Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 3/23/12

Here are some interesting sites that I’ve found this week, thanks to my PLN. As a teacher, I feel we have to keep up to date concerning research in our field and current issues in the education system. I hope some of these inspire you, inform you, and even have you asking questions. Thank you for coming by and visiting!

Note: Each resource is labeled with a level and subject area to make it easier to use.

Levels: E: Elementary; M: Middle; H: High; G: General, all levels; SN: Special Needs; T: Teachers

Subject Areas: LA: Language Arts, English, Reading, Writing; M: Math; S: Science; Health; SS: Social Studies, Current Events; FA: Fine Arts; Music, Art, Drama; FL: Foreign Language; PE: Physical Ed; C: Career; A: All

Station Spacewalk Game - “This video game features simulations of actual EVAs conducted by NASA astronauts on missions to provide power to the space station. The graphics used in this game are based on real NASA missions and incorporate 3D graphics used by the Agency.” (L:H; SA: S)

Learning Ideas - “Here is collection of Science, Mathematics, and Language Arts Ideas with some Music and Arts and Crafts. The monthly themes have been Animals, the Solar System, Energy (Electricity, Magnets, Light, Sound), Plants, Matter, Machines, Geometry, Crafts, and Weather.” (L: E, M; SA: S, M, LA, FA)

Klondike Gold Rush - “These activities make use of writing skills, reading, math, art, and physical education. Although arranged in a chronological order for following the gold rush story, individual activities can act as standalone component.” (L: E, M; SA: LA, M, FA)

Metaphorical Gold: Mining the Gold Rush for Stories - “By "mining" online databases for primary texts and period photographs, your students can explore the Klondike Stampede, and, like London, can glean from their visit sufficient period details to help them create their own narratives based on the Gold Rush. If time does not permit students to write their own stories, the teacher can select stand-alone sections from this lesson that deal with the history of the Gold Rush era. While the emphasis of this lesson is on history and research rather than literature, selections from Jack London's The Call of the Wild are used to provide focus and structure for students' research in online databases of primary sources, and to serve as models of vivid narrative prose for students' own stories.” (L: M; SA: SS)

From Boomtown to Ghost town - “In order to fully understand the geographic concept of natural resource use, students should learn about the ways that resource extraction affects the physical and human landscape. In this lesson, they will discuss how a specific economic activity in a region can facilitate the creation of towns, which often turn into ghost towns if the economic activity ends.” (L:E; SA: SS)

Original Image: Tools by Pat Hensley