Wired.com Geek Dad
Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Resources. Show all posts
Saturday, July 21, 2012
RPG for kids
Wired.com Geek Dad
Evaluating The Year
I found this somewhere else and did some editing (but forgot to keep the link so it's not attributed to the author - sorry!). Some great questions.
- What positive habits did each child show progress in this year? Sometimes we forget how much progress they make in a year until you sit back and really think about what life was like a year ago and what it felt like you were continually reminding them of, day in and day out. What's the current area each child needs to think about?
- How was the schedule this year? Was it too busy? Was there time to get things done? What took more time than you expected -- and was it worth it? Do you wish you had added something that you initially thought you couldn't handle? What changes do we need to consider for next year’s schedule?
- What were the unplanned learning experiences that happened this year? An unexpected illness? A change in jobs or houses? Unexpected trips? What are some of the lessons each of us learned?
- What did I learn about __________ (insert name of each child individually) this year? This question will be fun to consider as you think back over the surprises you encountered with each child as he developed. Record the delightful changes as well as the challenging attitudes or tendencies.
- What curriculum changes do I need to consider for next year? What worked, and what didn’t work this year?
- What was a crowning moment this year? Note the obvious successes you saw in each child.
- What was our greatest challenge this year? Will this challenge carry into next year?
- What do I need to change, as parent/teacher, in my approach next year? Are my expectations realistic? Was the workload realistic for the age and development of each child? Do I lecture and/or moralize too much? Am I too intense? Do I look for joy in each day? Do I need to change priorities? Are the most important things getting the least amount of time?
- Was there anything I really hoped to do this year that didn’t happen? Why? Should it become a priority for next year?
- What can we do to celebrate each child’s progress this year? Ideas might include a special honors night at dinner or an end of the year party with certificates of accomplishment. Accomplishments could include any progress, spiritual or academic, that each child has made.
- What would I list as the academic progress of each child? Recognizing strengths and weaknesses will help you plan for next year.
- What would I list that was really good about this year? (It is easy to forget.)
- What changes would I recommend for next year?
Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason is a popular choice of an educational approach, especially for the younger years (though she had resources for all the way through high school).
Here are a some good Charlotte Mason sites:
This is a good blog series (10 days of posts about Charlotte Mason) talking about a lot of different areas of CM along with resources:
And some curriculum and planning guides for CM (they were at the NCHE Conference last year but not this year -- some of their materials look good):
A good outline of the different ages and expectations. Includes a good blogpost series about planning a CM curriculum:
Ambleside Online has some good outlines for CM as well:
----------------
And, Fiona and I did a discussion series a year ago on figuring out your educational philosophy and deciding how to organize a school year. You might find something helpful here:
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Fwd: Kinect and Scratch
We've been playing with a Kinect hooked up to a laptop for our highschool robotics team. This year's FIRST Robotics Competition Kit of Parts will include a kinect for teams to use. Won't know how it's to be used until January 7:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111007005793/en/%C2%AE-Adds-Kinect-Xbox-360-Technology-High-School
It's been interesting to watch but one of the most fun things I found was that it can be interfaced with Scratch (MIT: http://scratch.mit.edu/ ) -- cool early programming tool. I think my 6 yo will soon be able to be introduced to Scratch. And it's a great learning tool throughout K-12 -- including being an easy interface for programming and demonstrating understanding of AP physics, etc...
Anyway, someone has written the interface (there's probably a much more appropriate computer-ese word) between the Kinect and Scratch so the kids can actually program with kinect input. (http://stephen-howell.tumblr.com/post/2652736960/scratch-and-kinect-find-instructions-on-doing)
Think we'll keep the kinect I bought -- and not buy an xbox to go with it -- lots of cool apps to download. Looks like it will work with Scratch, Greenfoot (similar learning tool for Java -- haven't used it yet). Nothing that I can find to interface with Alice. However, what a great tool for adding to kids' learning of programming -- beats the TRS-80 and Basic from when I was in high school.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111007005793/en/%C2%AE-Adds-Kinect-Xbox-360-Technology-High-School
It's been interesting to watch but one of the most fun things I found was that it can be interfaced with Scratch (MIT: http://scratch.mit.edu/ ) -- cool early programming tool. I think my 6 yo will soon be able to be introduced to Scratch. And it's a great learning tool throughout K-12 -- including being an easy interface for programming and demonstrating understanding of AP physics, etc...
Anyway, someone has written the interface (there's probably a much more appropriate computer-ese word) between the Kinect and Scratch so the kids can actually program with kinect input. (http://stephen-howell.tumblr.com/post/2652736960/scratch-and-kinect-find-instructions-on-doing)
Think we'll keep the kinect I bought -- and not buy an xbox to go with it -- lots of cool apps to download. Looks like it will work with Scratch, Greenfoot (similar learning tool for Java -- haven't used it yet). Nothing that I can find to interface with Alice. However, what a great tool for adding to kids' learning of programming -- beats the TRS-80 and Basic from when I was in high school.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Taking Notes
Here are the resources I'm going to use this year to try to help my 15 yo develop better note-taking skills (which are currently at the abysmal level!):
Note Taking Made Easy!: Strategies & Scaffolded Lessons for Helping All Students Take Effective Notes, Summarize & Learn the Content They Need to Know by Deana Hippie
How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport
Learning to Learn: Strengthening Study Skills and Brain Power by Gloria Frender
Your instructor is not going to hold up a flag when he or she states an important new idea or gives an example, but he or she will use signal words to give you the message that what's being said is important. Every good speaker does this, and you should expect to hear these signals. For example, he or she may introduce an example with "for example" as done here!
http://english-zone.com/study/signals.html
Note Taking Made Easy!: Strategies & Scaffolded Lessons for Helping All Students Take Effective Notes, Summarize & Learn the Content They Need to Know by Deana Hippie
How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport
Learning to Learn: Strengthening Study Skills and Brain Power by Gloria Frender
Your instructor is not going to hold up a flag when he or she states an important new idea or gives an example, but he or she will use signal words to give you the message that what's being said is important. Every good speaker does this, and you should expect to hear these signals. For example, he or she may introduce an example with "for example" as done here!
http://english-zone.com/study/signals.html
Local Diane Craft resources
A post on a local loop from the local homeschool store in Raleigh, NC: The Homeschool Gathering Place:
If you heard Dianne Craft speak at NCHE conference in May, did not purchase her materials and are not regretting it, regret no more!!! HSGP is now carrying Dianne Craft materials. We have the following items in stock:
1. Biology of Behavior cd: detailed step by step nutritional guide to help improve behavior, learning "glitches" focusing issues, etc.
2. Brain Integration Therapy Manual: easy to use at home therapy program to help make learning easier by using your child's body to make brain connections.
3. Right Brain Phonics Reading Book: 20 minutes a day program that turns a word guesser into a word reader. Great for dyslexics.
4. Smart Kids Who Hate to Write DVD: Does your child seem lazy, sloppy, unmotivated? It could be dysgraphia, where the child has to use so much energy for the writing process that they are reluctant to even put pencil to paper. This DVD will help you identify a child with a writing glitch, dysgraphia, visual/spatial problems and more importantly, give ways as to how to correct them.
5. Teaching the Right Brain Child DVD: Does learning seem harder for your child than it should be? This DVD contains right brain learning techniques taught by Dianne Craft that teaches the child how to store information in long-term visual memory for maximum retention.
6. Understanding and Helping the Struggling Learner DVD: Use this DVD to find out the symptoms that a child presents when he/she is experiencing an information processing glitch and what to do about it.
7. Right Brain Multiplication cards: learn multiplication facts with right brain strategies.
8. Right Brain Phonics cards: Teach phonic sounds so they stick
9. Sight Words cards: Sight words taught using right brain strategies.
Thanks for letting us serve you,
Jim, Julia, Cally, Emily, Joyce, Mary Beth, Lynn, Kelson, Vicky, Kira, Beth,
Ashley, Elizabeth, Kathleen, Victoria, Kimberly, Royale
If you heard Dianne Craft speak at NCHE conference in May, did not purchase her materials and are not regretting it, regret no more!!! HSGP is now carrying Dianne Craft materials. We have the following items in stock:
1. Biology of Behavior cd: detailed step by step nutritional guide to help improve behavior, learning "glitches" focusing issues, etc.
2. Brain Integration Therapy Manual: easy to use at home therapy program to help make learning easier by using your child's body to make brain connections.
3. Right Brain Phonics Reading Book: 20 minutes a day program that turns a word guesser into a word reader. Great for dyslexics.
4. Smart Kids Who Hate to Write DVD: Does your child seem lazy, sloppy, unmotivated? It could be dysgraphia, where the child has to use so much energy for the writing process that they are reluctant to even put pencil to paper. This DVD will help you identify a child with a writing glitch, dysgraphia, visual/spatial problems and more importantly, give ways as to how to correct them.
5. Teaching the Right Brain Child DVD: Does learning seem harder for your child than it should be? This DVD contains right brain learning techniques taught by Dianne Craft that teaches the child how to store information in long-term visual memory for maximum retention.
6. Understanding and Helping the Struggling Learner DVD: Use this DVD to find out the symptoms that a child presents when he/she is experiencing an information processing glitch and what to do about it.
7. Right Brain Multiplication cards: learn multiplication facts with right brain strategies.
8. Right Brain Phonics cards: Teach phonic sounds so they stick
9. Sight Words cards: Sight words taught using right brain strategies.
Thanks for letting us serve you,
Jim, Julia, Cally, Emily, Joyce, Mary Beth, Lynn, Kelson, Vicky, Kira, Beth,
Ashley, Elizabeth, Kathleen, Victoria, Kimberly, Royale
Stop Motion for 5 and 6 yo's
My 5 1/2 yo decided that he really needed to do LEGO stop motion videos like his 16 yo friend Clark does. Unfortunately, he doesn't read yet and he has big plans in his head about how it will work.
You can check out some of my son's stop motion videos on the youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/lwhipker?feature=mhee)
However, this video one is a better one to show "how to do stop motion with a 5 or 6 yo" -- it's a Dad video taping his 6 yo talking about how she does stop motion and you can see the one she did which was with paper drawings -- I've strongly suggested to my son that he do 2-D stop motion and he's pretty firmly refusing!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-hi4AYxzCc
Here's what we've learned on this process.
Option 1: Windows Movie Maker
CON: quite parent-intensive.
The challenge with the age of our kids is that it's not very easy to see it -- my son likes to take 5 pictures, run it to see how it looks, see which frames his hands are in and delete those, etc. Plus, he doesn't read. And he and I both like having him be independent so he doesn't drive me crazy. So it needs to be simple. I tried out several other demo's to see what worked well.
I have a webcam attached to my computer and can take photos with it directly from the keyboard.
Option 2: iKitMovie
Our first attempt (free demo for as long as we could):
We used a month long demo for Dragon StopMotion -- which is more complex and much more expensive but does more of what he wants to do (sound's a challenge -- we're using the free audacity program, and today we're probably going to try pulling it into Windows Movie Maker to combine the sound and titles). The demo allows 50 frames per scene -- hence, all of the 7 second videos on youtube!
Option 4: ZU3D
This is the one we finally ended up with. Again, a long demo to try it out. But, it's great for kids to use and has many, many features (except for Star Wars light saber sounds which I've had to search out and manipulate through audacity to use).
Pros: Easy for kids to use, very intuitive, not too expensive (relatively), allows titles and credits to be made right in the program (very important, apparently!)
Cons: Some sound still has to go through audacity
BTW: For lighting, I know of some GREAT LED lightbulbs that work well for kids doing stop motion close to lamps! My older son's FIRST Robotics Team is selling some nearly unbreakable LED lightbulbs online ($5 shipping, regardless of how many you purchase): http://www.teampyrotech.org/ My son puts them in some inexpensive gooseneck lamps from Target.
You can check out some of my son's stop motion videos on the youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/lwhipker?feature=mhee)
However, this video one is a better one to show "how to do stop motion with a 5 or 6 yo" -- it's a Dad video taping his 6 yo talking about how she does stop motion and you can see the one she did which was with paper drawings -- I've strongly suggested to my son that he do 2-D stop motion and he's pretty firmly refusing!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-hi4AYxzCc
Here's what we've learned on this process.
Option 1: Windows Movie Maker
- Camera -- make sure it's mounted, take 50+ photo's of individual shots
- Download onto the computer
- Pull all photo's into Windows Movie Maker
- Add sound via Audacity
- Add titles
CON: quite parent-intensive.
The challenge with the age of our kids is that it's not very easy to see it -- my son likes to take 5 pictures, run it to see how it looks, see which frames his hands are in and delete those, etc. Plus, he doesn't read. And he and I both like having him be independent so he doesn't drive me crazy. So it needs to be simple. I tried out several other demo's to see what worked well.
I have a webcam attached to my computer and can take photos with it directly from the keyboard.
Option 2: iKitMovie
Our first attempt (free demo for as long as we could):
- iKitMovie (http://www.ikitmovie.com/) -- it has almost no reading, lots of sound clips, logs of drag and drop, easy to delete, easy to play
- really suited for a 5 to 6 yo EXCEPT it does not have enough control if the animator wants to do anything more complex so we outgrew this fairly rapidly because my son's trying to do stop motion "like Clark" -- who turned 16 today... (but has some great stop motion movies -- his youtube channel is 103clark -- worth watching some!)
We used a month long demo for Dragon StopMotion -- which is more complex and much more expensive but does more of what he wants to do (sound's a challenge -- we're using the free audacity program, and today we're probably going to try pulling it into Windows Movie Maker to combine the sound and titles). The demo allows 50 frames per scene -- hence, all of the 7 second videos on youtube!
Option 4: ZU3D
This is the one we finally ended up with. Again, a long demo to try it out. But, it's great for kids to use and has many, many features (except for Star Wars light saber sounds which I've had to search out and manipulate through audacity to use).
Pros: Easy for kids to use, very intuitive, not too expensive (relatively), allows titles and credits to be made right in the program (very important, apparently!)
Cons: Some sound still has to go through audacity
Monday, July 4, 2011
Educational Philosophy Discussion
We just finished up a 3-month/3-session workshop on Educational Philosophy. Lots of great ideas. The co-facilitator and I both have high schoolers and younger -- but all of the participants of the workshop were homeschoolers (with experience) and their oldest was 5 to 8 yo.
Month 1: What is an Educational Philosophy
-- including what people are comfortable with as far as education and homeschooling
-- and what areas do people feel the most unsure about
-- how do you walk through an educational philosophy, what is the definition of education, what is a successful person
Month 2: Educational Paradigms
We all have lots of educational paradigms that we may or may not recognize. Nature/nurture, providing children with lots of free time versus helping them work within a structure, etc. The ones we recognize we feel strongly about are the ones that provide direction for the type of curriculum we choose, the type of framework we feel most comfortable with. The ones that are not as well defined in our minds are the ones that make us more vulnerable to others' opinions about what works most with them.
You can take a survey about your educational paradigms here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/educational_paradigms
Month 3: Based on your definition of education, what your long term goals are, and your educational paradigms, how do you actually plan out the year? Methods of planning objectives using math as the example were discussed, along with a few sources of organizational forms.
To see handouts and discussions from this workshop, check out the wiki:
http://homeschooltopics.wikispaces.com/
Month 1: What is an Educational Philosophy
-- including what people are comfortable with as far as education and homeschooling
-- and what areas do people feel the most unsure about
-- how do you walk through an educational philosophy, what is the definition of education, what is a successful person
Month 2: Educational Paradigms
We all have lots of educational paradigms that we may or may not recognize. Nature/nurture, providing children with lots of free time versus helping them work within a structure, etc. The ones we recognize we feel strongly about are the ones that provide direction for the type of curriculum we choose, the type of framework we feel most comfortable with. The ones that are not as well defined in our minds are the ones that make us more vulnerable to others' opinions about what works most with them.
You can take a survey about your educational paradigms here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/educational_paradigms
Month 3: Based on your definition of education, what your long term goals are, and your educational paradigms, how do you actually plan out the year? Methods of planning objectives using math as the example were discussed, along with a few sources of organizational forms.
To see handouts and discussions from this workshop, check out the wiki:
http://homeschooltopics.wikispaces.com/
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Initial Academic Plan for Kindergarten
Very initial look -- off the top of my head!
Of course, many more things to consider for Kindergarten than academics but I haven't planned them out yet.
Reading:
GOAL:
To move from current level of slowly blending cvc words to:
Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye
Headsprout (online)
100 Easy Lessons
Leapster Star Wars Reading
Evan Moore Centers: Phonics and Literacy (both K-1)
Some sight words
Books/Literature:
GOAL:
To have him enjoy great books, the sound of language, artwork, creating books...
Sources:
Audio books
Magic Tree House
FIAR books
Hand Writing:
GOAL: Improve handwriting so that it becomes more fluent. Currently working on numbers and most lower case letters. (Upper case letters are all recognizable).
Probably need to do a bit on hand position
Sources:
Games for writing
Handwriting without Tears -- manipulatives
LEGO, clay, sand/rice writing, sidewalk chalk, paint
Math:
GOAL:
To continue to explore numbers, quantities, measurements, and relationships between them
Continue to work on time and money
Place value, multiplication and division, writing number equations, functions, patterns, geometry...
Sources:
Evan Moore Math Center (K-1)
Maria's Math Club?
Singapore Math/other workbooks when it's helpful
Decimal Street games
100 chart
Add in some homemade Montessori methods?s
Science/History/Geography:
GOAL: Explore all topics on a regular basis to get the "hooks" for more indepth learning later on. Might be interesting to do 2 week units on topics -- alternating between Science and History? Maybe a "theme of the 2 weeks" to focus all reading/internet videos/activities/games on...
Options:
Life cycles
Space
Magnets
Electricity
Water
Sink/float
Egypt
Greece
Rome
Vikings
Great Wall of China
Medieval Knights/Castles
Renaissance
Other:
Building
Animation
Tae Kwon Do?
Bicycling
Yoga?
Of course, many more things to consider for Kindergarten than academics but I haven't planned them out yet.
Reading:
GOAL:
To move from current level of slowly blending cvc words to:
- being able to recognize basic level K-1 Dolch words
- read cvc, cvcv, cv, and several cvcc words
- continue learning the phonics sounds of each letter and blends (from All About Spelling)
- want him to feel that he likes reading!
Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye
Headsprout (online)
100 Easy Lessons
Leapster Star Wars Reading
Evan Moore Centers: Phonics and Literacy (both K-1)
Some sight words
Books/Literature:
GOAL:
To have him enjoy great books, the sound of language, artwork, creating books...
Sources:
Audio books
Magic Tree House
FIAR books
Hand Writing:
GOAL: Improve handwriting so that it becomes more fluent. Currently working on numbers and most lower case letters. (Upper case letters are all recognizable).
Probably need to do a bit on hand position
Sources:
Games for writing
Handwriting without Tears -- manipulatives
LEGO, clay, sand/rice writing, sidewalk chalk, paint
Math:
GOAL:
To continue to explore numbers, quantities, measurements, and relationships between them
Continue to work on time and money
Place value, multiplication and division, writing number equations, functions, patterns, geometry...
Sources:
Evan Moore Math Center (K-1)
Maria's Math Club?
Singapore Math/other workbooks when it's helpful
Decimal Street games
100 chart
Add in some homemade Montessori methods?s
Science/History/Geography:
GOAL: Explore all topics on a regular basis to get the "hooks" for more indepth learning later on. Might be interesting to do 2 week units on topics -- alternating between Science and History? Maybe a "theme of the 2 weeks" to focus all reading/internet videos/activities/games on...
Options:
Life cycles
Space
Magnets
Electricity
Water
Sink/float
Egypt
Greece
Rome
Vikings
Great Wall of China
Medieval Knights/Castles
Renaissance
Other:
Building
Animation
Tae Kwon Do?
Bicycling
Yoga?
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Dysgraphia resources
The typical accommodations for dygraphia are:
There's software that can help, including the FX Math/Science package for doing math problems, graphs, etc. This is available free to special needs kids from http://www.efofex.com.
Another resource is:
- permission to do all work on a laptop
- permission to mark answers in the test booklet (not on Scantron sheets)
- often extended time (double or time and a half, depending)
- if he has poor spelling then points not taken off for neatness and incorrect spelling on work completed in-class.
There's software that can help, including the FX Math/Science package for doing math problems, graphs, etc. This is available free to special needs kids from http://www.efofex.com.
Another resource is:
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Right brained resources
Diane Craft has a lot of great ideas about homeschooling with ADHD kids and right brained kids -- with both techniques to use and more information about the why's of their brain functioning. You might want to check out her website: http://www.diannecraft.com and articles. You can also order recordings of her talks at the conference if they look helpful. I'm actually going on Friday and hope to hear some of her talks.
Her approach is that you want to give them all the skills and tools they need to get them to function at the same evaluation level.
Another person who's well known in this area is Cindy Gaddis (from eastern NC). She also has lots of great info and techniques but her underlying philosophy is that right brained thinking is no different than left brained thinking and therefore why should one even be looking at the same measurements.
http://applestars.homeschooljournal.net/
Karen Davis (Charlotte) has a great list of resources for right brained learners:
http://www.squidoo.com/Right_Brained_Learner
**** Go down halfway and watch the "Animal School" video if you haven't seen it before.
And last, a current business book on the future of right brained thinkers:
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink
Her approach is that you want to give them all the skills and tools they need to get them to function at the same evaluation level.
Another person who's well known in this area is Cindy Gaddis (from eastern NC). She also has lots of great info and techniques but her underlying philosophy is that right brained thinking is no different than left brained thinking and therefore why should one even be looking at the same measurements.
http://applestars.homeschooljournal.net/
Karen Davis (Charlotte) has a great list of resources for right brained learners:
http://www.squidoo.com/Right_Brained_Learner
**** Go down halfway and watch the "Animal School" video if you haven't seen it before.
And last, a current business book on the future of right brained thinkers:
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink
Monday, February 1, 2010
Technology 2.0 and up sites
Rethinking Education Technology -- book about using the new technologies in education
http://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Education-Technology-Education-Connections-Education-Cnnections/dp/0807750034/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264994196&sr=8-1
EduCon 2.2
An online (and in person) conference about using Education and Web 2.2 technology. Worth exploring some of the different people who attended.
http://www.educon22.org/conversations/The_Decoupling_of_Education_and_School_Where_do_We_Begin
The wiki for the conference above:
http://i3educon.wikispaces.com/
One of the speakers at the EduCon conference -- haven't explored it much yet.
http://sites.google.com/site/sunilityching/
ScienceOnline 2010 Website
Some interesting local people and websites to look at (see the attendees list):
http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/
Math future wiki -- for the scienceonline website
http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/
http://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Education-Technology-Education-Connections-Education-Cnnections/dp/0807750034/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264994196&sr=8-1
EduCon 2.2
An online (and in person) conference about using Education and Web 2.2 technology. Worth exploring some of the different people who attended.
http://www.educon22.org/conversations/The_Decoupling_of_Education_and_School_Where_do_We_Begin
The wiki for the conference above:
http://i3educon.wikispaces.com/
One of the speakers at the EduCon conference -- haven't explored it much yet.
http://sites.google.com/site/sunilityching/
ScienceOnline 2010 Website
Some interesting local people and websites to look at (see the attendees list):
http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/
Math future wiki -- for the scienceonline website
http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/
Visual Technology Tools
Mind mapping:
http://mind42.com/
Poster creation for whatever topic is being used -- a very cool idea, however if you go to the website and browse it, it is full of female teen angst and stories. Not necessarily a place for younger kids!
http://www.glogster.com/
Here's one with Harriet Tubman that is very cool:
http://mariaha.glogster.com/harriet-tubman/
A periodic table of visualization methods -- so many types of visualization methods but inspiring to look at:
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html
http://mind42.com/
Poster creation for whatever topic is being used -- a very cool idea, however if you go to the website and browse it, it is full of female teen angst and stories. Not necessarily a place for younger kids!
http://www.glogster.com/
Here's one with Harriet Tubman that is very cool:
http://mariaha.glogster.com/harriet-tubman/
A periodic table of visualization methods -- so many types of visualization methods but inspiring to look at:
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html
Friday, September 4, 2009
Dysgraphia Links
Bj's dysgraphia is becomimg more of an issue. Though he types very well, I may need to start figuring what to try to do to get accommodations for the SAT, etc.
Description of dysgraphia and accommodations:
http://www.ldonline.org/article/Dysgraphia_Accommodations_and_Modifications
Strategies for dealing with it:
http://www.ldonline.org/article/Strategies_for_Dealing_with_Dysgraphia
A book on Amazon: Why Johnny Can't Write (though only 3 stars -- not many highly rated books about dysgraphia!!!)
Decent description but not much "what to do about it":
http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/read.dysgraphia.facts.htm
This website has a lot of sections -- I need to spend some more time on it.
http://www.peas-ink.com/ann/folio/hgse/t560/dysgraphia/inside.htm
Description of dysgraphia and accommodations:
http://www.ldonline.org/article/Dysgraphia_Accommodations_and_Modifications
Strategies for dealing with it:
http://www.ldonline.org/article/Strategies_for_Dealing_with_Dysgraphia
A book on Amazon: Why Johnny Can't Write (though only 3 stars -- not many highly rated books about dysgraphia!!!)
Decent description but not much "what to do about it":
http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/read.dysgraphia.facts.htm
This website has a lot of sections -- I need to spend some more time on it.
http://www.peas-ink.com/ann/folio/hgse/t560/dysgraphia/inside.htm
Sunday, July 26, 2009
History Lesson Plans
http://www.besthistorysites.net/LessonPlans.shtml
Best of History Web Sites is an award-winning portal that contains annotated links to over 1000 history web sites as well as links to hundreds of quality K-12 history lesson plans, history teacher guides, history activities, history games, history quizzes, and more.
BOHWS has been recommended by The Chronicle of Higher Education, The National Council for the Social Studies, The British Library Net, The New York Public Library, the BBC, Princeton University, -- and many others.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Virtual Homeschool group
http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/
Not sure what this is but I think it's worth checking to see how they've used the technology (including moodle).
Not sure what this is but I think it's worth checking to see how they've used the technology (including moodle).
Friday, June 26, 2009
Language Arts Resource
Here's a great NING for language arts -- full of teachers talking about lots of different English/LA topics. Look more at the teaching texts groups -- some good thoughts for this fall.
http://englishcompanion.ning.com
http://englishcompanion.ning.com
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Highschool and Middleschool resources
I really need to get Barbara Shelton's Form-U-La book for designing high school classes.
http://www.homeschooloasis.com/
It's time to start collecting the right info so it's on hand for a highschool transcript.
Finding Dulcinea: LOTS of resources by theme for highschool and middleschool
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides.topic__ss_categories_ss_education.html
http://www.homeschooloasis.com/
It's time to start collecting the right info so it's on hand for a highschool transcript.
Finding Dulcinea: LOTS of resources by theme for highschool and middleschool
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides.topic__ss_categories_ss_education.html
Preschool Themes
Soon, soon, I'm going to start thinking about Middleschool and Highschool again but for now, I'll continue to dabble in the Preschool mode...
Here's a great resource for planning themes -- each theme (including each alphabet letter) has songs, book recs, activities, science, songs, art, games on that theme or letter. We could do the typical one letter a week for the year and do all sorts of different activites.
Everything Preschool
Another cool resource is "Finding Dulcinea" -- here's the list of resources for Preschool:
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Education/Early-Childhood-Education.pg_04.html#04
But there are also lots of themes like highschool history (I'll post that separate so I can find it again!)
Here's a great resource for planning themes -- each theme (including each alphabet letter) has songs, book recs, activities, science, songs, art, games on that theme or letter. We could do the typical one letter a week for the year and do all sorts of different activites.
Everything Preschool
Another cool resource is "Finding Dulcinea" -- here's the list of resources for Preschool:
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Education/Early-Childhood-Education.pg_04.html#04
But there are also lots of themes like highschool history (I'll post that separate so I can find it again!)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
LEGO Engineering: From Kindergarten to College
An interesting 52 minute video from Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach
LEGO Engineering: From Kindergarten to College
For the past 10 years, Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach has been working with the LEGO Group to bring engineering into every classroom as a way to teach creativity, teamwork, and systems engineering as well as math, science, and literacy. We believe that as the world becomes more technical, and more dependent on technology, it is imperative that those who vote and who make policy understand the fundamentals of science and engineering so that they will make informed decisions on policies like developing a sustainable energy plan or reducing global warming. We do this by bringing engineering into the pre-college classroom and challenging students to design and build solutions to open-ended problems. Chris Rogers will show a number of examples from around the world of how teachers have used LEGO Robots to teach everything from how to graph to how to problem-solve. From LEGO snowplows (made by 1st graders) to automated hamburger makers (made by 13 year olds) to a LEGO robot driven by a fruit fly (made by a doctoral student), students have been excited, innovative, and very enthusiastic to learn. He will conclude by explaining how you can help affect your local school and classroom. Kids (of all ages) welcome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG-izyXfFHI
LEGO Engineering: From Kindergarten to College
For the past 10 years, Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach has been working with the LEGO Group to bring engineering into every classroom as a way to teach creativity, teamwork, and systems engineering as well as math, science, and literacy. We believe that as the world becomes more technical, and more dependent on technology, it is imperative that those who vote and who make policy understand the fundamentals of science and engineering so that they will make informed decisions on policies like developing a sustainable energy plan or reducing global warming. We do this by bringing engineering into the pre-college classroom and challenging students to design and build solutions to open-ended problems. Chris Rogers will show a number of examples from around the world of how teachers have used LEGO Robots to teach everything from how to graph to how to problem-solve. From LEGO snowplows (made by 1st graders) to automated hamburger makers (made by 13 year olds) to a LEGO robot driven by a fruit fly (made by a doctoral student), students have been excited, innovative, and very enthusiastic to learn. He will conclude by explaining how you can help affect your local school and classroom. Kids (of all ages) welcome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG-izyXfFHI
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)