New Zealand DLO

 

During Week 1 of Term 4, Room 9 and 10 got a surprise parcel from the office.  Nobody knew what it was about.  When we opened it we discovered letters from children just like us but from all around the world.  With a buddy we read the letter and discovered new things about the children from the different parts of the world.  We learnt about food, holidays, things they do at school and after school. Our next job was to create a DLO to teach others about the country we received the letter from on our blog.

I learnt how to add audio to a slide and how I can use audio to help my reader understand by listening and not having to read.  I also learnt that Wellington is the capital of NZ.  Another new skill I learnt was linking a webpage to an image on slides.  You can do this by clicking on the paper clip and then clicking on the image you want to attach it too.

I found it easy to record my own voice and make sure it was clear so the person listening could hear me.  I also found it easy to find the information that we used to give the viewer some information.

In the beginning I found it hard to link the webpages to images.  I wasn't sure how to do this and my partner and I struggled for awhile.  When Mrs Poole showed us, we couldn't believe just how simple it was.  I also found it hard to sort where to put what on the slide.  I didn't want it to looked to cramped and to be clear for the viewer.

I really enjoyed  using the audio feature on the slide.  Audio is a great way to get some ideas across instead of typing.  I also enjoyed learning about Waitangi Day which is a special holiday in NZ which is in February and celebrates the joining of a nation.

Next time I need to think about what information I am saying when I record myself.  Some of the information I said didn’t make sense and was a little jumbled.  I also need to do use more sources for researching and not just looking at one webpage.  I need to find as much information as possible so I know exactly what I want to add to my DLO to teach the viewer.

The Life Cycle of a Frog

 

This week we have been learning about explanation writing.  Explanation writing is where you explain a process or why something happens to your reader.  First we had to do some research so we understood the process of what we were explaining.  Next we planned.  We planned our purpose (why we were writing) and then we planned each paragraph. We needed to find technical words we would use in our writing.  Technical words are words specific to what we were explaining.

Next we had to make a diagram of our process.  I used google drawings to make the pictures and added them to the planning sheet.  We had to include a title and a brief description.  This helped the reader see what our pictures were about. Then we wrote our explanation using paragraphs and full sentences.

Lastly we  created our DLO (Digital Learning Object). It needed arrows, audio, images and explanations.  I have highlighted the technical words in red.

I enjoyed learning about the life cycle of a frog.  I discovered that a frog is a young frog with a tail before it becomes an adult frog.  I also learnt about the four cycles or stages.  I hadn't written an explanation before but enjoyed that type of writing because I like writing about facts.  

I found it challenging using google drawings to draw the pictures.  My hand isn't steady enough when using the polyline to make curved lines that were needed for the frog and tadpole/

Next time I would like to add more audio to my DLO and also a glossary to it.  A glossary would explain the technical words to the reader and help them learn more from my DLO.