Happy Holidays!

It's hard to believe that another year is coming to an end. I wanted to make one last post for 2010 and wish everyone a joyous holiday season! See you in 2011.  Here are some sites that might be useful in the last few days of school before break.

Make-a-Flake create a snow flake

Build a Snowman

Tree Light Up can you connect the lights to light the      tree?

                             Reindeer Orchestra create a song

Remembering Pearl Harbor, Decemeber 7, 1941

Today marks the 69th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I thought I would share a couple of sites with you that you might find interesting. Be sure to check out the links below. I hope everyone is enjoying the start to this busy holiday season. And here's a little bit of information for you, On December 7th, 1941, my grandmother was decorating for Christmas when she received word about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. To this day, she continues to start her holiday decorating on December 7th. Sometimes it's funny how we remember what we were doing on a certain day and then carry on that same tradition when something tragic or memorable happens.

Check out History Animated for some animations on the Pacific War.  Thank you to the blog "Free Technology for Teachers" for posting that site.
Also look at the National Geographic site on Remembering Pearl Harbor. There are photos, footage and first hand accounts available.

Scholastic Study Jams

I came across Study Jams recently and thought I'd pass along the site. It's by Scholastic and is a collection of over 200 learning resources. Study Jams are videos, slideshows and explanations for science and math that students can make new discoveries from. Each of the Jams includes a video/slide show, key vocabulary and even a test section. Students can pause and rewind as they need to and the test section allows checking for understanding and immediate feedback. You can use Study Jams as an anticipatory set (think interactive whiteboard) or as a 1 on 1 activity where students work at their own pace. 

Spring Ahead, Fall Back

Daylight Saving Time ends this coming Saturday night or at 2am on Sunday morning. Remember you should turn your clocks back an hour before you go to bed. I've recently encountered some discussions on Daylight Saving Time and thought I'd pass the information along.  There is a nice BrainPop video on the topic but here's my recap...

• Benjamin Franklin first introduced the idea that if people woke up earlier, they could save on candles.
• The idea is for it to be darker in the morning when people are sleeping and lighter longer at night when people are still up and moving.
• 1918- the US used various forms of Daylight Saving during times of war or energy crisis.
• 1986- First Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October, law passed that stated Daylight Saving Time would be.
•  2007- Energy Policy Act changes the time frame. Expands it from the Second Sunday in March to the  First Sunday in November.
• Many people also think it helps to save on energy costs, but that is still being studied under the new Energy Policy Act. There isn't enough data yet to conclude that it does indeed save on energy.

Here are some other resources that you might find useful on Daylight Saving Time-

• Daylight Saving Time- informational site
• What is Daylight Saving Time

Northern New York Historical Papers

I thought that for this weeks post I'd highlight some local history. The Northern New York Historical Papers website is a collection from forty-five papers that can be used to access information about the regions history. Newspaper collections are from Oswego, Jefferson, Lewis, Essex, Franklin, Clinton and St. Lawrence County. The user can search all papers in a given county or a search from one particular paper.  You can search for anything by just putting in keyword or phrase. For example, I did a search for the last name of Brander and got 752 documents that contained that word. I then decided to narrow my search a bit and put in John Brander with a search type of "the exact words" and I got 33 documents.  You are then able to scroll down through and view a short description of the article that mentions your search terms. If you click on the link to that particular paper, you'll be able to see the entire page from that newspaper. Check out below an interesting article I found or view the whole page here. Apparently, my Great Grandfather had a new radio installed in January of 1926 and that was big news.
There are many possibilities for how this can be used in the classroom. If you are teaching a unit on local history, students could search for a chosen topic or even research their family. Although they may not have a hit for 1800 pop up, I'm sure anything from 1970 or 1980 would seem "cool" to them! If nothing else you can use this for your own personal use. So go ahead and check it out!

Lucky Star Game Show for SMART Board

PBS Kids has a fantastic FREE download for the SMART Board.  Cyberchase is an animated math series from PBS Kids.  Lucky Stars is an interactive game show  that students can play to help them with their math skills. The targeted grade levels are 3-5, but when you download the file, you'll be able to create your own questions so you may find it useful to use at other grade levels. You are able to choose your character and work your way through a series of questions. There is even a "Think Pad" so that students can work out the problems using the pen. When you visit this site, there are directions explaining how to download and then install the file.  What's nice about this is that it actually installs right into SMART Notebook as a Gallery item. Not only do you get the pre-made game but you also get the templates and graphics to create your own.  You could easily use this for review in other subject areas as well and your students are sure to get a kick out of the funny and unique characters that are available.  Use this as a warm activity or for a review session. Split your class up into two teams and create a little friendly competition.  I had no problems downloading and installing and everything seems to be working great, so check it out!

BrainPop

BrainPop is an awesome resource for you to use in your classroom. If you've never seen the site you've definitely got to check it out! BrainPop  is an educational website that consists of short flash movies, and quizzes for the K-12 spectrum. It includes all subject areas as well. The site is broken up into two sections, BrainPop being geared towards 4-12 grade and BrainPop Jr. for K-3.  Tim and Moby, among other characters will guide you and your students through topics such as Geometry, the Civil War, Dr. Seuss, Verbs, and many others. Although, BrainPop does require a subscription, (many schools already subscribe), there are FREE movies, quizzes, and activities that you can take advantage of.  BrainPop also features a movie of the week and that is always free as well. This week on BrainPop Jr. the featured movie is about Columbus Day.  Be sure to check out BrainPop Educators too. You sign up for this but you do not have to pay. You can use BrainPop Educators anytime you want. (Hint-it's a quick way to see what the featured movie is for the week.)  There's just a ton of information available to you and I highly recommend you take a peak! 

Fire Prevention Week- October 4-8



Since next week is Fire Prevention week I thought I would share some sites with you that you might find useful when discussing fire safety with your students. Scholastic has an array of different materials that you can use. The worksheets and printables are very informative and they work well on an interactive board. Particularly, Fire Safety 2010: Seek and Find in the Natural History Museum. Students could take turns coming up to the board and circling the items on the page. And not to worry the answer sheets are there too!
Now all that can be found in the Teachers site at Scholastic, but the Student site has even more to offer.  Here students can play games, build an escape plan, make a comic strip and even take a Fire Safety Quiz (K-2, 3-5). Be sure to check out Sparky's Wheel of Games as well. And when you are done exploring there be sure to rush over and visit Sparky at his own site. Sparky's Stuff has a site called Dalmatians, where you can learn about Dalmatians, visit Sparky's Closet, where you dress Sparky up, and Dalmatianize, where you can put Dalmatian spots on various animals. (See my pic below of a pig and Edna with and without spots.)

So there you have it. Various activities to help you with your fire safety needs next week or anytime of the year for that matter. And remember to check and change the batteries in your smoke alarms!

Food For Thought-

I saw this cartoon the other day and found it rather interesting. Just thought I would share.

Snappy Words

The topic this week seems to have been vocabulary. So if you've been looking for an interactive way to help students find additional words to use or to help them understand the definition of a word, give Snappy Words a try.  Snappy Words is a free visual dictionary and thesaurus that you enter any word in the search box and it will create a web of related words, phrases, and definitions.  You can hover over any word, click and drag, or double to click to explore through the web of words created.  This website would work great on an interactive board too! 




Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!

I have decided that I would and should give the whole blogging scene a try. So here it is!  My goal is to post useful ideas, hints, tips, tricks, etc. that you can use in and out of your classroom.  I hope that by using this blog I'll be able to reach everybody in my assigned districts.  I've found that often if one person is asking a question or looking for something in particular there is usually someone else who is thinking the same thing.

So please check this daily or at least weekly to see what's been going on.  If you find something you like or even have a question, you can post a comment as well.