Musical instruments made in the classroom won’t sound the same as the kind you can buy, but there are lots of good reasons for making them anyway: Creating instruments helps students understand how musical instruments work in a way no other experience can. Every child can have an instrument to… Continue reading
It’s a long time since filmstrips were the best way to add multimedia in the classroom. Not only do we have many more options in terms of technology for providing visual data for our students, but the reality is that we get a higher percentage of our information from visual… Continue reading
Getting settled into school? Here are some articles that can help: There Are Two Kinds of People in the World… Make a Classroom Logo Getting to Know You Digital Citizenship Teaching for Different Learning Modalities Classroom Communication Classroom Teambuilding Better Classroom Website in a Week GTD for Teachers And… Continue reading
What if you could go on a field trip without losing class time, coming up with funding, or having to carry anyone’s jacket? Virtual fieldtrips give you that option. What’s a virtual field trip? It’s a visit to an interesting place via the world wide web. Here are a… Continue reading
Field trips used to be a major part of school excitement, and they can be wonderful learning opportunities. At many schools, though, the cost of fuel and NCLB have made field trips a rarity, and they have to be defended with strong, clear ties to standards and benchmarks. One… Continue reading
When we introduce a story in the classroom, we like to give students the opportunity to retell it. There are lots of ways to approach this, and storytelling masks add easy drama to readers theater, tableaux vivants, dramatic play, or dramatic retellings. Getting the masks In the photo above… Continue reading
Just add accordion pleated paper to the cutout of your choice and use it for anything in the way of lists: vocabulary lists, measurement conversion equations, irregular verb forms, favorite reference websites — anything! Continue reading
“Retrofuture” refers to earlier ideas about what our current time would be like. Now that we’ve hit the 21st century, we have lots to choose from — people making predictions in the 1900s often chose the 21st century to write or draw or make movies about. Have your students explore… Continue reading
Some of our favorite robot lesson plans… Robot Design You can certainly build working robots in your classroom, using Lego Mindstorm: LEGO 8547 Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Robotics Kit LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT One-Kit Wonders: Ten Inventions to Spark Your Imagination The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner’s Guide… Continue reading
We’re curious about the Chromebook. Check out specs for a few: Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook Acer AC700 Chromebook Samsung Series 5 Wi-Fi Chromebook Chromebooks are less expensive than many comparable devices, they have a full-day battery life, they’re easier to navigate, and they’re tops for the combination of… Continue reading
