Lesson 1 Cover Page: Noah's Ark
Lesson 1: Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark Graphic Organizer
Lesson 2 Cover Page: Rhyming
Lesson 2: Rhyming
Lesson 3 Cover Page: Apples
Lesson 3: Apples Comprehension/Vocabulary
Lesson 4 Cover Page: Creative Writing (Penpals)
Lesson 4: Creative Writing (Penpals)
Lessons Proposal
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
In Class Portfolio
Portfolio Proposal
Bio-Poem
Graphic Organizer (In-class sample)
Lesson One Cover Page
In Class Lesson Plan
Rubric
Student Activities:
Teacher's Model: Graphic Organizer: All About Me
Teacher's Model: Audio Storybook: Little Bird Tales
Bio-Poem
Graphic Organizer (In-class sample)
Lesson One Cover Page
In Class Lesson Plan
Rubric
Student Activities:
Teacher's Model: Graphic Organizer: All About Me
Teacher's Model: Audio Storybook: Little Bird Tales
Great Websites for Teachers
Great Websites for Educators
1. American Sign Language
Website: aslpro.com
Category: Video Dictionary
Audience: Teachers, Students
Grade Level: All
Subject: Sign Language
A free online dictionary featuring more than 7,000 ASL Signs. All signs are demonstrated by a person via quick video clip.
Website: discoveryeducation.com/teachers
Category: Resource
Audience: Teachers
Grade Level: K-12
Subject: Science, Social Studies, Math, English
Offers interactive digital textbooks & videos for students, as well as lesson plans and professional development for teachers. Many lesson plans are free, but not all services on the site are.
3. Florida Center for Reading Research
Website: www.fcrr.org
Category: Resource
Audience: Teachers
Grade Level: K-5
Subject: Reading
FCRR conducts research on everything related to reading. The site provides hundreds of free, printable instructional materials for teachers in the areas of phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
4. The U.S. Government's Official Web Portal for Kids
Website: kids.gov
Category: Interactive Resource
Audience: Students, Teachers, Parents
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
The website's mission: "To provide a safe place online where kids can create, play, and learn". Website is set up with separate areas for students in grades K-5, grades 6-8, and Teachers/Parents. This site features interactive activities, articles, videos on all subjects. Free.
5. Library of Congress for Teachers
Website: www.loc.gov/teachers
Category: Resource
Audience: Teachers
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
Offers classroom materials & professional development to help teacher plan lessons using the library's digital collections. Free.
6. Little Bird Tales
Website: littlebirdtales.com
Audience: Students, Parents, Teachers
Grade Level: Elementary
Subject: Creative Writing
This website is great to teach creative writing using technology. Students can make their own audio storybook in minutes. Students can draw, paint, or insert images. They can also record their voice on each page. The site is free and contains no ads! A refreshingly simple site!
7. PBS Online
Website: pbskidsplay.org
Category: Interactive
Audience: Students, Teachers, Parents
Grade Level: PreK-1 (Ages 3-6)
Subject: Creativity, Healthy Development, Language, Literacy, Math, Science, & Social Studies.
This site offers 50 learning games for children ages 3-6. The activities feature PBS characters, and the activities adapt to the child's abilities. Parents and teachers can track the child's progress on a graph. Free trial.
8. Sesame Street Online
Website: sesamestreet.org
Category: Interactive
Audience: Children & Parents
Grade Level: Preschool
Subject: Letters, Numbers, Patterns, Matching, Shapes, & Themes (such as Animals, Spanish, Cultures, etc.)
This site features a large variety of interactive learning activities featuring Sesame Street characters. Colorful and attractive games. Free.
9. Starfall
Website: www.starfall.com
Category: Interactive
Audience: Teachers, students
Grade Level: PreK-2, ELL, SPED
Subject: Reading
Free, interactive website featuring games & activities for early readers. Also offers free printable materials. Research-based to incorporate the Big 5: phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
10. Teachers Count
Website: teacherscount.org
Category: Resource
Audience:Teachers
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
This site is a huge teacher resource. It offers information about professional development, grant-writing, etc. It also has a feature titled Best of the Web, featuring lists of websites with specific teaching themes, including ELL resources, museum websites, and environmental education. Free.
11. Teachers.Net
Website: teachers.net
Category: Resource
Audience: Teachers
Grade Level: All
Subject: All
A website full of resources, chat rooms, blogs, live events, & articles for teachers of all grade levels. Includes lesson plans submitted by teachers for all subjects/grades. Free.
Complex Texts Article
Q. Complex texts require single-tasking, an unbroken and unbothered focus. Digital activities foster multiitasking and constant interaction." Are these 2 approaches "caught" or "taught"?
A. After discussing this issue in small groups yesterday, I'd have to say that the answer is a bit of both. Some students, the academically-motivated ones, have probably "caught" how to read and understand complex material. But for the majority of students, I think they need more direct instruction and modeling. In today's digital world, there are so many distractions. The author states that "fast skimming is the way of the screen." The author suggests that students aren't prepared for college due to "lack of experience" in reading complex texts. If students lack experience, then we have to help close that gap. Yesterday, many of us agreed that it is not just a "school" issue. It is also a "home" issue. Parents should be reading at home...with children and without children. If a child sees their parents/teachers reading for pleasure, they may indeed see the value in it. Teachers can model as well. Teachers can get to know the students and choose text that is relative to their lives.Teachers can also be sure to carve out time during the day/period for the sole purpose of focusing on complex reading. And finally, teachers can integrate technology (blogs, videos, online research etc.) with the complex literature that they are using in class. I think this would help close the gap.
A. After discussing this issue in small groups yesterday, I'd have to say that the answer is a bit of both. Some students, the academically-motivated ones, have probably "caught" how to read and understand complex material. But for the majority of students, I think they need more direct instruction and modeling. In today's digital world, there are so many distractions. The author states that "fast skimming is the way of the screen." The author suggests that students aren't prepared for college due to "lack of experience" in reading complex texts. If students lack experience, then we have to help close that gap. Yesterday, many of us agreed that it is not just a "school" issue. It is also a "home" issue. Parents should be reading at home...with children and without children. If a child sees their parents/teachers reading for pleasure, they may indeed see the value in it. Teachers can model as well. Teachers can get to know the students and choose text that is relative to their lives.Teachers can also be sure to carve out time during the day/period for the sole purpose of focusing on complex reading. And finally, teachers can integrate technology (blogs, videos, online research etc.) with the complex literature that they are using in class. I think this would help close the gap.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Wikipedia
Q. Is Wikipedia a friend or foe to teachers?
A. I'd like to answer this from the standpoint of an elementary teacher only. For elementary school teachers, I believe that Wikipedia is more of a foe. Prior to this class, I didn't know how Wikipedia worked exactly. However, now that I understand how it works, I believe that---for teachers of children in the primary grades (K-3), it is a foe. As we discussed today in our small group, young children don't know how to discern what is true and accurate, and what is not. Young children rely on the teacher for accurate information....In the young grades, students think their teacher knows EVERYTHING! Do you recall having any students who thought you were so smart that you must know everything? It happens all the time in the early grades. I've had parents come into school laughing, telling me that their child doesn't know the answer to something, and they don't necessarily want their parents' answer---they want to check with ME, they want confirmation from me, because I'm the teacher. While humorous, the illustration just goes to show that children are vulnerable and extremely trusting. I believe that if young students are looking online, they are going to believe what they see. Teachers can try to explain that Wikipedia isn't a super reliable source, but that would be confusing for the young children. The concept of some things being invalid is too abstract for young children. I think it is the teacher's job to be the children's filter. So....I think it would be best for teachers to use Wikipedia privately, and then relay the true information to the children.
A. I'd like to answer this from the standpoint of an elementary teacher only. For elementary school teachers, I believe that Wikipedia is more of a foe. Prior to this class, I didn't know how Wikipedia worked exactly. However, now that I understand how it works, I believe that---for teachers of children in the primary grades (K-3), it is a foe. As we discussed today in our small group, young children don't know how to discern what is true and accurate, and what is not. Young children rely on the teacher for accurate information....In the young grades, students think their teacher knows EVERYTHING! Do you recall having any students who thought you were so smart that you must know everything? It happens all the time in the early grades. I've had parents come into school laughing, telling me that their child doesn't know the answer to something, and they don't necessarily want their parents' answer---they want to check with ME, they want confirmation from me, because I'm the teacher. While humorous, the illustration just goes to show that children are vulnerable and extremely trusting. I believe that if young students are looking online, they are going to believe what they see. Teachers can try to explain that Wikipedia isn't a super reliable source, but that would be confusing for the young children. The concept of some things being invalid is too abstract for young children. I think it is the teacher's job to be the children's filter. So....I think it would be best for teachers to use Wikipedia privately, and then relay the true information to the children.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Thoughts about Technology
My experiences with technology:
There were so many technology advancements in the 1980's. It was the perfect decade to be a child! Mom was a school teacher, so she really wanted to give gifts that were beneficial for learning. Christmases were especially exciting! In 1983, my parents purchased a Texas Instruments Home Computer. It was neat because the keyboard connected right to the TV. There were so many learning games. Every now and then, my Dad would take us to the flea market and we would pick out a new game: We loved the chunky white & black cartridges. On the TI computer, my brother and I learned how to add, subtract, spell, read, master mazes, etc. We adored the TI home computer, and used it for many years! (Yes, it is still in my parents' attic: Thank you, Mom!)
In the early 1980's, my brother and I went to the arcade to play Nintendo. One Christmas circa 1985, he received a Nintendo Entertainment System. Wow! Super Mario Brothers was the newest game..and the graphics were AMAZING!! LOL. We played the Nintendo for many, many years. Looking back, we were very fortunate. I remember my family getting a Walkman, Cable television, an answering machine, microwave, and VCR. My parents worked really hard to be able to purchase those things. I even remember Dad carrying "half" the VCR in a shoulder bag to take home videos. The first camcorders were HUGE!
As a child, I loved the idea of exploring space, as many children do. But when the Challenger crashed in 1986, it was devastating. It was the first time I witnessed a tragedy. Sadly, I found out that technology could fail miserably..... 
Following the 1980's, I have a large brain GAP regarding technology experiences! I don't remember much about technology advancements when I was a teenager in the 1990's. We had a typewriter and word processor for school work. I did not know what the Internet was. Throughout most of high school, I remember completing research papers "the old fashioned way". I went to the library and looked up information in card catalogs and encyclopedias.
In my senior year of high school, I remember getting "dial-up" access to something new called the World Wide Web. It was an exciting new thing, but there wasn't a lot of information "out there" yet! I specifically remember having to do a 20 page research paper on a disease called Ebola. The internet was new. I remember trying to research information on the Web about the illness, and I found almost nothing! I had to go to the library, and look through the encyclopedias and talk to the librarian about Africa's outbreak. Back then, there was little information available on the subject. If I were to look up Ebola nowadays, I'd find thousands and thousands of articles and images, and probably videos too! How fast things change and evolve!
In college, I use email and internet frequently for research and recreation. I recently learned to do Power Point presentations. I'm getting there! LOL
Today, I am slowly learning to integrate technology into my world. Unfortunately, I do believe that children's brains are changing because of the quick-flashing data of the modern world. I see the changes in my kindergarten children who live and breathe on video games and flashing images. They can't slow down. No, I do not always embrace new technology, but I am slowly learning to adapt! Sometimes I miss the simplicity of the days before the "fast-foward" paced world. I have a fascination with Amish communities because I envy their simple life styles. I own an "outdated" cell phone that only calls and texts. I like to read books with paper pages. I have a separate computer, phone, and camera....and I like them each for their own purpose!
I know that I should keep an open mind about incorporating technology into my classroom. I am willing to learn new ways to integrate technology at school. I teach kindergarten, so I am looking for some simple ways to do this.
My son is 3 years old, and I am all too aware that I'll need to learn to keep up with him regarding this issue of technology---so I think I'll start by giving him my good ol' simple Speak & Spell. :) :)
I was born in 1979...the beginning of the home computer age! As a child of the 1980's, most of my technology memories are centered around toys. :)
My first encounter with technology (that I remember) occured when I was about 3 years old. I watched the movie E.T. at the drive-in theater, and the movie featured a Speak & Spell by Texas Instruments. I fell in love with the contraption that helped E.T. phone home--I thought it was magical!!! My parents bought me a Speak & Spell, and my love of reading, writing, and spelling began!
There were so many technology advancements in the 1980's. It was the perfect decade to be a child! Mom was a school teacher, so she really wanted to give gifts that were beneficial for learning. Christmases were especially exciting!My son is 3 years old, and I am all too aware that I'll need to learn to keep up with him regarding this issue of technology---so I think I'll start by giving him my good ol' simple Speak & Spell. :) :)
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