2 Bright Ideas for the Science Classroom

1. Have your students make their own nature films - Wildlife Filmmaker is a cool toy from National Geographic that allows users to make a nature film complete with animal clips, sounds, music, and more. It's easy to use and doesn't take too long. Your kids should be able to make a movie in as little as two class periods.

2. Check out the Killer Clips at animalplanet.com - Sink your teeth into some of the wildest video on the planet. Then get the Killer Clips widget and embed the videos into your website (see below).

Click here for 8 more bright ideas for the science classroom.

Learning about Emancipation

It's been one of my beliefs for years now that one of the best ways to improve your teaching is simply to learn more about your subject. This is particularly true for elementary teachers--we don't have nearly the content knowledge that our colleagues at the secondary level have. That's why I believe we should all make the effort to learn more about the subjects we teach: more about history, economics, geography, culture, and government in social studies; more about physics, chemistry, life science, astronomy, and geology in science; more about algebra, geometry, number theory, data analysis, and probability in math.

This Tuesday Barack Obama will take the oath of office by putting his hand on the Abe Lincoln's bible. As you know, Abraham Lincoln was the president responsible for the Emancipation Proclamation, the document that freed slaves from the Confederate states. But how much do you really know about the history surrounding this document? Here's a link to a podcast from the NPR show On Point with Tom Ashbrook that will help those teachers interested in learning more about it. The show's title is called Remembering Emancipation. Listen and learn!


Technorati Tags: education| learning | history | inauguration

Check out: Slavery in America | Waves of Immigration | Declaration of Independence

The Federation of Gallery Explorers

Here's one for the science teachers. The Federation of Galaxy Explorers seeks to inspire and educate kids in space related science and engineering. Galaxy Explorers was created to prepare children for the future; a future that advances a space faring civilization. Kids in Galaxy Explorers attend after-school (or evening) monthly "Mission Team" meetings and periodic field trips. Adult volunteers teach Galaxy Explorers with easy to understand and fun-to-do educational material to provide a hands-on understanding of space science, earth science, engineering, and rocketry.

Members have access to a number of free resources: space suits, meteorite collections, GPS units, science equipment, telescopes, rocketry equipment, etc. They also offer free tours and training (given by NASA and Air Force space professionals) to teachers and Mission Team Leaders.

Check out this nonprofit company's website for more information AND dozens of free lesson plans.

Check out: Tessellations | Rainforest Webquest | Teaching about Photosynthesis

Bright Ideas for Your Classroom

Looking for some bright ideas for your classroom? I've added a new section to misterteacher.com called Bright Ideas for Your Classroom. As of now this section is still relatively small with two resources: Grants 101 and Digital Photography in the Classroom. Here's a rundown of each:

• Grants 101: Grant-writing can be an extraordinarily time-consuming process. It may also be discouraging to receive so many rejection letters. If you want to increase your likelihood of getting a grant, you should at least avoid some of the most common mistakes and get the basics right. Grants 101 provides readers with tips to ensure that they’re on the right track to getting the money they need for the big project. There is a wealth of resources available online to help you find grants and craft proposals. You'll find five of the best sites at Grants 101.
• Digital Photography in the Classroom - Built for educators in all grade levels and subject areas, this site provides readers with creative ways to integrate digital photograhy into their teaching. Here you'll learn how to acquire photos and then use them to create engaging activities for your students.
  

More bright ideas are in the works. Check back soon to see what is in store!

Technorati Tags: education| learning | grants | digital photography

From Hobby to Business - Incredible Social Studies Resources

As a fifth grade teacher, it's my job to introduce my students to a broad range of content that covers all sorts of subjects within social studies--history, economics, geography, culture, and government. The social studies resources that I've added to my site support standards in the People in Societies and Government strands of the Ohio Academic Content Standards. Two subjects, immigration and slavery in America, were ones that I thought were taught in just about any elementary school in America. Here's a rundown of what is now available at my site:

• Waves of Immigration: 1892 - 1954 - This resource totals five webpages and describes the waves of immigrants that passed through Ellis Island. Two pages are dedicated to Ellis Island: one that delivers a brief history and the other telling what it was like for the immigrants when they registered there. Two other pages describe the immigrant experience when they arrived in America. All of the pages are printable so teachers can give students a hard copy--just click the Grab It! button.
  
• Slavery in America - Another resource totaling five web pages, Slavery in America focuses mostly on the life of slaves in the United States. Topics include Negro Spirituals, Slave Narratives, the Underground Railroad, and the Emancipation Proclamation. These pages are not yet printable but will be very soon!
• Declaration of Independence - I also have included a one page article on the Declaration of Independence. It talks about what is written on the document and explains a little of the history behind it. This page is printable.
  

Don't forget about the Constitution WebQuest - not really a WebQuest, but a quiz that takes students all over the Internet to find the answers to the questions. It is interactive and provides students with immediate feeback.

If you teach at the intermediate level, then these resources are perfect for you. Check them out and then pass them on, link to the site, print the pages, etc. Remember, they are all free!

Technorati Tags: education| learning | history | immigration

Also Check Out: Tessallations | Teaching Photosynthesis

From Hobby to Business, PART 1

Seven years ago I built my first website. Before blogs & wikis - before Web 2.0 - were mainstream, I was looking for a way to publish my students' work online. It was a lot of work having them compose their work, email it to me so that I could copy it to an HTML file on Dreamweaver, and then upload that file to the web server space I had purchased.

During that time I experimented a great deal and ended up creating some pretty cool resources--complete with Flash movies and interactive features--that I've used for instruction over the years. In 2004, I switched to using blogs and in the process saved myself considerable time getting my students' work online. I did, however, keep the original website and continued to make resources for my students.

It was about that time that I noticed my site started to get a little traffic; not much by any means, but obviously more than what my students were giving it. I didn't pay much notice until last year when the numbers starting doubling and even tripling over the course of the year. Seeing an opportunity, I stuck a few Google Ads on the site and a few months later received my first paycheck. I've gotten a few more of those checks since then--the amounts have been nothing substantial--it's made me decide that I would like to make an effort to turn my fledgling website, misterteacher.com, into a small business that offers resources to teachers and their students.

I've spent countless hours over the past few months adding content and other resources to the site. It has nowhere near the amount of resources or content as many other websites for teachers, but I hope to change that in the months in ahead. The best part about all of this for teachers is that I PLAN TO KEEP EVERYTHING FREE! All the websites, printables, WebQuests...everything. If you come across something you like, you don't have to worry about paying any kind of fee to get it or use it.

I plan to post about the changes throughout this week. Each day I'd like to write about one of the new resources and I even plan to work in a post that describes the business model I've chosen. Stay tuned if you'd like to hear about some incredible new teaching resources in the days ahead.