Notebooking, Teaching, and Technology

I saw this site being used in a class the other day and I wanted to see if there were other videos/songs that could be used. I saw a nice free Energy Song  that would be perfect for our 6th grade teachers who teach a lot of these concepts and I liked their game show Even/Odd video and Capitalization enough to send the link to our first and third grade teachers. The site is subscription based with a 14 day free trial. I wish you could test and buy individual songs as opposed to having a monthly subscription or buying an entire CD (when you only want one song). Most of the songs seem more middle/high school orientated. I wouldn't get a subscription if I was in the classroom (but I would certainly use the free songs if they applied!).

This was my attempt at make a "cell" phone. It didn't turn out too badly. It got a laugh out of a fifth grade class who saw it. I am going to be doing this activity with a fifth grade class soon and I'll post pictures of their finished product and let you know how it goes. I gave them some apps on the front page to decorate once they are finished the "cell" part of the activity (so earlier finishers have something to do). These could be easily glued on the right hand side of any notebook.

I had a second grade teacher ask me to help find a computer lab activity for her kids related to the states of matter. I came up with a lesson using Brain Pop Junior (free for South Carolina teachers through Discus) but I also found this Study Jams site through Scholastic . I watched the Solids, Liquids, and Gas one and that was pretty good. I really liked the song that went with it (although I wasn't a huge fan with how long it took to load). They also have a Water Cycle video as well (which sadly doesn't have a song :) I wish they had more videos but they only have two math ones (fractions and determine the missing operation).

I recently had an opportunity to visit a couple of elementary school in Charleston, SC. The schools were using iPads and we were there look at student use of the devices in the classroom. I visited a fourth grade class at Goodwin Elementary School and the teacher (Mrs. Feit) happened to mention a student self directed schedule on Friday and I became very interested in that (as opposed to the iPads...although that was pretty cool to :)  She let me take pictures of the forms she used (see above) and told me a little bit about how the process works. On Thursday students fill out their forms of how they want to spend their time on Friday (academically). The teacher has some non-negotiable for that day (Word Master Test, math block, reading block). All the other blocks are for children to fill out. They can finish work they are behind in, practice skills they are rusty in, etc. The forms get turned into the teacher to approve on Thursday. The student has to note the activity/ma...

I saw this on Pinterest and laughed out loud, after I was done I thought mmmm....this might make a good right hand notebook assignment. You could get a template of a cell phone and students would have to create a "cell" phone. It can be glued into the right hand side of your notebook. I showed it to a friend who teaches 5th grade (where cells are introduced in the standards) and she was all game to do this with her kids. I am in the process of trying to put together a template to use with her class and will post when I am done.

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...