K12Live via kwout

Performance Poetry puts me in the mood for a poetry unit with students. April/May is the perfect month to celebrate and perform poetry. A plethora of ideas are offered here for the classroom teacher. And I always fall back on 30 days of poetry for a unit that grade 3 students can use with the help of their peers or teachers. I always ask students to hand write a percentage of their poems because I feel it produces diffferent results. We must not forget the almighty pencil or pen as a writing tool.

Two great resources to accompany a poetry unit are Instant Poetry Forms and 30 Days of Poetry and Acrostics

Of course more student centred learning interactives can be found at Read Write Think's student materials site

Other resources;
Add Seasons To Rhyming Poems and Songs
Search the Infinity site
After School Resources

This is a nice diversion. "We frequently talk about how technology changes the world and connects people in different ways. The following video is a great piece to make your students think of just how powerful technology can be. You will need to watch the first minute or two before you really realize just what it is portraying but after that you should have a different perspective on just what sharing through technology and social networking really means." Thanks Kerry and Claudia for the alert to this powerful video.

Powerful in Many Ways

Enjoy Pages Index @2Learn.ca via kwout

"The award-winning non-profit 2Learn.ca Education Society bridges the gap between expert-designed, educational, multimedia-rich online resources and time-strapped teachers challenged to integrate the web. Strategic partnerships support 2Learn.ca’s non-commercial website, structured as both resource hub, through its content repository, and PD facilitator, through its My Desktop toolset, which enables workshop participants to construct annotated resource collections and activities online. Student portals also streamline access to aggregated interactives. Results are notable: Teachers exhibit an evolving grounding in technological pedagogical content knowledge. Students hone multimedia literacy skills, gaining subject-specific competencies by immersing multiple learning modalities within rich interactive curricular environments. A reputable global educational community is supported by diverse stakeholders united by a strong, achievable educational vision of effective technology infusion."

abstract at http://www.editlib.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Reader.ViewAbstract&paper_id=14347

While I do think that rhymes and chants can help facilitate children learning English and is an effective tool during Working with Words and spelling, I am sometimes concerned that it will turn kids off from ELA time. Especially with my Upper Elementary students, I think it is important for them to get a much more in depth look into the English language than chants and rhymes can give us. So, while I would do some rhyming and chanting, I would not have that be the baseline of my ELA program.

Comment from tappedin.org in reception

May I associate a link with this comment or thread!!

Rhyming Time

Check Out Class Blogs! | The Edublogger via kwout

I often look for blogs that peak my interest in my area whether it be primary or math or the arts. A hearty thanks goes out to Sue Waters for classifying and gathering these blogs for us to peruse. Now to find a rainy day to settle in and explore!! So do Check Out Class Blogs! ... The Edublogger

Kidthing celebrates Nea"s Read Across America With Four Free Dr. Seuss books

http://tr.youtube.com/user/kidthing

Einstein the Talking and Squawking Parrot

The TED Talks videos can be readily integrated into your classrooom lessons! WOW! Here's an entertaining way to begin your science lessonor bird study!! BIRD BRAINS!!!

"When a dozen or so educators from Indianapolis traveled to Reggio Emilia, Italy, several years ago to study the famous constructivist approach in that city’s preschools, they came back prepared for more than project-based teaching — they came ready to decorate. Last fall, the group offered elementary school teachers a classroom makeover in the Reggio Emilia style, and Sharon Olson, a teacher at Winding Ridge Elementary School, immediately volunteered. Their decor strategy was based on the idea that to take ownership of their learning, children must own their learning space."

http://www.changelearning.ca/

STAO
has developed an interactive online calendar that is currently free for all to use and appropriate for K-12. It can be viewed at http://staoapps.com/calendar.asp

In addition to a science fact and link for each day of the school year, elementary teachers will find monthly thematic activities ready to download.

The Water cycle is one of the many teaching resources appropo for the month of April!

Water Sustainability

The Book Whisperer via kwout

Getting students to read is a dilemma that nearly every teacher and parent has faced at some point. Studies have found that reading interest levels off for many children at about the 4th grade, once comprehension issues come into play. Donalyn Miller, teachermagazine.org blogger and author of the recently published, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader, believes she has found an antidote to this problem. Her students each read at least 40 books a year and consistently perform well on state tests. How does she do it? What are her teaching secrets? And how can you apply her approach to your particular classroom? Donalyn Miller will share her teaching tips and answer your questions in this live chat.


Helping Students Find Their Inner Reader.
When: Tuesday, April 7, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time

Related Materials:
Creating Readers: Part I
Creating Readers: Part II
Creating Readers: Part II

Jan Brett's How to Draw Main Page via kwout

Jan Brett..always a personal favourite with K to 3 educators.

Kathy Schrock -- Educational Technology Blogs via kwout

Kathy Schrock's recommended edtech blogs to follow. THANK YOU for your compilation!!! I highly recommend this list.

Dissecting a K-12 Technology Vision via kwout

This is an example of a K-12 Tech Plan that has a 21st century feeling. Notice the difference from the old tech plans schools had in place.

Kindernet Safe Search for Kids via kwout

Kindernet.org is a part of the Children World Web project for children 16 years old and under, family and parents, schools and teachers. It seems to be safe search engine for our students.

How to integrate: Have students use the random button and do an oral/demo report to their class peers.

Schlib Tips and Tools via kwout

a site I discovered while doing both a vanity search and twittering. Something for all educators at any level.