dextr's Xanga

Seasonal Scavenger Hunt

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:32:57 GMT

I'm playing around with video here, but it's a serious lesson idea.

If you can take your students out to look at the world, let them bring something to write on (or record observations with your cell phone). If a field trip or class walk is out of the question, send home an assignment sheet and let families get in on it.

How many signs of fall can your class find? Changes in the colors of leaves may be the most obvious, but there might also be acorns on the ground and squirrels gathering them, geese flying south for the winter, people starting to wear sweaters or jackets, apples and pumpkins in the market, or fog.

Find an email penpal in another part of the country and compare the signs you find.

Vote for Your Favorite School!

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:34:07 GMT

Vote for your favorite school! The prizes are useful, and there's no purchase, commitment, or op-up for you to deal with on the way.

Cell Phones in the Classroom

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:30:37 GMT

Teachers can tell when that kindergartener needs to be rushed into the bathroom, and we can also tell when that older student is texting under the table. There are some expressions you get to know.

But in many classrooms across the country, cell phones are no longer confiscated. Instead, they're being used for instruction.

Just a few ways you can use cell phones for teaching:

Discreetly communicate with students by texting them when it's their turn to come up for a writing conference or when their private conversations are getting out of hand.
Use texting any time to keep interruptions to a minimum. A quick text of "Help!" during quiet work time is a great way to get teacher attention without disturbing others.
Use Twitter on the Smart Board or with a projector to let all students in large classes get into class discussions. Shy students have an equal chance with bolder ones in this way, and even very lively discussions can be captured and examined calmly.
Encourage students with internet access via phone to look up data needed in the course of a class discussion or project. Today in class we got pictures of an old model of car mentioned in an essay we were reading. It enhanced comprehension in a practical, nondisruptive way -- several students found the pictures and shared them with classmates.
I also like to be able to ask students to check facts -- I want to encourage them in the habit of critical reading and listening, as well as increasing their research skills.
Use phones' capabilities as cameras and audio and video recorders to make multimedia classroom projects more practical.
Allow students to use phones as recorders or note-taking devices.

Some teachers may find this worrying. They associate cell phones with cheating, they worry about losing kids' attention, and they don't want to open classrooms to multiple sources of information. Some of these attitudes are worth getting over. Making sure that our teaching is accurate and engaging enough to compete, practicing cell phone courtesy and skills, and getting comfortable with the new technology are strategies for making cell phones practical for education.

Other teachers worry that kids without cell phones will be at a disadvantage, or that costs will be an issue either for families or for schools. This is rapidly becoming less of an issue as phone services change, but certainly must be addressed. Meetings with parents to make sure that kids understand the limitations of the family data plan should be part of school orientation, and no lessons should require parents to spring for cell phones for their kids.

Phones are cheaper than computers, though, from the school's point of view. Having a few extra cell phones on hand for general use may be practical.

In my classroom, students are welcome to bring and use phones if they care to. We all turn our phones to silent before class, and we take advantage of being hooked up. How does it work in your classroom?

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World Lesson Plans

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:17:43 GMT

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World is a terrific picture book and a fun read-aloud for preschool on up. Marjorie Priceman is the author and illustrator, and she has combined a witty story with bright, clever illustrations.

The book explains how to make an apple pie, beginning with a picture of a little girl with a shopping list of ingredients for apple pie. The store is closed. "In that case," Priceman continues, "go home and pack a suitcase." We follow our heroine to Italy for wheat, France for eggs, Sri Lanka for cinnamon, England for milk, Jamaica for sugar, and Vermont for apples -- and she picks up some ocean salt along the way.

The story ends with friends made on the international journey all sharing the pie at a big sunny table.

But this book is also full of teaching points. There are maps on the end papers and a matching game at the front for linking each ingredient to its point of origin. There is a recipe for apple pie at the end. And along the way there are excellent lessons to be learned.

Economics

The most obvious point to be made with this book is that goods travel around the world. Identify the sources of the ingredients for Priceman's apple pie, but also the sources of the items in your classroom. Put stickers on individual world maps (or magnet markers on your classroom map) to show all the places your goods come from. You can send sheets from a globe notepad home with students for them to add the places they find on "made in" labels at home.
Toward the end of the book there is a two-page spread showing the girl producing finished goods from raw materials. "Now all you have to do," it begins, "is mill the wheat into flour, grind the kurundu bark into cinnamon..." and so on. List the processes involved. Consider which of the goods come from the initial producer pretty much ready to use (eggs, for example), and which require a lot of processing before they can be used in an apple pie.
Which of the ingredients on the list could be produced locally? We have apples in Arkansas, and cows and chickens, but is it possible to grow cinnamon here? Discuss how differences in climate affect the goods and raw materials produced in different areas.
When goods are produced locally, there are advantages to buying them locally. The energy used to transport apples from Vermont to Arkansas is much greater than that needed to transport apples from an orchard in Washington county to a local farmer's market or grocery and then to your home. The freshness and quality of the goods may be better when they don't have to travel (notice Priceman's heroine's solution to this problem). More different varieties of fruits and vegetables can be grown for local consumption, instead of only the ones that ship well, and this can be beneficial for the environment and lessen the chances of crop failure and the need for pesticides. On the other hand, there are also advantages to being able to sell your goods all over the world. Arkansas exported 4.3 billion dollars worth of goods in 2006, and 5% of the state's income comes from exports. About 1/9 of our state's workers rely on exports for their jobs. Have older students research the pros and cons of this issue and present their findings in a persuasive paper or an oral report.
Find the producers and consumers in the book. Note that some characters are both consumers and producers.What a great chance to use your Venn diagrams!
Find all the workers in the pictures, and list all the work being done. Find all the places of work, including the many businesses and farms.

Geography

There is plenty of map work to be done in this story. Use the ideas above, or just have the kids draw a line on their maps to show the route the girl took.
Notice the different forms of transportation in the story. Boats, bicycle, bus, walking, cars, train, and airplane are among the means of travel. Have young students draw their favorite, and ask older students to research the suitability of each form of transport shown for its associated country. Enjoy the picture of the cow in a parachute while you're at it.
List the characteristics of the different countries shown in the pictures. Priceman has included different kinds of architecture, plants and animals, clothing, and languages to illustrate the countries. Have students draw a picture of their own town that uses all these characteristics to show location. The information in the book could also be used to make a chart -- have students research to fill in any blanks.

English

Most of the book is written in the imperative. List all the examples of imperative sentences, and compare them with the other verb forms in the book. Notice that the recipe in the back is also written in the imperative. Try rewriting some of the story without using the imperative. Try rewriting the recipe without the imperative. Encourage students to draw some conclusions about the use of the imperative.
List all the verbs in the book. Wow! There sure are a lot of different verbs! Once you've marveled over that for a little while, have students pull out their most recent piece of writing and rewrite it with more vivacious verbs. Have older students try rewriting a scene from the Priceman book with duller verbs and see what effect that has.
For an interesting writing assignment, have students choose another recipe and write out their directions including travel to gather all the ingredients. For the youngest classes, do this as a class project and make a big book. Older students can make their own books, and produce a class display.
The book is based on a list. Many of the suggestions in this post involve lists. Why not alphabetize, prioritize, or otherwise organize some of these lists? Choose an organizing principle that you wanted to work on anyway, or challenge the class to come up with new and interesting ways to organize the lists.

Priceman's book will be a fine addition to your autumn apple theme!

Wizard of Oz Lesson Plans

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:52:28 GMT

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is a classic of children's literature. In it, a young girl named Dorothy is carried by a cyclone to a magical land called Oz.

Her house lands on and kills the Wicked Witch, and a couple of good witches help her out, giving her the Wicked Witch's silver slippers (they were made red in the movie, since it was the first major color film and it seemed a waste not to take advantage of the color options) and sending her off to the Emerald City to see the Wizard.

Dorothy teams up with a lion, a tin man, and a scarecrow, all of whom have their own issues they hope the wizard can help them solve.

They have lots of adventures, and Dorothy does get home. In the movie, the whole thing turns out to have been a dream, or perhaps an out of body experience.

You can read the whole book online at Classic Reader.

There are lots of online resources for this story:

A drama-oriented lesson plan with comprehension questions.
Check out the Warner Brothers' site for an interactive timeline and music clips.
A great collection of ideas for Wizard of Oz activities.
Wizard of Oz ideas for homeschool or classroom.

Social Studies

Learn more about Kansas, where Dorothy's story begins.
Plan a class trip to the Wizard of Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas. It can be a pretend trip, of course -- it's still a great opportunity to work with maps.
There has long been a theory that The Wizard of Oz was designed to be a parable on populism, particularly referring to the arguments about the gold and silver standards. Read an essay or a post on the subject with older students for an interesting lesson on economics.
Those who see The Wizard of Oz as a political statement believe that Baum took his inspiration for Dorothy from Mary Lease. Challenge students to research this interesting woman.

Science

Weather is a great science connection for the Wizard of Oz. Use a Tornado Tube to create a tornado in a couple of 2-liter bottles. Add houses from a Monopoly game to get the effect Dorothy must have experienced when her house was carried away.
National Geographic has a tornado lesson plan.
The NISE has a detailed tornado lesson plan.
Parts of the body are another option, since the tin man needs a heart and the scarecrow needs a brain. Use an Anatomy Apron , or have students draw around themselves on kraft paper and add cut-out or drawn hearts, brains, and other internal organs appropriate to your grade level.

Art and Music

Look at 25 different styles of Wizard of Oz illustrations. Let students enjoy sorting them into groups, or discuss the styles and influences from the point of view of art history. Encourage students to make their own illustrations, too.
The paper dolls here are from a Dover book. Make a center with them by putting them into a shoebox and allowing students to play with them, recreating the story or making up new stories. They can als
o be used for acting out the story while listening to it (a good focus aid for kids who need some movement or tactile activity while listening), or for making dioramas.
The song "Over the Rainbow" from the movie version of The Wizard of Oz begins with an octave interval. That is, the word "Somewhere" has the same note for its two syllables, but an octave apart. This is a good time to study about octaves.
Older students might enjoy listening to parts of Wicked and The Wiz, two musical adaptations of the story. Bring out the Venn diagrams to compare the stories and the music. Google Books has excerpts from the novel Wicked, including photos from the Broadway production.

Design a Classroom Logo

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:38:42 GMT

Back to School calls for some community-building lesson plans as everyone meets the new people who'll share their space for the next nine months or so.

This year, bring art, technology, and consumer education together for a lesson plan on logos.

Logos are simple visual images that bring an organization instantly to mind. Have students collect logos from old magazines or online. Point out how recognizable many of them are. Some companies can be recognized just from a symbol, without even seeing the name.

Other logos consist just of the name.

This logo, from the National Endowment for the Arts, includes a slogan along with the name and an image.

Have students sort their logo collections, choose their favorites, or make poster boards displaying them.

To create your own classroom logo, begin by deciding what message you want to give about your classroom. As a class, brainstorm words you'd like to use to describe your class. Are you hardworking? Curious? Committed to excellence? Welcoming to all? Show it off!

Examine the collected logos to see how they use visual images to influence people's thoughts about the organizations they represent.

H&R Block uses a green block to symbolize their name.

Visual Cart uses a stylized shopping cart.

UPS, the United Parcel Service, used to use a picture of a package to remind people of what they do, but now they have a new logo that doesn't hint at their business. They are famous enough now not to need that, people don't tie their UPS packages with string any more, and the new logo looks more modern.

Having examined logos and determined what images might convey the message you want to get across for your class, have students create their own creative logos for the class. Use crayons and paper or your favorite graphics program.

This is a good time to bring in some points about design.

Simple designs are memorable.

The colors and shapes used for logos have different emotional effects. This logo for a symphony is elegant and sophisticated.

Sesame Street's logo is cute and fun.

They wouldn't be as effective if they traded.

Designer Ashley Cox of Sharp Hue, Inc. lists balance and repetition as important elements of logo design, as well as simplicity and good color choices.

"Our brains perceive images as a whole," she says, "and if there are missing pieces or gaps they will fill it in for us. Logos that utilize this fact have gaps and white space so it's more interesting to the viewer. If an image is straightforward and everything is given right away it won't be as visually appealing."

Consider all these factors, display the student logos, and vote for the class favorite.

Now you can use it on your bulletin boards, newsletters, and other class products.

Not ready for graphics programs but wanting to bring in some computer connections? Try an online logo generator for fun and a little mouse and menu practice.

Classroom Helper Plans

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:59:18 GMT

Choosing students as classroom helpers encourages responsibility, helps get students invested in classroom rules and upkeep, and allows students to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment that can lead to a lifetime of community service and admirable work ethic.

Done right, it can even reduce the teacher's workload a little bit. Done wrong, it increases it. Here are some things to consider:

Use a chart or bulletin board set to identify and applaud helpers. Many companies make these ready to use (this is a brand new one from CTP), and the colorful presentation can get students excited about their jobs.

This particular one, the "Handy Helpers" set, uses work as its theme, which can be nice for a Community Helpers or Responsibility theme, both great ways to begin the school year.

The Trend Painter Bear is another new one with a work motif.

If that doesn't fit with your theme, you can certainly find plenty of alternatives.

The Backpack Job set from Carson-Dellosa is simple and neutral. Their Mailbox set is another option that doesn't force any particular theme.

You can also use cutouts, which will easily coordinate with any theme you have in mind.

One of our local teachers hangs yarn from the ceiling and writes student names on cutouts to match her theme. Then she just moves a new cutout up to the top each week for each job. It's more trouble than the board-based solutions, but it's a help if you have limited wall space.

For older grades, or just for greater durability, consider a pocket chart.

Asking students at the time -- "Jordan, would you please help me hand out the papers today?" models courtesy for students and can provide a transition. Teachers who find themselves reminding students every day anyway (or worse, spending five minutes on the, "Now, who's my line leader today?" discussion) may find that this approach is simpler.

On the other hand, choosing a job for each student and keeping it for a full semester allows students to become good at their jobs and can simplify classroom routines. If you do this, have the outgoing Plant Monitor train the new one when the time comes to switch jobs.

Win an Eco-Adventure to Antarctica!

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:41:54 GMT

Get all the details at Terracurve.

Arkansas History Quizzes

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:54:44 GMT

You may feel that you have plenty of tests already, but sometimes a good quiz can be fun. Or give you a few minutes to observe your new students, breathe... So here are some you can print out and use in your classroom:

Here is a quiz on famous people from Arkansas. It has a description of each person, and a list of names to match. Print it out (cut and paste first to avoid distractions) and assign it as a research project, or save it for the end of your Arkansas history unit. Thanks to the Ozark Writers for this gem!
Here is a simple multiple-choice quiz from the Secretary of State's office. The answers are at the bottom of the page, so you might want to cut and paste this one, too.
Here is an Arkansas map quiz to cut and paste from Enchanted Learning. (You can also subscribe to this site and have ad-free printables. ) The quiz features a map of the state and short-answer questions appropriate for elementary level pups.
From the same source, an Arkansas flag quiz with a picture of the flag, a paragraph to read, and questions to answer.
The PDF file "Arkansas African American History Makers," has coloring pages with information about 20 Arkansans, and ends with a quiz.

Maybe you would rather have some interactive online quizzes for your computer center:

Here you will find an interactive geography wordsearch made up fo Arkansas place names.
Here is an online trivia quiz from the Arkansas Heritage people with tougher questions and a "try again" option -- a good way to learn new things.
Here is a little quiz on the state symbols -- just right for primary grades.
Here is a good one for upper elementary.
This online quiz about African-American history has some Arkansas connections.
Here is a quiz largely on the Civil War, again with Arkansas history connections.
Here is a collection of Arkansas trivia quizzes, with 10-15 random questions apiece.

Following Directions Lesson Plans

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:33:24 GMT

We don't expect every kid to have complete control of the alphabet in the first week. We don't think third graders will all walk in knowing their multiplications tables. And we know that not every Comp I student will be able to write a thesis statement by the end of the first week.

There's one skill, though, that everyone must be able to master in that first week, or we'll be tearing our hair out for the rest of the year.

I am of course speaking of following directions.

Harry Wang, in his excellent The First Days of School, suggests making the first lesson be about getting out, setting up, and putting away materials. He acknowledges that this doesn't have the glamor of leaping right into a science experiment or art project, but he rightly points out that it cuts down on the chaos for the rest of the term.

If materials aren't a big deal in your class, or you just can't face starting the school year with something that mundane, why not try one of the jazzier lessons here. They'll all result in student who can follow directions, and a smoother year all around.

Prepare the classic following directions trick quiz. This quiz needs to begin with the words, "Read all the directions before you begin." It ends with "12. Skip instructions 1-11. Write your name on the board and put your head on your desk." Numbers 1 to 11 give you your opportunity to show off that wicked sense of humor. Some teachers like to have humiliating instructions like "4. Hop up and down twice while sticking out your tongue," while others like to populate the quiz with challenging math and logic questions. Easy but pointless things like, "Draw a star in the top left hand corner with an orange crayon" will get students through the quiz fast enough that many will get tricked.
Have students make something. I like to have students make cute things from paper. This isn't the time to learn origami -- people with less visual-spatial skill will be needlessly intimidated. Instead, print out some cut and fold projects. One for each student, if you like, but this is also a good time to encourage collaboration by putting students in groups. Here are some online resources for paper creations at varying levels of difficulty:

Creaturekebabs has clever paper toys to make.
The Toymaker has lots of toys, easy and challenging, with a variety of themes.
100 Paper Toys has some astonishing project links, plus some easy ones. If you have someone on hand who can read Japanese, you'll have a distinct advantage with the more complex ones.
Tammy Yee's easy origami printables are good for younger kids.

Let one student be the "robot" and have the rest of the class instruct him or her in how to do some simple task. The main rule of this game is that the robot knows nothing ahead of time and therefore has to be told everything. So, for example, when the class explains how to hang a backpack up correctly, saying "Hang it up" won't work. The robot has to be told to grasp the strap between finger and thumb, lift the backpack to eye level... And so on, ad nauseum. Don't choose the helpful kids to be the robot, do give lots of kids a chance at it, and take the opportunity to get very clear on basic classroom procedures.

Here's to a smooth year!