While so much went on at CUE 2010 in Palm Springs this weekend, I wanted to share some thoughts and information while it is fresh in my mind. And based on my sinus infections things could go stale very quickly! :)
First off it was just amazing that our District was able to send 17 teachers to the conference funded by our EETT C grant. It was not originally planned, but with staff development funding in the grant available, we were able to get it approved. Fourteen of the seventeen teachers were first time attendees and I could see the happy faces on Friday night when when we all met up and I asked, "What was the best thing you saw today?" For many of the teachers it was difficult to find one thing as their best. The excitement was abuzz and they were ready to tackle Saturday with enthusiasm. We got some of them using Twitter and "tweets" were flying back and forth as they days progressed with information about sessions.
Over the next two weeks these teachers will be sharing their experiences and what they have learned at our last staff development day of the grant for this year. I'm sure they will bring that same enthusiasm back to our training days. Their move from trainee to trainer has now become complete for many of them. This sharing will be posted in our SWATTEC wiki as the training week progresses and teachers will have access to it when they want to go back and look for a resource. It's always been important to have a place to put all our resources for teachers to have easy access. Over time this will be even more refined and organized so it is easier to use.
I'd like to give props to our vendors who have been so supportive to our teachers. They were so excited to see the teachers come by and say hello while the teachers were visiting the exhibit hall. I've heard that they have actually been spreading the news about our SWATTEC program.
For many of the 55 teachers in our program, the infusion of all the new technology over the last 2 years has been an uphill struggle, but they have worked very hard to implement the programs and use the new hardware to improve their student achievement. If the results from last year continue through this year, which I'm sure they will, they have met and exceeded any expectations. They should be very proud of themselves. So many props to our classroom teachers.
Providing quality staff development experiences like CUE is something all teachers should have the opportunity to participate in at least every couple of years.
Once more I've found more resources for teachers. Interesting how I find these. Picked these up from someone I follow on Twitter! Love those connections.
One of the programs on our Student Community links is Animoto. I was trying it out this morning and all I needed were some pictures, a choice of their music (you can upload your own - including recorded audio), and waiting for the program to process the video (that takes the longest).
Lots of fun. Here's an example. I know it's Christmas, but I didn't have any music on my computer for this.
If you want you students to have their own Animoto, you will need to apply for an education account.
Go here: www.animoto.com/education
They will send you the information to get started.
Many teachers have asked how to make a contact group. These groups are very handy for emailing grade level teams, office staff, and parents. Here's the lowdown:
Note: for the pictures below, if you need to see the larger version of a picture, click on it to make it bigger.
First of all, open up Zimbra and click on the "Address Book" tab.
Next, find the "New" drop down menu.
Choose "Contact Group"
The next screen is where the real magic happens. You'll give your group a name, select the members for it, and add those members to the group. <click picture to enlarge>
Once you've finished the above steps, all you have to do is save the group.
Now all you need to do to make use of your group is to type the name of your group in the "To:" line of a new email.
I'm sure quite a few people may know about this, but it is worth mentioning again. When you are looking for a math website to supplement your curriculum, this one is great. Sorted by great levels and types of math.
If you find one "game" that you think your students should play, just copy the URL of that game into a blog in the Student Community and they can all get the link from there. Much easier than having them type it in.
TeachersFirst is a great website with lots of input from teachers as a website in general. On of the best things is that you can sign up (for free) and get monthly ideas for some great integrated lessons. Here's one that is multi-age - great for buddy activities- that is based on The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
I had meant to post this back when I was in chpt. 5 of our math series, but I got distracted by the myriad of other stuff- go figure. Anyway, in our math text it seems that all the authors seem to agree that the first multiple of every number is zero. Now, I had been taught that 1 times a number is the "first" multiple of a number. So, unless the number you're looking at is zero, zero is not the multiple of any number.
Apparently it is more complicated than that. In the interest of being correct, I did some research. 0 is a multiple of every integer, but so are negative values of that integer times any other integer. That means truly multiples of 5 are {....-15, -10, -5, 0, 5, 10,...}. So I'm not going to outright say that the book is wrong. I will say that our text took the wrong approach. What we're interested in are not multiples of integers but multiples of natural numbers. After all, isn't the goal to eventually have these students calculating the LCM by comparing the multiples of the two (or more) numbers they're considering? If we teach them that zero is the first multiple now, what do we teach them later? Because they're sure to declare that 0 is the LCM every time. Think about it. Teacher: "What is the smallest number that I can divide both of these numbers by? Make a list, find the first multiple that appears in each, blah blah." If we undermine that method of finding LCM, then everyone will have to calculate it by using prime factorization (arguably not a bad thing).
If you're not in chpt. 5 yet, lucky you. If you've been there and didn't notice, you might want to go back and clarify any misconceptions. 5th grade will thank you for it.
I noticed this when I gave the publisher's test and kids were missing questions (graded with the key) that they had actually answered correctly (by my instruction). I generally use the text for pacing, practice work, and back-up if I don't know the topic as well as I'd like to. I couldn't figure out why during review discussions the kids kept telling me that zero was the first multiple. Sadly, it's in the book without the natural numbers explanation I gave above. I plan on putting a yellow sticky in my book to remind me of this next year.
Illuminations has a great bingo activity on order of operations. It requires very little prep. I've used bingo games to reinforce order of operations in sixth grade before, but most of the pre-done activities are geared for a higher level. This particular one is great for a first pass. There are no exponents to mess with.
I thought I would upload a graphic organizer that I like to use for order of operations. No big deal, here, but perhaps it will save you some time if you were thinking of doing something similar.
As I was going through my emails, I came across this great Jeopary game site that was shared with me from another teacher. I wanted to make sure it got out to as many teacher as possible as we are always looking for ways to engage our students in learning. Students love jeopary, and they can even be involved in creating one for the class. Again, this is free, and easy to use. Thanks to Sarah for this.
How often do you wish your students would practice their multiplication facts on a regular basis. We do have access to Tux Math on our netbooks, and that can be downloaded when they are home, but what if they are not at home.
If they have Internet access, here's a great website for students from 2nd through 6th grade to build their multiplicaiton skills.
Are your kids unmotivated to study for social studies? I've added the next installment of Social Studies Jeopardy: Since Unit 2 (4th grade) is so long I split in half and created a Jeopardy to review Lessons 1-4. You can access it at http://www.jeopardylabs.com/play/social-studies-unit-2-part-1
PS: A tip for palying the game: If a question is answered correctly, add the points before clicking "Continue", or the question will remain on the board to be selected again and again.
I created a template for the students to use on their Eeepcs to use as they gather info about the different California regions. I'm intending for them to do some guided internet searching for info (with me), but feel free to use it/change it however you want.
On Thursday, November 12, Tami Gardner and her class at Rio Vista did a Skype phone call to Iraq with her brother who is stationed in Baghdad. While the connection lasted he talked to the students and a few had an opportunity to ask him questions. Here is a picture from the event.
I wanted the class to brainstorm some words appropriate for the holiday (and school). Wordle is a fun way to showcase their efforts. Some of the students posted their Wordles on their blog. I also wanted to print with the coloring book option but could not find the option anywhere. Luckily Arlene came to the rescue with the surprisingly simple solution. All you have to do is click (or double click I think) the picture and the letters become outlines. If you choose a black and white color scheme (white background), you'll then have something that can be printed for later coloring. Thanks Arlene!
I'm always on the lookout for websites that can be used to supplement the curriculum using technology. One of my current favorites is Wordle.net. When you click on "create" you can enter as many words as you would like and they will form a word cloud. If you don't like the design, you can click on randomize at the bottom and it will change, or you can pick your own design.
So how do you integrate this into you curriculum? Ask you students to describe a character in a story by his traits. Have students list all the attributes of an earthquake. How about an All About Me? Sometimes just listing key words helps students remember facts more than long sentences. If your description is two words, like Los Angeles, just put a ~ in between (it's to the left of #1 on your keyboard). If you want a word to stand out (be larger) enter it more than once. I've linked a sample below. You don't have to always print it out. Having your students, upload it to their blog and post it there is a great way to share.
And while I think of it, this is free and there is no registration. Always a good thing.
I have some other websites, that I'll post in the next few days.
Here's another resource for graphic organizers. If you create an account (free), you can also make your own organizers. This would be useful with the Airliner.
For Open Court: The story, "Elias Sifuentes, Restaurateur," is coming up in unit 2. I found a site that has a short, two-person reader's theater that would be great for practicing fluency. Additionally, a pair of students could practice the piece, record it with their laptops (and Audacity), and export it for upload to the student community.
