Category: Teacher resources

As a teacher, I’m always looking for children’s books for my students. I’m excited to say I’ve found two I think you’ll like:

• Amazing Matilda — A coming of age of a monarch butterfly; delightful
• Sir Chocolate and the Fondant Five story and cookbook

Amazing Matilda

by Bette Stevens

5/5

Bette Stevens Amazing Matilda: The Tale of a Monarch Butterfly (CreateSpace 2012) is the story of tiny Matilda, a round white creature born from an egg in Nature’s garden with a burning desire to fly.  Without wings, though, she knows that can’t happen. Matilda has no idea that in her life, she will morph from the crawly leaf-bound creature to a gorgeous monarch butterfly. She tells her animal friends about her passion to fly and they offer their stories of growing up as well as sage advice any parent would be envious of. For example, her friend Sparrow suggests:

Another friend suggests:

She is frustrated by this good-natured advice because she has no idea how to do what they suggest:

“Sparrow said that I must have patience and that I must follow my instincts. Now, you say I must have wings. Where can I find all of those things?”

As Matilda grows, she changes from a larva to pupa to a gorgeous winged adult. Each stage in Matilda’s amazing journey is accompanied with wonderful drawings that show her progress, who she meets, and how she changes.

As a result, readers are not just entertained by the story but happily learn about the development of a butterfly. There are lots of cute lines, such as:

“Matilda crunched and munched and lunched, leaf after leaf, day after day.”

If you loved P.D. Eastman’s incomparable book, Are You My Mother, about a baby bird’s search for its mother, you must read this book. If Charlotte’s Web is one of your childhood favorites, I say, Move over Charlotte. Matilda is now here!

This is a short book. In fact. This review is almost longer than the story!

Sir Chocolate and the Fondant Five story and cookbook

by Robbie Cheadle

5/5

Robbie Cheadle’s Sir Chocolate and the Fondant Five story and cookbook (2019) is the next in the author’s delightful series of books that blend children’s stories with themed original recipes. This one is a clever story poem about the disappearance of zoo animals and how Sir Chocolate must figure out what happened.

“One day Sir Chocolate arrived, and not a sound could hear, he called long and loud, but no animals did appear. The animals had vanished, the zoo was empty and still,”

“The monkey is naughty, he likes to have fun, he plays tricks on the others, then away he does run.”

The story is written in the format of a poem and includes great photographs that help readers visualize the action. At the completion of the story, there is a cute poem to introduce an original collection of animal-themed recipes children can complete with their parents. Some of the recipes are:

• Sir Chocolate peppermint caramel pudding
• Cheetah Cheese scones
• Rino Soetkoekies

I have bought several of these books because I love the idea of blending a story with cooking and inspiring kids and parents to spend time together. I also love that Robbie writes these books with her son, Michael, each doing their part in writing, cooking, and photographing. Overall, this is another excellent book in a clever collection that not only entertains but brings parents and kids together.

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The end of the school year is a time when both students and teachers alike are distracted by thoughts of vacation, sleeping in, and no deadlines. For many, this means, during the last few weeks of school, learning limps to a grinding halt but increasingly, teachers use this time productively to introduce curricular- and standards-aligned activities that “color outside the lines” — step away from the textbook to blend learning with dynamic activities that remind students why they want to be life-long learners. Many of these, educators would love to teach but “just don’t have time for“, even though they align well with broad goals of preparing students for college and career.

If you’re looking for meaningful lessons to wrap up your school year, here are my top picks:

• Digital Passport
• Cool book reports
• Practice keyboarding
• Dig into cyberbullying
• Applied Digital Skills

Digital Passport

Common Sense Media’s award-winning Digital Passport is the gold-standard in teaching digital citizenship to grades 3-5 (or Middle School). This free-to-schools online program mixes videos, games, quizzes, and the challenge of earning badges to teach students the  concepts behind digital citizenship:

• Communication
• Privacy
• Cyber-bullying
• How to search
• Plagiarism

It includes certificates of achievement, badges at the completion of units, and a classroom tracking poster to show how students are progressing.

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Here are the most-read posts for the month of March:

1. 33 Resources for Read Across America Day
2. Teaching Basic Cybersecurity Measures To Everyday People (For Parents of Digital Natives)
3. How Readilearn grew from one woman’s dream to an exciting education resource
4. How Smart Tech and IoT are Making Educational Spaces More Accessible
5. Humorous Look at What I Learned from my Computer
6. Peer Feedback That Works
7. The Importance of SEL to Education Success
8. April is Financial Literacy Month
9. Why Mastery Based Learning is a Good Option
10. Fake News or Fact? How do you tell?
11.  Ways to Teach Tolerance
12. Solve 50% of Tech Problems with 16 Simple Solutions

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Here’s a preview of what’s coming up on Ask a Tech Teacher in April:

• Cutting Edge Tech to Improve Music Teaching
• 5 Favorite Activities to End the School Year
• 9 Ways to Teach Tolerance
• Fake News or Fact? How do you tell?
• 10 Myths about teaching with tech
• Solve half of tech problems with 16 simple solutions
• Have Google Takeout at your end-of-year party
• What to do when you lose a digital document
• 11 projects to teach digital citizenship
• How to wrap up tech for the school year
• 5 favorite apps for summer learning

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Here are the most-read posts for the month of February:

1. My Favorite 5 Tech Tools for Teacher-Authors
2. Questions Parents Ask
3. 18 Valentine Sites For Students
4. How Wearable Technology is Changing Education and Easing Disabilities
5. The Easy Way to Teach Internet Skills
6. Engineers Week — A Must for High School
7. Purpose Driven Learning: Myths, Problems, and Education Applications
8. Best-in-Category Winners for 2018
9. Easily Manage Class AR with Metaverse Collections
10. Kid-created Games That Teach

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Here’s a preview of what’s coming up on Ask a Tech Teacher in March:

• Teaching Basic Cybersecurity Measures
• Solve 50% of Tech Problems with 16 Simple Solutions
• 3 Favorite Webtools
• Looking for Trusted Advisors? Look No Further
• Peer Feedback That Works
• Celebrate Pi
• 10 Myths About Teaching with Tech
• St. Patrick’s Day Resources
• 8 Tech Tools for PE Teachers
• SEL in Education Success
• What I’ve Learned from my Computer
• 11 Projects to Teach Digital Citizenship
• Career Planning
• CBA–a Powerful Diagnostic Tool
• Earth Day Activities
• Easter Activities

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Here’s a preview of what’s coming up on Ask a Tech Teacher in July:

• February Subscriber Special
• Questions Parents Ask about Tech in School
• 20 Valentine Sites For Students
• How Wearable Technology is Changing Education and Easing Disabilities
• 15 President’s Day Activities
• Engineers Week — A Must for High School
• Best-in-Category Winners
• Purpose Driven Learning: Myths, Problems, and Education Applications
• What to do when you lose a digital document
• How to Make Kindness Part of Your Classes
• What is Constructivism and How Does it Fit Your Class?
• Solve 50% of Tech Problems with 16 Simple Solutions
• Kids Can Create Games That Teach
• 39 Resources for Read Across America Day
• Snow Days Stop Learning? Here’s How to Fix That

A note: Occasionally, dates change and the article above doesn’t appear as planned. If you’re curious about that, feel free to send us an email at [email protected]

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Last Change to vote for your favorite Tech Ed Tool!

Every year, I review a large number of websites, apps, and resources that help educators blend technology into their classrooms. I get lots of feedback from readers sharing their experiences, asking questions, and clicking through to see if a particular tool will serve their needs.

But, I often don’t hear how the product worked in the fullness of time.

Starting last year, I sought out your opinions:

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The High School technology curriculum prepares students for their college-and-career future not by teaching widgets and programs—though that happens—but by showing them how to use the tech they have acquired throughout their education. How do they decide what program works best for what inquiry? How do they acquire the use of tools they have never before seen? How do they self-assess their knowledge, ensuring they acquired what they need? Don’t expect black-and-white answers. Success is more likely predicated on student transfer of knowledge than their ability to check off boxes on a rubric.

Here’s a quick overview of what you will find in this textbook:

• Scope and Sequence aligned with ISTE and Common Core
• Themed units tied into inquiry
• Experiential learning with real-world applications
• Opportunities for students to express and grow in their creativity
• International mindedness
• Articles on tech pedagogy

Each Unit includes:

• an emphasis on comprehension, problem-solving, critical thinking, to prepare for career and college
• Common Core Standards covered
• ISTE Standards covered
• essential question
• big idea
• materials required
• time required to complete
• domain-specific vocabulary
• problem solving
• steps to accomplish goals
• assessment strategies
• ways to extend learning
• project examples where appropriate
• grading rubrics where appropriate

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MTI 558: Teach Writing With Tech

All-online, college credit, MTI 558 starts Monday, January 21, 2019! This is the last chance to sign up. Click this link; scroll down to MTI 558 and click for more information and to sign up.

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