Notebooking, Teaching, and Technology

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 them!

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 have also included anothe

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 add it to a science no

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.