POST #3: Share a resource

Since I am teaching PE in the high school I have been looking at ways I can get students to research different health/fitness information.  I realize the importance of having exercise be a part of their lives but I am trying to show them how they live is also important.  The Teen Health and Wellness tab is very interesting.  Nutrition, Fitness, & Appearance will be a place I can have the students sign onto and get information from specific questions I will assign during the semester.  Even though the student may not be interested it is always good for them to understand what is or could be happening.  Not only to themselves but also to a classmate.

http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/subject/12
http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/310/staying-fit

There is a variety of categories within the teen health and wellness section. Ranging from body image and appearance to fitness for the mind and body.  It has articles that give information on dieting and weight management, eating disorders, food and nutrition, and healthy habits.

I would assign items like steroid use, athletes and eating disorders toward the juniors and seniors students, with other assignments dealing with growth problems and negative body image to the freshman and sophomore students.

I can have the students report on specific questions and turn into me.  This way the student may find some interesting information and may get some answers for themselves about personal concerns.  While the student is researching the question they may see some other interesting information and then explore that on their own.

In my third grade classroom,  I teach the novel Charlotte's Web to a small group or above-grade level students.  In reviewing the AEA online sources, I've decided I would use both Teachingbooks.net and also Trueflix.  To begin,  I would use the Charlotte's Web lesson plan from Reading To Kids

http://readingtokids.org/Books/BookView.php?pag=3&bookID=00000476

We would begin with the before reading discussion topics about spiders, farms, pigs, pets and friends.  As the novel is very long, there would be chapters they suggested that we read aloud (1-3, 5, 7 and 11).  In between, I would have students listen to the other chapters (a few each day) using this audeo/video link of the story:
http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=41665&CategoryID=10491 

I like the opportunity for students to hear the different chapters but would ask each of them to choose a chapter to draw a picture of what the scene would look like complete with the characters, setting and events.  We could then compare/contrast the drawings used in the "video."  

I also would incorporate the paper plate spider craft as we cover adjectives in 3rd grade and can interweave character education into it by focusing on positive traits that they can use to describe themselves and others.  I would have each write 8 positive adjectives then choose which adjectives they would pick to describe each other in the group.  (This could also be done whole class).  

To incorporate informational text into the novel (Science),  I would like to use Trueflix.   I found an informational book about Spiders by Kevin J. Holmes.  The reading level is a little lower than I'd like but because it is a Science topic there will be jargon/vocabulary that will still challenge this group.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/spiders#booklists/add_to_booklist_handler_150976

The group can also compare/contrast how real spiders are similar and different than Charlotte in the story.

My overall goal with this novel project is to pair a fiction and an informational text and to incorporate different disciplines (Art, Language Arts, Science) while the kids enjoy a special story about a special friendship.

As a lower elementary teacher I love to use Bookflix.  It is geared towards Pk-2/3 grades.  I use my school's website and click on the Iowa AEA link.  From there I choose the story based on the topic or subject area we are currently covering.  For example, we just finished reading the story Officer Buckle and Gloria from our reading series.  This is a story on bookFlix.  I played the bookflix version for my class, we also went over the partner nonfiction story and compared the two.  We often will go over the games and vocabulary bookflix offers as well.  I have also chosen different stories that correlate with whatever genre we are working on and compare them with each other.

I have used Learn360 in a similar fashion.  If we are reading a nonfiction story, like Helen Keller, I would log into Learn360 and search for full or clips of videos to go with the biography by typing in Helen Keller.  This would help give them a visual idea of what life was like for Helen.

One thing I have always have a problem with is finding clip art to use for both my tech job and coaching.  Yes you can go out to the internet and do a search, but two issue there; first copyright and secondly many of the images I would like to use have a watermark across them.  I have used a few resources like microsoft clip art, but I didn't always find what I wanted or something that would fit well.  The iCLIPART for Schools is a great resource for clip art and while I was going through the course and was working with it, I found many good clip art that I downloaded and used.  I logged into the iCLIPART site and clicked on the Clip Art tab.  In the search box I typed golf.  When the clip art came up i did some advanced search by eliminating male (I coach girls golf and it is hard to find clip art with girl golf).  I found some good clip art, downloaded them and put them in my work folder.  I have a girls golf manual, which I used some of the clip art on, also I used some for upcoming meeting announcement.

My resources are the girls golf manual and announcement for our upcoming first meeting.  These will be handed out to the girls golf team at our first meeting.  Since it is golf, I don't really have a outcome/objective, it is to add to the manual and media I use to make it more appealing.

I have always enjoyed using BookFlix, http://auth.grolier.com/login/bookflix/login.php, as a way to provide more literacy opportunities for students.

I like that students can also access BookFlix through their own devices or be shared by an entire class using a projection device.  The teachers can choose from a wide variety of books on a vast variety of topics.  Children like viewing the books and being able to follow along with the reading.

A large segment of our student population (75%) are ESL/ELL.  Any opportunities to view books and English are a plus.

For our building, the target group will be 3-5 year olds and possibly 2-year olds.

I am doing a unit on animals in winter and wanted to find materials about penguins with my students in fifth grade with severe special needs.  I went to Book Flix and clicked on the Animals and Nature tab.  The book set for Antarctica was chosen to be a nonfiction connection to our discussion of penguins and winter.  My students are mostly visual learners and enjoy engaging in videos.  I will use the read aloud of the non fiction book to tie into our discussion and it will hold the students interest because it is 1) on the computer and 2) in a video format with real photos of a world that they could not otherwise experience.  We will use the Fact or Fiction Puzzler to tie into literacy skills and check for comprehension.

I teach sixth grade science and was looking for a video to help students understand the rock cycle.  I went to LEARN360 and searched rock cycle.  Here is the video I had students watch to help enhance their understanding of how one type of rock can become another type of rock.

http://learn360.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=76465&tScript=0

It was so easy to use LEARN360 and find a video for exactly what I was looking for.

I am a middle school Physical Education teacher and the Teen Health and Wellness website is a terrific online resource in a number of different areas.  In particular, the "Nutrition, Fitness and Appearance" category offers guidance and background information on many topics that are of interest and concern to our students.  

The puberty article (http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/273/puberty) can be implemented into the discussion we give our 7th graders on the topic.  

Tanning and skin care is a concern at all ages but we especially see it as students get closer to high school.  For that reason, this article could be assigned to our 8th grade students. (http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/503/tanning-and-skin-care)

Finally I think that our 6th grade students would benefit from learning about carbonated beverages (http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/525/carbonated-beverages)

Beyond that, most all of the exercise and body image articles apply to our students and could be shared.  This can be done in a discussion setting or with articles assigned to students.  

I'm not currently employed in Iowa so I am unable to log in and navigate through the resources.
I have chosen to share about BookFlix.  This appears to be a great way to integrate literacy at the preschool level.  Many of the high risk students in preschool have had limited access to books.  In addition, many are used to their "screen time" and find it difficult to focus on a teacher who does not have bright colors and quickly changing images across her face. BookFlix seems to be interactive enough to hold the attention of these students as well as the ability to introduce students to this type of literacy driven technology.  My favorite part about BookFlix is the connection between fiction and non-fiction. Sadly, many high risk preschoolers have limited life experiences. BookFlix will help narrow the experience gap with those the general education preschools.

I will use the site http://online.culturegrams.com/ to work on state reports. Since I am currently teaching a 5th grade class, my students can access information to write a state research report. After previewing the site, I know that the information from Culture Grams would be accurate and it would include important facts from each state. I also like that the students can research local dishes and find recipes. In addition, the site includes a section of maps and flags. I think it would be fun and educational to have students present a state oral report using google slides or power point in which they could include samples of a local dish from the state they are researching. This culminating activity could be presented at an Open House where parents are invited to see and hear about their child's work.

I would use the States Edition of Culture Grams for these state reports. This edition includes maps, timelines, and historical information on each state.

I chose to go to TeachingBooks.Net and find resources for "Hot Rod Hamster".  This book is a "new" book to the student I work with 1:1.  Resources for this particular book are found at http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=19959&s=n.

I will use the Book Trailer from Scholastic simply because it is so much fun and will excite my student about reading the book.  http://www.scholastic.com/teacher/videos/teacher-videos.htm#3198222918001/57487705001

The audiobook will be great for reading practice: http://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=7481

And finally, the Lesson Plan from the Author's Website has several things that are helpful for me.  I particularly can see using the enrichment activities found on p. 7 for moments "here and there" as I work with my student throughout the day and p. 8 would serve as a fun reward activity at the culmination of the book.  http://www.cynthialord.com/pdf/hrh-teachers-guide.pdf

In my lesson, I used Bookflix: URL- http://www.aea1.k12.ia.us/
Click on online resources; Choose your grade level and sign in.
My audience was 1st and 2nd graders.
The reason I like Bookflix so well is that it pairs fiction and non-fiction books. In my lesson, the goals were to teach, sequencing events and build vocabulary. But as I scanned over the lesson and reviewed Book flix, we were able to incorporate small group discussions with lots of questions and text to self-connections. Bookflix allows you to incorporate so many skills at many different levels.  
We just finished reading Snowy Day and Snowy Weather days. The students had many connections to these books.  They build snow scenes and wrote a story to go with their illustration. We completed a Venn diagram showing the same and differences in the books. They learned new winter vocabulary words.
I use bookflix in my room every week and the students are hooked. My students will ask to listen to books on Bookflix for free time.  AWESOME!

 I would like to have more time to check out other online resources that Keystone AEA offers. I would like to learn more about Culture Crams, Star walk, and Kids Info bits.

The area of the website that I think I will use the most as a 6th grade Literacy teacher is Teaching Books.
http://www.teachingbooks.net/  It has books for the reading levels that I encounter; beginner to advanced readers.
For this trial run, I searched for books by subject "growing up", which is the theme of my first unit of the year.  I got 4,920 results within the site.  I clicked on the first book that seemed to relate to my unit, and found many useful links for the book.  I like that there is audio available for students who are not yet reading on grade level, and lists of other books about the same topic.  The lesson plans, book trailers, and all the author information is also very useful.
Next, I searched by title for books that I currently use. I was worried that there wouldn't be current titles available, but I was surprised to find a few of the more recently published books that I use on the site.  I was able to find more printable resources and lesson plans for the more popular titles. I also love that you can easily find the lexile level of the book, which is not always available on print copies. http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=5842
I can use this site to introduce books to the class that they will choose from for independent reading logs.  This will give them a little more information and will be more engaging than me reading the back of the book.

I have a love for bears. I love collecting stuffed bears and finding out all of the information that I can about bears. I would use the Britannica website and go to this page, http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/60587 in order to help a student to learn all about polar bears.
This site provides information on the features of polar bears, such as size, height, and what they look like. It provides information about their habitat and mating rituals. It also explains why polar bears are becoming extinct due to global warming.
The overall student objective would be to have students gain a knowledge and understanding of polar bears and their natural habitat. They could also use Britannica to compare different kinds of bears to polar bears.

I plan to use TrueFlix in my classroom.  I am going to use TrueFlix to introduce my  fourth and fifth grade reading students to what really happened during the Sinking of the Titanic.  I have attached the link to go to directly to the page I will be using with my students  http://tfx.grolier.com/p/node-33087/10009220. My students are currently reading, I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic by Lauren Tarshis.  By using TrueFlix, the students will get a first hand look at real life passengers and what life was like for the different classes of passengers on the Titanic.  I will share both the video and read aloud book: The Titanic Disaster  with my students after they finish the book.  As a culminating project, I will have the students complete the project idea that goes along with the book.  The students will get to write a short story about a character that was on the Titanic and tell the group about their adventure  that night and whether they survived or not.  I will also let them use the other tabs available on the site to explore more about the sinking of the Titanic. Next time I read, I survived the Titanic, I will probably show the video as more of an introduction to the book and still use The Titanic Disaster book and project as a follow up to the book.

One resource I feel will be extremely beneficial to my students and to myself will be the digital library. For images to be used in projects, for information for student reports and slideshows, I feel the digital library will  fit my students' needs. The digital library (https://www.aeadigitallibrary.org/ ) is complete enough that the information through this resource can be used with complete confidence.  Navigation will be minimal and searches both general and complete will yield reliable information, images without concerns of usage.

Since I'm working on this at home, I don't have my school's password.  So I chose the database where I have my own account...Learn 360.  I went to AEA267...Get Media...Iowa AEA Online...Learn 360 and signed in.  Whenever I am at this site, I search by topic and then do an advanced search to narrow my options.  This time, I decided to search with a different approach.  I did a search by standards which took me to a page with drop-down choices.  I chose Iowa Core Standards, Grade 11 and Science.  All of the standards for science were listed and I chose ES.4 Understand and apply knowledge of the origin and evolution of the universe.  This took me to a page with the Title Search Results for the standard.  On this page there were two full-length videos from which to choose.  I am so excited!  This is a much more efficient way to search in this database, and it makes my life easier trying to decide if a resource fulfills not only a standard, but my lesson.  
I would use one of the videos in either my Earth science class or my astronomy class.  Typically I show the video having given instructions to students to write down one or two things they have learned from it.  Then I pause occasionally and ask students to share before continuing the video.  I believe this approach keeps students focused and gives them a chance to ask questions as we go.  So ultimately, it helps them reach the core standard.

As stated in an earlier post, Teen Health and Wellness is one of my favorite resources, because it is so pertinent and practical to the issues of teen and young adults today. With the divorce rates so high and the real threat of homeland terrorist making the news almost daily, I have chosen the topic of Grief and Loss. The URL is http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/175/grief-and-loss.  This is a brief article which is really just an introduction of grief and loss.

My goal is to reach a high school wellness class, teaching skills and developing methods to overcome and cope with their own losses as well as being able to bring comfort to friends and family members.  We do not have to have a Doctorate to be able to cope with our own losses or be able to bring comfort and support to others, just a basic understanding of grief and loss.

I would assign additional reading at the following URL's: http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/175/2/experiencing-loss
http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/175/4/the-road-to-recovery
http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/175/8/jacks-story
http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/175/9/madelines-story

I would follow up in the next  class period with open discussion of the required reading and then allow time for the students to share with the class of personal experience.

If you go to the AEA online home web page (http://www.iowaaeaonline.org/), included in the links on the left side bar is a resource called "CultureGrams". Being a Geography teacher, I am excited to learn more about this resource and implement its use into my class. CultureGrams offers current, reliable information on peoples of the world, available in multiple editions to suit specific inquiries and class needs. The World Edition contains reports in every country, providing for 25 cultural categories. The Kids Edition, in addition to cultural information, provides more kid-friendly content, such as a "life as a kid" sections. The States and Provinces Editions provide information focused more on the political units themselves instead of on cultural information in previous stated editions. The States and Provinces Editions include information such as pictures of flags and information on their history and economy. This resources aims to provide up-to-date information about all countries of the world in different editions focused on upper elementary, middle-school, and high school. I will use it in my high school classroom to provide my students with accurate, reliable information about different cultures of the world. Students will be able to get an engaging "insider's view" to other cultures through the use of this resource.

Since I am a substitute teacher I don't have access to these resources. But if I did have access to these resources I would most likely use Britannia Digital Learning. I would first go to:www.iowaaeaonline.org. Then on the left hand side of the page in the orange box I would click Britannica online. Then I would create an educator's account.To do this I would click on Not a member? sign up now.  I would choose my level let's just say elementary. Click elementary. Click MyBrittanica on the upper right corner of the screen. Then choose sign up. Fill out the required fields and my email. I would put the email for username and password retrieval. Then I would add my school code. If I didn't have a code I would contact my school
administrator or salessupport@eb.com. Then I would click once and my school code would be entered. I have now created an account. Once I did this I could put in lesson plans for my students or send them to the site to do research. Then I could send students to the site to do research after they signed up for an account.

Britannica Digital learning is a resource used for research. It has many different features such as: 21st century explorer, Global reference center, World data analyst and Learning zone. I could send students to this site for many reasons to learn many things.

This resource is good for PK-12. I would incorporate this into my class by first having students go to the site and look around. Then I would give an assignment to search for a particular item and have them write a paper based on their search. The overall student outcome/ objective would be to learn to do research with many different resources available through britannica Digital learning.