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ET Digest Pack 6 - 12
Thursday, September 9th, 2010
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"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity."
~ Louis Pasteur
1. THE DAILIES
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1850
It was on this day that California, the Golden State, became the 31st state of the country. It's the most populous state in America, with eight of the country's largest cities as well, including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. It has a widely varied climate, a diverse population, and a geography varying from a large Pacific coastline, to Mediterranean climates, to deserts, and high mountain ranges. While many people believe its primary industry is entertainment, it is actually agriculture.
CALIFORNIA: A WEB TREK & STATE BROCHURE:
[LINK2]
Students in grades 4 through 9 will learn much more about California as they visit selected sites, answer questions, and create a state brochure (template included), in this Web Trek & state brochure activity.
THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH:
Journey back to the mid 1800's and explore the art and stories of the California Gold Rush with this interactive and online exhibit from the Oakland Museum. Explore mines and towns, experience the Gold Rush Tour, learn about the women involved in the Gold Rush, participate in a Gold Rush Adventure, or take the Gold Rush quiz.
MORE ON THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH:
[LINK2] [LINK3]
Sutter's Mill, California; what was its significance in history? Well in 1848, gold found at this location set off the gold rush, and it was boom time for California. Explore the people involved, get to know the events, take a look at the map and timeline, play the interactive game, "Strike it Rich!" at the 2nd link, and find some suggestions for lesson plans at the 3rd link at this website from PBS.
UNITED STATES OUTLINE & CAPITALS MAPS:
[LINK2] [LINK3]
These maps of the United States can help you out in the classroom. The 1st one above shows only the political boundaries; nothing else is labeled, making it perfect for quick state location and labeling drills. The 2nd one offers marked capitals, with the 3rd link providing the same map, with capitals located by stars but no further identification provided.
STATE MAPS:
[LINK2]
Want more in the way of American maps? Try downloading these state maps - with all fifty of them offered! The 2nd link above offers an outline map of the U.S. with abbreviations for all of the states.
STATE CAPITALS:
[LINK2]
Practice matching up all the states with their corresponding capitals in this interactive multiple choice game. The 2nd link offers a similar game, with bigger sound effects.
WHERE'S THAT STATE?
Here's an interesting game version of the fifty states. Students have to place the state in its correct location on a completely blank map - no borders given!
50 STATES WORDSEARCH:
For any study of the 50 states, or a patriotic celebration or holiday, print out this student wordsearch to find all fifty states.
"The force of character is cumulative."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. ONLINE EDITION
INCREDIBOX:
Choose French or English, select your icons, and let the fun begin with this interactive music feature, where students will choose different instruments, vocals, and effects to create some spectacular songs.
12 QUICK TIPS FOR GOOGLE SEARCHES:
Are your middle and high school students using the internet to do research this year? Silly question; of course they are! (Can you imagine a time in the not-too-distant future where books will be all but forgotten? Good essay topic!) Best to have them conduct their searches like pros then, and here's a good place to start the tutorial, with excellent search tips.
GLOGSTER.EDU:
A Basic membership is offered for teachers and schools, where students can each create a "glog" - or an interactive, multimedia poster, or collaborate on class projects. You can use this platform to assign activities and projects, as well as monitor student progress.
3. FRONT PAGE FOCUS
FINDING FAULTY LOGIC:
What is persuasive writing attempting to do? It will help students to examine various examples of this kind of writing before beginning their own attempts. This online module takes students through numerous examples, with interactive, guided questions to check their responses.
STRATEGIES FOR BETTER READING:
Students will practice summarizing, inference, identifying main ideas, and predictions with this online reading comprehension practice resource.
READ THE FINE PRINT:
Don't get sucked in! Teach your students to read the fine print (and they might just end up reading instructions as well!). This online module helps students make choices and gain literacy sophistication, as well as a basic knowledge of how advertising and persuasive campaigns tend to work.
WRITTEN RESPONSES TO NOVELS:
[LINK2]
Let's face it; book reports can be monotonous to listen to or grade. So if they're boring for the teacher, they must be equally so for the student. Add a new challenge with the numerous, alternative ideas listed here to respond to literature.
THE TWO MINUTE BOOK REPORT:
Two minutes and two minutes only - those are the parameters for these speedy book reviews. With a bit of practice your students might become addicted, and want even more book reviews! Try to make it at least a weekly event - a Friday Feature? The 2nd minute has to be devoted to a selected oral reading from the book, so make sure students choose well and practice until they get used to choosing the right amount of text to fill that minute.
SYMBOLIC BORDERS:
Whether you want your students to focus on the story setting, its characters, the plot, or theme, this exercise can be a powerful tool for focus and comprehension. Students will use visual symbols to design a border to represent the concept. Take it one step further, and have them design book jackets for your current novel study, along the same idea.
SUMMARIZE AS YOU READ:
How can students learn how to summarize passages? It's an important skill, and these interactive practice modules will help them out.
4. THE MATH PAGES
DECIMAL DARTS:
This decimal game involves estimation as well as knowledge of decimals. Students must find numbers between given decimals - but that's not all. First they must estimate where the balloon lies on the decimal line, before throwing darts. There are 3 levels of difficulty to challenge students. Fun!
MATH TRAIN:
Kids at Lincoln Middle School (Santa Monica, CA) present online videos they have created on various math topics. We tried out a presentation and tutorial on simple interest and were impressed!
5. LANGUAGE ARTS REPORTER
SCIENCE FICTION AND THE FUTURE:
If you have some students who don't respond to the usual literature selections, you just might be able to get them enthused about reading - and responding - with science fiction. Twenty short stories are used in this unit for variety - a good strategy to begin with so reluctant readers aren't weighed down by thinking they have to read a lengthy "tome". The unit also encourages students to think about their own future, about possibilities and alternatives, technology, and change. Three lesson plans are included.
METAGLOSSARY:
Here's a language tool that can come in handy for both you and your students. Type in a word or phrase (I found it great for finding phrases), and get search results from quality sources.
6. EXTRA! EXTRA!
PEER PRESSURE GUIDANCE:
Empower your students to be able to refuse peer pressure by teaching them how to assess true meanings, follow their instincts, and to refer to the "Trouble Principle".
FREE RICE:
Here's a nice way to encourage vocabulary development and help others at the same time. For each correct term entered, students will be able to donate so many grains of rice.
STUDENT NEWS:
[LINK2]
By middle to high school, students should be keeping well abreast of current events, understanding the issues and knowing how to access the facts behind the stories. Here are two sites detailed specifically for student access to current events. Plan a weekly current event discussion, where students can present and/or discuss selected topics.
7. TEACHERS' FEATURES
PEN PALS WANTED!
Looking for pen pals? Currently there are fifth grade classes who would like to hear from you!
If you want to find your own pen pal exchange, we'll post it for you. Send us a note to: penpals@realmworkscommunications.com
Then take a look on our Pen Pal Bulletin Board to see your post, and to find others.
*Be sure to include your school contact information!
DEALING WITH DIFFICULT STUDENT BEHAVIORS:
From shy students who are reluctant to find their voice in student discussions, to ramblers, know-it-alls, aggressive students, gripers, or hecklers, you'll find some possible responses to each behavior to help you recognize and deal with difficult student conduct in your own classroom.
RESPECT, TALKING, & BEHAVIOR:
Curb the chatty students and expect respect right at the beginning of your class, with these lessons for establishing respect and appropriate conduct, with lessons to handle timeouts and inappropriate talking as well.
STEPPING OUT:
Have some chatty students in your class? Where are those raised hands? Need to establish a few rules on respect? Then take a look at these tips, along with a fill-in-the-blank worksheet for students on determining and understanding appropriate classroom behavior.
SEVEN HABITS OF GOOD TEACHERS:
Teaching practices and expectations have changed, sometimes quite dramatically, since the author of this article first began her career in the 1950's. She reflects on those differences and offers perspective on what it takes to be a good teacher in today's challenging educational climate.
KEEPING TRACK OF ASSIGNMENTS:
Are you super organized? If so, then you might appreciate this method of keeping students on track. You'll need a calendar template; we have one available in our Upper Level Teachers' Resource Book, offered as a bonus for membership or renewals this month:
http://www.everydayteaching.com
20 CLASSICAL TEACHING MISTAKES:
I find it always helps to have some mistakes pointed out, so I'll know how to recognize and better deal with them (I've been guilty of the mistake pointed out here, "Does everyone understand?"). In the same manner, I hope these tips will be helpful to you as well.
8. HEADLINES
WHEN DOES HOLDING TEACHERS ACCOUNTABLE GO TOO FAR?
The Los Angeles Times invited pandemonium when a team of its reporters published a value-added analysis of Los Angeles School Districts' individual teachers' progress scores, saying it was providing transparency for parents. The technique used is controversial, to say nothing of the report and its release. And then in Washington, school chancellor Michelle Rhee fired over 100 teachers before school started, based on value-added scores. Is it an appropriate measure of accountability? As this article points out, value-added scores are often swayed by the appointment of students to classes; it's not a random system, so lower scores accompany low-skilled learners in the first place. Some suggestions included here: improving standardized tests and adding peer reports to teacher evaluations.
MORE ON VALUE ADDED MODELING:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/education/01teacher.html
*Comment on our news selections, at our blog:
http://classroomflyer.blogspot.com
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