Rock Band Storypath

Storypath units promote children as active participants in their own learning. Students learn about topics through cross-curricular connections woven into an imaginative real-world scenario. They role-play and make critical decisions independently and collaboratively. Invite your students on a rock band adventure! This unit integrates Common Core standards with project-based learning. Students discover that what they learn in school is valuable, even for a rock star!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fV41KsbdGUCe3K0GlvNYHIpLTfQyo9Er/view?usp=sharing

Coastal Peru Virtual Field Trip

Take your students to Peru for free (live on youtube on March 16th at Noon Eastern)! Your class will investigate the amazing biodiversity of a coastal ecosystem as they explore the Humboldt Current! On the trip students will also see sea birds, penguins and flamingos!

Along with fisheries scientist Matias Caillaux, they will travel by boat to an island that has more than 30,000 sea lions at a time! They will discover how the Humboldt Current pushes vital nutrients toward the surface and forms the "basis of a unique and abundant ecosystem." They will also learn the importance of protecting an ecosystem so its inhabitants and the region's fishing industry remain thriving.

This trip is a great opportunity to cover science and geography standards through problem-based learning. They will get to view one of the most productive ocean ecosystems in action!

Field Trip Information

How Nature Works in Coastal Peru: The Amazing Biodiversity of a Coastal Ecosystem

Subject focus: Science and Geography

Age Range: 3-8 (all viewers are welcomed!)

Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Time: 12:00 noon Eastern Time

Length of Virtual event: 45 minutes

Link to register: https://www.natureworkseverywhere.org/#events/56b8d3c4c6435b2294b92fb0

Can't Watch the Virtual Field Trip on March 16th?

You can still attend the field trip by receiving the official YouTube viewing link, which you can use to watch anytime after the live event has concluded. The virtual field trip will also be optimized and posted at a later date on Vimeo. Once the Vimeo version is ready, you will receive the link in another newsletter and then you'll be able to watch the virutal field trip anytime on Vimeo or YouTube!

Interactive websites for the classroom with background:

Fishing for Tomorrow: The Artisanal Fishers of Ancón Story Map (pictured below)

Link to The Artisanal Fishers of Ancón Story Map: https://tnc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/?appid=0e99d43e82304b00bf30d2f47478a4b3

The Humboldt Current Ecosystem: How Earth Systems Influence Ocean Productivity and Biodiversity Story Map (pictured below)

Link to The Humboldt Current Ecosystem: https://tnc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/?appid=fd508c644a5b4cd3b4d2758a1ac07e91

Accompanying lesson with the virtual field trip: Fishing for a Future:

https://www.natureworkseverywhere.org/resources/fishing-for-a-future/

In this lesson students investigate sustainable fishing through a specific case study in Peru. 
Provided: 

1. Interactive story maps that explore the Humboldt Current, El Nino, and artisanal fishing

2. Fisheries management activity using data

3. Socratic Seminar that explores the challenges of open access fishing areas

Includes downloads for the classroom

·      Teacher Lesson Plan: Fishing for a Future (PDF & Word)

·      Student Handout on Fisheries Management (PDF & Word)

·      Student Handout on the Humboldt Current (PDF & Word)

·      Student Handout: Anchoveta Socratic Seminar (PDF & Word)

6 Back-to-School Tech Projects

Simple technology projects that incorporate design skills for your students' first day back! Visit We Are Teachers to see my post: 6 Back-to-School Tech Projects!

Create a Digital Advent Calendar

If you celebrate Christmas at your school or with your children at home, you can create a simple digital advent calendar to surprise your kids with a different activity a day! 

Signup for a free Weebly account. Choose a website layout and add images and adjust the typeface to give it a Christmas theme. Weebly is a super simple website creator with a drag and drop feature, no coding required. To make your calendar, drag "buttons" located under "structure" in the left side panel. Type numbers in each button. To arrange the buttons in a grid, move around the "dividers" and align buttons left, center or right until they are lined up. You can add dividers which are also located under "structure." If you want to make special buttons, you can upload them as images.

Once your site is laid out, add links! Click on each button, hit link and paste the website url for a fun activity. That's it! You could even have kids write a special message or create a video message for some links and share with the parents of the students in your class. Parents will enjoy seeing what's next on the advent calendar. As a class, you could vote on what you should put up each day. Here is the link to the one I made featured left.

Hands-On Science Using Nature Works

Check out my post at We Are Teachers: Hands-On Science Using Nature Works by Nature Conservancy! Ten science topics that include videos, free lesson plans and additional resources.

4 Types of Sentences: Game & Tech

Learn about the 4 Types of Sentences: declarative, imperative, interrogative and exclamatory with a kinesthetic game and tech project (selfie digital comic)! Visit We Are Teachers to see my post and to download free printables to go along with this lesson! Click here for free printables!

Eyejot

Eyejot is a free web 2.0 tool that makes it super easy to send video messages to your students and their parents with just the click of a button! You can welcome your new students before school starts or send a reminder to parents. Here is an example of a video message I made for one of my education courses.

Inkle

Inkle is a fun digital storytelling tool for kids. Students can collaborate and create a Choose Your Own Adventure story! Each child adds a paragraph to the story and at least two options for readers to choose from. They insert images by adding the link to an image they like online. This web 2.0 tool is free and the children's work can be saved and shared.

Lite Brite Pointillism & Percentages

Using the web 2.0 tool Happy Daric Lite Brite, students learn about the art technique pointillism and explore fractions and percentages! Have students create a unique design on the lite brite. While they are making their art, have them tally each time they add a color.  Next, students write a fraction for each color. Then, they divide and multiply to figure out the percentage of each color they used. Students round their percentages. Then, they check their work to make sure all the colors add up to 100%. 

Action Verbs

Objective: Students will silently act out action verbs and try to guess what verbs their peers act out.

Objective: Wearing special verb investigator glasses, children will observe their peers playing, spy an action that represents a verb, write it, and draw a picture of it. 
Objective: Students will publish their writing using Little Bird Tales with guidance from an adult.

Acting Out Action Verbs (whole group)
One at a time, each child goes up to the front of the classroom and draws a card from a paper lunch bag. Next, the child acts out the verb on the card without saying a word. They can only move their body. The rest of the children try to guess what he or she is acting out. (list of verbs)

Verb Investigators (small group)
For small group instruction, children are called over to the work table to become Verb Investigators! They put on special glasses (crazy sunglasses that have the lenses popped out of them) that will help them observe verbs in action around the classroom. Wearing their glasses, they look around the room and observe their peers playing at each center. Once they spy an action verb, they write a sentence, "I spy _____." Then, they draw a picture of the verb.

Digital Publishing
Children collaborate and create a video story using Little Bird Tales with the teacher's guidance to publish their writing to share with their families. Here is a link to the tale we created on action verbs.

Reinforcement

Verbs in Space game on the SMART Board: (http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/grammar/verbs.htm)

Differentiated Assessment - This activity can be differentiated based on each child’s developmental level. Higher-level thinkers can act out more complex verbs. Children with difficulty can be given a simple verb to act out. During the small group activity, the students are challenged to find a verb. They must use their problem solving skills. Advanced children might find a verb that is not extremely noticeable. While other children could point out a verb that is obvious. Teachers can use scaffolding to help them find a verb in the classroom if needed. For example, “What is Joe doing in the games and puzzle area?”

After the lesson, students assess themselves using a rating scale: GREEN = I got it!, YELLOW = I'm getting it!, RED = I need some help! (printable) Click here for a teacher checklist assessment.

Grid Maths

Grid Maths is a great web 2.0 tool for kids to explore arrays, distributive property, fractions, least common multiple, area and perimeter, or simple counting online! Visit Quantblog (scroll down) and see all the different ways that your students can use this tool.

The Mega Penny Project

The Mega Penny Project: explore value, weight, area, and the size of a stacked pile of lots of pennies!
Link for image above: one hundred million

So that's how you say...

I discovered this awesome tool from Love 2 Learn 2 Day! Kids will have a blast with the Big Number word calculator on Math Cats! They type in a super long number. Then, they learn how to say it! 

Earth Day: Design a Bag

Online Project: "The Earth Day Groceries Project is an easy, cost-free environmental awareness project that teams up youth and grocers to spread the message of Earth Day. To participate, teachers simply borrow paper grocery bags from a local grocery store. Students decorate the bags with environmental messages about reuse, recycling, wildlife, etc. The bags are then returned to the grocery store, and on Earth Day, April 22 of each year, customers receive their groceries— along with the message that kids care about our environment— in the decorated bags."- Earth Day Bags

Click here to get your class involved!

(Note from Earth Day Bags): "Another Idea: If you can't use paper bags, you can have your students decorate individual fliers, or even bookmarks, which can be handed out to shoppers or inserted in their shopping bags.  These will be counted in the project tally."

Sneakers

Converse All Star: Sneaker Design (hit create)

Ways to use it:
Have kids name their shoe design and write why someone should buy their shoe. What makes it so cool?
Have kids compare their shoe designs. Are there any similarities? (graphing)
Kids can create word problems. If someone bought three pairs of their sneakers, how much would the total cost be?
Older students can explore color combinations (probability)

Taste the Rainbow

Skittles Exploration
1. Online collaboration project - skype and compare results with schools across the U.S. (Registration opens March 1)
2. Skittles Density Column - Cool Science at Home
3. Skittle Chromatography - Awesome Crazy Guyz
4. Skittle Color Separation - Parents: Homeschool Den
5. Fizzle a Skittle - Gigi Reviews
6. Skittles Riddle Book - Fun with a variety of math concepts
7. Skittle Arrays / Fractions - click here
8. Crack a skittle open like a clam shell?! - Parenting

Free Printables!
1. Skittles Graph, Tally, Sort - Golden Gang Kindergarten
2. Skittles Math Center - Erica Bohrer's First Grade
3. Skittles Place Value - Beacon Learning
4. Skittles Fractions - NWACC

Online Tool
Pie chart creator

Lego Chrome

Build with Chrome: Kids find and explore different plots. They can recreate a famous landmark or just play around! Once they are finished building, they can print their creation and find the area and perimeter of their structure. You can print a 3D or 2D version of your art. Click here for digital Lego Geometry on Build with Chrome. Click here for tactile Lego Geometry.

PBL KID Web Quests

kid tech via alamy / kid astronaut via kids dream spot

Astronomy
Solar System Explorers - Mrs. Laurel Anderson
Mission to Mars - Lori Teacher
Come to My Planet - Janice Oliver
Physics
Simple Machines: Playground Design - Sherry Nevola
Biology
Animal Classification - Teach-nology
Animal Adaptations - FGSE Nova
Animal Life Cycles - Warrensburg K-12
Habitat Adventure - IHRIC
Math
Moving to the Beat: Choreography - Teach-nology
Multiplication: Game Design - St. J Schools

KENKEN

KENKEN is a math puzzle created by Japanese mathematics instructor Tetsuya Miyamoto, to "improve students’ math and logic skills." You can have students work on interactive puzzles or print them. Puzzles are on 4x4 (beginners), 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, or 9x9 (advanced) grids. Click here for more information!

Below is an example of a 4x4 puzzle. Kids practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. They must rearrange the numbers so each row and column has the numbers 1-4 with no repeats.

How Old Are You?!

Explore place value using the real world application of age! Students will get a kick out of seeing their age in months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds! 

Visit Math Cats to figure out exactly how old you are!

Example

Born July 22, 2004
Current day and time: December 18, 2012 / 3:28pm

8 years old

100 months old

438 weeks old

3,071 days old

73,719 hours old

4,423,154 minutes old

and you're aging by the second!