Try this opinion writing lesson with your second or third grade students to engage their brains and get them ready to write. A fun way to kick off an opinion writing unit!
Deja is starting 5th grade and what she learns about 9/11 changes her world. Engaging activities at ❰StoryboardThat❱ ✩ include Towers Falling summary, vocabulary, & more.
Celebrate Black History Month by studying the contributions of African-American jazz legend Charlie Parker!
School in the American colonies was an odd mix of teachers, locations, and opportunities. However it happened, the reality of colonial school may surprise you.
You'll not want to miss these points when teaching Fahrenheit 451. 451 is FIRE for teaching critical English skills while captiviating students of today.
Hi everyone! This is Jamie Parker. A week before school began this past year, I arrived in my classroom to find five iPads sitting on my desk. I was thrilled! BUT I had no idea how I was going to use them with my students. I wanted the iPads to be used in a meaningful way. I began digging for different tools where my students could prepare and practice different elements, could create something new, and could be assessed on known material. One app I found for assessment is Socrative. This app allows teachers to create their own questions and tracks all answers from individual students. I began exploring how I could use this app with my students: I. Getting Started My first step in getting started with Socrative was to create a teacher account (completely free!) on the website: www.socrative.com. Then, I downloaded the student app on each of my devices (also free). Once I was set up, I tried to think of ways I could create quizzes. I wanted my quizzes to directly reflect what the students were learning. I realized that I could not input musical notation into my question, but I could insert a picture (more on that below). II. Creating a Quiz The quizzes on Socrative allow for multiple choice or short answer questions. When you login as the teacher, you can create a quiz by clicking on “Manage Quizzes” and then “Create Quiz.” When I created some quizzes, I ran into a problem—I wanted to use musical notation, but the app didn’t allow me to. My solution was to create a picture for each question. I created the pictures using PowerPoint. Each question was one slide, and after I finished, I saved the slides as jpegs. The music notation font I used is the Music Ed Font, which you can purchase here. Here is an example of a syncopation quiz I gave to my fourth graders (thanks to Pitch Clips and Kelly Benefield for the papers and borders) : Question 1: Answer choices: a. Three even sounds over three beats b. Three sounds (short-long-short) over two beats (correct) c. Three sounds (short-long-short) over three beats d. Two sounds (long-short) over three beats e. Three sounds (long-short-long) over two beats Question 2: This is a short response question. The students typed their answer in a text box. Question 3: Answer choices: a. Alabama Gal b. Big Bunch of Roses c. Canoe Song (correct) d. ‘Liza Jane e. Weevily Wheat Question 4: Answer choices: a. 8 (correct) b. 6 c. 9 d. 4 e. 7 Question 5: This is a short response question. The students typed their answer in a text box. III. Managing the Class Since I only have 5 iPads, I had to think about how my class structure would work when using Socrative. I decided that the best use of my class time was to have rhythm centers. One of the centers would be an iPad station. Before the students started centers, they were given a few directions of how to use Socrative. When they got to the station, they needed to type my Room Code into the app. This is a code that gives students access to my quiz. I put the code on the board for the students to see. Initially, I thought this task might be difficult for some of my students. However, I found it to be quite easy for them. They are so used to logging in to different activities throughout their day! Next, the students needed to type their name into the app. Again, no problem. Then, the students had to complete the quiz. After they were finished, they needed to log out. The students all did a great job managing the actual app. The only issue that came up was that it took some students longer to answer the short answer questions. Their time at the station was over, but they weren’t finished with the quiz. I realized that I needed to lengthen the time at each center to make the iPad station work (I lengthened my station time to about 8 minutes). IV. Getting the Results After your students finish a quiz, there are many ways you can view their results. You can get an entire class excel download, an individual student PDF, or a question specific PDF. You can also have the file emailed to you, or you can do a direct download. If you’re looking to use the quiz as an assessment, the entire class excel download is a great choice. It shows correct/incorrect answers by student, and it gives all short answer responses. I’m sure there’s even more I can do with this app, and I’m so excited to try more! I’m also still digging for more useful apps for the music room. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them in the comments below.
Check out these teaching ideas including a novel study sample for the middle-grade student book Ghost Boys by Jewel Parker Rhodes.
These handouts provide information on auditory verbal therapy (AVT) strategies for parents of children with hearing loss. Providing these pages is an easy way to help parents learn specific ways to carry over listening and spoken language goals with their child at home. This tool includes handouts to help you support your students with cochlear implants and hearing aids outside of your speech therapy room. Not only can you provide parents and caregivers with this clear and concise information on AVT strategies, but teachers and other professionals can also benefit from ways to ensure generalization of listening and spoken language throughout the child's day. Here's what you'll get: 17 one-page handouts, each with information about a different auditory verbal therapy strategy. Each handout contains an overview of the technique, a more detailed explanation of how to use it, an example of using the strategy in a child's everyday life, and a place to write extra notes. A checklist of all the strategies is included, which is useful to have for each student or client, so you can keep track of which strategies you've shared with parents. Parents will appreciate that these handouts are written without jargon, so they can be easily understood, used, and kept for reference. The pages are black and white for easy printing. You'll be able to effectively collaborate with parents by teaching them how to use the following listening and spoken language strategies: Acoustic highlighting Auditory attention Auditory bombardment Auditory closure Auditory feedback loop Auditory first, Auditory Sandwich Check for Understanding Expectant Look Field of Choices Incidental Learning Language-rich environment Limiting Questions Parentese Positioning Sabotage Wait Time There is infinite value in coaching parents to be the primary facilitators of their child's listening and spoken language development. These handouts are one way to assist you in implementing home carryover for children with hearing loss. SLPs and teachers like you have said.... ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Ashley G says, "This has been an awesome resource for the families I work with who are working through the journey of their children being deaf and hard of hearing. Any information they can get their hands on that is good quality is appreciated." ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Ashely S. says, "This is one of my most used resources! I made multiple copies of each and parents have loved getting take home a reminder sheet after a session so they can practice the strategy all week!" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Caitlin M. says, "I use these handouts weekly for my families! They are easy for parents to understand and make for great carryover activities." ❤️BUNDLE & SAVE on these handouts in English and Spanish!
Literacy is for all students. As with most things we learn, emergent readers and writers need to be active participants with print across multiple settings and in multiple meaningful experiences. E…
In 2018, the Winter Olympics head to PyeongChang, a county in South Korea. The area is located in the Taebaek Mountains and is known for its world-class ski resorts, making it an ideal spot for the winter games. Read on […]
These free rhythm worksheets are fun and easy assessments to practice sixteenth notes. Included in this sample: -Dinah Fill-in-the-Form Worksheet: Students fill in the form for the song. Notation is also included for the song. -Old Brass Wagon Fill-in-the-Rhythm Level 1 Worksheet: Students will add in the rhythm of the song. Some of the rhythm is provided to help students who need it. Two options are provided: a version with beat boxes and a version with heartbeats. Notation is also included for the song. -Sixteenth Note Which One Do You Hear? Worksheet: Students will listen to a pattern tapped by the teacher and circle the correct rhythm performed. Three answer choices are provided. Like this freebie? Check these out: Worksheet Bundle: Sixteenth Notes All Things Rhythm: Sixteenth Notes Like me on Facebook for updates and Flash Freebies!
In the month of October, our science class worked on a project where the assignment was to create some sort of creative way to learn our cells unit. The rules were very open; all we needed was an effective and creative way of learning that incorporated the topics we covered in class about cells. For my project, I chose to create a board game. My board game, in the end, became very similar to my original plan (this was partly because my original plan was not very concrete). At first, our due date for the project had been a week earlier than in ended up being, and I was not ready at that time; I ended up taking longer than expected to finish my project; but once the due date was postponed, I was able to have a much better finished product. My board game is called “Cell Life” and has a format similar to Monopoly. For game pieces, I used cells (an eukaryotic animal cell, an eukaryotic plant cell, and a prokaryotic cell)... In the Eukaryotic Cells, beans and other miscellaneous objects are used to represent organelles On the board, there are different colored squares, when you land on a(n)... Orange Square- take a nutrient card. These cards each come with nutrient and sometimes also a quantity of that nutrient. These will have positive and/or negative effects: Green Square- If not a plant cell, do nothing. If you do happen to be a plant cell, you “perform photosynthesis”. To do this, you must take the reactants (CO2, H2O, and Light Energy) from the photosynthesis bucket and ‘make’ them into a glucose sugar (represented by fruit candy). You then take the candy and put it into the “Glucose Circle” where the sugar can be used by any of the organisms: Yellow Square (and when passing start)- When landing on a yellow square, you may “perform cell respiration”. To do this, a player may take a sugar from the Glucose Circle, and use oxygen to break it down into ATP energy. The sugar is then counted as an “ATP Point”. To win, you must have the most ATP Points by the time the glucose reactants run out (no more candies in the photosynthesis bucket). Also, when passing start, you may take two sugars from the glucose circles as ATP Points: Blue Square- When landing on a blue square, you have a “chance to divide”. To ‘divide’, roll the dice. If you get double sixes, you then divide. There is no physical characteristic shown in the game when dividing, however, you then must act as if you were two cells- you take double the effects of everything (i.e. if you have a nutrient card which asks you to go five extra spaces, go ten): The game also comes with a set of instructions: "Cell Life" is a board game which demonstrates the different topics in the cell unit we have studied in class and mimics real life. It is formatted similar to Monopoly. The game shows how we need plants to stay alive because in the game all players rely in the plant cell to win the game. The game demonstrates each cell's role in photosynthesis, cell respiration, and cell division. The cells use nutrients throughout the game which may have negative or positive effects. The goal of the game is to have as many "ATP points" as possible when the game is over (when the sugars run out)... Youtube video eplanation: Document Containing set of instructions with more detailed explanation: Click Here Throughout the project, I think I stayed on task and worked fairly efficiently, however I believe I should have planned better and more realistically (if not for the extra week, my project would not be 100% finished). I also feel that I could have tried to work in some of the topics in our cells unit a bit more smoothly than they are. Given that there were many other assignments and projects due in other classes at the simultaneously, I think I worked well but could have done some simple things that would help me manage my time better and have a better product. I think my project is very visual, but it began to fall apart after the second week at some parts (ex: plant cell). It includes most of the topics we were required to incorporate into our projects, but some of them were worked in roughly and weren't entirely relevant to the game. I feel my project is informative (if you read the instructions) and creative, but it may not make the information stick and doesn't usually require you to retain all the content taught in the game.
November 20, 2013 We have been learning all about "tempo" (the speed--fast or slow--of the beat) and "rhythm" in ...
This download includes activities and worksheets for the song, Apple Tree. Included: Notation of song Game for song Practice Ta Ti-Ti Worksheet Level 1 Practice Ta Ti-Ti Worksheet Level 2 Practice Do Worksheet Do Melodic Self-Assessment Your feedback is important! Please rate this product. Follow me for "Followers Only Freebies." Like me on Facebook for updates and Flash Freebies!
With the right examples of topic sentences, you can help your students discover that the paragraph writing process is anything but boring.
Check out these teaching ideas including a novel study sample for the middle-grade student book Ghost Boys by Jewel Parker Rhodes.
Featured Image Courtesy of Dan Bammes, Alissa Parker On December 14, 2012, Alissa and Robbie Parker lost their six-year-old daughter Emilie in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In a new book, Alissa shares her unforgettable journey to seek faith, hope, and healing. Below is an excerpt from An Unseen Angel: People tell me […]
This is a great lesson to have a discussion with your students on what they think RESPECT means to them and why it's important. ...
It is unavoidable that at some point, soon after you start driving, you will need to reverse into a parking space. At times you will find yourself in a tight position where the only options are to back into the spot or circle the...
Looking for ways on how to be organized for school? Read this to discover practical tips to help you manage your time more effectively using a school day launchpad.
Paraphrasing is a challenging skill, and teaching kids to paraphrase is just as challenging. Read Rachel Lynette's tips for teaching it in this blog post.
Peer pressure is a motivator for behavior changes. Help students develop refusal skills to stand up to peer pressure with scenarios & discussion activities.
By Barbara Gruener You’ve probably heard cries of, “That’s not fair!” a time or two in the recent past. Let’s face it: Life doesn’t always seem fair, especially to our young people. Once they adjus…
These middle school deans want you to know a few things about your kids—and a couple might just blow you away.
This blog post will share strategies to avoid plagiarism, along with advice on how to approach plagiarization in your students' writing.
Most schools have an in school suspension program, but how effective is it at changing behavior? This post identifies ways to make if more effective.
This Valiant movie study guide is an engaging way to introduce kids to WWII and how carrier pigeons helped the Allies win the war.
When I started teaching I NEVER, EVER, EVER wanted to leave the public school system. I was so passionate about teaching underprivileged students. Naive as
School in the American colonies was an odd mix of teachers, locations, and opportunities. However it happened, the reality of colonial school may surprise you.
finding strengths, what do you want to do when you grow up
You'll not want to miss these points when teaching Fahrenheit 451. 451 is FIRE for teaching critical English skills while captiviating students of today.
