Are You Looking for Non-fiction Material for Students to Read?

Jazz up your lessons with some great non-fiction articles for your students to read! Check out the suggestions below to incorporate in your classroom:

• DOGOnews - the leading source for current events, news and non-fictional content for ELA, Science, and Social Studies. Thousands of news articles and original content added daily for students, teachers, and schools. Other DOGO media includes DOGObooks, DOGOmovies, IDOGO, and DOGOteachers
  
• Newsela - has an app or website to access nonfiction in any subject. Many articles are from sources like the Associated Press, Washington Post, and Scientific American. They have material in five reading levels to engage K-12 students in high-interest nonfiction, current events, primary sources, speeches, biographies, and historical news. I love how you can filter your search by choosing grade level and also by reading skills. There are 8 different reading skills that you can filter: 
     
            1) What the Text Says
            2) Central Idea
            3) People, Events & Ideas
            4) Word Meaning & Choice
            5) Text Structure
            6) Point of View/Purpose
            7) Multimedia
            8) Arguments & Claims
  
• TweenTribune - News from Smithsonian for K-12 teachers. Locate news articles and assign stories with a single click through digital devices. They have a "Monday Morning Ready" newsletter as prep for the week ahead if you want to incorporate easy weekly lesson plans. TweenTribune also has Weekly Videos that answer questions from Smithsonian experts.
  
• Kids Discover Online -  Award-winning library of science and social studies material on any device, at any time. Free sign-up to get started. Kids Discover has been around for over 25 years and now is online! Go to the Resources tab to read from their blog, or on infographics, or their Quick Reads section. Of course, there is also a Kids Discover app for devices!
  
• KidsHealth - Most visited site on the Web for information about health, behavior, and development from before  birth through the teen years. Really 4 sites in one, having sections for parents, kids, teens, and educators. KidsHealth is more than just the facts about health. It provides families with perspective, advice, and comfort about a wide range of physical, emotional, and behavioral issues that affect children and teens.
  
• NASA Stories- go here to get current articles about NASA events and the current missions or launches in progress.  Check out the archived stories and all the different tab categories. There is a whole section for students, as well as a NASA Kids' Club with games to play to learn more about NASA.

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Posted in articles, current events, devices, educator, games, health, news, newspaper, non-fiction, online, parents, Reading, resources, science, skills, Smithsonian, Social Studies, students

SMART Notebook Files in Easter Theme

Wow, what a find today when I ran across this awesome resource just in time for the Easter holiday. If you want to engage your students (we know how their little minds wander when it's so pretty outside) with some fun activities, check out Shannon Long's (@SweetBlessShan) Smart Notebook files for Easter. While you are browsing through them, think  about how she has organized these in a LiveBinder. It beats going through your old school files flipping through pages & pages of materials. Does anyone do that anymore? I know I spent many years in team meetings choosing the activities that everyone brought to the table for our unit. I think that they dreaded me coming with my large stack to cull through. It was so time consuming and now with digital technology, everything can be saved and organized online with a SEARCH feature to boot. That in itself is worth all the time saved. I hope you will agree that these resources will be a hit in your classroom. You don't have to bookmark them all. In LiveBinder, they allow you to add other binders to your shelf. It is free to join, and does not require you to create one. You can just go and add all the ones that others have curated! Now, go and enjoy this spring weather since you now have so many activities ready for your students next week!

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Posted in Easter, holiday, LiveBinder, resources, Smart Board, SMART Notebook, teaching

It has been super busy and crazy here in Southeast, TEXAS. Can I blame it on the unpredictable weather we have been having? I am finally able to shout out about my awesome attendance at TCEA in Austin, Texas six days ago. It was, as always, great to be around TECHie & NERDy friends around the country to learn and collaborate. In fact, one can learn so much that your head feels like it will explode! I have come across sites where attendees have accumulated their learnings and resources. I wanted you to have the links all in one place and check out some of my favorite ones. Of course, you can always refer back to the hashtags, #tcea15, #tcea2015, #learnanywhere on Twitter to find more. The handouts that TCEA provides  is another place to find resources. I also found that Miquel Guhlin shared his own resources through Postach.io in combination with Evernote.  He graciously provides a how-to explaining the tracking of Twitter with Evernote and Postach.io. Ok, enough rambling, here is my takeaways for you:

1.      Lesson Planet - stated that they were a combination of Simple K12, Atomic Learning, and Lynda.com   
I have 4 sheets to share with you with the information. Jake Moore: jake@lessonplanet.com 
888-217-7166  He said he would be willing to set up a webinar anytime to share the product with you, teachers, admin, etc. 
 

2.      AWE: Advanced Workstation Education: whitepaper available on data from 2013-14 in a Georgia Elementary school where average improvement was 55% in literacy scores across 4 Kindergarten classrooms! STAR assessment results (Works on Dell Venue tablets) Recommends only 2 per classroom or 8 in a lab setting in a rotation with Student Learning centers. Video about Case Study: http://www.awelearning.com/en/testimonial-videos/meadowviewelementary/ 
 

3.      Augmented Reality6: goo.gl/Gw2jPe (Teresa Hargrave went to this one) 
 

4.      Miquel Guhlin's Postach.io: http://mguhlin.postach.io/tag/tcea15 
 

5.      New Resource for School Administrators: Digital Leadership Daily: http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2015/02/a-new-resource-for-school-administrators-digital-leadership-daily.html 
 

6.      Augmented Storytelling (Lisa Johnson) https://www.bulbapp.com/u/cooking-up-augmented-storytelling 
 

7.      Dean Shareski Keynote: http://www.slideshare.net/shareski/from-so-what-to-now-what 
 

8.      What Do You Want Leaders to do with Technology: http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/5056 
 

9.      Changing Role of the Instructional Technologist (audio here): http://mguhlin.postach.io/tcea15-the-changing-role-of-the-instructional-technologist-audio-mradkins-dshudde 
 

10.     Online Materials for Sessions_Academies: http://mguhlin.postach.io/tcea15-online-materials-for-sessions 
 

11.     friachEdTechnology_amy's sessions:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1apSH3BpZSPrz8ZJSwU02_PU9COXWS_FiqCNO3FCjpcU/edit 
 

12.     TCEA15 Slidedeck on learnanywhere: http://mguhlin.postach.io/tcea15-collaborative-notes-slidedeck-on-learnanywhere 
 

13.     Monica Martinez's Embracing YouTube: https://sites.google.com/site/monicassites101/youtube 
 

14.     Coaching vs. Mentoring by DrBruceEllis: http://goo.gl/vFhdsA 
 

15.     Padlet of App Smackdown by j2training : http://padlet.com/j2training/appsmackdown 
 

16.     Steve Anderson's links: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EKsj_brzQuuNfWsusoqKrdNpjmzpdjbwzNk7EfwSMQA/edit 
 

17.     Greg Garner's PLC presentation:https://www.haikudeck.com/digital-tools-for-your-plc-education-presentation-XiBtbBWDSV#slide-6 
 

18.     Tech Infusion presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1L_9Z0_vgvu8-NyY75yRPJDq4UdsGDJ6PD2R7Ou8d4FU/edit#slide=id.p 
 

19.     Value of Technology, Six Questions to ask: https://mrmck.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/6-quick-questions-to-determine-technologys-value/ 
 

20.     Fabulous & Free: http://fabandfree.weebly.com/

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Posted in AR, AWE, edtech, free, ITs, leader, Learn Anywhere, lesson planet, links, Lisa Johnson, miquel guhlin, resources, TCEA 2015, Tech, Twitter

Math: Number Lines

I received a request today from a teacher who was looking for interactive resources while teaching number lines. She shared that they are comparing the hundred number charts to the number lines while searching out the patterns and finding missing numbers. Of course students will need to explain their thinking using the visuals. I created this SMORE with a few resources that I hope will help them. Let me know if you have recommendations that work for you. My two favorite resources from this digital online flyer is Find the Number from Oxford University and then the Number Line Hotel from Think Math. Hope you enjoy these: https://www.smore.com/1z7ar

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Posted in hundred chart, math, number lines, number square, resources, smore

New Teachers, Please Support

We were all there once. Young, excited, ready to branch out on the hard earned career of teaching. It excites my soul each year when we host our New Teacher Training sessions. Each year I am able to meet those new faces that come to our District ready to put their teaching talents in gear. I have been pleasantly happy this year as I meet more and more young faces who are tech savvy and ready to incorporate those technology tools that they are very comfortable using. I hope many of you seasoned teachers allow yourself to be rejuvenated by their excitement and energy. Please, please consider your own comments and be courteous and positive in welcoming New Teachers to our profession. Be careful not to drag them into negative conversations. I have come across some tips and resources that I'd like to share for new Teachers and maybe you can pass them along too.

1. Develop your PLN (Personal Learning Network) on Twitter
Twitter is a great starting place for new teachers to connect, collaborate, and share ideas with educators around the world. Let me suggest the #ntchat (new teachers chat) for support with like-minded teachers. You can also check out the many other educational hashtags for others to follow.

2. Keep students engaged (have extra tasks and activities on hand)
It is a good idea to have engaging activities on hand to keep students on task and learning at all times. If they are bored with nothing occupying their minds, they will misbehave. Technology is a great way to fill those extra minutes with whole class critical thinking and problem solving activities. You may want to keep a weblist, symbaloo, or livebinders with links to these approved websites that are both educational and fun. Below are a few suggestions:
Light Up Your Brain
Ask.com
I Know That. Com
Factmonster.com
Invention at Play
Zoopz.com
Exploratorium
Wonderopolis

3. Consider your own Personal Learning PD
Yes, we have our degree, but learning is never complete. A good teacher is adding continues to learn and improve. Technology makes it easy 24/7 and allows you professional development on demand. Keeping yourself updated on current education issues, and learning new teaching methods will help you understand your students while they struggle with new learning. Below are District resources for learning and a few others you may enjoy:
Atomic Learning 
Learner.org 
Teacher Tap
Learning.com 
Knowmia
Coursera 
Edutopia Instructional Modules

4. Keep Communications Open for Parents
Connections between home and school is important and your time and efforts will pay off. Informed parents can be advocates for your students’ education at home. Here are a few sites to help you keep parents involved and informed:
(Class website) Class Blog – Blogger, Edublogs, Kidblogs

5. Keep Organized with Tools and Apps
You will be discovering many resources and ideas to use in your teaching career. Be prepared to keep track of the great finds by saving your information to your favorite location. Here are a few suggestions to help:
Evernote (web notebook)
Pinterest (social bookmarking, lessons)
Diigo (social bookmarking)
LiveBinder (web notebook, presenter)
Google + 
Scoop It
Educlipper

6. Follow Educational Blogs
Discover a favorite one stop place to read all the posts on the blogs that you choose to follow. Feedly or BlogLovin are two suggestions. Check out some of my favorite blogs to follow or discover ones that you like.
Teacher Reboot Camp – http://teacherrebootcamp.com
Cybraryman – http://cybraryman.com
I Learn Technology – http://ilearntechnology.com
Project Based Learning - http://biepbl.blogspot.com/
Matt B Gomez – http://mattbgomez.com
Mathy Cathy – http://mathycathy.com/blog
You Matter – http://angelamaiers.com/blog
TechChef4u- http://techchef4u.com

7. Know Your Students
Get to know each student individually. Find out about their likes, dislikes, family, pets, friends, hobbies, etc. Consider setting up a classroom blog or twitter account for students to write in a protected web space. Pose questions and comments that will engage students in discussions.

8. Work Smarter, Not harder
There are many resources that will help you maximize your time and provide free lesson plans online for various topics and grade levels. Check out a few here:
A to Z Teacher Stuff – http://atozteacherstuff.com
Oswego Resources - http://resources.oswego.org/cur/standards/
Lesson Plan Sites - http://www.angelo.edu/services/library/govdocs/lessonelem.php
Share My Lesson - http://www.sharemylesson.com/teaching-resources/

9. Always Be Prepared, Look Professional
Plan out your lessons and keep them organized. Many teachers work together in teams to make lesson planning easier. There are many online interactive websites available for your lessons.

10. Have fun and be yourself
Let students know more about their teacher. Don’t be afraid to admit failure and say, “I don’t know” The fun is in learning together!

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Posted in #ntchat, back to school, new teacher, professional, resources, teaching

Web 2.0 Resources for BYOT Programs

Organized by categories, check out these sites for supporting BYOD or BYOT in the classroom. Remember to start simple and then add more as you go through the year. There are plenty of resource here to keep you busy.

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Posted in BYOD, BYOT, edchat, edtech, elearning, resources

Another Smackdown

What is it about Smackdowns that draws me in? I like the rapid pace of sharing tech tools and new emerging technologies, but also that it gives you so many resources at one spot! This one is definitely one you don't want to miss. You will hear from host +Matt Gomez. +Sam Patterson, +Jon Samuelson, +Jeff Bradbury, and +Jeff Herb. Love the list of linked tools here.  The video podcast can be seen and heard on YouTube if you want to add it to your Playlist or Subscribe. By the way, if you are a Google Blogger, I am using my iPad app to write this post. It is my first try on the Blogger app. Anxious to see if it works!

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Posted in blogger, ipad, resources, smackdown, technology, Tools