Black History Ideas

We are Teachers recently shared their ideas for Black History Month.  You can see the resources here. There are suggestions for virtual field trips, black artists and inventors as well as poster ideas.

Teaching Black History with Authentic Voices

Please see this Discovery Education blog post with several resources for Black History Month.

Black History in Science

 

This newsletter from PBS includes information on famous black scientists. Please click here for the information.

Storyvoice

Storyvoice is the place for live interactive stories.  This free site is geared toward students in grades k-5.  Eric Curts recently shared this in his blog here.  There are several live readings each week (with the author or illustrator) and the sessions are archived for a limited time (the site says 24 hours yet some of the stories were listed to expire in 22 days). In addition to the story, each session has a related activity.

Want some beans with that rice?

Freerice has been around for several years.  Now there is BeanBeanBean.  It has some of the same features (answer questions correctly and money is donated to charity).  BeanBeanBean is supported by ads and you can request the field for questions.  There is one for the 50 states and state capitals- this is something I could have used when teaching fifth grade.

Interesting uses for ChatGPT

In this article in Edutopia from Hedreich Nichols, she shares several suggestions for using ChatGPT. I like the one suggesting using it instead of Google. You can read it here.

More Photo Words

Eric Curts has followed up his introduction to Photo Words with this recording  You can see the video above.

Ukraine is here!

Interested in the rich art and culture of Ukraine?  In several of the classes I’ve visited, I noticed we have several Ukrainian students now joining us.  Google Arts and Culture recently created a rich collection of Ukraine’s culture, nature, art, and architecture.  Please click here to view.

Stack those habits!

In today’s newsletter, Matt Miller remind me about a post from last year.  Habit stacking is an easy way to help your students learn new procedures.  Please see the post here.

Book Tasting?

While this post (and podcast) talks about graphic novels, Betsy’s (from Spark Creativity) plan would work for any genre.  Please click here to see her suggestions.

Looking for templates?

Check out the massive collection from Matt Miller (from Ditch the Textbook).  From Social Media to Communication to Graphic Organizers- lots to choose from!

Arthur and his podcast

Even though PBS ended Arthur with his 25th season last year, you can now listen to Arthur and his podcast.  This might be a way to improve your students’ listening skills and develop their imagination.  You can stop and see if they can predict what will happen next! Please click here for the 10 minutes weekly podcasts.

Google Slides Follower

Kasey Bell shared this video to show how you can follow a collaborator in Google slides.    When you are following someone (who is in the slide deck at the same time), your screen will mirror their screen.  So when they change to another slide, so will you. 

Shortcuts for sheets

 Are you a big Google Sheets user?  Then check out these top 20 shortcuts from Alice Keeler.

National Geographic in your classroom

National Geographic continues to bring scientists into your classroom. Topics include biology, history, and more!
Here is their schedule for this year (sessions start 1/23):

• Every Monday, 11 AM ET – Ages 4-8 | Grade K-2 | 30 minutes

• Every Thursday, 10 AM & 2 PM ET – Ages 9-14 | Grade 3-8 | 45 minutes

Explore upcoming sessions.  These YouTube broadcasts are archived so you can watch them at a time good for your class.

The Science of Learning

I heard Dr. Pooja Agarwal a few years ago at one of Matt Miller’s  Ditch the Textbook summits and I was intrigued by her research on how students learn (and more importantly how educators could help).  Recently I came across her  SXSW EDU video.  While I did like her book this video was much more engaging.  She provides several ideas on how we can help long-term learning (by having students practice retrieval).  And it takes no more time or work for the teacher.  From brain dumps to exit tickets, this is something you will want to try with your students.

Put PIctures in Words

Eric Curts shares this blog post to help your students put images in words!  Here are some of my samples:

See his directions here.

Discovery Education Engagement Ideas

In this newsletter from Discovery Education, you will find five suggestions to engage and animate your students and their learning. These ideas would work with a variety of content and are not limited to material in Discovery Education.

PBS on MLK

If you are looking for quality material to share (by grade level) about Dr. Martin Luther King, please see these PBS resources.

Help students write effectively

In his blog post from MiddleWeb, Tan Huynh shares several suggestions for helping students improve their writing.  Do you know what S.P.E.N.D. stands for?  See his post here

Free OnLine Professional Development

TeachersFirst just released their winter OK2Ask series.  These free 90-minute (or 2-hour) sessions are on Tuesday nights.  These are not just sit-and-get sessions- there is a large hands-on component.  You will earn PD credit. Please click here for the schedule and to register.

BrainPOP in January

There are several videos featured this month in the BrainPOP Teachers Lounge.  Please click here to view.

Book Club for Middle School

While I’ve never taught language arts, I found the comments in this book club article by Sara Kugler interesting. She offers several concrete suggestions to make these small group learning opportunities successful.

Student-Centered Classroom

In this blog post, Alice Keelers shares 8 suggestions for making your classroom more student-centered.  Now, I’m not suggesting you try all of them at once.  But take a look and see if there is something you might try.  I’m big on her second suggestion but I think I could work on #7 a little more often!

Looking for some Chromebook ideas?

 If your students use Chromebooks and you are looking for ideas, check out these fifty by Alice Keeler. Please see her post here.

Food for teaching thought

In this post from Alice Keeler, she outlines some outdated teaching techniques.  I will admit- I’ve done some of them and if I was in the classroom full-time, I know there are things I would change.  Maybe something to jump-start your new year’s resolutions?

Why you should consider Google Sites

In her end-of-the-year post, Alice Keeler shares 6 reasons for using Google Sites.  It is easy to use (and if you are someone who has not considered Sites in the past few years, forget about the now sunset Classic Sites and give this one a chance).

ChatGPT et all

 

Interested in AI (artificial intelligence) and related chatbots?  Here is a post from Matt Miller with a wealth of information.

100 Cameras

In Matt Miller’s Digital Summit, Al Thomas shared his views on creativity as well as his work with 100 Cameras.  This organization offers free webinars to help your students explore their creativity using any type of camera. They also have an educator site. (This link shows all the resources from the session including the educator site for 100 Cameras).

Winter at PBS

From cartoons on cooperation to dancing cities, this latest newsletter has a great variety!