POST #3: Share a resource

We are currently learning about animals in Kindergarten Science and using the FOSS Science Kit Animals 2x2.  There are a few videos available on this site but I found a video on Learn 360 specifically about goldfish.  It is a relatively short clip which is good for their attention span but it gives a lot of information about goldfish and how to care for them which we will be doing in our class.

https://learn360.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=81217&loid=338565&tScript=0

Being a preschool teacher, I feel like I could use BookFlix a lot according to our study/topic. Click on the following link to be directed to BookFlix: http://bookflix.scholastic.com  I like how BookFlix is organized and easy to use. BookFlix covers a lot of different topics that we learn about in preschool and I can use it to plan lessons. I like how you can search by category.  You have the option to read the book or watch.  After the book, students can choose from puzzlers (games) that tie into the book.  There are other games that help with recall, word matching, and vocabulary.  I really like the feature Meet the Author as well.  BookFlix will be great for strengthening early literacy skills.

After searching the site, I have decided that Learning 360 would be a good site to use with 3rd Graders.  we were currently working on Expository Non-fiction writing and they were writing animal research reports.  This would be a good site to help get facts, images and also watch videos on their chosen animal.  They could also add the images and videos to their reports. One of the students that I had been working with was writing his report on hammerhead sharks.  I was able to search this topic and found images that would have been a great addition to the report that would have worked with the topics within his report. Along with the images, there were also videos of hammerhead sharks which would have helped the student see how this creature was in its own environment.

https://learn360.infobase.com/p_Home.a

1. go to www.iowaaeaonline.org
2. click on tab "Learning 360"
3. In search box, type in topic

I am using the national parks series in Learn360 in my environmental science class. https://learn360.infobase.com/p_Collection.aspx?seriesID=140800 

 We are watching each one and then students are doing a project in which they have to plan a trip to one of the parks from their home. Include mileage and how long it will take them to get there. Also what type of wildlife and plants they will experience. They also need to find out what kind of activities are allowed in the park, how long they will stay and what precautions they will need to take. They also need to research the history of the park and when it was declared a National Park. The students have a good time and really wish we can take the actual trip. Me too.

All of our special-needs students are placed in the co-taught sections in all courses. This allows use to provided their accommodations and still get quality instruction with their regular division peers. In our co-taught English/Language Arts class, I plan to use SIRS with our Writing class. I will direct them to follow our school's website link to the AEA webpage. From there we click the hypertext for SIRS Issues Researcher in the menu on the left side of the front page. All we have to do then is enter our login and passcode. It can be found at: https://sks.sirs.com/webapp/issues-researcher

I want to use SIRS in conjunction with the students’ argumentative essays. It has hundreds of relevant issues, so much so that I will have to help them narrow down their topic before getting on SIRS, so they aren't overwhelmed. Each topic has an overview of the issue and at least one essential question so that there are two sides to every issue. There are multiple articles from respected sources for both sides which is extremely helpful for supporting claims and counterclaims. The overviews and each of the articles are fully cited as well.

This site as well as Britannica, and GALE provide good solid topics they can research and write a proper research paper on. As the training promised, I found solid, citable, and useful sources in each of the databases. The students will appreciate that some of these provide citations to make that part of the writing easier as well.

The resource I chose to look at is the BookFlix. To get to there, I had to login to the account that my school has for AEA Iowa Online. After I login, I clicked on the Book Flix and started an browsing for the books that fit my students' interest and age appropriate such as PreK.  As I browse, I have an option of watch the book or read the books. My students like to watch the book. I often put the book on the smart board and read to the students. I would pause often as I read to them to have an discussion/review. They loved it that much that they asks to pick a book from the site for me to read to them after they have read the book I picked out.

The link to the site and the book I am currently looking at is http://sdm-bkflix.digital.scholastic.com/sw/node-33978/bk0115pr?authCtx=U.600127063

 What's nice about the Book Flix is that whatever book I read to the students, they have informative book, for example if I read about Ants and Grasshoppers, I show the Ants and Grasshoppers book first before I show the "Science" kind of books to them. My students liked them as much as I do.

I would search and locate the AEA website and click on the Online Resources tab.  Once I clicked on that I would click on the grade k-5 tap since I teach within that academic age.  Then I would click on the TrueFlix tab and click on the Westward Expansion tab.  Or you could just type in this URL http://sdm-tfx.digital.scholastic.com/cb/node-33061?authCtx=U.600055242.
From here the students could click on any one of the 6 stories provided.  If we were learning about the western portion of the United States and the westward expansion of people within our social studies curriculum, I would use these stories as supplemental learning in our classroom.  Having these resources that are informational, read aloud if a student so chooses, and is factually correct is important.  If I were using this in a lesson for the 5th-grade class next year, my intended objective would be to enhance student learning, make them curious about locating and reading information in various forms and enhancing their digital skills.  

As I have explored the AEA online resources, one I have found that I think I'll use a lot in my classroom is Brittanica School. I get to the resource by going to www.iowaaeaonline.org and then click on the tab along the left for Brittanica. I made an account and then went to the Educator's tab and found the curriculum standards. I filtered by Iowa Core Standards, then by subject, and grade level. Each subject page lists all the standards for the grade level and lists Brittanica articles related to the standard and any lesson plan ideas that cover that standard. As I change grade levels next year, this will be a very helpful resource for me. Along with getting ideas from the curriculum standards page, using Brittanica School, teachers can create their own account to save articles, images, videos, access lesson plans, and create their own lesson plans for units. Students can also create their own account to save resources for research assignments. There are 3 levels of content- elementary, middle school, and high school, so teachers and students can get grade appropriate information. Besides providing articles, images, video, dictionary, and magazines, other great resources that can be used include Web's Best Sites, Primary Sources and Ebooks, and Year in Review. There are also Brittanica Webinars for educators to watch to learn more information. I plan to incorporate Brittanica in my class by first using it myself to make lessons that cover all of the content standards, and eventually teaching students how to use Brittanica to gather information for classroom projects.

I teach art and one of the biggest problems that I run into on a regular basis is kids not having adequate artistic background knowledge and experiences to confidently take on artistic challenges. When kids are having a problem creatively or technically in class I prefer for them to investigate and self correct in order to come up with a solution rather than simply telling them what to do. Therefore, I could see myself sending kids to the https://school.eb.com/ site as way for them to gather information on relevant artistic subjects such as prominent works of art, artists and artistic movements that might help direct their creative decisions while making art. I could also this being a good starting point for a research assignment relating to art. I think it would be a safe and reliable place for students to gather foundational information that introduces them to a subject and would prime them for deeper exploration and investigation. Pen and ink and ink wash  are good drawing media for the kids to work with because the school can afford them, they allow for the implementation of a number both linear and form related techniques and you can draw or paint with with the media. This article from Britannica would be a good starting resource for the kids.https://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/line-and-wash-drawing/48374

https://www.teachingbooks.net/ql9xdi3 

Well, I feel like I just stumbled into a gold mine. This link is to TeachingBooks.net. I teach Death of a Salesman to a junior AP class. I love how rich and varied the text is, I see it as the perfect example of American culture after World War Two. As the culture wrestles with it's new found position of power in the world, the Loman family struggles with economic forces and their own inability to live the truth. Sounds like a cover blurb, doesn't it. So that is why I like to teach it.

This resource is very up to date and a great starting point for students to explore the layers of the onion of the play, if you will. From this starting line, I should be able to reinforce the themes of the play I like to focus on, the vocabulary they may not know, the larger social questions and schools of literary criticism.

It seems also to have links to other resources that I have used from time to time. A lot of what shows up on a google search can be found. This site is going to save a lot of time. I can see using this resource for other books I have students read.

I can already see a huge impact of using primary source digital learning in my HPER classrooms.  We discuss the concept of primary (traits, leaders, surveys in emergencies, stages of human development, hormone levels, competitive volleyball responses) needs, so those who have taken classes, sports with me should be easily able to identify the concept (scaffold - connect).  In using primary sources (in having students find or create them) will free up my time providing direct instruction.  Ss will then use higher order thinking in: (1) deciding school appropriate "realia"; and (2) use those sources in their instruction.  QR codes can easily be generated by students linking the primary sources, as well as creating a resource list to use from course to course (for comparison, rubrics, student-lead feedback) or to give to a MS teacher to use (stations, substitute visitation...)

I have spent time vetting video for content appropriateness, developmental level.  Now that "task" will be up to students. For instance, I use posters to demonstrate cholesterol (bad fat) IN blood, but showing an impactful video of a clogged artery has more (outward processing as seen in facial expressions from SS) impact.  I have done this in health classes, for years, and Ss will now take that ownership to teach sport-specific skills using primary source material.  I will guide what skills will need to be demonstrated, and the Ss will now produce digital repositories for our class.  

We don't need brick and mortar locations (gymnasiums) to engage learning. Ss will be required to produce and to upload their own video lessons for specific skills (online lesson plans and Ss driven assessments).  So recreational movement opportunities still exist (meeting many SHAPE standards).  Peer communication and collaboration will increase  

One idea from watching the online course materials was to create emoji assessments to impact visual learners.  The concept sounds elementary, but I think freshman students, ELL and SPED learners will have a naturally tiered way to demonstrate what gained and what (now) known.  I will need to take some time to introduce BookFlix and TrueFlix into classrooms, and I can see a repeat (viable, sustainable) use for trimesters and school terms to come!

Though it is not required, feel free for reply to other individuals if you found a post that you particularly liked.

I decided to incorporate a video into a math lesson on geometry for my kindergarten class. I began by going to Learn360 from the AEA Online recourse link. Once there I chose to search by standard. I then set the search parameters to: Iowa Core, K, and Mathematics. At this point I was given a list of each of the kindergarten math standards. I chose: K.G.3- Identify shapes as 2-denominational or 3-denominational, as this is a difficult concept for my students. After viewing several videos I selected: Shapes in the World Around You.   https://learn360.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=193085&xtid=66848 

One thing I appreciate about the videos from Learn360 is that they are broken into segments. I can easily show the whole video or just the segments that best meet my goals. The video defines and shows a variety of shapes (semicircles, ellipses, cylinders, prisms, pyramids and quadrilaterals) in photos of real world objects. The best part is that is shows the 2-d shapes on the faces of 3-d objects. After watching a few samples I would pause and ask students to find and name the 3-d shape, then find and name the shapes on the faces of the object. After viewing we would look around our classroom for examples.

I have used some of the Iowa AEA resources in my classes.  I have never used Culture Grams so I began my research learning about lessons provided by AEA.  I found a lesson called Regional Food Tour.  I think this would be a perfect lesson for my Advanced Foods class.  I teach an international foods unit during Advanced Foods.
I opened up ghaea.org and clicked on MediaNet, then clicked on Online Resources.  I then clicked on culture grams and teacher resources.  
Regional Food Tour Lesson
Objective - Students will compare foods from different continents and write short responses.
Target Audience - 10-12th graders
Regional Food Tour lesson each student will select four countries, each from different continents and read the corresponding interviews.  The students will use CultureGrams World Edition and read the diet section for each of their selected countries.  I plan to have them also look at the Recipe collection. The students will then read one interview for each of their four countries.  The lesson will include the students listing the favorite food from each country.  Students will also write one paragraph identifying the cuisine that is the most appealing to them.  The second response essay will compare the cuisine from different continents, how they differ, list the staple foods, popular dishes, and favorite ingredients.  I will also pick some recipes we can prepare in class.
I am looking forward to incorporating this lesson in to my International foods unit.  The students will enjoy preparing the recipes from the different countries.

     My tenth graders complete an author study about John Steinbeck.  They read biographical information about him, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl and then read a few excerpts from The Grapes of Wrath and Travels with Charley before reading the novel Of Mice and Men.  I went to the Iowa AEA Online site and accessed Teaching Books.  From there I typed in John Steinbeck and found several resources.  One I found interesting was an interview with Steinbeck. Here's the URL for the interview available on that site:

 http://mentalfloss.com/article/57097/19-rare-recordings-famous-authors 

This interview brings to life much of the information stated in his biography and the background videos I use about the Depression and Dust Bowl.  So, my goal is for this to strengthen and extend their knowledge of Steinbeck and his passion for representing the oppressed.  

URL for direct resource:  https://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/wolverine/599879

I logged into Britannica School, selected middle school, and typed in wolverine.  I got two choices:  wolverine (mammal) and wolverine (fictional character).  I clicked on wolverine (mammal).

I have chosen to use the Britannica online resource. At the beginning of the course where it described the different resources,  it caught my attention that within Britannica it has a section for 21st Century Explorer, World Data Analyst, and a Learning Zone.  The target audience will be 4th grade language arts students.  In January,  we start an animal research project.  The students are given note sheets with specific areas of information (description, habitat, life processes).  I start the project by modeling the research process with books and encyclopedias and then get into technology resources.  I use the wolverine as my animal when modeling the research process. Of course when I type that into Google, I get the fictional character, Wolverine.  I teach digital citizenship along with this, because I want them to choose good resources that have valid information.  I will use Britannica as one of my main technology resources, because it is kid-friendly, appropriate, and provides all the information they need to fill out their note sheets without a lot of reading.  It also provides pictures and videos, so I don’t have to worry about what they might be looking at on the internet.  By using this resource, students should be able to find all the information they need in one location without doing a lot of work.  

I went to AEA online, and then clicked on the educator tab. Then I selected learn360 and Logged in with my school credentials.  I completed a Keyword Search on “Residential Construction” it came up with 2 results Building Trades 1 and 2.  I went into the titles within the series and found 2 that are important for the students at the beginning of the school year or project.  I was given the following URL addresses for the 2 video segments

Location and Excavating: Site Preparation

https://learn360.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=31950

Foundations

https://learn360.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=31951

I found that this series “Building Trades” with its videos are very important for the class to see especially at the beginning of the year.  The Students start the year in the classroom and go thru basics and safety of the project.  While they are doing that classroom portion, the basement was dug, the foundation and underground plumbing was completed, and on the first day at the project they will see the basement completed for the first time and it will be all ready for them to start building the house.  I want to be able to show these videos listed above on the work that is done over the summer and before they start at the site.  Along with the videos goes teaching about the specific items to date and photo progress of the site to date.  Every house is different, and the students need to have a grasp of the work that must be done by professionals prior to them arriving on site @ the beginning of the school year.

Brooke Doyle

In this post I’d like to share about Learn 360.  This source many be accessed by going to https://learn360.infobase.com/p_Home.aspx.  I logged in and scrolled to Browse Non-Video Resources and selected science experiments.  I am a 7-12 agricultural education instructor.  There were several types of science experiments for students to use.  I would like to have the use the search function and browse through the list of subjects such as biology, environmental science, and weather and climate.  I would have students, in pairs, select and present a science experiment to the entire class.  Students would relate each science experiment agriculture.  Students would learn how to do the experiment on their own and then learn how to teach the class.  

http://sdm-tfx.digital.scholastic.com/p/node-33060/01001871?authCtx=U.600004578
https://learn360.infobase.com/p_Search.aspx?bc=0&rd=a&q=constitution

The two direct links I chose are True Flix and Learn360.  These two links give me information on the Constitution. True Flix gives me the digital book which can be read orally or a "read along" feature the student could listen to.  The other resource is Learn360.  Learn360 allows the students to see video, listen to audio clips, and interact with varies comprehension pieces linked to the Constitution.

The target audience will be my 5th grade class. I would incorporate the True Flix resource by using the book The Constitution of the United States and pair it with the Learn 360 resource video clip The Constitution: We The People.  These two resources help give the students a better understanding of government and how decisions can impact it.  I would first introduce True Flix to my students and allow them to browse the different books that are featured.  Next I would share the book The Constitution of the United States.  I would start with the Table of Contents and read the first few pages.  Finally, I would let the students complete the book on their own, with a partner, or listen to the read along option.  When we have had our discussion about the book I would show them the small clip from Learn360 about the Constitution.  I would would probably have them compare and contrast the two resources.

The overall objective is for the students to:  
SS.5.10 Describe how the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution impact the decisions of government, society, and/or communities. (21st century skills)

One resources I think would be very useful and fit into my curriculum really nicely is Britannica online.
https://school.eb.com/levels/elementary/article/Mary-Cassatt/399392
Or go to www.aeaonline.com select Britannica online pre-K-12 from the menu on the right side of the page. Once it loads select the elementary tab and in the search box at the top type Mary Cassatt.

I have 5th grade students do an artist study where they learn about an artist of their choice and then create a piece of art work inspired by the artist. For this example I selected the artist Mary Cassatt. The student would type their artist into the search bar and they would be presented with an article to read about the artist. I really like that there are levels of difficulty for the student to choose to read. Often I struggle to find books on many different reading levels. In addition to the article about the artist, when the student clicks the related tab they are presented with other relevant information pertaining to the artist. For Mary Cassatt articles on painting, Impressionism and Paris come up. This will help the student continue reading and learning about the artist and their works of art/style. This is so useful becaus as an art teacher I see the students so I frequently that I really need every minute I’m with them to be used learning and the whole process of finding appropriate book/websites or articles is very time consuming.

The resource I have chosen to share for this post is BookFlix.  http://sdm-bkflix.digital.scholastic.com/p/node-33978/bk0002pr?authCtx=U.600214567 is the URL for 'Click Clack, Moo Cows That Type' and 'Let's Visit a Dairy Farm' within BookFlix. This resource is geared toward students in lower grades, usually PreK-3rd.  I teach K-5 students with significant special needs, so this resource will aid in my multi-sensory approach to educating my students.  In BookFlix, there is the option to have the story read to the student.  The student can follow along and know what word the speaker is on because the word being read is highlighted.  I like the fact that the book can be read to the student because sometimes when students are able to hear and see the story on the screen, they are able to understand the story more clearly.  This aids greatly in each student's comprehension of the stories.  Another perk of Bookflix is there are vocabulary words highlighted within the nonfiction story. When a student hovers over those words, a definition comes on the screen and students are able to either read the definition themselves or they have the option of having the definition read to them. After reading/listening to/watching the stories, there are 'Puzzlers' for the books which ask questions about vocabulary words, fact/fiction, and first/next/last. This is a great tool for the students to use to check their understanding of the books.  A student is also able to learn more about the authors of the stories and explore the web about topics of the stories. Appropriate websites are given as options for students to click on when they explore the web, so they are safe when exploring. There are multiple topics in BookFlix. Each topic has numerous fiction/nonfiction pairings with all of the mentioned options, as well as a lesson plan for an educator to follow. This resource will definitely be used within my classroom!