Notebooking, Teaching, and Technology

Today is our last day of school and I am working with several classrooms to make the paper star in this video. You can make the star "techy" by having student take digital pictures of each stage and develop a "how to" set of instructions in Word. Have them use transition words for each step. To make it less "techy" but still have some academic value have students create a STAR acrostic to go with it. Enjoy your Christmas break!

Use your YouTube downloader to download The Polar Express online (this is the reading of the book by an actor from Storybook Online) ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3btRjhWunA&feature=plcp ). Develop age appropriate reading comprehension questions (Who were the main characters? List a character trait they possessed and give an example from the story/book that supports it. What was the story’s main conflict? How was the conflict solved? Summarize the story in 25 words. Etc…). FYI – I attached a list of Character Traits for Kids that I got for free from TeachersPayTeachers in the picture above. Upper grade levels can add the movie to Edmodo (free and protected social networking site for educators and their classes) and have students watch it on their own (in a center, computer lab, or at home for homework) and give them an assignment (also in Edmodo) where they have to answer questions about the story (if you Google “The Polar Express thematic unit” or “Pola...

On the eight day I sent out a Promethean flipchart to all the teachers in my school that featured a crackling fireplace. The idea was to play it on the board while reading some favorite holiday picture books. I can't find the original flipchart on Promthean Planet to share but low and behold YouTube has a TON of crackling fireplaces you can download and use. Here is one - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsD1zoI7NYo All you have to do is use a YouTube downloader and save to your videos and play while reading!

Day 7 - Social Studies Practice reading latitude and longitude lines and figure out what cities Santa will be visiting over the holidays. Watch this YouTube video about lines of latitude and longitude (download using a YouTube downloader).  Have students complete the latitude and longitude worksheet as practice from this website - Super Teacher Worksheets. Pull out the laptops and have students go to www.googlemaps.com and have them type in the latitude and longitude coordinates I have listed (1-15) on this worksheet.   They have to identify the location (famous places and monuments) where indicated. A couple of the places require that the students go to the street view and move around to find the monument. For example #12 will take the students pretty darn close to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. To get to the street view click on the “A” listed on the map as the location and then click on “street view” (see picture above). Location #6 (Big Ben) will ...

Day 6 The 12 Days of Christmas – Math Lesson Students listen to the 12 Days of Christmas - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF1xcKW2e-g (you can use the YouTube Downloader so you don’t have to stream it live). I am not going to lie...this is probably one of my least favorite Christmas songs (it goes on FOREVER) but I liked the math lesson. I've been booked to do this with a third grade class next week but instead of doing the tech integration below (with an Excel spreadsheet) we are going to be using calculators. The teacher and I think that introducing Excel to 3rd graders with this project would be a little difficult.  Printable lyrics can be found on the following site - http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/christmas/12-days-lyrics.htm Students figure out how many items are in the song using the lyrics sheet. Then they calculate the cost of all the items in the song. Lesson plan with forms can be found on the following site – http://www.nsa.gov/aca...

Day 5 Teach students how to summarize a holiday article using this GIST template (The Gist Template was modified and adapted from a lesson on the Read Write Think  website ). Students will select and read an online article from either of the following sources (you can link the sites on your webpage for easy access for the students): http://www.dogonews.com/search/Christmas (articles related to Christmas stories) or http://www.timeforkids.com/news-archive/all (mix of news stories some with holiday themes) They will fill out the GIST template after they have read it (may need to model it whole group before having students do it on their own). You can teach students how to use the “snap screen” feature so that they can view the article and the template side-by-side without having to toggle between screens to fill in the information (see picture below and 1 minute video above explaining how it works). Have students print or save their work for gr...

Today's tech tip is to try using www.spellingcity.com to post holiday spelling words. Spelling City is free (basic membership). Student's can look up your lists at home or at school and practice their spelling in a fun online environment with games and quizzes. This is a great center activity for ELA.

Most readers know that I have been working as a Technology Coach for the past couple of years. I still work with teachers who are notebooking but my focused has shifted work wise. This is more of a "tech" post then "notebooking" post so I apologize (but I hope you find it useful!) This month at work I decided to focus on the 12 Tech Days Before Christmas Break giving teachers 12 useable tech ideas that they could implement in the days leading up to the holiday break (or after). We get out December 20th so the twelve days started on December 5th for us. I am currently up to day three of my tips and thought I would share what I have passed on so far. DAY 1 Record a holiday readers theater podcast using Audacity (have children develop sound effects that go with the story). Here is a link for a free reader's theater download from TeachersPayTeachers “Goldilocks and the Christmas Elves”. Here is a link to another readers theater adapted from Dr.Seu...

I ran across this project through Pinterest and forwarded it to all my friends who teach (preK through 6th Grade). http://projectsbyjen.com/Projects/HCE2012/hce2012.html   It is a global Christmas Card Project that looks extremely well organized. The site includes videos from previous years projects, the standards the project address and comprehensive instructions. It can be done with a classroom teacher or even in conjunction with the art teacher. The theme this year is SNOWGLOBES (fun!). Jen (the project organizer) even includes a link to her pinterest page with snowglobe ideas. If I had a classroom group this year I would definitely do this with my students. Please note that registering for this project ends this TUESDAY (November 20th) so if you are interested you will need to sign up ASAP.

In one of my schools fourth graders are working with a local Audubon club to explore birds (as part of their Organisms and their Environment unit). This week they are working on dissecting owl pellets. I put together this short (6 minute) video about owl pellets for the children to watch prior to the activity so they would have some frame of reference going into it. Basically I found several YouTube videos and downloaded them. I put them together using Windows Movie Maker Live into one longer video for the kids. In conjunction with watching the video students will also work on a virtual owl pellet dissection on this site -  http://www.kidwings.com/owlpellets/flash/v4/index.htm . This will all take place the day before the actual owl pellet activity. I am curious to see how the video and virtual experience will compare to the actual owl pellet dissection (having never done it myself!). I'm going to ask students to compare the two and tell me if they felt that...

Looking to have a little fun with your students just before Halloween? Try taking a break from your regular science class (or you can even do this in your ELA block if you can't go "off task" in your science class) and introduce them to the wonderful world of bats. In ELA you can read the story Stellaluna or, if you want, show it on your Interactive White Board. The website Storyline Online has a member of the Screen Actor's Guild reading it aloud. You can actually download the video of it from YouTube with your YouTube Downloader (you can get the downloader from this site - CLICK HERE ). After the story have students write down some facts they learned about bats. Next show the video The Magic School Bus: Going Batty . The full episode can be found on YouTube and can be downloaded using the YouTube downloader. Please watch the entire video (22 minutes) before showing it to your class. I show Magic School Bus videos from Discovery Streamline Education so I ...

   Continuing on the topic of windmills I thought I would do a quick post of where you can buy a "fairly" inexpensive windmill kit. The kit featured here is from Pitsco Education  and has been used by Mrs. Parker's fourth grade class for several years (see bottom two pictures). She teaches in a STEM school so they have money, that alot of classroom teachers don't have, to puchase these kits. Last year I had the opportunity to help, as an extra pair of hands, in her classroom while the fourth graders put the kit together. I'm glad I had the opportunity. I normally don't do well with kits but Mrs. Parker and the kids made it look very doable. If I were to purchase these windmills I would probably buy the DVD that goes with it to help explain how the kit gets put together (an extra $25). I most likely would look for some kind of grant to offset the price. We have several in our district and I am hoping I am not too late to apply for th...

In a graduate class that I am taking about teaching physical science to children we have to present a lesson plan to our peers. Yesterday one of my classmates (thank you Marianne Blake!) presented a lesson on energy conversion. She shared the book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and the YouTube video I have embedded. She had also presented another video about William Kamkwamba fom Amazon (6 minutes long) - HERE . She teaches in school with a very high poverty rate and felt her kids would be able to relate to the true life story and tie into what they are learning about energy transformation. The story is very touching and both videos and the book could easily be incorporated into a science lesson (or in an integrated ELA lesson) . I have another friend who has children build windmills with her fourth grade class and I'm going to be passing on these resources for her to use in preparation of that lesson (Mrs. Parker this is for you!). I ...

A friend showed this video in my graduate class the other day and I thought it was completely doable with a group of students as a project. The parts might have to be purchased through a grant though. I'm going to try and convince one of my fourth grade teachers to do this during her light, electricity and magnet unit. It actually fits our sixth grade standards the best but we can squeeze it into the fourth grade as well! I'll post pictures if we do it :)

I like the simplicity of this video. I would like to get my students to make a video like this!

    Today I had an awesome lesson with third graders in the computer lab. The idea came from a pintrest post (see the first picture). I thought that that would make a great integrated tech project in ELA where student's learn about nonfiction text features. I got one of my willing third grade teachers to let me try it with her group during her ELA block.   I created a template (see second picture) made up of text boxes. Initially I had made it like the first picture but found that third graders would take forever typing information in some of the text heavy boxes and so I deleted them.   They came to the computer lab with their science textbooks and I had them find examples of big and little text, highlight text, bullets, etc. I explained how these textbook features make information easy to find. I then had them create a document that had all these features. The idea was that would print it out and and add to their ELA binder (or you could even ad...

A teacher friend of mine passed on this site and I love it! There are lots of linked interactive sites in various subject areas that can be used by students at home, in the classroom, or in the computer lab. I use to like taking my students to the computer lab a couple of times during a unit to engage in science reviews via games and websites I had found. The children enjoyed the break and so did I :) Many of the students would play the games at home as well. I explored the science section and it has a lot of great student friendly sites. To visit the site click HERE.

This may seem a little on the young side but I thought it might be a good filler or morning work activity. Students have to complete the maze (I would make them label it as well) and then color. The activity is a free downloadable PDF from THIS SITE .

I saw this on line and while it is suppose to be used with Versatiles (can't say I am familiar with them) I thought the worksheet would make a pretty handy dandy Friday quiz. You could also use it whole group on the interactive white board (with student response systems if you have them) or add to the examples and make a Scoot review game . Here is the site that I found it on - Water Cycle Versatiles . The worksheet is a free PDF download.

I came across this free lesson plan on TeachersPayTeachers that I thought would be a fun way to integrate ELA into science (specifically a weather unit). Most of our fourth grade teachers are teaching weather in the first nine weeks so I plan to pass it on.   Here is the authors write up of the unit - These are 25 common English idioms that have a weather connection, along with their definitions. Students first study and discuss these with classmates and the teacher using the provided discussion guide. This is followed by a set of 25 context sentences where students must use the correct idiom to demonstrate mastery. Answers provided. At the end is a list if five extension activities to take your students further in the study of idioms. The lesson plan is easy to follow and not complicated. It is definitely something I would do in the classroom. 

I created a short, one class period activity, that can be used to give practice to students in reading tables and graphs (in the context of a weather unit). The lesson plan, activity sheet, and answer key can be found on my TeachersPayTeachers site FOR FREE :)

Using the same concept in the post below the professor had solar powered fans that he purchased from Radio Shack (see second picture packaging). One was taped at the equator and one was taped at the north pole. He took us outside and covered up the solar panels. He made a big deal of finding the most direct source of light from the sun and tilting the globe so that the equator was getting the most direct light. He released his hands from both locations and the fan at the equator was going full tilt but the one at the pole was going very slow (because it was getting less light). This was a great demonstration of how certain parts of the earth receive more or less of the suns energy at different times of the year (causing our seasons).

I have been taking a physical science class as part of my graduate studies and our professor showed us this neat experiement that demonstrates how angles affect energy (specifically energy from the sun in relation to seasons). Next to the two notecards with the thermometers he also has two metal plates that he painted black and put one on an angle using clay.

First off let me start by apologizing for such a long absence from this blog. Budget cuts hit my department this year and instead of working between two school I now have four. I underestimated how much work it was going to be to get all four schools up and running at the start of the year and I final have room to breath! This is a cute seating idea that I ran across in one of my new schools. She uses balls instead of chairs. I liked the idea so much that I thought it would make a great grant request. There is a lot of research supporting the use of balls to sit on from strengthing your core to help establish balance (plus it helps get the wiggles out). The teacher has a lot of rules and goes over ball procedures at the start of the school year. Anyone breaking the procedures gets a chair for the rest of the day. She says that most children want to sit on the balls so rule breaking is minimal. Students who break or bust their ball must replace it (parents are told this as well)....

I was admiring these student portaits outside a first grade classroom the other day and the teacher said that she has students create them within the first week of school. She says the pictures help her initally identify student skill level. She pointed out that the higher readers/thinkers tend to put a lot of detail in their pictures. In the examples above Estralla has eyelashes, lipstick, hair in pigtails and flowers on her shirt. In Janasia's picture, next to her, you can see details are sparse. In the second set of pictures you can see that Daryl has added teeth, full eyes, necklace, and hands to his picture where Keion doesn't have as much detail. She uses the pictures to help baseline her incoming students into appropriate groups until testing gets started. I thought this was an interesting way to help identify student needs at the beginning of the year. Who knew that a picture could tell so much about a child!

This is a short 3 minute video on how I've incorporated movement into a science classroom. Hopefully it will spark some ideas on how you can get your students moving in class to help them remember some concepts with movement. NOTE - When I show the Xylum/Phloem movement I forgot to add the the half jumping jack creates an X (which is what the word Xylum starts with to help students remember).

Day 2 Prior to class starting you should have your science textbook on each table (or make sure each child brings their copy of the textbook). Pass out notebooks . See if students can remember any of your rules (review). Show them the instruction booklet you glued in the day before. Have them turn to the instructions about title pages and have them make their first title page next to the page you glued the inquiry standards on. I make a sample title page on the Interative White Board (IWB) and we go through what could be drawn in each block (this is a nice classroom discussion and gives you an idea of what students already know about science). Block 1 is generally something about safety, block 2 is some kind of tool a scientist might use, block 3 is a graph of some kind, block 4 I have them draw the five senses (this is where I teach them the interactive definition of observation - see video above. This gets them up and moving. Students can copy what you drew on the IWB...

Here is what would be my rough plan for the first day in my science classroom: (DISCLAIMER - As many of my readers know I took an Instructional Technology Coach position last year and will be doing the same this coming year. Although my main job in the schools I serve....four this year....is to help teachers integrate technology into the classroom I still help out with teachers who want to implement notebooking in the classroom. Floating between four schools also gives me the opportunity to see great teaching ideas and share among schools and this blog!). Day 1 - This is usually collecting supplies, going over classrooom rules (everything from bathroom procedures to tucking in chairs - I usually act out the behaviors I don't want to see and the behaviors I do want to see...which usually cracks up the students). Show them where you keep things in the classroom (particularly the Plan of the Day). I have students practice a fire drill so they know where to go when they a...

I recently went to a training with a friend of mine who teaches fourth grade (all subjects). It was the kind of training where somethings were useful but then there were large pockets of time where we were doodling, writing our "to do" list, and generally not paying attention. During that time I put together a rough plan of how I would spend the first few weeks in science and the rough timing for the rest of the school year. I'm posting it in case readers might find it helpful during the planning phase of summer (I am trying to develop an entire unit plan for my Teachers Pay Teachers site but I'm not sure I can get it done quickly enough). The first weeks in science is dedicated to our inquiry standards. The general understanding is that our inquiry standards are introduced in those first few weeks and then many of the concepts are woven into our other standards (Weather, Organisms, etc.). The problem with our inquiry standards is that they can ...

I saw this in June/July 2012 issue of Family Fun Magazine and I thought was kind of fun. I definitely would have used it when my son was younger because somehow he could never get his dirty clothes into the hamper (all around it but never in it). I solved my problem by only washing the clothes that made it into the hamper and after a few washings he got the general drift. This poster would have been a lot more fun. The parent in question would tear off the bottom strips each time clothes were left on the floor. Each strip was worth extra TV time for her children. I thought this could be used in a classroom with the tear off strips on the bottom worth extra recess time (5 minutes for each tab left on Friday). It could be made to gauge classroom behavior for the day or (in my case) were all papers turned in with names on it (my pet peeve). It is possible to reverse it so instead of tearing off strips for the infraction you could add strips if the class was good (positive versus ne...

This is a short (4 minute) video of a lesson plan kit for scientific tools and their uses I put on the Teachers Pay Teachers site. The video gives a description of what you get in the packet and how to use it in your classroom. If you are interested hop on over to my TpT site at - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Notebooking-Scientific-Tools-and-Uses

I've had a lot of requests for the copy of the interactive notebook book guidelines that students get at the beginning of the year. This something I did not create. It was given to me when I first started notebooking. I have since tweaked it a bit and modified it so it could be printed in booklet form (which made it easier to glue to the front cover of the composition book). In the interest of "paying it forward" I am adding it to my Teachers Pay Teachers listing as a free download - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Notebooking-Student-Instructions . Enjoy!

I told a friend of mine that I was saving to purchase a Vitamix blender (my mother got me into drinking green smoothies on a recent trip home - unfortunately those blenders run $500!!!!). I am currently making them in my regular blender (so far so good) but I still would like to get a Vitamix. My friend suggested that I make templates for some of the things that I post on my blog and put them out on Teachers Pay Teachers. I thought I would give it a try. You are required to post your first item for free. The first item I posted was my PowerPoint of a completed student notebook (which I have had posted for free on this blog for the better part of two years). Here is the link if you are interested - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Notebooking-in-Science-PowerPoint The second item I posted was a cut and paste template for the paper pull out pictured above. I set the cost at $2.00 only because the seller gets about $0.30 on the dollar (after fees to both the TPT...

I visited my family this past week and took my neice (age 7) to Zion National Park in Utah to work on her Junior Ranger Badge. As part of the requirements she had to attend a ranger led program and we opted for the Amazing Animals talk about bears. I got a little nervous when Ranger Colton put the vocabulary words on the board (see first picture) but I thought he did a great job of explaining what each of them meant and getting input from the children. I also liked his graph representing the diet of the black bear - shading in 70% for plants, 20% for water creatures, and 10% for large game (see the board in the last picture). He had a bear skin and talked about the adaptations they had for being successful in their environment - claws, fur, and teeth that were both flat and pointed for grinding plants and chewing meat. The program was 45 minutes long and he had children go outside to participate in an activity where they became bla...

I have been exposed to "mind maps" before but I've never used them in the notebooks. I saw this pin on Pinterest (see first picture) which got me thinking about how they can be used in notebooks. Using my trusty craft supplies I created two mind maps in my practice notebook. The first had to do with the water cycle and the second I was thinking of  using it as an end of unit review. Here were some of my thoughts as I was creating them. 1. Student would need some serious modeling when introducing "mind maps". You can not just show them a sample and say "go". It probably would be best to do it as a group and then have students copy it into their notebook a couple of times so they get the general idea of how it works. 2. I think this would only appeal to the artistic children. I don't think it would damage the non-artistic children to go through the process of creating a mind map but when I was doing it I was thinking t...

At the request of some of my readers I have now added an email widget where you input your email and you get notified of updates to this blog via email (which is WAY easier then having to check back every so often to see if I posted anything :) Enjoy and sign up!