Category: Websites
3 Lesson Plans to Teach Architecture in First Grade
Here’s a great lesson plan with three activities well-suited to the discussion of architecture and design in 1st grade:
Review
Students complete three projects in two weeks to aid understanding of architecture, design, and three-dimensional thinking. They’ll experiment with spatially laying out a three-dimensional structure on a two-dimensional paper. When completed, they’ll discuss with neighbors while practicing good listening skills learned in class.
Start with a discussion of design. This includes size, shape, texture, proportion, scale, mass and color. We will apply these to rooms, buildings, and neighborhoods. Encourage students to think and analyze critically as they engage in learning.
In figures below, ask students which are two- or three-dimensions? How do they know?
[gallery ids="50170,50171,50172,50173,50164"]Design the Classroom
Visit Classroom Architect and demo how to design the classroom with drag-and-drop pieces (see figures below). Take suggestions from class on layout. Students must think about where tables and storage are relative to other items. This is an active learning lesson that encourages visual thinking. Develop a sample based on class input and show how to make corrections if necessary.
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Happy Labor Day!
Labor Day is annually held on the first Monday of September (this year, September 2nd). It was originally organized to celebrate various labor associations’ strengths of and contributions to the United States economy. It is largely a day of rest in modern times. Many people mark Labor Day as the end of the summer season and a last chance to make trips or hold outdoor events.
Labor Day is a US holiday dedicated to workers across the country. The public holiday always falls on the first Monday in September. The first federal observation of the holiday occurred in 1894 however the first Labor Day observed in a state was in Oregon in 1887.
Today, I honor the warrior, his job to fight for America’s way of life, invisibly and heroically, across the globe.
[gallery type="rectangular" ids="50057,50059,50060,50061,50062,50063,50064,50065,50066,50067,50068,50069,50070,50071,50072,50073,50074,50075,50076,50077,50078,50079,50080,50081,50082,50083,50084,50085,50086,50087,50088,50089,50090,50091"]Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of dozens of technology training books that integrate technology into education. She is webmaster for six blogs, CSG Master Teacher, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, CAEP reviewer, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, a tech ed columnist for Examiner.com, and a weekly contributor to TeachHUB.
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33 Great Research Websites for Kids
Here are quick, safe spots to send students for research:
- BrainPop–with the BrainPop characters, a launchpad to curiosity
- CoolKidFacts–kid-friendly videos, pictures, info, and quizzes–all 100% suitable for children
- Dimensions–academic research geared for college-level
- Fact Monster–help with homework and facts
- Google Earth Timelapse–what changes to the planet over time
- Google Trends–what’s trending in searches
- History Channel–great speeches
- How Stuff Works–the gold standard in explaining stuff to kids
- Info Please–events cataloged year-by-year
- National Geographic for Kids
- Ngram Viewer–analyzes all words in all books on Google Books
- TagGalaxy–search using a cloud
- Wild Wordsmyth–picture dictionary for kids
- World Book–requires membership
Citing Resources
Kids Search Engines
How to Research
- A Google A Day
- How to Search on Google
- Power Searching (with Google)
- Teaching students to search/research
- Internet Search and Research–a lesson plan for K-8
Lesson Plans
Resources/Research
- Kids Picture Dictionary
- Primary Source Documents
- Talk to Books–research your topic based on books
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8 Tech Tools to Get to Know Your Students for Back to School
The first day of class can be daunting. Students are curious about the new faces around them, intimidated–even frightened by the prospect of so many people they know nothing about. As a teacher, you might feel the same way. You knew everything about last year’s students, got excited when their baseball team won the playoffs, cried with them when a favorite pet passed away, cheered when they got an A in math. Those details–that intimate knowledge–helped you understand what motivated them so you could differentiate instruction to reach each of them where they were.
Now, you’re starting over. It would be easy to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves, but you want the first-day ice-breaker to be more–enriching but fun, to set the tone for the rest of the year. You want students to quickly get comfortable with each other, bond as a group, without turning the classroom into a party room. And, you want an activity them haven’t done so many times in the past it’s boring.
One truth never changes: Students love talking about themselves. There’s no better ice breaker than one where students share information about themselves. There’s no better way to discover new friends than have a classmate understand perfectly what you’re saying about a tough soccer game because s/he too plays soccer.
Another truth: Kids love technology. This year, try a get-to-know-you that uses one of the many free online tech tools. How about these ideas:
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6 Sites + 12 + 6 About Coin Counting
Second graders (sometimes first graders) learn about money. The only way to really ‘get it’ is repetition. Here’s a list of websites to provide redundancy for each type of learner:
For a longer list that includes concepts like ‘economics’, try these:
Coins and Counting Money
- Brain Pop Learn about Money
- Cashtivity
- Coin games—from US Mint
- Count Money
- Face on money
- Face on money–from Lunapic; lots of options
- Make change
- Money—counting
- Moneyville
- Money Flashcards–APlus Math
- Mr. Bouncy’s Money collection–lots of websites
- US Mint virtual tour (a slideshow)
Economics–for youngers
- Brain Pop Learn about Money
- Coffee Shop Game
- Rich Kid Smart Kid
- Spent–living at minimum wage: the game
- Three Jars–kids learn to use money wisely
- Tykoon Kid–earning with a purpose
Do you have any to add to this list? These are mostly for youngers–I’d love some for older age groups. (more…)
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15 Websites on Natural Disasters
Natural disasters is a related discussion to any number of topics–geography, ecology, Earth Day, even problem solving. Here are 16 websites that bring the power of these natural forces to students:
- Avalanches
- Earthquake simulations
- Earthquakes
- Earthquakes for Kids
- Earthquakes–USGS
- Hurricanes
- Natural disaster videos
- Natural disasters—National Geographic
- Natural disasters–resources
- Tornadoes
- Tornadoes II
- Tsunamis
- Volcano Underwater
- Volcano videos
- Volcanoes
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15 Memorial Day Websites for Students
Memorial Day is the time we remember all of those soldiers (and anyone in the Armed Forces) who gave their lives in the defense of American freedom. In war and peace, they made the ultimate sacrifice, and because of them we are privileged to live the American Dream.
Once a year, we honor them, their sacrifice, and those they left behind. Here are some activities to help students understand the import of this day:
- In Flanders Field--poem
- Memorial Day Messages, Speeches, Oaths, Poems, Anthems, and images
- Memorial Day Poems
- Memorial Day Poetry–poems
- Memorial Day Prayer
- Memorial Day puzzle I
- Memorial Day Puzzle II
- Memorial Day DigitPuzzle
- Memorial Day Quiz
- Memorial Day Word Search
- Primary source recollections of War
- Quotes about Memorial Day/Wars
- Remember our Warriors
- Who you are remembering–Americans killed in action
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50 Economics Websites
As a passionate Economics major in college (which grew into an MBA), I find Econ at the root of much of the world around us. It starts with counting coins in first grade and grows up to a peek into NASDAQ and other adult subjects in middle school.
These websites cover kindergarten (counting money) through elementary (economics for youngers) through Middle School:
Coins and Counting Money
- Brain Pop Learn about Money
- Cash Out
- Coin Counting
- Coin games—from US Mint
- Count Money
- Counting Money
- Face on money
- Face on money–from Lunapic; lots of options
- Make change
- Money—counting
- Moneyville
- Money Flashcards–APlus Math
- Mr. Bouncy’s Money collection–lots of websites
- Piggy Bank
- US Mint virtual tour (a slideshow)
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31 Sites on American History
This is for both younger and older students so check these out–pick the ones that work for you:
- America’s Story
- America–Colonies
- American Indians
- Civil War I video
- Civil War II video
- Civil War—reconstruction—video
- Colonial America–life
- Growth of the USA
- Historic speeches
- Jamestown Adventure Game
- Mt. Vernon
- Native American Conflicts
- Oregon Trail—all about
- Oregon Trail—virtual tour
- Patriot Spy–Deliver a covert message to Paul Revere
- Picturing America
- RR—inventing
- Timelines
- Transcontinental Railroad video
- Underground Railroad
- US History Map Game
- USA Games
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10 Space Websites That Will Launch Your Class Study
Space units are always exciting. Part of it’s the history, but a lot is that space is our final frontier, a wild untamed land that man knows so little about. I have a list of over 20 websites I use to support this theme for K-8. Here are 10 of my favorites:
100,000 Stars
100,000 Stars is an interactive visualization of the stellar neighborhood showing the real location of over 100,000 nearby stars. You can zoom in on 87 major named stars including our Sun. There’s a brief introduction and a longer tour students can take to get acquainted with the program. From there, it’s intuitive to use with many of the same browsing tools students are used to from other programs.
100,000 Stars is programmed by space enthusiasts at Google. The introductory music is mesmerizing. Put your headphones on and fly.