POST #3: Share a resource

I found many excellent resources in this course that I will be using in my English Language Learner  classroom. In this post, I will be explaining one resource that I will implement immediately. This resource is called BookFlix. First, I will explain how to access the BookFlix resource. I have added the direct link here: http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/bookflix/#/ . In addition, many of you will be able to enter your local AEA website, choose BookFlix, and enter your local AEA username and password. My local AEA is Keystone AEA and the link is here: https://www.keystoneaea.org/digital-resources.

Next, I will explain why I chose this resource. BookFlix is a literary resource with a target audience of preschool through third graders. This resource is perfect also for English Language Learners and reluctant readers. This is specifically why I have chosen this resource. I teach strictly English Language Learners and the majority of my current students are Kindergarten through third grade and reluctant readers.

Now, I will explain how I will incorporate it into my classroom for my Kindergarten through third grade students as well as what overall student outcome this resource delivers. BookFlix pairs up fiction video storybooks and nonfiction eBooks. There is also twenty-five or more Spanish translations that will help my Spanish students develop their first language support. My English Language Learners are focusing their learning in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This resource touches on all of these areas. They will build their vocabularies also. Within the resource, bold words highlight key words. A student can click on the bold word and it will be read to them. The definition of the key word is also read to them. When they begin the comprehension questions, they are also read aloud to the students. Vocabulary words also have proper pronunciation. I also like how each reader can follow along as the book is read aloud. Not only is this resource helping teach vocabulary but it also is excellent for their fluency and word recognition.  I will use this resource when students are in small rotation groups. I will also do focus lessons individually with students using this resource.

I plan on using would be Teen Health and Wellness to address issues of emotional regulation of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students with behavioral disorders. In order to access this you must go to the Northwest AEA website. Click on the Educators tab on the right side of the screen. Next, click Digital Resources from the drop down menu under Educators. Once you have gotten to the page in which the AEA Digital Resources are listed, click the blue link entitled Digital Resources. Scroll down the page until you see a box with the words Teen Health and Wellness in it. Click the red words 'Teen Health and Wellness' under the box. This will take you to a page where you may have to use your school's login. For the purpose of my Social Skills lesson I would use the link entitled Mind, Mood, and Emotions. This link provides many supplemental materials that could be incorporated into lessons about what regulating emotions means, the importance of regulations your emotions, how others feel when you don't have yourself regulated, how you feel when you're out of control (before, during and after), and consequences for all involved in inappropriate behaviors. There are even stories from real students that can be shared and discussed in these lessons in order to provide a closer connection to peers their own age.

I am having issues getting to the AEA Online website.  Maybe because I am logged in and it sends me to a different website.  Searching.... I have this saved in my notes...  

The place to begin is the Iowa AEA Online website, at http://www.iowaaeaonline.org.
When you first arrive, you will notice there are three tabs across the top: students, parents, educators. The default tab, "Students", is where you will obviously want your students to start.

I clicked on this and the page that pops up, is totally different. There are no tabs for students, parents, educators.  It looks nothing like what is in my notes!  I have done a google search and still can't find the right website.  There are a lot of different AEA sites opening up, but none that are correct. I even copy / pasted the exact website above.  Not getting the right website. I have been searching.  I still can't find it.  It shouldn't be that hard!  What am I doing wrong?  This is what keeps coming up when I paste in the above http site.    https://www.iowaaea.org/about/iowa-aea-online/      I even had the tab say : open www.iowaaeaonline.org.  I tried that, and still not the right website.  I am moving on.  No idea what the problem is.  This is not working like you or I want.  How frustrating!  I tried on Chrome, Firefox, and IE.  It is not opening the same page as what is in the notes.  I copied this directly from your page in the online course. I am moving on and improvising.  I am good at that.  Whether that is right or not.  Here is what I have.


I feel a great resourse would be the digital library.  From the AEA Online website page that is displaying, you click on the AEA Digital Resources menu on the right side of the page. It is located toward the top part, of the side column.  Once you click on it, scroll down to the AEA Digital Library box.  Click on it.  From there you can log in or you can do a search.  

The students are forever having to look up information for classes, research papers, homework, etc.  This is a great resource to use on the AEA website.  No matter if you  get to the right website, seem I could get to the AEA Digital Library.  

I went into the educator tab and selected Bookflix. I used my school login. I selected the celebrations tab. In that tab I selected the book Christmas and read it. It would have been a great book to add to our world holiday unit.

My 4th grade class is currently studying The Great Depression in Social Studies. I found a great resource to use on Freedom Flix. Once I logged into Freedom Flix using our school's username and password, I went to the tab "economy" and used the drop-down to find "The Great Depression".
After I watched the video and listened to the ebook, I assigned it to my 4th grade class via Google Classroom, which I already had set up. I love that I can do that!
I plan to print out the quiz PDF so my students can work alone or with a classmate to answer the questions. Because of the complexity of the text I will allow them to look back in the ebook to help them find the answers.
I am also currently preparing my students for the ISASP testing so I will modify one of the writing prompts to use as a practice writing. This Great Depression resource, along with their current Social Studies unit,  will provide the background knowledge to write their essay with confidence.
Freedom Flix is a great resource!

The resource I chose was SIRS. This resource is geared towards 9-12 graders who are doing research on the topic that is pro/con in nature. They might be writing a paper or giving speech, it is also great for students who are participating on the debate team. I regularly use it with students when looking for topics for their argumentative essays. It gives students a well rounded overview along with articles that are reviewed and updated on a daily basis. The articles are also relatively short and are written at their reading level.

At the top of the page, there is a bar to input your search topic. Or in the middle of the page are links to the topics that are trending topics in the news and editor’s picks. Below there are some commonly researched topics with links to articles. Once you have your topic, you will notice the page has an overview of the topic at the top of the page. To the right of the overview is a link which allows students to save to their Google Drive and get the citation of the article, print or save if needed. Towards the middle of the page, there is a question, and two viewpoints of the topic with links to articles which represent each side of the topic. Below that there are links to additional articles on the topic. Towards the bottom of the page is some critical thinking questions to help students think about the topic more in depth. To the right there might be a graphic or cartoon. At the bottom of the page there could be a timeline which gives an overview of how the topic has developed throughout time.

Soundzabound looks like a site that I could use in my physical education classes as well as some YouTube videos I produce occasionally to teach a skill to my students. I use upbeat music as background noise during most activities, during warm-ups, as well as during station work. I found some new music that I think could work well for these activities.  I also like the idea of learning to use music in YouTube skill videos and various PowerPoints I produce. Knowing that Soundzabound ensures copyright safety is reassuring.  
To find music I could use in my physical education classes I went to the search bar at the top and I first typed in “kids”, then 60 seconds or longer, and then I typed in upbeat. I found 2 songs I didn’t think I would be able to use. So I changed my search and tried in the search bar “sports” and found a few I think would work great in my class setting. There is also a lot of awesome small snippets of music that would work well in videos. I could even see my older 4th or 5th graders taking a skill and teaching it through a video using sound effects and or music from this resource. One cool thing I found was sound effects. I would love to try some of these sounds in a video or even a power point. I think having this resource for students to use for research projects or other projects using videos, PowerPoints, our ICTV school broadcasts, presentations, would be fun and so much more powerful!

Soundzabound- http://www.soundzabound.com/

The resource I found that would be helpful to use in my classroom was found through Learn 360. https://learn360.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=196261&tScript=0           
 I chose this resource to help with Getting to know the Elements of Art. The targeted audience is grade PK-5th. I like that the narration was done by children and feel that it will be more approachable for kids to listen to. I also like how some of the video is done with cartoon style and other parts are done more realistic.  I like videos like this to show while students are working on their projects as an add on to teaching the elements.  This video has a great review of artists I teach about and how they use the elements of art in their work.  It talks about Primary, Secondary, Intermediate, Warm and Cool colors as well as how value is used in art.  I feel it would be a great review tool to listen to while students are working on a project about these elements. This video has chapters that I can just play one or several of them, depending on what topic it is that I want to emphasize with their learning. It would also be good to play at the end of a project to review and have a worksheet for kids to fill out while they are listening.  A fun, I am done, now what project.

Since it is spring and, had it not been for the Covid-19, we would have explored plants and grew flowers from seed for the children to take home. I chose to explore Bookflix under the Animals and Nature category. Several options relating to plants, flowers, rain were available. I chose the story Planting A Rainbow paired with It Could Still Be a Flower for my preschool class.  
https://bookflix.digital.scholastic.com/pair/detail/bk0051pr/start?authCtx=U.610613795.
 
I could have used the video of Planting a Rainbow, to introduce the concept of planting seeds and initiating discussion about what they know about plants and seeds, what plants need to grow, and what materials we would need to plant seeds in the classroom. Both books provide much vocabulary of different types of colors, flowers names and types, and we could have easily graphed the flowers by color, type, etc., hopefully with some real plants, flowers, brought in for observing and exploring.  This topic, I'm sure, affords endless possibilities for exploring many of the online resources under the topic of plants.  

The Iowa AEA Online resource that captured my interest the most was CultureGrams.  I like that CultureGrams is easy to access (does not require a username and password), easy to navigate, and is up to date and concise.  
In order to access CultureGrams I navigated to the Iowa AEA home page, clicked on the word “CultureGrams” within the image/icon for CultureGrams on the bottom left side of the page.  From there I clicked on The World edition.  Because I had the opportunity to live in Spain as a young adult I chose Spain from the drop down list of countries.
I teach middle school and high school Spanish.  The intended target audience would be students aged 11-18 approximately taking either Spanish exploratory courses (middle school) or Spanish language classes (Spanish 1 and 2).  CultureGrams would be an excellent source for both in classroom discovery and individual student projects.  In addition to learning grammar and vocabulary I think it is important to understand the culture behind a language.  There are a large number of Spanish speaking countries and it is important that students have the opportunity to learn about several of them.  
Students could use the factual data to compare and contrast statistical information between Spanish speaking countries and also with the US.  I would like to do a lesson on financial literacy because my experience as a banker has taught me the importance of educating young people on finances.  In addition to talking about the basics of financial literacy I would like to tie it to the Spanish classroom by exploring the differences in median income, poverty levels, expense, spending habits and so on.  Not all of that information would be on CultureGrams but it would be a great place to start.
As all language teachers believe, learning about the culture behind a language can enhance and improve student learning.  Students could explore some of the cultural aspects of a country as well with the links to greetings, gestures, visiting, eating, family and so on.

With our recent experience in distance learning, I have found myself looking for additional ways to expand my ways to reach my Kindergarten students and better meet their need when/if we are unable to be together. I found a copy of The Three Billy Goats Gruff in the student edition of Follet Shelf ebooks that I could have my students access. With distance learning I was unable to read every story to my students and this would still allow them to enjoy a story and complete the sequencing and retelling activities on a timeline that works for their families! This would also eliminate the concerns of unwanted ads popping up in YouTube and questions of copyright. To find this source, I went to Grantwood AEA, clicked on online resources under the educators or teachers tab. Once all resources pulled up I clicked on Follet Shelf ebook Student Edition and entered my school code for access. Once I received access I searched for the book I desired, in this case The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

https://wbb04591.follettshelf.com/shelf/servlet/presentshelfform.do?site=04591

https://fundamentals.school.eb.com/hello

I decided to use the Britannica Learning Zone because I have never really used this resource before.  I would really like to explore the ways I can use this resource in my classroom.  After I chose the Britannica School and went to the elementary area, I clicked on the button for fundamentals.  The fundamental website of Britannica is very user friendly for younger students and it has a great layout for them.  I started by clicking on the read button to see where that would take me.  I love that the books will read to the students just in case you have students reading at lower levels.  The story about people and places aligns really well with our social studies unit so I am excited for my students to be able to access that on their own.  My students are really going to like the game button on the fundamental part of the Britannica Learning Zone.  I will be using the games as an incentive for my students who complete their work; for my early finishers.  I would also use the create button for my early finishers as well.  I will also be using the create option as a way from my students to practice writing their sight words.  We have been working on learning our sight words and writing them down.  The create button gives the students a fun way to practice writing their sight words.

https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/login?location=%2Fsirsissuesresearcher%3F

I went to the Iowa AEA website, scroll all the way down and click on the icon of your choice of resource. I chose SIRS Issue Researcher. The target audience is teenagers. SIRS has many articles, websites, multimedia graphics, charts, maps, statistics, primary sources and government documents. SIRS Issues Researcher supports school curriculum and differentiated instruction through a wide-variety of features and topics. The site focuses on pros and cons of complex issues. I plan on incorporating this into my curriculum by having students find a topic in SIRS. We will have student lead conversations about the topics. In SIRS, students can view both sides of an issue and learn how to debate. Next we can view social commentary art and start creating based on their chosen topic that they discovered in SIRS.

I would go to AEA online and choose CultureGrams.  WIth our living in a country that is more and more diverse, I believe learning of others cultures is very important. I am an ELL teacher and my students like to share information about their native countries.  Several of my students have just recently moved to the United States.  My family is originally from Sweden and I would use that country to model to my ELL classes how I would use CultureGrams. I would look at the various categories and although  CultureGrams gives perspectives from those native to the country, I would first use CultureGram with my small groups of ELL students in grade 4-8 and ask them to add information and discuss what, if anything, they learned about their native country. I would encourage students to ask their parents and family ,too, about the facts they had learned and if they had anything to add.  It would be even be great  to include any personal experiences about the country. I could also assign students a native country of another student in class and ask the student making the report to ask the student that is originally from that country to report what they learned to start a conversation/discussion with the student from that country.  

The resource I am sharing is in Gale and is called Topic Finder. Once logged in, you can either go to the Middle School tab or the High School Tab. Once there, you click on the option that says High School edition. This will open up a new page, and from here you should see a section that says search tools. The resource I am sharing about is called Topic Finder. To use this resource click on where is says Go To Topic Finder. This tool is fantastic, especially for students who are researching and find themselves stuck and not sure what else to explore and talk about. This can also be used as a starting point for research. It provides a variety of connections that students can gather and get an idea of what they want to research. I've used this tool with middle schoolers and it has been very helpful. It's easy to navigate and use. Once you provide a topic or a keyword search, a visualization of tiles or a wheel shows up. The user can explore this until they come across another topic of interest. When you click on it, results will appear on the right hand side of your screen that can be used for further reading or exploration.

The resource I plan to use most at this point is CultureGrams.  This resource is found on the Iowa AEA website at https://www.iowaaea.org/how-we-can-help/iowa-aea-online/.  It can be accessed through your school's username and password.  It includes four similar editions:  world, states, provinces, and kids.  Users need only to click on the icon for the edition they wish to use and can immediately access a map and then can choose the country or state/province they want.  From there, users can access factual data about each country, pictorial and video links, and deeper information about the country in the categories of Background, People, Customs and Courtesies, Lifestyle, and Society.  Maps are included as are audio links to national anthems and word pronunciation for the country's official language.  Navigation through these resources is straightforward and user-friendly.
I am already using this resource with my 9th grade students enrolled in World Cultures/Geography.  Each month, they are required to thoroughly research one country from a different continent.  The template for the project includes 15 categories and various requirements for audio and visual files, all placed in a powerpoint format for the sake of presenting to peers.  Citations are required which is provided in the CultureGrams resources.  
CultureGrams creators have pledged to renew 20% of their information annually such that never will any information be more than five years old.  That makes this resource invaluable for student research purposed.  With its wide variety of information, it can be used extensively by students to create their reports.  

The resource that I plan to use often with my students is:

https://learn360.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=74231&loid=363499&tScript=0

I chose an introduction video to chemical reactions.  This video will be used with my 9th grade physical science students.  I will give students a prompt at the beginning of class basically asking for what they think a chemical reaction is and how they know something has reacted.  Then, I will ask them to watch this interactive video.  I really like the feature that I can put this straight to Google Classroom for ease of the students to get the video.  My goal is that they will self assess to see how close they were to what a chemical reaction is.  I like that the video is straightforward and hits the major points that a student would need to know.  After they have self assessed, we can have further discussions and demonstrations to go more in depth of chemical reactions.  I also love the fact that the students can read the transcripts as they watch the video, what a help for my hearing impaired students!!

I decided to start with my Social Studies curriculum and look into TrueFlix.  When I watched the module about BookFlix and TrueFlix I took so many notes it was ridiculous!  We study the 13 Colonies, move into the Revolutionary War, and the Constitution, with a seemingly random visit to the Oregon Trail in 4th quarter, then back to the US Government.  It’s been a struggle to tie it all together and keep my students interested, but I think TrueFlix will make it more interesting by being so interactive.  

I went to the TrueFlix, then clicked on 13 Colonies, then chose The Massachusetts Colony. I will create a screen castify on this screen https://sdm-tfx.digital.scholastic.com/p/node-35053/10014699?authCtx=U.600055321 and show my 5th grade students to watch the video first, then read the book (or enjoy the book being read to them), and show them how to hover over boldface words and see the definition without having to navigate to a glossary!  I have read over the lesson plans that have been created and linked, and I would like to use parts of it to enhance the plans I have already created for this unit.  I also plan to link other books on the 13 Colonies through Google Classroom.  I found a quiz for each book as well, and it seems they are printable. I’d like to create a Google Form out of the quiz so I can keep everything as digital as possible.

Looking at the Iowa Core Curriculum, I will be able to tie in Literacy (Main Idea, Vocabulary Acquisition and Use, Informational Text, and Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions...with diverse partners on grade specific topics and texts.)

I’ve happily discovered several Science books I can supplement with Mystery Science units for 5th grade as well.  I’m so glad I took this course in the summer so I can work on building lessons at my own pace and not get overwhelmed or rushed.

One of the resources that I would use with the students in my classroom is the TRUEFLIX website, located at https://sdm-tfx.digital.scholastic.com/?authCtx=U.600054968

TRUEFLIX is a Scholastic resource that provides supplemental nonfiction information geared towards social studies and science content areas.  The primary audience for this resource is 3rd through 6th-grade students.  In the third grade, we have a science unit on weather, and there are some amazing books, lessons, and videos on the variety of weather in a section titled "Extreme Nature".  I would like to use these books and lesson plans to spend a few more days diving deeper into specific weather extremes.  There is a great lesson that brings in graphing that relates to tornadoes.  This cross-curricula activity would be ideal to learn more about weather and practice creating a graph as necessary in the 3rd-grade math standards.  If there wasn't time to do such a lesson, this would be an ideal enrichment activity for students who need additional challenges.

As someone that teaches science, I was drawn to the learn360 website because it seemed like they had so many different resources for everything we discuss. The specific topic I was searching for was "friction" because it seems like students have an idea of this concept, but I never had a nice hands-on activity for them to test their ideas. The specific activity is linked here.

I would use this activity to supplement what we already do in our forces and motion unit. This lab would provide a good visual, hands-on activity for students for the concept of friction. It would also allow them to continue to practice collecting data, setting up an experiment, and working collaboratively. The lab in the link could be modified to have students graph their data - providing another way to incorporate more skills when it comes to communicating data.