Team-Building Games and Activities for the Classroom Looking for great ways to help students learn to work together, listen carefully, communicate clearly, and think creatively? Try some of these awesome team-building activities for kids. They’re a super way to give your students the chance to get to know one another, build trust as a community, and, best of all, have fun! 1. Seeing Spots For this activity, you’ll place a colored sticker dot (blue, red, green, or yellow) on each student’s forehead without them knowing what color it is. 2. Looking for team-building activities for kindergarten kids? 3. Divide students into groups of four and have them sit together in these small groups. 4. There are quite a few team-building activities for kids that use Hula-Hoops. 5. This classic outdoor activity is double the fun of the traditional tug-of-war. 6. This fun game is a lot like the game show Password. Flash images one at a time on the screen behind the people in the hot seat. 7. 8. 9. 10. This hopping game will crack your students up. 11. 12.
220 Sight Word Practice Pages - Mr. Mattie This new teaching resource includes 220 worksheets focusing on Dolch Sight Words. The whole resource is divided into five groups: pre-kindergarten sight words, kindergarten sight words, first grade sight words, second grade sight words and third grade sight words. Each of these sections is arranged alphabetically. You can download 10 sample worksheets here. Once you make the purchase, you’ll receive an automatic e-mail with a download link to get the pdf version of the purchased teaching resource(s).
A Copyright-Friendly Toolkit However fabulous Creative Commons and Public Domain content may be, sometimes you really need to use copyrighted material. Say you plan to comment on popular media or current events. For instance, you may be planning to critique the portrayal of Native Americans in commercial films. You may use copyrighted content without asking permission if you believe that your use falls under the doctrine known as Fair Use. In general, when you transform original content, repurpose it, and add value to it in your own remix, you may be able to claim the use fair. According to American University’s Center for Media and Social Impact, these two tests or questions help you plan whether to use the copyrighted work of others without asking permission: Did the unlicensed use "transform" the material taken from the copyrighted work by using it for a different purpose than that of the original, or did it just repeat the work for the same intent and value as the original? American University.
Breakthrough by Jack Andraka – STEM Read Breakthrough by Jack Andraka Breakthrough by Jack Andraka Book Info Grade Level Middle School STEM Concepts Research, Biology, Medicine, Mathematics PublisherHarperCollins Videos Activities Educators Author Book Summary For the first time, teen innovator and scientist Jack Andraka tells the story behind his revolutionary discovery. Jack’s story is not just a story of dizzying international success; it is a story of overcoming bullying and depression and finding the resilience to persevere. Videos Changing the World with Teen Innovator Jack Andraka We had the pleasure of having Jack Andraka, teen scientist, author, inventor and innovator, visit Northern Illinois University for the STEM Read Change the World Day. A Few of Jack Andraka's Favorite Things Teen innovator and inventor Jack Andraka, author of the book Breakthrough, talks about a few of his favorite things, including favorite books, movies, TV shows, and even his favorite Real Houswives! Changing the World using STEM Kayla Hailey and Bailey
Fake News Resources for Teachers - Julie Smith Resources to Help You Get Started: Super fun to have everyone jumping on the “fake news” bandwagon – we media literacy folks have been barking about this for YEARS! Welcome! In no particular order, here are some resources on fake news, fake news creation and how to identify it. How to Spot Fake News: Common Sense Media FactCheck.Org USA Today Washington Post International Federation of Library Associations Fairly Well-Documented Fake News Sites: Fake News Sites to Avoid Fake News Lesson Plans: From PBS From KQED From the New York Times From Edutopia From C-Span Other Cool Resources on this topic: The Psychology Behind Fake News Why Our Brains are Wired to Believe Fake News How a Kid in Macedonia Makes Thousands Creating Fake News Inside the Macedonian Fake News Machine Fake News Resources from Renee Hobbs Ways Teachers are Fighting Fake News News-Decoder article from Nelson Graves My pal Michelle Ciulla Lipkin on CNN’s Reliable Sources! School Library Journal News Literacy Project @MediaLiteracyEd @newsdecoder
20 Tools for Teaching Vocab. – Literacy with Miss P If you’ve read my posts about building vocabulary and spelling in a reading rich curriculum, you’ll know that I am keen on instilling a love of reading, an interest in the etymology of words and an inquisitive nature about word origins and meanings. I believe the teaching of spelling and vocabulary should be through fun, engaging activities that excite and inspire children. In no particular order, here’s my run-down of my top 20 online tools for teaching vocabulary (which you can also download as a handy 2-page word document or PDF): Vocabulary Ninja is a fantastic website full of useful resources, word banks and games. If you have any other suggestions of useful vocabulary resources – please add them to the comments box below!
S.O.S. for Information Literacy Reading Responses That Engage the 'Real Student' By Marilyn Pryle If you walked into my classroom, you would see students who voice their opinions, who freely ask questions, and who make all kinds of connections. You’d see students who focus on language and craft, who examine texts through the use of literary devices and archetypes and even formal literary criticism, and who constantly refer to the texts as they discuss. They do these things consistently, organically, and always in variety, based on their own inklings, curiosities, and interests. It wasn’t always this way. I used to assign a reading and then give students comprehension questions to check their understanding. With the Reading Response system, each student can—and is expected to—bring his or her real self to the table. Why Reading Responses? By writing and sharing Reading Responses, instead of simply “finding the answer,” as one would with a set of comprehension questions, the goal is to contribute to the discussion. What’s the difference? The Four Rules 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Let's All Share What We Do As Future Ready Librarians In Each One Of The FRL Wedges! I had such a wonderful time with our team as we worked with administrators, technology directors, principals, coaches and of course, lots of very special Future Ready Librarians. On the second day, as we examined, dissected and shared ways Future Ready Librarians lead, teach and serve within our libraries, schools and communities, one of my new friends, Becky Ackermann, came up to me with an idea from the collaborating they were doing at their table. Even though we took the FRL Framework apart on the first day together by breaking into 10 groups and... ...providing more meaning and examples to each wedge, Becky and her table thought it would be super helpful to now come up with very specific examples, ideas, resources and more to help us be successful and creative within each. We started to do this with the sticky notes we were adding on Day 1, but it would be nice to have an online place where these ideas are captured and stored for everyone to use and share. Now, where the fun part begins!
30 years of Willy the Wimp | Children's books We first met Anthony Browne's Willy the Wimp in 1984 – 30 years on and this delightful chimp has starred in many books and won his creator a host of prizes. Now to celebrate the anniversary and his new book Willy's Stories, Anthony Browne shares some insights into why he brought Willy into the world. Also see The Art of Anthony Browne and 30 years of Willy the Wimp exhibition runs at the Illustration Cupboard Gallery in London until 20 September 2014 plus find this fabulous Willy the Wimp video. We have five signed copies of Willy's Stories to giveaway. Send us an email by Monday 8 September with the heading Willy the Wimp comp to childrens.books@theguardian.com telling us why you or your child should win.