Art | M-TRACT

Computational Thinking in STEM Activities

18 03 2019

I’ve been working with 7th and 8th graders on various STEM projects and having a blast! It is so much fun to watch kids excited about learning and utilizing computational thinking in order to accomplish a given task. The latest project we worked on was a volleyball machine. The project can be found at https://www.sciencebuddies.org/

We gave them no assistance – this video was it – and the designs they came up with were phenomenal. The excitement when their designs worked was contagious. The collaboration in helping one another solve a problem with their design was what every teacher loves to see. The fact that the activity culminates in a competition motivated them even more. And for the teacher .. besides generating excitement among their students it satisfies various math and science standards.

There are so many valuable sites with projects that will excite students and make them THINK! This is just one of them. Enjoy 🙂

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Categories : Art, Math, Motivation, Science

New to Kahoot!

3 11 2016

Hi all!

I know many of you use Pear Deck, Quizizz and Kahoot in your classrooms. I want to share what’s new with Kahoot!

It’s called Jumble and you need to move your tiles to put them in order. There are several example games ready for you to use including a Word Jumble, Film Trivia, Halloween Fun, Political Jumble, and Build the Equation.

MATH TEACHERS – it seems as though we are often left out 😦 BUT.. you are going to LOVE creating equations through jumbling! Click on the following link to learn more about Jumble. Scroll down to find the example games. Have some fun! CREATE and SHARE!!!

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Tags: engagement, Motivation
Categories : Art, Business, English, Health, LOTE, Math, Motivation, Music, Science, Social Studies, Web 2.0 Tools

Share My Lesson

26 10 2013

Hi everyone,

Since my return to the classroom, my eyes have been opened to how busy you all are! It’s been a whirlwind but I am really enjoying being back with the kids!

I thought I’d remind you about a great resource for Common Core lessons. I shared this with you last year but it warrants a reminder! Share My Lesson is sponsored by AFT and NYSUT. It is a site that contains more than 250,000 resources by teachers for teachers and is FREE! You will find activities, worksheets, games, lesson plans, flashcards, puzzles, posters, assessments and MORE…. You can borrow, but more importantly, SHARE! It’s so important that we work together in these trying times.

Early Elementary
44,065 resources, including activities, worksheets, games, lesson plans, flashcards, puzzles, posters, assessments and other ideas for you to use with your kindergarten, first- and second-grade students.

Late Elementary
34,111 resources, including activities, worksheets, games, lesson plans, flashcards, puzzles, posters, assessments and other ideas for you to use with your third- fourth- and fifth-grade students.

Middle School
60,126 resources, including activities, worksheets, games, lesson plans, flashcards, puzzles, posters, assessments and other ideas for you to use with your sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students.

High School
172,269 resources, including activities, worksheets, games, lesson plans, puzzles, posters, presentations, assessments and other ideas for you to use with your high school students.

Special Population
3,722 special populations resources, including activities, worksheets, games, lesson plans, flashcards, puzzles, posters, assessments and other ideas for you to use with your students.

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Categories : Art, Assessment, Business, Common Core, English, Health, LOTE, Math, Music, Science, Social Studies

EdCanvas – a presentation tool

16 01 2013

Hi everyone,

I have been playing with a new kind of presentation tool that is FREE and I believe has great potential. In order to show you some of what can be done, I created a presentation about Sandy on Long Island. My girlfriend now lives in Florida and has asked me on more than one occasion to send her news articles about Long Island because not much was reported about us – most of the information relayed was about the city.

Once you create an account (all they need is your email and password) then you can begin to search the topic you would like to create your canvas about. I typed in Sandy on Long Island and was then able to choose from You Tube videos, Flickr photos, Google photos and web search. I can also insert a label for text, enter a specific URL, upload a file. When I uploaded a Powerpoint, it was automatically converted to a Google Doc and displayed.

My mind is moving a mile a minute thinking about what can be done with this tool. How about a group project where students place “their” piece in a square. They can literally upload ANYTHING…Animoto, Prezi, Word, Powerpoint, …

Oh, and by the way, you can post your EdCanvas to Facebook as well as tweet it, share the link, or embed the code! Take a look – you will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!