Category Archives: Curricu-Links

Jul13

#ISTE2015 Take-Away: Build Your Wild Self

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This week I’ve been reading many posts from educators who are reflecting on #ISTE2015 (or #notatISTE15.) Most are finally getting the chance to decompress as they try to process the massive amounts of information with which they were presented during those intense conference days.

As I participated in ISTE Live I gathered a plethora of articles, tools, strategies, videos, and other resources and added them to my ISTE2015 Symabaloo.  Like those other educators, I’ve begun revisiting those links and contemplating how this new knowledge will transform my instruction.  After all, that’s the whole point of ISTE right?  The big takeaways (at least for me) were the 4Cs (creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking,) global learning, equity of access, makerspaces, resilience, passion, and project based learning.  It’s not about a tool or gadget or website.  The whole point is to transform education through technology.

Screen Shot 2015-07-11 at 7.49.19 AM

Mrs. S- The Ho-condo-fro-ingo-monitor from http://www.buildyourwildself.com/

Sometimes though, these tools are just plain fun!  So I have to take a few lines to share this. At some point, someone shared a website called Build Your Wild Self.  Published by the New York Zoos and Aquarium this website allows you to generate an image that combines your physical attributes with the body parts of various wild animals.  You can then download the image, share the image, or download a pdf version that describes your special features.

For example, here’s me as The Ho-condo-fro-ingo-monitor.

“Red river hog ears-­ Your red river hog ears have long black and white tassels. They can fluff out as a defense mechanism to make you look bigger and intimidate predators.

Anaconda snake tongue- ­ Now you can smell with your tongue! Your forked anaconda tongue collects odor molecules from the air and brings them back to tiny grooves in the roof of your mouth, letting you “taste” the air.”

Giant tree frog arms, Chilean flamingo legs, Green Tree Monitor tail.  Then choose the perfect environment in which to release your wild self.  Awesome right?

The site isn’t without it’s glitches.  I found that as I was creating my wild self the preview image that I clicked on didn’t match what showed up on my wild self, but I was going to click on them all any way, so I could forgive this glitch.

I don’t know what it is about them, but I love tinkering on avatar creation websites.  Although this site doesn’t necessarily generate avatars as such, I defy you to visit this site and NOT end up revealing your wild self!

Jul13

Curricu-Links: Retweet Round-Up

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Here are some interesting links that I found on Twitter over the last several days.  I hope you find them interesting as well.  Thank you to those in the Twittersphere who took the time to share.

Here are the same links in OneTab.

Jul10

Curricu-Links: Retweet Round-Up

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Here are some interesting links that I found on Twitter over the last several days.  I hope you find them interesting as well.  Thank you to those in the Twittersphere who took the time to share.
Here’s the OneTab link to these resources.
Jul7

Curricu-links: Retweet Round-Up

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Here are some interesting links that I found on Twitter over the last several days.  Thank you to those in the Twittersphere who took the time to share. Screen Shot 2015-07-07 at 7.42.48 AMRight now this is just a hodgepodge of different topics, hopefully in the future I’ll have this a bit more organized.  You can also access these links through the QR code or my OneTab Link.

Aug26

Curricu-Links; 26 Aug 2013

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General Multi-Topic

The Biscotti Kid

  • Featured in this post from Ms. O reads books, this Sesame Street parody of the Karate Kid teaches children to listen with their whole body.  Although Sesame Street is a bit young for our students, I can still envision them enjoying this clip and reciting the mantra: “Eyes watch. Ears listen. Voice quiet. Body calm.” What do you think?  (It kept me entertained!)

Focus on Collaboration to Start the School Year

  • I’m a huge fan of collaborative project based learning.  This is a fantastic article about setting the tone for collaboration.  Read this early in the year!

25 Things Successful Educators do Differently

  • I’m not sure if you go through the same mental soul searching that I do at the beginning of each school year, but I thought this list might be of interest to those of you who do.  I’m always trying to find a way to better myself,  and improve the service I provide to the teachers and students whom I serve.  I know I won’t be all of these things all of the time, but it’s nice to have aspirations…

Language Arts

Undocumented Immigrant in Children’s Literature

  • I’m beginning to see more literature for children on this topic.  Here’s a nice blog post from Pragmatic Mom with suggestions for book on this immigrant families.

Children’s Literature Statues

  • This is a faculty field trip I’d love to take! What fun would it be to tour the country and visit as many of these statues as possible?

Math

Robert Lang The Math and Magic of Origami

  • Robert Lang can create some amazing origami works of art. What’s really cool is, he has actually used math to break down the process.  In this TEDTalk he demonstrates how this works.  Admittedly, the math is above my head, but for you math junkies out there, and your advanced students this could be something really interesting to explore.  You can also download his software, Treemaker, to help automate the process.  (Again, I downloaded it, but don’t quite get it! )

Mr. Collins Mathmatics Blog

  • In this post Mr. Collins lists his “goto” websites.  There are a plethora of interesting sites lessons and activities for a variety of age groups (leaning to the more advanced side for most.) FYI most of the sites are from the UK so you’ll see the word “maths” a lot.

Science

The Great Sunflower Project

  • Interestingly this website is more about pollination and bees than sunflowers. Users of the site can upload data and observations.  Includes teacher resources.

Social Studies

Visit Zoos and Animal Parks Through Google Street View

  • I confess that I am a google maps/google earth newbie.  I still prefer an actual map or atlas to a GPS.  This is really cool though!  Visit zoos around the world and virtually walk through them.

Art/Music

Sculptural Masterpieces Made from Old Books

Lessons Plans fro Arts integration in All Subjects

Information Literacy/Technology

10 Ed Tech Podcasts You Can’t Miss

  • Looking for some professional development for your commute?  Try one of these podcasts.

Digital Citizenship Flashcards

5 Resources to Help Students Become A+Digital Citizens

  • Both of the above links are from A Platform For Good.org.  In this day and age, digital citizenship should be a focus in every classroom.  I hope to use some of these resources as I plan instruction this year.

Poll Everywhere

  • Create polls on the fly and receive real-time feed back through text messaging or a custom URL.  “Take the Tour” for a quick overview. Great for those EHUE teachers who don’t have Acti-voters.

Creating Infographics Using Picktochart

  • This will help you understand what an infographic is as well as help you create one from scratch.

40 Way to Innovate Teaching Using GlogsterEDU

  • At EHUE we have a GlogsterEDU account.  Glogster is an online presentation tool that allows you to create interactive multimedia posters.  Here are some ideas for how to use GlogsterEDU in your class.

Aurasma

  • This is an amazing app that allows creates an augmented reality version of a still picture.  I think it’s like a cooler version of a QR code.  I predict it will be the next big thing.  Check out this blog post about using Aurasma in the music classroom.  I think it would be interesting to use this with the children’s literature statues in the link above.

Sources for my sources: Richard Byrne (@richardbyrne), Erin Klein (@KleinErin), Joy H.

Aug12

Curricu-Links: 12 August 2013

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General/Multi-topic

I’m sure that I’ve shared this before, but this website includes lessons and resources on a wide variety of topics. The newer lessons seem to be more substantial.  Searchable by subject, standard, and grade level.

Free online educational games with a focus on math and reading.

Language Arts

A blog post from Unleashing Readers which explains how Kellee reviews genre/format at the beginning of each year.

A short video posted on Watch-Connect-Read.  We should create one of these with our own EHUE teachers!

Science/Health

Blog post from Edutopia with ideas about integrating arts, writing and science to learn about ocean life.

I found this as I was exploring the Smithsonian website above.  This seems like a fun game that your students can play to learn about food chains.

Having just finished No Monkeys, No Chocolate (see review here) this article caught my attention.  It’s about how cocoa plants in Ghana are becoming susceptible to diseases because of ants.  The language will be above the heads of our students, but I thought that this might be another interesting tie-in to ecology, especially if you were using the aforementioned book.

Free online videos related to science.  Some of these may be a bit over the heads of our students, but overall, a good source.

Information Literacy/Technology

Blog post from Free Technology for Teachers.  I figured this would be useful for EHUE teachers because so many of us rely on Google calendars.

A fantastic blog post about a pledge, originally posted on SafetyWeb.com, in which a parent acknowledges that technology and social media are a part of our children’s culture.  What’s interesting to me is that this blog post was written in 2010, nearly three years ago! The influence of social media has grown exponentially since then and yet we still are hesitant to allow many of these skills to be taught in schools.

This inspiring video discusses coding as an essential skill that should be taught to all students.  Just watching the video made me want to learn more about coding and how to teach it to our students.  (Plus I really, really want to work in an office like theirs.) Visit code.org to learn more.

Sources of my sources: Richard Byrne(@richardbyrne); #tlelem, Joyce Valenza (@joycevalenza)

Aug6

Curricu-Links: 6 August 2013

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General/Multi-Topic

Genius Hour

Genius hour is a block of time set aside to allow students to autonomously work on projects for which they have  passion.  Wouldn’t it be nice if this could be worked into our schedule somewhere?

Sashimi Tabernacle Choir

WARNING: NO REAL EDUCATIONAL VALUE HERE! (unless you count making a creative idea into reality.)  I was looking for information on Makerspaces and I came across this (in the middle of a TEDtalk if you can image.) Honestly… it is creative and it makes me smile so I thought I’d share…

Language Arts

The Ultimate Backseat Bookshelf

Need to recommend a great read, but stuck for a title? Check out this post of the 100 must-reads for 9-14 year olds.  How many have you read?

Picture Books as an Art Form

From the Eric Carle Museum. Provides a framework for using picture books, not just for entertainment, but to promote discussion.

Social Studies

Back  in the Day: Lessons form Colonial Classrooms

An Education World article with many resources for teaching about colonial classrooms.  Inculdes suggestions for hands-on activities and resources.

iCivics.org

Great lessons and interactive games related to civics.  The lessons contain everything you need for lessons on citizenship, branches of government, the constitution, and others.  Check out the teacher page or just play a game!  If you register, the points you earn from playing games can go toward making an impact on the world.

TeachingHistory.org

This site, published by the National History Education Clearinghouse, was featured in a blog post on Free Technology for Teachers about “Why Hoistorical Thinking Matters” Features teaching materials, history content and best practices.

Science/Health

79 Animal Adventures in Honor of Shark Week

Blog post by Common Sense Media.  Includes apps, movies games, and more.

Information Literacy/Technology

SoundBible

Free sound effects with licensing information clearly marked for each file.

August AASL Hotlinks

I receive these monthly via email with my membership in AASL, but many of the articles are applicable to all educators. Includes a lot of information on curriculum, assessment, STEM etc.

Wikipedia as an authentic Learning Space

Professional development opportunity provided by EasyBib. Hurry!  The meeting is tomorrow August 7, at 3:00 EDT.

PicMonkey Collage

This blog post from Free Technology for Teachers discusses creative ways to use this new tool effectively.  PicMonkey is free and no login is required.

Sources of my sources: Susan L. Panter (@SLPanter), Joyce Valenza (@Joycevalenza), Robin Bryce (@busybryces), Emily Gover (@Emily_EasyBib)

Aug4

Curricu-Links: 4 August 2013

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General/Multi-Topic

  • DENapalooza Stops in Pittsburgh
    • The Discovery Education Network is offering a free professional development on Saturday, September 21, 2013 from 9-4 at Montour High School.  Session include topics such as digital storytelling, project-based learning and personal learning networks.  The tour will visit other cities as well.

Language Arts

Science/Health

Social Studies

  • A Short Explanation of the European Union
    • I know that many of our 6th grade teachers do projects on the Countries of the World. This blog post contains two short videos, one explaining the European Union and one explaining the United Kingdom.  I’m always confused by these countries, and now I know that’s with good reason.
  • Daily Flag Status
    • I noticed that some of the American flags in the area were at half staff yesterday but had no idea why.  Then I found this website.
  • Half Staff American Flag Notifications
    • The site also shows the status of the flag.  You can subscribe to email updates and even embed a widget.

Art

Information Literacy/Technology

Sources of my sources: Mr Schu (@mrschureads), Tom Murray (@thomascmurray), Edutopia (@edutopia), Gwyneth Jones (@GwynethJones), Nancy Hniedziejko (@NancyTeaches)

Jul31

Curricu-Links: 31 July 2013

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General/Multi-Topic

  • RSA Animate- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
    • This short animation provides an overview of research about motivation by Daniel Pink in his book of the same title.  If this research is correct what are the implications for education, for both teachers and students?
  • Coursera
    • “Take the world’s best online courses for free”
  • Helping Girls Unlock Their Leadership Potential
    • A great article from Edutopia.  Includes a trailer for the movie Miss Representation, a film from 2011 which explores how the media (mis)represents women.
  • Nothing to Prove
    • Speaking of girl videos… This is so awesome! I actually got choked up watching it.  If you are a girl, have girls, or know a girl you should watch it.  (One word may be inappropriate for some audiences…)

History/Social Studies

  • Primary Source Nexus
    • A wonderful, searchable clearinghouse for primary sources.  Includes a “Today in History” feature and lessons.

Language Arts:

Tech/Information Literacy

  • Readability
    • I use this browser plug-in all the time! De-clutters the webpage you are reading so that it’s easier to read the important stuff.  This has been around for a while, but as my eyesight gets worse, and I’m reading more on my computer and electronic devices,  I find myself using it more and more.

Thanks to the following for pointing me to the resources above: @TeachThought, Mr. Schu (@MrSchuReads), Joyce Valenza (@joycevalenza)

Jul22

Curricu-Links: 22 July 2013

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General/Multi-Topic

  • The Teaching Channel.
    • A professional development website featuring videos on a variety of topics. Browse all videos or filter by grade level, curricular area or topic.
  • Library Centers
    • Although this blog posts specifically addresses libraries, I thought some of the ideas would be useful to our classroom teachers and others.
  • The Bully Project
    • This is the companion website to the movie Bully.  The creators hope to spark a grassroots effort to take a stand for the silent.  Sign up to pledge to take a stand against bullying.  Educator resources available. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but even the trailer is powerful.
  • Wonderopolis
    • A website that peaks your natural curiosity to lead the way to discovery and understanding.  Includes a “Wonder of the Day” page.

Language Arts

  • Daily Writing Tips
    • This is a blog which does exactly what it says, delivers a daily tip about grammar, vocabulary, etc.  You can get a free 10 day trial for the daily exercise (some of which are pretty tricky by the way) but you will need to pay to access the exercises after the trial is over.
  • Children’s Book a Day Almanac
    • Anita Silvey’s daily book reviews.  She also includes a side-bar with other events for the day.  EHUE will have the print version in the library next year.
  • The Watson’s Go to Birmingham Movie
    • Airing Sept. 20th, at 8:00pm on the Hallmark Channel.  Watch the preview here.

Science

  • A Rare Spectacular Total Eclipse of the Sun
    • Short Ted_Ed talk explaining the science behind the total eclipse of the sun.  I get a little choked up every time I hear about this.  Read Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass and then mark your calendar, for August 21, 2017.
  • Exploring the Universe
    • While you’re at it, check out some of these books about the universe.  Book reivews from School Library Journal.

Information Literacy/Tech

  • Celly
    • This website allows school communities to conduct private conversations through text or their website.  No cell numbers are collected.  As always, I’m a bit skeptical, and I’m not quite sure if we’re there yet, but Celly does seem promising.
  • Guest Speakers on Skype
    • Ideas and lessons for bringing the experts into your classroom.
  • How Coffeechug Uses Evernote
    • This blog post is the first in a series about using Evernote.  Evernote is a website (and app) that allows you to collects ideas and information, view you data across devices and share with others. This post specifically deals with using Evernote to create learning portfolios.
  • Twitter Tips and Tricks
    • If you’re a twitter newbie this presentation by James Allen and Christi Unker can help ease your fears.  I’m hoping to be able to offer some Twitter PD for EHUE during upcoming school year.
  • The Complete Guide to Twitter Lingo
    • If you’re going to start tweeting you might as well be up on the lingo, right?

I found many of these resources by reading posts from the following: Diane Ravitch’s Blog, @coolcatteacher, Ted_Ed, Free Technology For Teachers, School Library Journal, The View From Here, John Schu (@mrschureads), Joyce Valenza (@joycevalenza)