Carpe Diem!
Summer Resources for Learning
Summertime is not a time to halt learning but a time to look at learning through a new and creative lens. learning occurs all around us in and out of the house, in grandma’s back yard, while on a long road trip etc.
Children will rise to whatever learning expectation you set for them.
Have some fun and check out some of the ideas below. If you have a great summer learning activity for children, we would love to hear about it and share it here at Unlock the Teacher!
Summer Learning Day-June 20th
http://www.summerlearning.org/?page=summer_learning_day
Summer Learning Day Activities
http://www.summerlearning.org/?page=SLDCelebrate
National Parks Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources
Click Here to Access Free Curriculum Materials
Click Here to Request Free Curriculum Kit
Education Closet
http://educationcloset.com/arts-integration-lessons/
Great Science App for Children who LOVE Science
Chemist is one of the only virtual chemistry labs for tablets that enables users to conduct chemistry investigations and explore chemistry reactions with different lab tools. Students can try mixing chemicals by pouring them into beakers or test tubes. They can heat the chemicals with a Bunsen burner or put a piece of cesium into water. The 3-D stage enables the parallax effect from different angles. Chemist has a built-in database with more than 200 chemical reagents, and additional reagents will be offered periodically through the online CloudLab database for testing more chemical reactions. Developed by Thix, the app is available for iPad and Android tablets. Cost: $4.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chemist/id440666387
Paper the Web
Teens who love to sketch can sketch away using FiftyThree’s Paper, a free sketching app for the iPad. Known for its simplicity as well as its sharing functionality, the app provides built-in tools that let students share their sketches on Twitter, tumbler and Facebook as well as connect with others who sketch using the #MadeWithPaper hashtag. Students can also submit their sketches to FiftyThree’s website and see what others are creating with the app. Cost: Free
http://www.fiftythree.com/paper
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things~
Denise
2014 Young Scientist Challenge …A Wonderful Opportunity for Students
As we aim to Share the Good in Education, the 2014 Young Scientist Challenge is a wonderful opporuntity for students to experience the FUN that the field of science has to offer.
We highly recommend the contest and have shared Discovery Education’s post on the 2014 Young Scientest Challenge below…happy exploring!
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things~
Denise
Posted on December 19, 2013 by Discovery Education
THE COMPETITION IS ON
“So you think you’re a problem-solver? Great! Then you have what it takes for our 2014 Young Scientist Challenge.
Here are the basics: Everyday life is full of everyday issues, and our science for middle school challenge is looking for innovative solutions from students in grades 5–8. From helmets that detect concussions to using solar energy for water purification, past contenders have dreamed up answers and ideas that change the way we live.
So what sets the Young Scientist Challenge apart from other science for middle school competitions? It has the power to change lives – including your own. Ten national Young Scientist Challenge finalists earn exclusive summer mentorships with a 3M scientist, where they can work together on special assignments and explore a career in science. This also get the chance to turn their ideas into inventions that will help others. HOW? One lucky student will even win $25,000 and a once-in-a-lifetime trip with Discovery Student Adventures.
Ready to enter? Start by checking out the video competition topic for this year’s Young Scientist Challenge.”
Visit the website below for additional information:
Filed under Curriculum Resources
Great Websites to Use in the Classroom to Make this Past Week Memorable for Kids
Discovery Education Lesson Plans on Biomes: Wild Arctic
Students will
- learn key terms, including food web, zooplankton, and sea ice;
- discuss Arctic plants and animals;
- devise at least three Arctic food chains; and
- help create a food web showing connections among Arctic life.
Click on the link below for further details and allow Discovery Education to help make the weather many students have had an opportunity to experience more memorable. Correlations can be made to weather temps and material can be used as writing prompts for all ages.
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/biomes-wild-arctic.cfm
Great Lesson Plans on Polar Bears
Units and Lesson Plans on Biodiversity, Climate Connections and exciting Tundra Webcasts.
Click below and visit this educational site chuck full of great information!
http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/for-teachers/units-and-lessons
Weather Wizkids
Great weather website for all grades.
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/
Reports coming in are stating that we have not experienced weather temperatures this low in over 20 years. What a wonderful teaching moment we have…
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things~
Denise
Filed under Curriculum Resources
Let 2014 be a Year to Inspire
Happy New Year!
Today we celebrate and welcome a new year. What a wonderful opportunity today provides for us to take stock of all the lessons learned from 2013, and pause, reflect and prepare to make a difference in 2014.
Regardless of the job we report to each day, each of us has the awesome power to CHOOSE to make a difference in our own lives and the lives of those around us. We will always experience hills to climb and obstacles to work through ( mentally and physically)…this is life. However, it is amazing what can happen to a person’s own mental attitude and perspective when each day begins thinking of others. Sometimes the transition is slow and I have personally experienced an immediate change, but when we make a conscious choice to be the difference in life, our lens in which we see the world and the people in it, changes.
I encourage everyone to join the Unlock the Teacher team …pause, reflect and make a concerted effort to really be “present” each day in 2014 and really live life and maximize your potential!
For all of our educator friends, we wish you all the strength and courage needed to inspire those placed within your care each and every day…YOU make a difference!
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things-
Denise
Filed under Inspiration
Words are POWERFUL…Motivational Quotes to Inspire
Motivational Quotes to Lift Up and Inspire this Holiday Season
Words are POWERFUL…what words fill your inner conversation and what words do you use for those around you?
Are you a beacon?
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift.”
Steve Prefontaine
“… run with patience the race that is set before us …”
Heb. 12:1-3
“Pain is temporary; Pride lasts forever.”~ Unknown
“Respect the distance or the distance won’t respect you! It will eat you up, spit you out and make you beg for mercy” – Unknown
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
T.S. Eliot
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge
“Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You don’t so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head.” – Joe Henderson
“It’s at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.” – Emil Zatopek
Now bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible.” – Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
“We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.” – Emil Zatopek
“To be great, one does not have to be mad, but definitely it helps.” – Percy Cerutty
“Life is a positive-sum game. Everyone from the gold medalist to the last finisher can rejoice in a personal victory.” – George Sheehan
“A runners creed: I will win; if I cannot win, I shall be second; if I cannot be second, I shall be third; if I cannot place at all, I shall still do my best.” – Ken Doherty
“Those who say it can’t be done should not interrupt the ones doing it”
— From Carol Ann
My advice…be an action verb, choose to live and share the gifts you have been given this holiday season. Laugh as often as possible and truly look into the eyes of those around you and smile that smile that says, “I see you and I care!”
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things~
Denise
Filed under Inspiration
Recommended Book for Fall: “Disrupting Class, How Disruptive Innovation will Change the Way the World Learns” by Clayton Christensen
A fellow principal friend of mine recommended I read, “Disrupting Class, How Disruptive Innovation will Change the Way the World Learns” by Clayton Christensen. Those who have worked beside me throughout my educational career, know that I champion those students with “energy” and I encourage my faculty to change the lens in which they look at the students of today, if we want to create leaders for tomorrow….being a leader takes energy! Christensen’s book has been such a wonderful and inspiring read, that I thought I would share with our readers.
“If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technically, we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need “disruptive learning.”
This book is an educators’ dream with hard data to back up suggested strategies. Christensen discusses topics like, “The potential for customized learning in student-centric classrooms” to “How to implement computer-based learning”. This book is not for those who like to ready the glossy sections visually created to stimulate the educator buyer but for those deep thinkers who continue to embrace Maxine Green’s Reflective Practitioner model. However, do not be discouraged if you like pictures, Christensen has added some really great graphs that display data and demonstrate his thoughts for the visual learner.
As a curriculum designer by training and education, I was most drawn to his chapters on “A Model for Organizational Design” and “Innovation and Organizational Structures in Public Schools”. Christensen states that those engaged in innovation, will encounter problems. He cites the problems and the types of “teams” it takes to solve these areas of need within a school. He provides the reader a “real-life” visual application to help explain his perspective. Although I am a principal in a private, Catholic school, I have a team of 50+ and I find his perspectives and strategies thought-provoking.
Given this, if you are looking for a new book to read for professional development or a graduate level paper, I highly recommend this book.
“Disrupting Class, How Disruptive Innovation will Change the Way the World Learns”
As always, we appreciate our readers, all the great feedback and the recommendations. Thank you for sharing the good in education and sharing your thoughts with us!
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things~
Denise
Grant Funding Opprotuntiies for PreK-12 Schools via GetedFunding.com
Supplement Your Stretched Budget
GetEdFunding is CDW-G’s new website to help educators and institutions find the funds they need to supplement already stretched budgets. GetEdFunding is a free and fresh resource, which hosts a collection of more than 1,400 grants and other funding opportunities culled from federal, state, regional and community sources and available to public and private, preK–12 educators, schools and districts, higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations that work with them. The site offers customized searches by six criteria, including 41 areas of focus, eight content areas and any of the 21st century themes and skills that support your curriculum. Once you are registered on the site, you can save the grants of greatest interest and then return to read about them at any time.
Filed under Curriculum Resources
Great Summer Sites to Utilize for Learning Recommended by MACUL
Hello Everyone,
Below are some great sites to utilize for summer learning!
Engage Your Child in Active Summer Reading
Gobstopper is a free tool for assigning,aonitoring and leveraging summer reading in the classroom. As students read, they will see questions and get feedback, and they can stay motivated by earning badges. Teachers can use the tool to assign books, check on students’ progress throughout the summer and even benchmark data on students’ mastery of Common Core Standards before the start of the new school year. The tool can be used on all devices that have a browser and Internet access.
Challenge Children to Find the Location
GeoSettr helps you create your own GeoGuessr games. When you visit GeoSettr, you will see two screens: the one on the left displays a map with a Pegman; the one on the right, the Street View imagery for the Pegman’s current location. Move the Pegman around, and zoom in if you like, until you find the location that you want students to guess. When you’ve chosen the location, click “set round” to save the location. After you’ve set five rounds (locations), your game is assigned a URL that you can distribute to students. When they play your GeoSettr game, students use the visual clues in the Street View imagery to guess the location. After making a guess, students see the correct location and its distance from their guess.
Let Your Fingers Do the Hiking
Fotonauts’ free Fotopedia National Parks app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch lets users explore all 58 National Parks in the United States—from Acadia to Zion, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Glacier National Park—a journey that would require several years. Users will first discover the diversity of the national parks through a selected set of 1,500 photos; then they can dive into specific parks to find even more photos. The collection includes 3,000 stunning photos by the renowned professional photographer QT Luong, along with photo-stories based on the images of the national parks. In addition, each image is linked to a related Wikipedia entry. The app is available in 10 languages.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fotopedia-national-parks/id406969208
See It in 3-D
AndAR Model Viewer is a free Android app that is capable of displaying 3-D models on Augmented Reality markers. The goal is to help young students better understand the differences between shapes such as cones, cubes and squares, a Common Core math requirement. It helps build students’ spatial reasoning—they can zoom in on these objects and interact with them in the virtual space—and it gives students an understanding of what these objects look like in real life.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.dhbw.andarmodelviewer&hl=en
See Mathematics in Action
The National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) opened in New York City in 2013. The museum’s exhibits and programs aim to stimulate inquiry, spark curiosity and reveal the wonders of mathematics. As part of its commitment to provide engaging, interactive mathematical experiences, MoMath has created Math Midway, a hands-on traveling exhibition that highlights the engaging and playful nature of mathematics. The Math Midway is making appearances at science and technology centers across the country.
Assemble a Geometric Paper Torso
Australian architect and paper artist Horst Kiechle recently constructed a geometric paper torso complete with modular organs, including lungs, intestines, kidneys, pancreas stomach and more. The piece was made for the Science Lab of the International School Nadi, Fiji. On completion of the model, Kiechle launched an extensive website with free downloadable templates you can print and assemble, along with photographed step-by-step instructions for every piece.
http://torso.amorphous-constructions.com/
Explore the Himalayan Glaciers
GlacierWorks, Microsoft and mountaineer/filmmaker David Breashears have collaborated to develop Everest: Rivers of Ice, a new interactive site that takes visitors on a virtual trek to Mount Everest base camp. Virtual travelers make eight stops along the way to base camp. At each stop, they can explore panoramic images of valleys and glaciers. After completing the virtual trek, they can compare the size of Himalayan glaciers in the 1920s to the size of those same glaciers today. GlacierWorks’ mission is to document, educate and raise awareness about changes to the glaciers in the Greater Himalaya through art, science and exploration.
http://www.glacierworks.org/home/
May we continue to seek knowledge in all things~
Denise
Filed under Curriculum Resources
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