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!
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 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!
