The 12 Days of Christmas

Source: PNC

Ever wonder how much it would actually cost to purchase some of the items in the 12 Days of Christmas? This is a great to look at the rising cost of products or perhaps even the decrease in value. Through this interactive game, students can collect and find out just how much it would cost. So go ahead and take a look at The Twelve Days of Christmas, put together by PNC bank.  It's a great interactive if you are studying financial literacy and percent change over time. After you've completed this years price, you are able to scroll through and look at years past as a whole or individually by items.

Literacy. On the Web?

A month ago I wrote about attending a workshop on embedding literacy across the curriculum. (see old post) In total the workshop is 6 days long and so far I've completed 4 days. In my post I shared my ideas, thoughts and goals on literacy. Another co-worker and I were recently asked to help a Literacy Coach come up with some resources that she could pass on to participants in her workshop on Literacy. She was looking for anything from listening to reading, working with words, sorting, printables, etc. and the list goes on. So that's what I've been up to. I've created a wiki with the help of my co-worker in which we've put a bunch of resources together to promote literacy and using technology.  The wiki, Elementary Literacy Seminar is what we created.  Geared towards the audience of  K-4, you'll find links to sites that you can listen to books being read, download worksheets to go along with the stories and even play some games. Like I said there are quite a few resources there, so just play around.  For example the site Speakaboos has fables, nursery rhymes and other favorites, such as 'Arthur' that you listen to. And if that doesn't catch your attention, try out Storyline Online.  The Screen Actors Guild is the sponsor of this site that brings stories alive to students through the use of streaming video. Each book includes lesson ideas and is read by actors such as Lou Diamond Phillips reading the Polar Express .  Check out our wiki, we'll continue to update it!

Current Events!

CNN Student News  is a great site to check out if you are looking for daily current events for your students. CNN Student News has a program that airs each weekday during the school year.  The actual newscast itself is streamed on CNNStudentNews.com  and is even available as a free download as a video podcast on CNN. The news program is perfect for middle or high school students. As a teacher you can even check out some of the FREE teacher materials. Check out the Daily Discussion and Newsquiz, the Blog from A-Z and there are even printable maps in .pdf form. This site is definitely worthy of being added to your favorites bookmark!

Zoom.it

I found this cool tool while I was just searching around the net. Zoom.it lets you take the url of a picture, map, painting, etc., and creates a high resolution file. Then you are able to explore the whole image. Your able to zoom in on parts of the image that may not have been clearly visable by just viewing the standard size. With trying to get more document analysis in the classroom and the recent move to the Common Core, what better way to help your students?

This allows you to zoom way in on specific things, move around, zoom back out and highlight specific items in the image. Try it from the front of the class or use it in groups as they complete their document analysis.


Zoom.it also creates a Zoom url that you can take and embed on your website. Here's a link to an image that I used. And for some of you, you may want to try the bookmarklet. Give it a try! Happy Zooming :-)

"In 1492, Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue."

Columbus Day is just around the corner. TeachingHistory.org has a great spotlight section on Columbus. You'll find resources for Elementary, Middle and High School students on the great Chris. Have your students take the quizzes on Columbus to see how much they really know. It can be pretty tricky.  Columbus day gives you a great opportunity to talk about myths and facts in history. You can even tie it in with European Exploration and the impact that it has had on the world. There are even video clips and documents from the Library of Congress. And if you don't use it in your lesson, take a second to explore it on your own. You might be surprised at what you find out. 

"In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

He had three ships and left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.

October 12th they sighted land,
And set their feet upon new sand."

Got Books?

(if you'd like to skip my ramblings, scroll to the bottom for ideas for literacy using technology.)

Got Books?  It's an appropriate topic for this week. My colleagues and I attended the first two days of a six day workshop this week for Embedding Literacy in the Core Curriculum. We learned about different techniques to engage students in reading and writing. One of my favorites from the first day of class was a Textbook Treasure Hunt. Here students are presented with a worksheet, that presents them with directions or sends them on a "hunt" in their textbook for the answers. It serves as a great way to introduce students to the textbook and help them understand how it's really laid out and put together. And our group,  took it one step further and used our Treasure Hunt for the online help that is available in Microsoft Word. The workshop gave us a chance to explore Cornell Notes and opened our eyes to all the different types of activities that could be done in a classroom that incorporate writing. For example, bell ringers and journals. The hardest part of the first two days for me, was to come up with goals or a literacy plan that we take back to our districts, share with our administrators and colleagues and try to implement. Half of my group was missing for the second day, so I and my other colleague split up and she went with a district that she works in and I went with one of the technical centers. The experience was good to listen to them discuss their goals for literacy and how the would implement it. They discussed how some of them were already integrating some form of literacy in their classrooms, while some only did very little or none at all. And they knew that there would also be those that would be opposed to the whole idea. But in the end they came up with some good goals and a starting point.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention, the goal is 25 books per year. That's what the "big" people say. I was at first a little shocked about this number. 25 books a year. Sadly, I don't read that many BOOKS a year. But then BOOKS doesn't have to mean 250 page novels. It can mean newspapers, magazines, blogs etc., that total up to 25 books a year. Ah, ok. Now that's not so bad, or is it? I don't think so, and I think it's doable.

I left at the end of day 2 feeling a little overwhelmed and tired. I went home, turned on the TV and sat for 45 minutes watching a show I had DVR'ed the night before.  When that was over, I flipped through a series of channels, trying to find something to watch, muttered something under my breath about nothing being on and settled on a rerun. Background noise. That's what the TV is. But, the problem, I sat there and watched for another 30 minutes. I may have checked email or Facebook, but I watched more TV, of a show I've probably seen twice before. And why? I don't know, but it all leads to this blog post, which is LITERACY.

It has taken some thought, and I'll probably add to this over the course of the next 4 months as I continue on with the workshop. There are 4 more days to attend between November and January. So here's my question: How do you get literacy using technology?

• Book Trailers or Movie Trailers (the presenter from the workshop shared the idea of a Movie Trailer.)  Students use Movie Maker or Photostory to create a trailer to either promote books* or as a project at the end of having read the book*. Students would include images, titles, music and narration.

•  Read Alikes: Use a site like Wallwisher to have students suggest books* to read. They can add images and tell why they are making the suggestion. As an example you might see something like: If you liked the "Twilight Series" you should try "The Vampire Diaries." 

• Blogs: Students create their own on-line detailing the books* they are reading. They could then share with the class and receive comments, book suggestions etc.  

• Shelfari:  This site allows you to create a virtual bookshelf. My colleague, Shawn, shared this tool a few weeks ago and I'm so glad he did. I was excited to use it for myself, but even more excited I could share it in relation to this post and workshop. Check out the post on Shawn's Educational Technology Blog, where he explains how to use all the features of Shelfari. What a great way to generate book talks in your classroom and even school!

* does not mean solely a 250 page chapter book. Could be a magazine, blog, podcast,storybook.

That's my list for now. I think this is the longest blog post I've made to date but it's practicing my literacy skills. And my goal to embed some literacy into my department at work: I'd like to do some READ posters and display them around the office. I'm thinking the Section X director reading a playbook, the Assistant Superintendent of Instruction reading Common Core Standards on a Nook or  the Supervisor of  Instructional Technology using an iPad for blogs. :-)

Educational Videos and Games

Here's a collection of educational videos, games and lessons for grades K-12.  NeoK-12 has collected the best videos, games, and lessons from the Internet and put them into one spot. As a teacher you can create an account that will allow you to create video playlists that even include notes and instructions for your students.  Have students gain information on a topic by having them watch a video(s) and play games that correspond to lessons.  Students can also demonstrate understanding by creating their own  presentations that they can create and share online. Presentations can also be printed if need be. You'll need an email to create your own account. No student email addresses needed unless you want your students to save their own presentations. The Educational Games & Puzzles section of the website can be used on your interactive whiteboard, center activities or just for free time. Take a look!

A Cool New Tool- Print Friendly

I just came across this new tool, or it's new to me. It's called Print Friendly.  If you are like me you often find yourself with a web page or article that you might like to print off of the Internet or you have students who are doing research and want to print from web pages that have all the extra "stuff" that isn't needed. We've all seen it. The printer in the computer lab has 22 pages that just printed out, it's jumbled with ads, other information and really all the student wanted was two paragraphs. You know what I'm talking about. So here's the solution, Print Friendly. 

Print Friendly lets you get rid of the extra "stuff" that isn't needed. You simply copy and paste the URL of the document you want onto their site and click. You'll then get a document that allows you to do a variety of things such as delete images, boxes of texts, resize or change fonts, and save as a PDF. You can even install a bookmarklet that allows you to simply click a button on your browser's task bar whenever you are on a site you want to print. You can save or print your final versions. And- you can even email your document if you wish.

TeachingHistory.org

I've been a big fan of  TeachingHistory.org for some time now. It's a great site with plenty of resources for your classroom and own general knowledge. FREE. How could I forget to mention that? They also email you a monthly newsletter which highlights key events for the month. But one really nice thing that TeachingHistory.org has is their FREE Historical Teaching Posters. Last year I obtained their poster for conducting historical research and this year they are offering a FREE poster on the Civil War. I urge you all to take a look at the site and sign-up.  
One last thing I'd like to mention is Richard Byrne and his Free Technology for Teachers Blog! Bookmark it if you haven't done so already and be sure to check out his post about the Historical Posters. Free Technology for Teachers is an AWESOME blog, filled with tons of resources and info. I love the idea of using the poster, the interactive poster and then having students create their own digital poster using Glogster! What a great a project!

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back! The 2011-2012 school year is off and running. An exciting yet very busy time for any and all of us involved. I've got lots of information to share with you this year, so I hope that you will continue to follow my blog. So here we go the first post for this school year is.... (drum roll, please)......

 Remembering 9/11 this is a link to a blog maintained by World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh. They have complied a nice list of resources that can be used in your classroom to help teach about 9/11.  With this year marking the 10th anniversary you may find these resources helpful. In fact, on a side note, it just hit me the other day that those students who are now Seniors in high school were just in first grade back in 2001!  

If you get a chance you may also want to check out "Nick News With Linda Ellerbee Reports on 9/11 for Kids Too Young to Remember, in "What Happened?: The Story of September 11, 2001," Although this aired already, you may be able to catch a rerun. Geared for younger students, but definitely worth taking a look at. 

Enjoy!

Teacher Appreciation

In honor of it being the end of the year, I thought I'd post something inpsirational for you. 
Check out "You Have Made A Difference" by Brian Asselin & Eric Disero.

Free Critter Kit

Although it's the end of the school year, I thought this might be of interest for you for next year.  PETCO is offering a Carefresh Lesson in a Box to teachers. The best part is it is FREE! The kit includes lesson plans, money-saving coupons for students and teachers, student lesson pads and a DVD among some other things. If you have a classroom pet or are thinking of getting one this would be a good way to introduce it.  There is a limit of one box per teacher, per year.

National Jukebox

I've been obsessed lately with finding good tools that can be easily incorporated into the classroom. Specifically into the Social Studies classroom and I'm excited to share this resource. It recently just came out, but it's awesome! Well in my opinion anyways, probably that history geek coming out again :-)  Anyways, here it is. The National Jukebox from the Library of Congress is a collection of historical recordings that is available FREE of charge.  You can check out featured artists, playlists and genres. Currently the Jukebox only includes recordings from 1901-1925 but they are working on adding more regularly. You can also create your own playlist. What better way to expose students to time period music. Check out some good ol' Ragtime featuring Duke Ellington or some classic George Gershwin. Bring the sounds of the classic record into your classroom.

Spring Break :-)

Spring Break is just hours away. So I thought what better way to prepare you for break then to provide you with a sun safety quiz. If you are headed south, which much of the North Country is,take the time to test your sun knowledge on this short ten question quiz.  It looks like those of us staying behind will at least be getting a little warm weather next week. So enjoy your break and have fun in the sun!

Decorah Eagles

Some of you have been asking for the link to watch the live webcam of the pair of bald eagles that are tending their nest. Here's the link, directly from Ustream to go and watch. So far two of the chicks have hatched and the third one is expected to hatch very soon. The eagles are in Decorah, Iowa, at a fish hatchery, about 80 feet up in a tree.  This live webcam is part of the Raptor Resource Project.


Live Video streaming by Ustream

State of the Union

Last night the President of the United States delivered the annual State of the Union Address. If you missed it, you can find it on YouTube and the entire Address is available. Also on the White House website, you can find the text of President Obama's speech. 

I encourage you to take a look and either view or review the remarks from our President concerning the State of the Union. Compared to State of the Union Address' of the past, I found last nights Address to be uplifting and motivational. Maybe it's because much of what was addressed concerns me more than it ever has before. 

Either way, take a look.