Useful Information In and Out of the Classroom 8/18/2023

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

Making a Solar Oven - “It's easy to cook with solar and the fuel is free, renewable and non-polluting. You can even use a solar oven in the winter on a bright, sunny day. Just add some insulation under the oven and protect it from the wind. The food will take longer to cook, but that's no problem. Just start your dinner in the morning and turn the oven a few times to make sure it's facing the sun.” (L:M,H; SA:S)

Loopy - “It's the ancient, time-honored way of learning: messing around and seeing what happens. Play with simulations to ask "what if" questions, and get an intuition for how the system works!” (L:T; SA:A)

Choice Board - “Canva for Education has many bingo card templates, but did you know that it also has a Bingo generator app? This means you can not only make Bingo cards, but also even create choice boards that look engaging.” (L:T; SA:A)

Basics of graphic design in educational technology - “This article proposes several visual design guidelines for designing more appealing and readable instructional materials. The guidelines follow the design principles of alignment, contrast, repetition, and proximity. In addition, this article presents tips for combining fonts, selecting colors, and finding resources.” (L:T; SA:A)

Met Publications - “MetPublications is an online portal to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's comprehensive art publishing program. It features over 1700 titles, including books, guides, Bulletins and Journals from the last six decades. The full contents of over 1400 out-of-print titles may be read online, searched, or downloaded as a PDF for free. Publications still in-print may be previewed and fully searched online through a link to Google Books.” (L:T; SA:LA,FA)

Original photo by Pat Hensley