Sarah Thompson and Gr. 5/6 Blog

Wow!  Another amazing virtual conference!!  My colleagues and I were thrilled to have been able to gather together and take part in this amazing day.  I was absolutely blown away by the free resources available for teachers, even without a subscription!  That is great!  I also am very glad that Dr. Moss did her presentation on implementing Discovery Ed Science.  With this presentation, I can show my administrators how valuable this additional resource is, and have it added to our Discovery Ed subscription.

Taken from the DEN Blog Network, these are links to the presentations:

• The Five E’s of Inquiry-Based Instruction: DEN SCIcon Keynote Patti Duncan(changingconnections.blogspot.com)
• Closing the DEN SCICon with Stormchaser Reed Timmer: Into the Storm ~ Following the Love of Science (changingconnections.blogspot.com)
• Top Ten Free Science Resources from Discovery Education: DEN SCIcon with Lance Rougeux(changingconnections.blogspot.com)
• The Student Experience: Engaging and Assessing Young Scientists: DEN SCIcon with Mike Bryant(changingconnections.blogspot.com)
• Real Students, Real Teachers, Real Results: Implementing Discovery Education Science: DEN SCIcon with Dr. Cindy Moss

I use Discovery Ed in my classroom many times a week!

For math classes, I’ve used the “multiplication rap” found in the songs.  My students love listening to it, even during lunch time!  They also have enjoyed a number of the math games.  During indoor recesses, they’ll ask to play them on the SmartBoard.

For computer classes, students log into their Student Center and complete assignments that I’ve set up for them.  They usually have at least 1 writing prompt assignment and 1 video/question assignment each week.  Students also have gathered images into their content folder and have used the photos in their Glogster assignments.

For language arts, we’ve used images/video from DEd. for PWIM, persuasive writing,  descriptive writing, narrative writing, personal writing, and expository writing.  In Guided reading, we’ve used ebooks and various audio clips.  We’ve also used the “day in history” information as a shared reading activity.

For social studies and science, we’ve watched many videos and have explored many of the virtual labs.

For art, students have viewed images of art work, and have listened to orchestral pieces, and instrument sound clips.

For Phys Ed, students have watched instructional videos on various skills that they are learning. (i.e. basketball drills)

I know that my students are gaining so much more additional information when we use DEd. in the classroom.  In every subject, DEd. allows me to supplement lessons and to use it to develop reviews.  They love it, I love it, and there’s still so much more we haven’t used!