UPDATE 1/18/15 – I just added a post that gives more details about using augmented reality with this lesson. Go to “Outside My Snow Globe” to learn more! Earlier this year, I posted about a short video called, “BumbleVille.” This cute animation would be fun to show your students at this time of year. You … Read more
My gifted 2nd graders study the theme, “Structures,” and begin the year with animal structures. I recently saw this fabulous article on Edutopia, “Superhero Science” by Autumn Ware, that inspired me to leverage student interest in superheroes as a route for researching interesting animals. Experience has taught me that scaffolding is particularly important with these … Read more
I recently saw this article on Boing Boing that shares a tweet from Emma Coates, Pixar’s Story Artist, in which she relates the 22 Rules of Storytelling. I am regularly trying to encourage my students to do #12: “Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the … Read more
For the summer, I have decided to use my Tuesday and Thursday posts to reblog some of my favorite posts that some of my readers may have missed the first time around: As a teacher, do you ever have a moment when no one needs your help, and you are standing in the middle of … Read more
PicLits is a website that basically offers a catalogue of pictures for which you can make captions. The captions can be created from a word bank underneath that changes based on the selected picture, and variations of the chosen words are offered (such as plurals). This is one of those sites where the user can … Read more
The 49 journal pages on “Grace is Overrated” are inspiring and thought-provoking. They include quotations, fill-in-the-blanks, and questions that are great for self-examination. The layout of each of Christie Zimmer’s pages is fun and attractive as well. Some of them are more suited for adults, but I have used several with my students. The kids … Read more