Caroline LaMagna’s Blog

Tech Tools for Middle and High School English

Caroline LaMagna — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:29:32 +0000

Click below for a Hotlist of resources for Tech Tools you can use in your Middle or High School English classroom to support the Virginia standards of learning. Links for a cross-curricular project (with history) using many of these tools are included at the bottom of the page, including activities for analyzing primary source materials, examples for conducting interviews, writing newspaper articles, writing scripts, oral presentations (dramas and news broadcasts) - and, of course, all of the resources could be used as part of a multimedia project.

Middle and High School English Tech Tools

Tech Tools for Social Studies - 3rd - 5th Grades

Caroline LaMagna — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:23:49 +0000

Click here for a Hotlist of Tech Tools you can use in your 3rd - 5th grade classroom to support social studies standards of learning. Many of these resources can be used in other areas as well.

Tech Tools for Pre-K - 2nd Grade

Caroline LaMagna — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:22:39 +0000

Click here for a Hotlist of resources for tech tools you can use in your classroom to support social studies standards of learning. Many of these resources can be used in other areas as well.

Elementary Thanksgiving Writing Activities

Caroline LaMagna — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:48:30 +0000

Here are some Thanksgiving themed writing activities for K-5 students:

Kindergarten - this is a Word document tracer page. Students will trace the word “Thanksgiving” on the first line and then the second line just has the “Th” - they would have to try to write the rest of the word imitating the line above it. There are pictures at the bottom for them to color.

First Grade - this, too, is a tracer page. Students will trace “On Thanksgiving, my family” and then they will complete the sentence on their own. There is a blank space at the bottom for them to draw a picture.

2nd Grade - this one is a Power Point. It includes a writing assignment - a paragraph about their favorite Thanksgiving memory. Examples and a mini-lesson are included.

3rd Grade - this one is also a Power Point. It includes a writing assignment - an essay about their favorite Thanksgiving memory. Examples and a mini-lesson are included.

4th and 5th Grades - this is another Power Point. It has examples and a mini lesson for writing an essay about their favorite Thanksgiving memory.

Thanksgiving Resources

Caroline LaMagna — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:49:53 +0000

History.com has a terrific site on Thanksgiving here:

The History of Thanksgiving

The site includes information on the first Thanksgiving, the origins of the Thanksgiving Holiday, and fun facts about Thanksgiving.

Scholastic has a site about the first Thanksgiving here:

The First Thanksgiving

The site includes information about the voyage of the Mayflower, the Pilgrims’ daily life, and the Thanksgiving feast.

Plimouth.org has an awesome interactive site about the first Thanksgiving here:

You Are the Historian

On this site, students act as historians researching what really happened at the 1621 harvest celebration.

National Novel Writing Month

Caroline LaMagna — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:17:43 +0000

It’s not too late! November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) - the goal is to write a 50,000 word (175 page) novel by midnight November 30, 2009. Click below for more details:

National Novel Writing Month

Animoto for Education

Caroline LaMagna — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:04:10 +0000

Animoto is fast, fun, free, and absolutely fabulous!! When you apply for a teacher account (it took 2 days for my application to be processed) they will set you up with an account - to which you can add your students. If you create a gmail account, you can create sub email accounts for all of your kids (ex. youremail@gmail.com would become - for your kids - youremail+1@gmail.com, youremail+2@gmail.com, etc.) so they can create their own videos. The link for all the finished videos will then be emailed to your original gmail account. Cool. When I have more time for my students to work on a project, I actually prefer to use Photostory or Movie Maker, but when you don’t have a lot of time to devote to a video project, Animoto is definitely the way to go! Plus, it is so easy to use! You just upload your images and music (they have a library you can choose images and music from as well), put your images in order, add text, and a few clicks later, your movie is being processed.

Here is an example of an Animoto Video, so you can see what I am talking about:

Edgar Allan Poe