willem’s collection of websites would be a great tie-in to the drawing lesson and help students connect to their favorite characters. Tips: The videos on the Pigeon Presents Get to Know Mo page are really well done and will give students and inside look at how author’s develop characters. Please leave a comment and share how you are using Mo Willem’s Websites in your classroom! Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Drawing LessonUsing computer drawing tools, k-2 students learn about the Caldecott award and how they can create their own Caldecott worthy illustrations based on Mo Willem's Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. This collection includes step-by-step instructions, drawing application suggestions, and an ISTE NET aligned lesson. Grade Level: Kindergarten-2nd. Requirements: computer, Internet connection, book "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus". Price: $.99

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Planet Foss: Investigating Science by Taking Pictures

Posted by admin | Posted in Analyze, collaboration, Create, Evaluate, Middle/High School, Science, Secondary Elementary, Teacher Resources, Understand (describe, explain), Web2.0, Websites | Posted on 09-02-2011

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What it is: Planet Foss is a science photo sharing website for students.  Students are enlisted to help capture science in the real world through pictures and share them with other students around the world.   Students choose a science course to investigate, see what photo challenges exist within the course, and then take a picture of science as it happens.  Each course comes with several challenges; the challenges are all based around themes that tie into the FOSS investigations.   When students have taken their photos, they can upload them, tag them, and record observations about the science they captured in their picture.  Students can also head over to Planet FOSS just to check out the photos taken by other students, they can search by the date that the picture was uploaded, by tag, keyword, or search by location using a Google map. Courses on Planet FOSS include Chemical Interactions, Diversity of Life, Earth History, Electronics, Forces and Motion, Human Brain and Senses, Planetary Science, Populations and Ecosystems, and Weather and Water.

How to integrate Planet FOSS into the classroom: Planet FOSS is an excellent way to involve students in science exploration and discovery in the real world.  The great thing about the site is that it helps students discover the science that it all around them.  Through the photo challenges and investigations, students learn to view the world through a new lens and begin to understand that life is science.  That isn’t a concept I understood until I was out of school (for me science usually meant filling out a worksheet or memorizing science vocabulary-sad).  Don’t have access to digital cameras at school? Students can still use Planet FOSS by exploring other student photos.  The photos are a great way to introduce science concepts and illustrate concepts in a way that is more authentic than the textbook offerings.  As students view others photos, they can leave feedback about the photo, observation, or comment on the similarities or difference to where they live using a set of virtual “stickers”.

Tips: To protect student privacy, Planet FOSS does not accept any photos that includes pictures of students. Planet FOSS has a great introductory video that will have even the novice computer user uploading photos in no time!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Planet FOSS in your classroom

Comments (7)

Tweets that mention iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Planet Foss: Investigating Science by Taking Pictures -- Topsy.com said on 09-02-2011

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ktenkely, J. Brown. J. Brown said: RT @ktenkely: Planet FOSS is a neat way to teach students that science is life-science photo sharing site for kids! http://t.co/Zp1hqY2 … [...]
Vernon said on 09-02-2011

Wow! This is great. Thank you so much for sharing this with your readers. I am scrambling to find new and creative ways to help my science students. I like how the site is broken down into different categories so I don’t have to look around for hours. This week, we’re going to check the digital cameras out of the media center and get to work. I think my students will be pleasantly surprised. Thank you!
Susan Stephenson, the book Chook said on 09-02-2011

What a fantastic resource for immersing kids in real learning and sharing with an authentic audience!
admin said on 10-02-2011

I agree Susan, it is a great place for students to share their learning!
admin said on 10-02-2011

Vernon, I think your students will enjoy it! You will have to let us know what the reactions turned out like :)

Content Area Resources for this week: Math, English, Social Studies, Science, Art said on 16-02-2011

[...] Foss is a Science Photo Sharing site. iLearn Technology blog has a great write up about the [...]
iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » YouTube saves the day: Busting Conspiracy Theories said on 18-02-2011

[...] In addition to adding their pictures to Capzles, students will also be uploading their photos to Planet FOSS where they have the opportunity to view other students night sky observations and add their [...]

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