TED-Ed Lessons Worth Sharing

So. TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth sharing." (Wikipedia) I've watched a few TED Talks when recommended by my son and another person or two. I was impressed with the knowledge and skill of the speakers. And that was about it. Until today.

Actually having time to look for great resources for my own learning and to share with you is one of the best things about having retired from the classroom! Today, I discovered TED-Ed, which was just launched in April. And it's too cool for school!

How would you science teachers like a 5 minute animated video called, "Just How Small Is an Atom?" with lesson suggestions?

Or, math teachers, how about 7 minutes of "How Big is Infinity? (The Most Important Unsolved Problem in Mathematics)"? This one has lesson suggestions, and even links to a site by Dennis Wildfogel, where he has posted videos called "Making Sense of Calculus". Seriously?

My teacher-daughter will love "The Case Against Good and Bad" which urges the use of vivid words instead of worn-out ones. (A couple of years ago, she and her middle-school students created a graveyard for overused words in the hallway outside her classroom.)

 TED-Ed even allows you to "flip" these lessons or ANY YouTube video, creating a customized lesson for yourself and your students. I am simply amazed, and I'm going to let you read this post on the website Cool Hunting.com to get the details. CH's explanation is much clearer than mine would be!

So. I'm learning something new every day, and I'm glad today brought me (and you) TED-Ed!

Anchor Charts - Another Blogger's Ideas

I'll post again one day soon about making and using anchor charts. Today, I just want to give you a link to another blog with fabulous anchor chart ideas. Nancy, over at Teaching My Friends, is a 5th grade teacher in New Jersey. Go to her amazing blog and look around! She's been blogging for two years now, and has written about 140 posts so far, chock-full of good ideas!

For her posts on anchor charts, click on the "Anchor Chart" label in the right-side column. My favorite is her post about how she manages to organize the beautiful charts that she and her 5th grade "friends" make: Too Many Anchor Charts! Here is a snapshot of the binder she uses to keep her charts organized and to make them available for her students after they are no longer hanging in the classroom:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjccZNEAWOXgDg9-TttQccRiKYBSROTyOf3KtzFdhP5KYoWZkP_H06DmQ1y7rkONwhsDyK2n5VLp8Ji1CVY6-ZyIk-efST2bNBWC4T_GNHfNM9ZVbI6YaV906oUa3DF2rR6jP95dG2HmkD/s1600/binder+016.JPG

Best of all, Nancy explains how she puts the binder together and shares her index method!

I wrote to her today to let her know that I was linking to her blog. Hope to hear from her as well. :)

FREE Essential Paper Printables

Maybe your students always bring to class everything they need. Maybe your shelves are so well-stocked that you have everything they need, even if they don't. Or maybe you're a real teacher with real students, and neither of the above is true. If that's your real world, and you use specialized paper, such as graph, penmanship, etc., I have some great sites for you!

DonnaYoung.org has lots of handwriting paper, some ruled in colored stripes or with blank tops & ruled bottoms for illustrated writing. This former homeschooler even has ruled & unruled paper with themes, in addition to journal, booklet, and bordered paper, like the one below.

graphpaper.us allows you to print simple graph paper with your choice of size and colored grid lines. Cool for your school colors - this one is purple in honor of Dibrell Elementary School!

MathBits has blank calculator screens and number lines as well as a wide variety of graph paper.

Print Free Graph Paper lets you choose graph type, paper size, units, etc., before you print.

Printable Paper has so many choices (more than 900!), it makes me a little dizzy. Graph, storyboard, music, lined, dot, penmanship, and games.

There's really something for everyone, and I hope you and your real students enjoy the possibilities!

Graphic Organizers That (REALLY) Rock!

We all use graphic organizers, and if we don't we should! Differentiating our instruction is essential to meeting the needs of all our students, and many, many of them are visual learners. In addition, all of our students need to make connections, and all need to organize their learning, an important metacognitive skill.

***Attention, high school teachers: these are NOT just for elementary grades! ***

So, for your toolkit, a list of great websites that provide FREE and fantastic graphic organizers:

1. Education Oasis has organizers for Cause & Effect, Character & Story, and Vocabulary Development, among many others. 
2. Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers offers a huge variety for different concepts, including Evaluating & Making Decisions and Persuading & Supporting a Position.
3. Education Place (from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) has several choices, including an ISP Chart (Information, Sources, Page). I can see this one being used to cite evidence, a skill emphasized in the Common Core Standards.
4. Freeology provides or links to, in their words, "over 100 free, printable graphic organizers for a wide variety of topics." It's amazing!

and finally, WorksheetWorks, which has a free generator for 12 basic types of graphic organizers that you can make your own!

FREE makes me happy, and sharing a variety of resources for YOU makes me even happier!

"I Have - Who Has?" Card Games

When I moved from high school science to elementary ESL, the learning curve was pretty steep! I knew ESL methods, but I did NOT know elementary school culture or practice. One of the best things that happened to me was sharing space with an experienced teacher whose current role was curriculum coordinator. He quietly mentored me through that first year or so, and I'll be forever grateful that Joe Bost shared his wisdom and know-how with me.

One of the coolest ideas he gave me was "I Have - Who Has?" games. From math to social studies to reading, they are fabulous ways to review, drill, and yes, even assess.  I used the ones he shared, looked more up online, and created others myself.

Their use is simple. One student begins by reading a Who Has question. The same student will end the cycle by answering with the I Have statement on the same card. Here is one page from a sample set:

http://math.about.com/od/mathlessonplans/ss/ihave_4.htm

My co-teacher and I created card sets for sequencing books and for all of the first grade Dolch sight words. We found sets for state capitols and shared with a social studies teacher at our school. We downloaded math sets shared online by other teachers. And on, and on...

You can buy sets of cards, which is a time-saver, but they can be pricey, and who wouldn't prefer to customize her own sets to her students' specific needs? To save you some time without spending much money, here are links to some FREE and/or cheap sets that you can download and use:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:i+have+who+has/Order:Price/Page:1 Teachers Pay Teachers has more than 300 sets that are FREE!!
http://www.powerpointmaniac.com/science/flashcards/ Some sets are free, others cost only $1.50
http://historytech.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/tip-of-the-week-i-have-who-has/ Not a set of cards, but several ideas, including one about analogies (Higher Order Thinking Skills, y'all!)
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Have-Who-Has-Card-Game-Customize-and-Print costs only $2 for an adaptable template.

And just now, I found an awesome FREE card generator for this activity! Enjoy, and PLEASE comment on this post if you have other resources for this great activity. I promise I'll share, and give you credit for your input! :-)

Journey North - Migration, Seasons, Mapping...WOW!

I've long been a fan of Annenberg Learner, for many reasons that I'll share over time. While looking for something great to share with those of you who teach science, I found a truly AMAZING resource that you will love, whether you teach elementary or secondary students.

The fall journey is, of course, South, and you can follow hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, and other species as school begins. There's a ton of background information, a plethora (I love that word) of teacher resources such as teaching strategies and standards correlations, and SO MUCH MORE! You can

Use Google maps to follow migration.

 Let your students watch a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis. 

Use fantastic graphics to study the daily sun cycle or the yearly one. 

Explore time.

Instead of teaching the "steps of the scientific method," you can download a FREE app that will allow your students to be scientists, tracking the migration of one of the featured migratory animals!

Go. Click on everything that interests you...and that would capture your kiddos' imaginations and make your science class their best ever!

The SIFT Method for Literature Analysis

I've written about Teaching Channel before, and I'll be writing from time to time about a particular great idea I've found there. If you haven't already joined, remember that it's FREE, and signing up takes less than a minute!

One of the many great Tch video clips shows middle school teacher Meagan Berkowitz teaching a poetry lesson using the SIFT Method - Symbol, Imagery, Figurative Language, and Tone or Theme. It's less than 5 minutes long, and well worth watching to see her interaction with her students, and the focus they have on the poems they are reading while using bookmark cue cards. Close analytic reading is an important feature of the Common Core; here's a tool for you to try out to see if it fits your needs!

Besides the bookmark, you are given the lesson plan, a copy of  the two poems used, and a transcript of the lesson. If you're a language arts teacher, you're all set to try this lesson yourself, or to adapt it to your grade level! And don't forget to "pin" the lesson  by clicking "Save this in my Lesson Planner."

(A note: there is a typo on the SIFT bookmark that you'll want to change before printing - "attitude and author" should be "attitude an author." I changed it in the image above. Since it's an open Word document, it's no problem!)

Follow the Blog :)

Friends, if you enjoy Learning Twice, don't forget to follow (in the right-side column) so that you don't miss new posts. You can also follow by email, if that works better for you.

Also, I'd love to hear from you, so leave comments telling me how you're using resources or making suggestions. Share with your colleagues and friends, too, please!

Thanks, and have a great weekend! :)

Common Core Math Vocabulary Cards

Once upon a time, when math textbooks were essentially bound sets of worksheets, little emphasis was placed on math vocabulary. In elementary school, if you knew the meaning of words like multiply, decimal, and divisor, all was well. Math vocabulary grew in high school algebra and geometry, but there wasn't much deliberate teaching of academic language, in math or in any other content area.

Robert Marzano and others researchers recognized the need for effective, deliberate vocabulary instruction, emphasizing academic vocabulary. My work with English Learners brought this need home to me, since interpersonal communication is so different from academic language. Tennessee stepped up and created an Academic Vocabulary list with Dr. Marzano's guidance in 2006; I was privileged to work on the project in science.

In 2012, Tennessee's implementation of the vocabulary-dense Common Core standards demands effective teaching of academic language, and most teachers are looking for the best way to do so, having long-since let go of glossary definitions and vocabulary quizzes. (Thank goodness!)

“Only confusion will result when the name is demanded before the idea is mastered. Definitions alone rarely throw much light on the ideas they represent. They are usually the end product of much exploration and careful thought.”

Joan Countryman, Writing to Learn Mathematics, 1992

Granite School District in Utah is serious about students' academic vocabulary acquisition, and they have prepared some of the best resources I've seen. You will find:

• math vocabulary lists by grade (including secondary)
• a PowerPoint presentation about effective vocabulary instruction
• templates for analogies, comparing terms, vocabulary journals, word walls, and more!

My personal favorites are the vocabulary cards for all grades. Each set of gorgeous cards begins with an instruction sheet for the teacher, and each card has three sections (except for the kindergarten cards.) The first is the word only, the second includes a graphic representation, and the third also includes a definition. The uses for each are explained. Here is a 6th grade example:



Print the cards for your grade or subject, separate into sections, laminate, and you will have manipulatives for your essential vocabulary to use over and over. You'll be glad you did!



Welcome-Back-to-School Book Lists

In Warren County, TN, where I taught for 28 years, today is the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! I shared in the excitement of that day for a long time, and I heard it in our teacher-daughter's voice as we chatted this morning. She has lots planned for the day, and I know that part of it involves books. She has always been an avid reader, as have our sons, and I've mentioned her book blog before. But what if your students or your own children need encouragement to read? What if they just haven't quite found books they love?

As promised, I'm sharing one feature of James Patterson's ReadKiddoRead today. On the Lists page you will find

• Almost Can't-Miss Sure Shot Books for Boys
• Almost Can't-Miss Sure Shot Books for Girls
• Best Books of the Decade
• Ultimate Summer Reading
• and more!

Especially for back-to-school, Judy Freeman, reader, writer, and story-teller, has compiled two lists of books about the school experience, one for younger readers and one for older ones. The lists are annotated and include suggested activities for parents and teachers. You're going to love it, and I think your kiddos will, too!

Whether it's today or coming soon, have a wonderful FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

NatGeo Map Maker Kits - NOT Just for Geography!

It didn't take long for my teaching partner and me to discover that our students knew very little geography. As we read multicultural books and used them to teach vocabulary, writing, etc., we began to make extensive use of our classroom globe and maps. We discovered that a large laminated map taped to the table made for rich discussions and great hands-on opportunities for our students. A collection of money from various countries piqued the kids' interest, as did a set of state quarters. The students enjoyed placing the money on the correct spot on the map, and thought of it as a game. We used dry-erase markers to write directly on the map when appropriate, which they loved.

Some of our table maps came from past issues of National Geographic; others we found online, printed in sections, and taped together. BTW, in addition to being possibly the classiest magazine in the world, National Geographic has an amazing website, a vast and fabulous resource for teachers. You will find more there than you could ever believe for every grade and every subject, NOT just geography.

But this post is about maps, so here it is: NatGeo Map Maker allows you to download, print, and assemble huge maps for your classroom - the World (both political and physical), the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania, the United States, and Polar Regions. A tutorial provides helpful hints on laminating, etc. Isn't this pic from the NatGeo site awesome?

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/?ar_a=1

I'm imagining uses that are completely cross-curricular: Reading/Language Arts (as we used our maps in our ESL classroom), Science for ecosystems (and much more), Math for measurements (and yes, much more), and of course, Social Studies. How can you make use of this incredible resource in your curriculum? Enjoy!

Common Core Math Posters

Being part of a family of teachers is wonderful! My mother-in-law (years before I married her son) was my 8th grade math teacher who modeled professionalism and being the best teacher you can be. I've mentioned my daughter and her great ideas in previous posts. Today I'm sharing a website that my nephew, a middle school math teacher, shared with me last weekend. 

Jordan School District in Utah has developed and posted online an amazing set of 32 posters to enlarge and print for your classroom. You and your students can refer to them as you explore the Common Core Mathematical Practices Standards.

Here's a preview - the poster for Mathematical Practice Standard 1 for 4th & 5th grades:

Hover over the Teachers tab and click on your grade to see the entire set. Posters aren't all you'll find there, though. If you look at the Scope and Sequence charts, some of which are still in draft form, you will see "I Can" statements that you can use instead of creating your own. What a great FREE resource - thank you, Jordan School District!

Favorite Picture Books

By request from a missionary mom who homeschools her girls in Tanzania, I'm listing some favorite books today. Remember, this is not a list of "best books for children," but simply some of the picture books I personally love!

Verna Aardema
•         Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
•         Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Alma Flor Ada
•         I Love Saturdays y domingos
•         My Name is María Isabel

Eric Carle
•         Brown Bear, Brown Bear
•         Mister Seahorse
•         Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me
•         The Mixed Up Chameleon
•         The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Carmen Agra Deedy
•         The Library Dragon

Arthur Dorros
•         Abuela
•         Isla

Keiko Kasza
•         My Lucky Day
•         The Wolf's Chicken Stew

Leo Lionni
•         A Color of His Own
•         Fish is Fish
•         Inch by Inch
•         It's Mine
•         Swimmy

Mercer Mayer
•         There's an Alligator Under My Bed
•         There's Something in My Attic

Patricia McKissack
•         Goin' Someplace Special

Pat Mora
•         Pablo's Tree
•         Tomás and the Library Lady

Patricia Polacco
•         Appelemando's Dream
•         Chicken Sunday
•         John Philip Duck
•         Just Plain Fancy
•         Meteor
•         Mr. Lincoln's Way
•         My Ol' Man
•         Picnic at Mudsock Meadow
•         Pink and Say
•         Rechenka's Eggs
•         Someone for Mr. Sussman
•         Something About Hensley's
•         Thank You, Mr. Falker
•         The Bee Tree
•         The Junkyard Wonders
•         The Keeping Quilt
•         Thunder Cake
•         When Lightning Comes in a Jar

Margot Theis Raven
•         Night Boat to Freedom

Judy Schachner
•         SkippyJon Jones Series

Maurice Sendak
•         Where the Wild Things Are

Gary Soto
•         Chato and the Party Animals
•         Chato's Kitchen

Deborah Wiles
•         Freedom Summer

Teaching and Learning With Picture Books

"I don't wanna grow up..." but not so much because of Toys R Us. No, I'm holding on for picture books! Reading them to my grands, yes, but even more, creating lessons to use in the classroom and seeing my students "get it" because of them.

Last year, many of the lessons I taught were based on authentic children's literature. The reading, writing, listening, and speaking components of the Tennessee ESL Curriculum were interwoven into each class while the kiddos enjoyed rich stories by amazing authors such as Patricia Polacco, one of their favorites. Their vocabulary grew by leaps and bounds, and because they cared about the characters, their writing assignments showed comprehension far beyond their actual reading level. Months after studying a particular book, they were able to recall details that even I might have forgotten, and often would bring them up on their own...happy, happy teacher!

I'll be posting about favorite Polacco books (and others) from time to time, but today I just want to give you a link to an absolutely phenomenal resource:

Using Picture Books to Introduce or Teach Skills is a sixty-five page list of picture books to use in teaching math, science, social studies, and yes, language arts skills. I hope to meet Missouri librarian Jana Starnes one day so I can thank her properly for her amazing work (though I did send her a thank you email today). The list is indexed by subject and topic, and also by book title. It is copyrighted, but shared online. What a woman!

You probably have many of these books in your classroom or school library. If not, don't forget McKay Books, or your friends down the hall. Have fun planning great ways to use them!

Common Core E/LA Templates

Tulare County, CA has Sequoia National Park, Mount Whitney, and Kings Canyon National Park. I want to go and see it all!

This post, however, is about the amazing work that has been done by their Office of Education in compiling a vast set of resources for implementing the English & Language Arts Common Core State Standards. Dr. Lori Digisi reminded us at a recent statewide TAS meeting that as educators, we should not reinvent the wheel, but rather find the work that others have done already and build on it. My very-smart-teacher daughter found this amazing site, and I invite you to start building!

Joanna says that the templates found on this page are the best Common Core resource she has discovered thus far as a Reading & LA teacher. After clicking on the link, you simply have to scroll down the page to "ELA CCCSS Templates" and select your grade level. The templates include vocabulary, question stems, and a place to write teaching strategies and notes. Here is the page for 3rd Grade Standard 1:

http://www.tcoe.org/ERS/CCSS/ELA/Templates_03.pdf

Unfortunately, TCOE hasn't made as much progress in Math, but I'm hoping one of my blog readers will point me to a resource like this one, so I can pass it along. In the meantime, I'll be hunting, too.

We Give Books

A quick morning post about a really cool website: We Give Books is an initiative of the Pearson Foundation. More than 200 books, both fiction and nonfiction, are available to read online, and it's all FREE! True, it's a marketing tool for Pearson's publishing companies, but free is free, right?

         

I can imagine the site's being used at a reading center in the classroom, and by the way, there are reading extension activities linked to the CCSS provided, as well as some learning guides, craft ideas, and an interesting-looking Children's Literature Review Blogging Project. How could you use it in your class?

ReadKiddoRead!

James Patterson writes thrillers, and that's not all. He is the best-selling author in the world, with more than 250 million copies sold worldwide. Some of his books became feature films (Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider) and others became made-for-TV movies.

Why is he the subject of a post on an education blog? For one thing, he is also the author of several young adult novels, including the fantasy/thriller Maximum Ride series. Max, the fifth book in the series, won him the Children's Choice Book Award for Author of the Year in 2010, and he was a finalist in 2012 for Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life. This guy, who retired from advertising in 1996 and became a writing machine, has two English degrees, a B.A.from Manhattan College and an M.A. from Vanderbilt University, not too shabby.

Again, though, I saved the best for last: ReadKiddoRead is Patterson's initiative "dedicated to making kids readers for life." There you'll find videos, lists of suggested books by level and genre, suggestions for lesson plans, discussion groups, and SO much more - too much more for this post. I'll be dedicating some future posts to specific features of this amazing website, but you have it now, so you can begin exploring on your own!

Here's one thing that we would ALL love:

ReadKiddoRead gives away a box of his books to 25 high school and 25 middle school libraries every month. Anyone can enter, and if you don't win this month, you can enter again next month. I couldn't find any schools from Tennessee on the winners' map, so you be the first!

Now you understand why James Patterson is worthy of a post on an education blog, right?

Teach With Movies

Using Hollywood movies in class is great for capturing your students' interest, but it can be labor-intensive to find the ones that are best for specific lessons.

Teach With Movies has Learning Guides based on more than 350 feature films, with 12 indexes for finding just the right one for your curriculum area.

This resource isn't free, but it only costs $11.99 for a one-year subscription. And it could save you lots of time, which is money after all, right?

Teaching Channel - Pinterest for Teachers, But Better

Back in the day (say the late 1980s), there were filmstrips and old reel-to-reel films, but teaching videos? Not so much. Flash forward to the early 2000s, and my librarian best friends had amassed hundreds of VHS tapes and indexed them for our faculty. We were rich!

Now here we are in 2012, with YouTube, TeacherTube, and Gaggle, oh, my! Gaggle even has a "my videos" button, but sadly, not every school system has a Gaggle subscription for its teachers. 

Enter Teaching Channel, which features videos of lesson ideas in addition to exemplary lessons and strategies:

• "Teaching Channel is a video showcase -- on the Internet and TV -- of innovative and effective teaching practices in America's schools."
• "Videos labeled 'Lesson Idea Common Core' are Common Core aligned."
•  It's my favorite price - free!

All good, right? Well, I saved THE (absolute) BEST for last. Once you register for your free Tch account, click on the Workspace tab, and choose Lesson Planner from the My Workspace menu, you can

The Button enables you to "pin" not only videos and ideas from the Teaching Channel website, but also those you find anywhere on the web! I just pinned this great 2-minute video from Tch :
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/classroom-silent-communication-signals?fd=1 
AND
this one from YouTube, an animation of one of my favorite children's books, Swimmy by Leo Lionni: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=442ie2qFANQ

Simply amazing!!!

The Horn Book

My librarian friends subscribe, as they should, to the American Library Association's publications as ALA members. Since I didn't have that resource for help in choosing great books for kids, I sometimes called or emailed them to ask for recommendations and critiques. Thanks to The Horn Book, you don't have to do that, even if you have librarian friends yourself!

You can subscribe to their print or online publications, such as The Horn Book Magazine:

OR, you can read many, many recommendations and reviews for free at their website!  A great example is their 2012 Summer Reading List. It's divided by level, from Picture Books to High School. I LOVE free, and I'll bet you do, too!