Notebooking, Teaching, and Technology

I've recently become addicted to the Cornell Ornithology Lab here at this SITE . The site features live streaming of two web cams set up - one watching a red-tailed hawk nest and one watching over a blue heron nest. Both nests have fairly recently hatched young that can be observed.  I took screen shots of both nests above. You can even ask questions online to volunteers who man the IM board. I showed them to a second grade class I was covering and I had them make inferences about the weather, habitat, and eating habits based on what they could observe (the red tail hawk usually has some dead mouse or bird in the nest which always makes a site much "cooler" in the eyes of the kids). Careful when watching...it is VERY addictive :)

Here is a short video of a project I had to do in an Earth Science class I am taking (I am going for my second master's degree in Elementary Science Education and will hopefully be done next spring). The project required that teachers put together a "Wonder Box" of Earth science items and design a lesson plan around the box. This reminded me of a project I had done with fourth graders during my student teaching in Social Studies. I had students work in groups and they had to design a museum box that held "artifacts" of specific Native American tribes. I put together a short 1 minute 30 second video that highlights how I made my "Wonder Box" (or museum box) and how it can be done in a Social Studies class and how the activity can be incorporated into a notebook assignment. This could also be used in science. Student's can create a biome box and have artifacts of what might be found in that biome and why. Student's can create an animal box ...

This was a cute moon phases booklet that a teacher shared with me. She made it at a training and we were looking for the easiest way it could be done with her 80 fourth grade students (once we work it out I will post!).

Our state testing is a week earlier this year leaving us with four full weeks to remain academically engaged after our state testing (or as one teacher pointed out this morning - only four more Mondays!) Some teachers teach mini units that they weren't able to get to during the year (I know one teacher is teaching a unit about Pirates...in the context of Social Studies and ELA...and another is doing a science mystery unit where students have to lift fingerprints, test ink...in the context of scientific inquiry) I personally liked to do four weeks of projects where children can work at their own pace (as long as at the end of the month they completed the projects). I did it while I was in the classroom and enjoyed the self paced atmosphere of the classroom and the fact that everyone knew what they had to do. I basically served as a facilitator and occasional "task master." I usually played my Kidz Bop CD's while they worked and on Friday I declared it "educa...

This is a fun video supporting our end of year testing that I helped make at both of the schools I go between (I would like to claim the idea but it came from our Literacy Coach a couple of years ago.) The music is "Do Your Best on the Test" by Marla Lewis. I took pictures of all the state testing grades and teachers and put the video together using Movie Maker Live.

I happen to be in the computer lab and saw our awesome media specialist teaching a third grade class how to read tables and charts (while at the same time introducing students to the website www.factmonster.com - a child friend research site). She had the children pull up First in US Cities  from the site and gave them a series of questions that could be answered by reading the table. It was a fun lesson and gave students some good practice reading tables and charts prior to their state testing. I went through the science section of the almanac and under weather there were several tables and charts from  wind chill to lightning deaths that could be used as part of a science classroom which would easily allow the integration of technology and math (especially if you have children compare the data).

This idea was complete stolen from Pinterest (you can click on the original idea - HERE ). We did it with the fifth grade prior to an inspection team coming into the school. Almost the entire fifth grade hallway was covered in these displays. It is quite eye popping when you step into the hall (probably because of the bright yellow background and 3D book covers). It could easily be adapted for a science class particularly if students are reading nonfiction books about a topic you are studying (animals, planets, etc.), Here are some thoughts about this project: - It used up a lot of ink. I had to get permission from the principal to print all the students heads (80 of them at 8 1/2 x 10). I don't think he would have so agreeable if hadn't been for the inspection team :) - I helped the teacher by taking all the pictures, printing, and cutting out. I worked with a parent volunteer after school to get the displays up. If you plan on doing on a larger scale it might be...