Earth Day

Earth Day is today, but should be a day that all of us "celebrate" everyday. Educating students how to reduce their carbon footprints, is not only ethical but necessary. With my younger students, I have introduced them to vocabulary and the basics of recycling. Check out these two helpful, and of course fun links regarding Earth Day.


http://havefunteaching.com/activities/holiday-activities/earth-day-activities/

http://resources.kaboose.com/games/earthday.html

Blogging on Blogging

I have subscribed to two technology blogs and try to keep up with their posts via an e-reader on my iPad. My favorite is Jeff Utecht's Thinking Stick. Utecht currently works as a high school technology and learning consultant at an international school in Bangkok. His ideas, organized website and topics give me food for thought. I also stumbled upon  Dan Meyer's Blog dy/dan after researching Sal Khan's Khan Academy. He has some interesting posts under the headings of "Design," "Guest Blogger," and "New Teacher Lab."

SMART Exchange

SMART Exchange provides teachers with an extensive collection of SMART Board lessons in a variety of subject areas such as geography, math, science and music. The library is categorized by grade level as well as subject matter. Using the search bar makes finding useful lessons a breeze. I have used SMART Exchange many times in my classroom (see Hip Hop Handwriting entry) and enjoy looking at the ready-to-go lessons the site offers.

4 Days Off and then the finish line is near...

The end is finally in sight. This weekend the district afforded us a 4 day reprieve due to the Easter holiday. The final few days off will be the last vacation before the end of the 2011-2012 school year. When we return on Tuesday, we will have 7 weeks to finish up the 4th quarter. Reflecting back, I am happy with the progress the students have made this year, both academically and behaviorally. Some have excelled beyond my expectations and others are still working towards achieving their IEP goals. During the last seven weeks of school, I hope to extend our learning by providing a rigorous learning environment...tough to do this time of year. This blog will help me keep up the technology aspect of learning. If I don't, Mr. Hodge...please give me a nudge!

Hip Hop Handwriting

SMART Exchange publishes a wide variety of SMARTBoard lessons for various grade levels. I particularly enjoy the Hip Hop Handwriting lesson due to the incorporation of learning modalities. The lesson requires visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles. The lesson provides students with printed letters of the alphabet as well as catchy rap songs for most of the letters. Students can practice letter recognition, letter sounds and letter formation. I use the SMARTBoard to guide the students through the lesson and also supply the students with individual dry erase boards for practice at their desks. Lastly, I usually choose one student to model correct letter formation on the SMARTBoard.

Khan Academy in my classroom

A few days ago, two students were sent to my room for misbehavior in the regular classroom. As the students looked at me, I thought I could handle the situation in one of two ways.

Option A:  An immediate lecture on respectful behavior.

I paused and stared into their eyes and could see the frustration, bubbling over like a pot with a tightly-fitted lid.

Option B: An impromptu lesson to ease the tension.

Without further hesitation, I pulled up a Khan Academy  video on 3-digit addition with regrouping and was amazed at the attention it beckoned. After the short video, I wrote a series of addition problems on the board and said "Go." Keep in mind, both students have difficulties with completing assignments due to a general lack of motivation, rather than a lack of ability. As I walked between their desks, I smiled with satisfaction as the boys began changing their negative behaviors and learning a new skill at the same time. The three of us spent 20 minutes reviewing their work and providing feedback. At one point, the boys checked eachother's work and explained why the totals were correct/incorrect.

I suppose I lifted their tight-fitted lids and turned down the temperature a bit. After about an hour, I took the boys aside to discuss appropriate classroom behavior. Now, if only Khan Academy had some behavior videos;)

Graphing

The students participated in an introductory lesson on graphing today. Using a pre-made worksheet, the students learned how to complete a bar graph. To further the lesson, I also incorporated the SMARTBoard software to summarize the graphing results. After the students completed the worksheet, the class worked together to color the bars of the graph on the SMARTBoard. I found this graphing website which I would like to use in the near future. I was thinking about filling plastic eggs with M&M's and having students complete a graph of the different colored M&M's. I am sure the candy would make the kids happy and provide a source of motivation:)