Can you believe it? It is time for review and have I found a FREE site to create very easy review games.
It’s called Super Teacher Tools and you can link to it from here
What you will find:
1. Templates for Games (Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Speed Match, and a Virtual Board Game)
2. Teacher Tools (Seating Chart Maker, Group Maker, Random Name Generator)
3. Utility Tools (Classroom Timer, Classroom Countdown, QR Code Maker)
The Games: There are two versions – the newer version allows you to paste diagrams and equations from Word – SUPER easy! I’ve only used the Jeopardy version so far but it was a piece of cake.
A really great feature is that you can create your own games OR search for games that other teachers have created and made public. Collaboration at it’s finest.
So take a look and enjoy – let me know what you think!
Is spring in the air? It’s Saturday – end of our break and I’m really hoping that spring has kicked winter OUT and we will begin to enjoy the fruits of spring.
At Berner we were mesmerized by the assembly where a holocaust survivor reached out to our kids with the ultimate message to be aware, to get involved, to stand up to bullies. How many times have we heard “If you see something, say something”?
This lesson for middle school from SAS Curriculum Pathways on The Diary of Anne Frank seemed appropriate for me to share with you.
SAS supplies free tools to help students create:
The writing planner guides students through the “process of generating ideas and organizing them into a plan for writing”.
The writing drafter helps students “develop coherent sentences and paragraphs” from the organized ideas in their plan.
The writing reviser helps students revise their writing into their final project.
SAS provides FREE quality resources for ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies and Spanish. Email me for a username and password.
First let me say…. ENOUGH, already! Snow, snow, go AWAY…
Let’s hope Thursday’s storm veers off in another direction.
And now, for a new site I found for Worksheets. It’s called WorksheetWorks and can be accessed at http://www.worksheetworks.com
It is a beta site so for now it’s free but I don’t know how long that will last. I’ve found some really good material here though. There are worksheets for math, English, Geography, Puzzles, and more…
If you have some spare time next week, it’s really worth a look. Enjoy the upcoming week. You deserve a break. AND, if you are going away to some place warm, I’m really, really jealous but have a terrific time 🙂
Friday, 23 December 2011 00:00
Learning from the master of the planetarium
Mrs. Emmerich’s third-grade students from Birch Lane school visited the Starlab at the Massapequa High School. Raymond Hahn gave an informative presentation in an amazing inflatable planetarium. The children enjoyed sitting in a circle in the dark, looking up at the stars singing “Raining Sunshine.” They learned about stars, planets, constellations and many other things pertaining to space.
The Planetarium was co-purchased by the Massapequa School District and the Massapequa Teachers’ Center (M-TRACT) in 1990. Originally the planetarium was transported to each elementary school where teachers at those schools conducted presentations for classes. After much wear and tear, Raymond Hahn took on the responsibility the Starlab and found a location for the Starlab to permanently be at one location.
Raymond Hahn and the students.
Hahn teaches all six of the elementary schools in the district. In addition, he created and conducts topic-specific presentations for the high school astronomy classes. The very dark environment of Starlab is also ideal for the study of light.
“I know that this sounds crazy, but studying light in a very dark environment is necessary in order to see such things as the Spectra of the Elements,” Hahn said. “Since spectral analysis is a topic covered in both chemistry and physics classes, I created a special presentation which I call my Spectracular Presentation, in order to demonstrate this phenomenon to those classes.”
This is the 42nd year of teaching in the Massapequa School District for Raymond Hahn. Over the years he has taught general science, earth science, astronomy and physics. He especially enjoys doing the Starlab presentations for the elementary school students.
If you’ve never seen StarLab, take a look at the following video.
Ray is in the science department at Massapequa High School and unfortunately Massapequa will lose him to retirement this year. We congratulate Ray for being a motivating force in his students’ lives.
Hi everyone!
I spent an incredible four days with teachers from all over the country this past weekend. Besides creating Common Core lessons, the focus of the weekend was on the power of community building. We were so impressed by the following video and then blown away when Caine and Nirvan entered the room. Caine is in the fifth grade and has made such an impact on so many through the creation of an arcade with the cardboard boxes from his dad’s auto parts store. He is adorable! When he was asked, “So Caine, what’s next?”, he shrugged his shoulders and said “sixth grade?” He is a normal boy who has had an incredible impact on so many but he has remained himself – an adorable child with an imagination. Enjoy this video – you may want to share with your students.
Comments : Comments Off on Creativity without Technology
In my mind, the recognition a teacher receives from students is the most valuable. Fran Rosen received just that kind of recognition and was honored with Farmingdale State College’s FAME award (Farmingdale Award for Motivational Effectiveness). Each year students graduating from Farmingdale may nominate a teacher who they believe should receive the “Student Award for Academic Excellence”. Michael P. was a student in Fran Rosen’s elementary classroom. In his essay nominating Fran, Michael stated, “Mrs. Rosen gave me the basic foundation needed to succeed. She taught me that organization, accountability and communication skills define me as a person. I can only hope that someday I can have an impact on someone’s life like Mrs. Rosen’s impact on mine.”
Fran is a teacher in the special ed department at McKenna and unfortunately Massapequa will lose her to retirement this year. We congratulate her for being a motivating force in her students’ lives. And THAT’S what teaching is all about…
Comments : Comments Off on And THAT’S what teaching is all about… Fran Rosen
Tags: awards, fame award
Categories : Uncategorized
Hi everyone,
TIRED OF POWER POINT??? TAKE A LOOK AT PIXTON! Take a look at the new FREE cartoon maker at the Professor Garfield website. There is a premium version but the free does PLENTY! What a great way for students to write a report on some assigned topic or LOTE students to create a conversation.
I’ve linked two videos below to show just what Pixton can do. Click on the URL below to see them. Michael Draper – you will LOVE this!
http://profgcontest.nyittbls.org/home/video-tutorials-from-pixton
Another site for SCIENCE teachers is the Encyclopedia of Life (http://eol.org), a free online resource about all life on Earth that offers text, images, video, sounds, maps, . . . Watch the video for a 2 minute clip
This is a real community of sharing supported by many including the Smithsonian Institute and Harvard University.
To introduce you to these wonderful resources, NYS Teacher Centers, NYIT, Professor Garfield and EOL are sponsoring a contest for grades 6 through 8.
Students will visit the Invasive Species of New York State Collection on EOL at http://eol.org/collections/33844 to choose an invasive species in our area and then create a 6 to 9 panel comic in Pixton. I’ve attached a PDF Encyclopedia of Life Contest with further information as well as the rubric. Entries MUST be submitted to me by May 1!!!
PRIZES for students in each grade level
First Place – Apple iPad Mini
Second Place – Google Nexus Tablet
Third Place – Kindle Reader
Can you imagine a day where there is no paper, no pencils, and all teaching and learning is digital?! Of course you know how I feel about that! I would imagine a classroom filled with engaged students and a teacher who actually has time to TEACH!
One school uses stations – there are individual, teacher-led and collaborative learning stations. Take a look – I promise that you will be inspired. Click here to visit Alliance Education
CONGRATULATIONS to Anne Nardone and Julie Rogers. Their video submission is one of the Digital Learning Day winners and can be found by clicking here.
In conjunction with Digital Learning Day, teacher centers will be offering various webinars and announcing a contest for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Students will use the Encyclopedia of Life to research an invasive species in our area and then create a comic using Pixton at the Professor Garfield site. I will be joining Bob Levy and Clive Goodinson to announce the contest and provide details at 2:30. You can join us by clicking here. By the way, prizes include an iPad Mini, Google Nexus tablet, and Kindle Reader.
For information and links to all of our webinars, click here.
Have a great day!! See you online,
Barbara
Comments : Comments Off on Digital Learning Day Is HERE!
The second annual DIGITAL LEARNING DAY is scheduled for February 6, 2013. NYS Teacher Centers have partnered with NYIT in encouraging teachers to submit a 2-3 minute video illustrating how they are using technology to transform classroom practice and help students meet Common Core Learning Standards. Teachers who submit a video could win a $50 Amazon Gift CardFor more information, visit the NYIT website here
I learned about the following government website called OnGuard Online for online safety. It’s not only a good resource for your class, it’s a great resource for us as well. Click here to visit.
Another really cool site, called SCAN, is a 2.0 tool to help guide discussion and learn to respect other’s opinions. There’s are several PDFs that can be downloaded for handouts. I’ve attached the SCAN Persuasive Essay for your review. SCAN_Persuasive_Essay
Here’s a video explaining the site. There is a free and a subscription version. If you choose to subscribe, the price would be $45 per year.
Have a wonderful Christmas, Hanukah, and New Year!
Hope it’s relaxing – you deserve it!
Barbara
Comments : Comments Off on Digital Learning Day, Internet Safety and a Persuasive Essay Web 2.0 Tool
Before Sandy came along, I told you that I had found this really phenomenal website for the Common Core called LearnZillion. It was created by a former teacher and principal, Eric Westendorf, who explains that he started this venture as a solution to a problem in his school. Teachers created video of lessons that were posted on a website as a resource for their students. Today the LearnZillion site has nearly 2000 lessons (and growing), that are common core aligned and created by teachers for teachers. They are constantly looking for feedback and adding new features that teachers request.
I began to create an informational sheet for all of you and it ended up being 32 pages long (some highlight Math and others ELA) so don’t worry you would not have to go through all 32 pages. It actually became a tutorial on all that is available and how to utilize what’s there. One thing I REALLY love about it is the slide “Common Mistake” which illustrates mistakes students usually make. This is a FREE resource available to teachers, students and parents!
I know you’re busy but I promise you that you will be so happy because this is a treasure trove of lessons for you! OH! And by the way, video is You Tube based so you CAN embed in Haiku!!!!
Enjoy the day and let me know what you think!
Barbara
SAS supplies free tools to help students create:
M-TRACT 