1) Primary Wall (http://primarywall.com/) and PiratePad (http://piratepad.net/) are two places that students can collaborate online for journal prompts, writing openers, opinion questions, and reviews of recent information. Check them out!
2) Perfect Pitch (http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/perfectpitch/) teaches the 'player' about either Modern, Romantic, Baroque or Classical instruments through a baseball game. It's a really fun way to combine music and baseball.
3) XtraMath (https://www.xtramath.org ) is a free place to sign up teachers, parents and students to your class to learn math through short videos and tutorials. You can go to the 'About Us' to learn how to sign up and sign up as a teacher, set up a class and assign lessons. There is a place to print out a parent flyer so that parents can follow along to see how their student is doing as well.
4) In a Nutshell (http://www.planetnutshell.com/videos) is an idiom we have probably all heard and these on the page linked above are some In a Nutshell videos for you to use in the classroom to teach about Internet Safety. They are on the lower right hand column of the page. A range of topics from Distracted Driving and Say no to Sexting for teens and What is the Internet? for elementary students are covered "in a nutshell." These would be great Write to Win starters, if you want to integrate it at the start or end of a unit.
5) SkoolBo (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skoolbo-core-skills-hd/id534555129?mt=8) is an app for the iPad that targets map and reading skills with a lot of games for students up to age 10. I will have this on the 25 iPads you can check out next week, but if you have an iPad and are reading this email from the iPad, Click on the link in this summary which will take you to the AppStore so you can download it on your iPad.
6) Postcards then and Now Blog ( http://postcardsthenandnow.blogspot.com) is just a fun blog that shows you old postcards and then goes to Google Street view using Google Maps to see what it looks like now. I'm a big fan of anything comparing history to modern day, so this is just for fun to show you what Google Maps can do.
7) One last thing to check out: Google Drive (https://www.google.com/intl/en_US/drive/start/index.html?authuser=0 ) or Google Docs is something that many of you have heard me refer to over the past few emails. Check this video out and explore this site. Google Drive can change the way you store files and will allow you access from any computer or mobile computing device anywhere in the world. Seriously, cool stuff. Let me know if you have any questions about integrating Google Drive (Docs, Spreadsheets, Draw, Forms, Presentations) into your classroom or ask your colleagues that are already using it.
8) How to Cook a Ham
My brother-in-law, Gary, told my family a story a few Thanksgivings ago that seems applicable this semester. He said that his niece was hosting Thanksgiving for the first time so his sister went over to help cook the meal. His sister proceeded to cut the ends of of the ham to put it in the oven to bake. His niece inquired, "Mom, why do you cut the ends off the ham before we bake it? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep the ends on the ham so it stays moist? Then I wouldn't have to cook gravy. I'm trying to go low carb, you know."
Gary's sister replied, "My Mother always did it this way, so it must be the way to get her famous honey glaze to soak through the ham, but let's ask Grandma when she gets here."
That evening at Thanksgiving supper, Gary's niece and sister asked his Mother why she cut the ends off the ham. She explained that was the way that her Mom showed her how to do it. After a few questions, Gary's Grandmother adjusted her hearing aid and said, rather disgusted, "I cut the ends of the ham off because I never had a pan big enough to cook a whole ham at once and Grandpa worked for the elevator in town and always got a big ham for a Thanksgiving bonus. I cut the ends off to make soup otherwise I would have never been able to cook the ham whole."
So, for three generations, everybody cut the ends off the ham and either ate dry ham or adapted the recipe with a glaze or gravy. One generation was making due with what they had to fit the ham in the pan. The next generation concocted a famous honey glaze and the next just cut the ends off, made a dry ham and learned how to make good gravy and finally somebody asked why. They all cooked ham, but amended the recipe to fit their cooking style, family's taste or cooking tools available.
Moral of the story: My brother-in-law Gary embellishes stories to fit our conversation at dinner... yes, I mean, No. Not the point...err... Anyways... Did they all still get ham at Thanksgiving? Yes. Did they have to use the same recipe? No.
My attempt at an analogy is to remember no matter what we are doing to "re" map our curriculum to the Common Core vernacular, that it is still your classroom. Adapt it the way that works for you. We do not all have to get there the exact same way with identical lesson plans, but we all still have to get there. And, this year more than ever, I've learned that everything we need to know about curriculum and teaching strategies to help our students get to the "Common Core Standards" is in this building, all we need to do is share and have those conversations. Overall, I just encourage you to have an open mind and share what you know with the rest of us that are still learning to be better teachers.
Have a great week and let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Except if it's cooking ham... It's best you consult Pinterest or your most recent Thanksgiving hosts.
Samantha Walder
Deuel School District
Career Counselor
Technology Integrationist
https://sites.google.com/site/samanthawalder/
Deuel School District
Career Counselor
Technology Integrationist
https://sites.google.com/site/samanthawalder/
