"I Learn, You Learn, We Learn" Blog

 

According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, schools must move beyond a focus on basic competency in core subjects to promoting understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects. One of these themes is health literacy, which involves obtaining, interpreting and understanding basic health information and services, and using such information and services in ways that are health enhancing.

The sites linked below offer opportunities for integrating health literacy into your students’ daily activities. 

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Calories In, Calories Out
The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, an organization driving a multiyear effort to help reduce obesity—especially childhood obesity—by 2015, has launched Energy Balance 101, a new online curriculum jointly developed by Discovery Education, pediatric dieticians and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE).The curriculum includes lesson plans, resources and videos, aligned to state standards, for the K–2 and 3–5 grade bands. Promoting ways to help young people achieve a healthy weight through energy balance—calories in and calories out—the curriculum is now available at no cost to educators.

Visitors to the Web site can also enter the Healthy Playground Makeover Sweepstakes awarding more than $100,000 in prizes. The sweepstakes ends on December 1, 2010.

No Weigh!
Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight isn’t just about a “diet” or “program.” It’s part of an ongoing lifestyle that students can adopt now and stay with for years to come. A healthy lifestyle involves many choices—among them, choosing a balanced diet or eating plan. So how can students choose a healthful eating plan? Check out the Healthy Weight site sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Weighty Matters
The National Eating Disorders Association’s Parent and Educators Toolkits have information on a variety of issues surrounding eating disorders that are invaluable for parents and educators. Download the toolkits in book-form free of charge. The information and resources are accessible in English and Spanish.

NEDA’s Coach & Athletic Trainer Toolkit is a new resource for staff who work in gyms, school settings, outside athletic groups, dance studios and others who would like to know how to support athletes who may be affected by eating disorders. The toolkit includes frequently asked questions and common myths about eating disorders, strategies for assisting athletes and much more. Click on the Coach & Athletic Trainer Toolkit icon to download this resource for free.

 

DEstreaming, of course!   September is National Sewing Month.  Although a skill and hobby that has come and gone for some, as a Family & Consumer Science teacher, I’ve seen a growing  upward trend in the number of students who want to know how to sew. In a cultural diverse district such as I teach in, there are many children who not only know how to sew by the time they reach middle school, but who are interested in future careers where sewing  and design are a necessary skill.

The resources on DEstreaming help my students understand  the importance of sewing in our countries early history, how the sewing machine was  and important invention of the industrial revolution and careers that use the machine and skills that revolve around sewing and textiles. From events and articles , to videos, images and even a sound file; DEstreaming has sewing covered.

 And what about protecting that new kindle or iPad? Click here to see a video and get directions  on  how to create a  cover  for those new tech tools.

From the recent Power to Learn Newsletter:  

Dear Educators:

We are happy to present you with the opportunity to participate in two free programs, each designed to help make reading or math more fun with incentives,
care of Power to Learn and the NY Knicks and Rangers!

The 2010-2011 Knicks Read to Achieve @powertolearn.com Program,
for 3rd and 4th grade students, rewards your students’ reading efforts with Knicks and Power to Learn prizes like pens, folders and more.

For more information and to apply for participation, please visit www.powertolearn.com/reading_lounge/knicks_read_to_achieve/index.shtml.
The 2010-2011 NY Rangers Math MVPs @powertolearn.com Program,
for 5th and 6th grade students, provides 3 curriculum units that explore math concepts through hockey.  Incentive items include rulers, folders and more.

For more information about this program and to apply for participation, please visit www.powertolearn.com/rangers_math_MVP%27s/math_program/index.shtml.

Deadlines to apply and be considered for participation are as follows:

Knicks Read to Achieve @powertolearn.com:  October 1, 2010.
Two program orientations will be held at Madison Square Garden; Wednesday, October 13th and Tuesday, October 19th; those who attend the orientations will receive 2 tickets to that evening’s Knicks pre-season game!

NY Rangers Math MVPs:  September 30, 2010.
Classes that apply and are chosen to participate before September 16, 2010 will be eligible to attend one of 2 orientations which will be held at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, September 23 and Wednesday, September 29; those who attend the orientations will receive 2 tickets to that evening’s Rangers pre-season home game. Classes that apply and are chosen after the MSG orientations can participate in a phone orientation before the start of the program on October 19.

For further details about this year’s programs, you may choose the “Learn More” option at the above links.

Thank you and we hope to see yours among the classes participating in the coming school year!

Cordially,

Power to Learn

 

Discovery provides teachers, students and parents and the entire school community with all kinds of tools for a successful school year. From clip art  and homework help, to eating healthy and being safe; Discovery’s  Classroom Resources and Homework help make going back to school fun! Check out these free resources at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/index.html.

”Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com”
Cross posted from NY LC Blog

  

    From the exploration of weather tools to Clifford story book activities, Scholastic’s website of interactive white board acitivies has many lessons for your to use with your SMART board. Click here to visit  and get started with these fun activities!

 Website – http://teacher.scholastic.com/whiteboards/learninggames.htm

21st Century Theme – Global Awareness

Connecting Across Borders
The Teach Connect project is a global effort to pair teachers who have collaborative project ideas. Any member can create a group focused on a specific kind of interaction or can follow projects launched by teachers from a particular geographic area. See whether any of the proposed projects align with your curriculum, or create your own project and invite other educators to join in.

Bringing the World into Your Classroom
iEARN—the International Education and Resource Network—is currently the largest nonprofit organization pairing students and teachers across continents. It is built around a Collaboration Center that includes dozens of ongoing projects and offers professional development for teachers new to digital collaboration.

Communicating and Collaborating Globally
As described on its Web site, ePals is a “global community of collaborative learners, teachers and academic experts in 200 countries and territories.” It provides students, particularly those in elementary and middle school classrooms, safe connections to classes around the world.

Vital NY Teachers Domain  is a repository of public television resources. The resources include videos, audio, images, Flash interactives, documents, lesson plans and more.  The resources are aligned to the NY State Learning Standards and Core Curriculum.  You can organize the content within ”My Folders” and “My Groups”  and easily share with colleagues.

Click Here to register for some great resources from WMHT.

Art is such an important part of a child’s overall learning experience. I can’t imagine not having learned about color theory, design elements, perspective, or art appreciation. 

Here are the top 10 sites for creating digital art compiled by David Kapuler.

The photo is an example from the Live Brush website. Try some  of the sites and HAVE SOME FUN!

1.  Art Pad  – A great painting site that records a picture while it’s created to create a time lapse effect.
2.  Slimber – An excellent site for drawing & painting with some beautiful examples.
3.  Bomomo - A fun site where users can create unique pictures with different templates (ie, Pixie).
4.  Doink - A great site for creating animated art with a Web 2.0 flare.
5.  Odosketch - A wonderful site for creating beautiful sketches with colored pencils.
6.  Sketchpad - Create excellent paintings and drawings with this cool site. Many styles, effects and gradients for users to choose.
7.  Sumo Paint  – One of the most popular digital art creators on the web, very similar to Photoshop.
8.  Live Brush  – A wonderful free application that lets users create some beautiful designs. Includes a gallery of examples to view, too.
9.  Crayola Digi-Color  A very user friendly site for kids.
10.  Voice Draw – A unique site that lets users create art with their voice/sound.

Within the post before last I promised a photo of the Cinquain Quilt my class created during national literacy month. Students created a cinquain about a special person: family member, friend, etc.  We then cut them out and mounted them on decorative paper to create this paper quilt for this bulletin board.  I wish I saved some of the poetry they wrote about those people.

The bulletin board received many compliments. I did as well for incorporating literacy in my Family & Consumer Science classes.  My response? “Thank you. But what exactly do you think I teach in this class?”  I’m sure I don’t have to tell you their answers.

Did you know DEstreaming has many videos about poetry? There are 341 results when I search for “poetry” for grades 3-8.

I may not be very good at it, but I love to fish. I don’t get a chance to do it very often and it wasn’t something I did at all when I was a kid.  I did , however, take my own kids fishing and it was a blast. At 24 and 22, my kids still fish when they can.  My family did have a boat.  Some of my best memories as a kid were going to Mine Kill State Park and waterskiing on the reservoir with my family and friends.

Explore the Blue is an online initiative  by partners Discovery and Take Me Fishing to encourage students to get outside and enjoy water activities. The site they put together provides teachers with resources to share with their students about outdoor activities and the value of the various water bodies as clean and natural resources.  In addition the site provides online activities for students to learn about fish,  catch fish and fish hatcheries.  Here is an example of a fish I created, I call it a Blue Fin Bubble Trout!  See what you can come up with at http://exploretheblue.discoveryeducation.com/explore.cfm. 

Here are my kids enjoying the water and fishing.

 
I was never a big fan of poetry when I was in school probably because I never understood the poems the teacher picked out for our class to read and decipher. When it came to writing them, the best I could do was the old standard “Roses are red, violets are blue…..”.  It was painful! I would bet I’m not the only one.  Are any of you willing to admit the same?

Still, at this stage in my life, my first choice of something to read wouldn’t necessarily be poetry; however,  I’ve learned as a teacher some kids (more than I actually would think) enjoy various forms of poetry and  there are some good poetry sites out there for students and adults as well.

As a Family and Consumer Science Teacher, I’m always looking for ways to incorporate literacy within the realm of the curriculum I have to teach.  A few weeks ago I came across this site, POETS.org.  I learned it was National Poetry Month and started my quest to incorporate some fun poetry into my lessons.

My seventh grade students have recently finished a  Special Person Cinquain Quilt. This was part of a lesson in interpersonal relationships and an introductory lesson on quilts and community service. This particular quilt is made of paper and each quilt block has a Cinquain Poem on it created by students about special people in their lives. The quilt will be displayed on a bulletin board (a picture will be posted later).

POETS.org is a site containing poems for just about everyone. You can find poetry events to an iPhone poetry App! Check it out at http://poets.org/. 

Of course DEstreaming has many resources to teach poetry and images such as this one for students to create poetry about.

 Here are some additional sites of poetry resources:

EETT Instant Poetry Forms – http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm

The Poetry Zone – http://poetryzone.woodshed.co.uk/index2.htm

Giggle Poetry – http://www.gigglepoetry.com/

Have Fun!

Earth Day falls on Thursday, April 22, 2010–and it’s the 40th Anniversary of the holiday. It’s a great time to learn about
our planet and how to take care of it!

DEstreaming and Waste Management have partnered to provide educators with and  an abundance of educational resources , including lesson plans and classroom materials suitable for a wide range of subjects and grade levels. You’ll also find teaching activities, video assets, worksheets, puzzles, and more.

 Visit http://thinkgreen.discoveryeducation.com/ for resources galore for your classroom!

America – The Story of Us

On April 25th the History Channel is premiering a twelve hour mini-series title America, The Story of US. History Channel is offering schools the opportunity to get a free copy of the series on DVD. To get the DVD your school’s principal must submit a request through the History website. The DVD’s will be shipped in August, just in time for the new school year. Learn more about the series and watch a preview here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After you order the DVD, you can preview some of the topics by searching DEstreaming for many videos for your classes.

21st Century Information, Media and Technology Skills

According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, ICT literacy is a skill that students need to master in order to succeed in work and life in the 21st century. ICT literacy involves using technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information. It also involves using digital technologies, communication/networking tools and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information to successfully function in a knowledge economy.

Here are more games for developing your students’ ICT literacy. All of the games are accessible in English and Spanish. 

Get Wise to the Spyware Guise
Don’t let spyware sneak onto your computer to give others a chance a peak at the information you enter online. Get wise to the spyware guise by taking this online quiz.

Spam Scam Slam
Three rounds. Three strikes. If your students can make it through this game, it’s clear they’re on to spam scams and not likely to get slammed by the next one.

Stop Him in His Tracks
A techie spy and his cunning crew are out to get your students’ personal information. Can your students stop them cold? Invite them to play this game and prove they’re ready to protect themselves online.

Start the Bidding!
Your students are the next contestants on Auction Action, the game that puts their online auction know-how to the test. Start the bidding!

Avoid the Bait!
Your students can earn their spot on the Friend Finder All-Start List by showing they’re savvy when it comes to making friends online. Can they avoid the phish bait in this game? These helpful resources are taken from The Big Deal Book for Educators.

CDW-G and Discovery, Hall Davidson and Steve Dembo; team up to help you make sense of the web, computers, and all it has to offer you and your students.   Conquer your fears and learn just as much as your students by utilizing Hall and Steve’s lesson plans, activities, links and resources, and videos to help make Web 2.0 fit seamlessly into your classroom. There is even a 16 page PDF document for you to keep with you for reference at all times. Visit http://cdwg.discoveryeducation.com/web2.0/index.cfm and star it in your favorites. This is a resource you’ll use over and over.