Here are fun Valentine sites to fill those few minutes betwixt and between lessons, projects, bathroom breaks, lunch, and everything else (click here for updates on this list):

1. Drag-and-drop games
2. Google Drawings Magnetic Poetry from Ctrl Alt Achieve
3. Games and puzzles
4. ‘I love you’ in languages Afrikaans to Zulu
5. Match
6. Puppy jigsaw
7. Rebus game
8. Sudoku
9. Tic-tac-toe
10. Typing
11. Write in a heart

Do you use any I missed? If you’re looking for more, here’s my collection of holiday lesson plans, easily adaptable to Valentine’s Day.

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World Read Aloud Day celebrates the pure joy of oral reading with kids of all ages. Created by LitWorld, past years have found over 1 million people in 100 countries joining together to enjoy the power and wonder of reading aloud in groups or individually, at school or home, and discovering what it means to listen to a story told through the voice of another. For many, this is a rare opportunity to hear the passion of a well-told story and fall in love with tales where hearing them reaches listeners on a level nothing else can. Think back to your experiences. You probably sat with an adult, in their lap or curled up in bed. The way they mimicked the voices in the story, built drama, and enthused with you over the story and characters made you want to read more stories like that on your own. This is a favorite activity not just for pre-readers, but beginning and accomplished readers because it’s not about reading the book; it’s about experiencing it through the eyes of a storyteller.

Somehow, as lives for both the adults and children have gotten busier, as digital devices have taken over, as parents turned to TVs or iPads to babysit kids while they do something else, we’ve gotten away from this most companionable of activities. World Read Aloud Day is an opportunity to get back to it.

Importance of reading aloud

There is no more powerful way to develop a love of reading than being read to. Hearing pronunciations, decoding words in context, experiencing the development and completion of a well-plotted story as though you were there are reason enough to read aloud but there’s more. Reading in general and reading aloud specifically is positively correlated to literacy and success in school. It builds foundational learning skills, introduces and reinforces vocabulary, and provides a joyful activity that’s mostly free, cooperative, and often collaborative. Did you know reading aloud:

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Here are some activities for Groundhog Day–February 2nd (click here for updates to list):

1. Fun Facts About Groundhogs–video
2. Groundhog Day Digital Activities–grades 3-5
3. Groundhog Day for Kids–a video
4. Groundhog Day Games
5. Groundhog Day Teaching Resources
6. History of Groundhog Day–from History.com
7. Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Website
8. Why Groundhogs Supposedly Predict the Weather–video

For the 100th day of school, here are resources (if these sound familiar, we updated last year’s list):

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Genius Hour

Overview

The Genius Hour Project traditionally sets aside 20% of class time to pursue a topic students are passionate about. An after school setting follows these basics, but adapted to a full-time exploration of the topic.

Basics

While immersing themselves in a topic they love, Genius Hour also teaches students how to pursue a goal important to them. That means fulfilling 8 specific benchmarks:

1. Brainstorm to come up with a topic that fits required parameters.
   
2. Write a paragraph of at least five lines on why this topic is important to learn.
3. Write another paragraph about what student already knows on the topic and what s/he needs to learn.
4. Create a list of five research questions to guide inquiry including where to find the answers. These will be approved by the teacher.
5. Pitch conclusions to the group (on Project Pitch Day). Student must be persuasive and use evidence to convince classmates this is a worthwhile topic. Student should plan to use Prezi, HaikuDeck, Voki or another presentation method that fits their communication style.
   
6. Now go forth! Enjoy the research.
7. When done, create a presentation that will share research and conclusions with classmates.
8. On Project Presentation Day, present research and take audience questions. Use tools similar to those used on Project Pitch Day.

While this is student-paced and self-directed, the teacher overseas each benchmark. (more…)

Click to enlarge lesson plan

A Holiday Calendar

Kids love making this calendar. They get to talk about their upcoming vacations and hear what their friends are doing. It’s simple enough for third grade with advanced tools that satisfy a fifth graders growing intellect.

Create a holiday card for Thanksgiving or Christmas in KidPix or another drawing program and reinforce early writing skills while teaching mouse skills, toolbars and tool use: (more…)

A few years ago, I did a poll on the meaning of the word ‘turkey’. This was to demonstrate how powerful symbols are to your students and do so with an authentic use of technology to support discussion on math, language standards, and the holidays.

As a summation to your discussion with students on symbols, idiomatic expressions, geography, farms, or another topic, post this on your class screen. The poll includes lots of definitions for the word ‘turkey’. Have each student come up sometime during the day (or class) and make their choices. The one below is a sample:

What definitions did your students come up with I didn’t list?

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Teaching the days before big holidays is challenging. Students and teachers alike are ready for a break. Both struggle to pay attention regardless of how innovative and engaging are the lesson plans.

I’ve been there often. As a result, I’ve come up with fun ways to support learning while students power through the last few days of school. Here are seven I use during the pre-Thanksgiving season:

• ASCII Art
• Comics
• Holiday Widget
• Team Challenge
• Thanksgiving Poll
• Thinking Games
• Themed

ASCII Art

Time required: Less than one class

ASCII Art is the graphic design technique of creating images by typing the letters, numbers, and symbols defined by ASCII Standards. Holiday examples include this Thanksgiving pumpkin and these holiday bells. Here’s how you do it:

1. Open your word processing program (MS Word, Google Docs, or another).
2. Add a watermark of a picture you’d like to use, preferably a single image rather than one that includes a background. Silhouettes are perfect for this sort of project.
3. Type over the image with the letters, symbols, and numbers that best fit the outline. It’s fine to use one letter throughout (like an X).
4. Add color by highlighting the letters, numbers, and symbols typed over the parts you’d like colored (such as the stem of a pumpkin or the bow on Christmas bells in the linked samples above).
5. When you’ve covered the image with characters, delete the watermark. That leaves just your typing.
6. Save, print, share, publish as is customary in your classes.

Tie-ins: Use this not only for holidays but any academic class by creating an artistic image of the topic being discussed. Click the link for an example of Abraham Lincoln to align with study of the American Civil War or this one of the American Revolution. This is also a fun and authentic way for students to practice keyboarding.

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Three holidays are fast-approaching–Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. If you’re a teacher, that means lots of tie-ins to make school festive and relevant to students.

Here are ideas for Halloween projects, lesson plans, websites, and apps (check here for updated links):

Websites and Apps

1. 30-day Halloween fitness challenge
2. Build a Jack-o-lantern (in Google Slides)
3. Carve-a-Pumpkin from Parents magazine – Resolute Digital, LLC (app)
4. Enchanted Learning
5. Halloween games, puzzles–clean, easy to understand website and few ads!
6. Halloween Kahoot Games (video for teachers)
7. Halloween Science
8. Halloween Voice Transformer (app)
9. Make A Zombie – Skunk Brothers GmbH (app)
10. Meddybemps Spooky
11. Pumpkin Patch Games
12. WordSearch Halloween – AFKSoft (app)

Projects

1. ASCII Art–Computer Art for Everyone (a pumpkin–see inset)
2. Lesson Plan: Halloween letter for grades 2-5
3. Make a Holiday Card
4. A Holiday Card
5. A Holiday flier

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Teach Speaking and Listening Skills with Student Presentations

This video is from a series I taught for school districts. It is now available for free to Ask a Tech Teacher subscribers:

Summary

This video discusses using student presentations to enhance speaking and listening skills, aligning with Common Core standards. (more…)