Sunday, November 22, 2009

More Christmas!


Storyline Online is a site I have posted about in the past. Click on the link and then click on MoreStories to find The Polar Express. We all know and love that book! Lou Diamond Phillips does a great job of reading that to us. Remember that streaming video often has some stops and starts along the way.

Follow this link for lots of worksheets with a Christmas theme.


Remember Tales of Curiosity? That site has two videos for Christmas. One is The Night Before Chistmas and the other is The Truth about Santa Claus. Both are great but make sure you preview them before sharing with students.


Mr. Donn has lots of resources on Christmas. This link will take you to powerpoints, lesson plans, plays and almost anything else you might need or want. Looks like a one-stop shopping excursion to me! Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for sharing that in his blog!

Larry Ferlazzo shared another great site. Teachers First's Holiday Central has links to numerous holidays. Just scroll down to Christmas to follow that link to many, many other links that it will make your head spin. Fortunately the links give a brief overview and have grade levels listed. That should make your life a bit easier!

I was just notified via email about Scholastics section on Celebrating Winter. Check it out for lots of ideas.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

December Resources-Christmas Around the World

Here's a list of good links for your upcoming unit on Christmas Around the World.




Santa's Net Click here to go to the Traditions page. You'll find a list of countries with an overview of customs and traditions from that country. Look to the left and click on recipes just in case you want to try some foods from other areas.

Christmas Celebrations Around the World has ALL things Christmas! For country information, just click on the flag and you will go to an info page that will explain some of the traditions. Look at the bottom for anything else you might want for the holiday season!

Another page with country information is Christmas Around the World. Click on the county to get the brief overview.

World View is an older site but there is some good information here. You will open to a world map with links either on the map or right below. I tried to go to some of the links at the bottom but was unable. Try clicking on them though because I think you could find some good things here also.

Here's a neat activity copied directly from Education World..."Writing. Ask students to pretend they have pen pals in foreign countries. Their pen pals celebrate Christmas (or other holidays) in a way very different than they might do. Invite students to write letters to their pen pals to explain how their families celebrate the holidays."

Kaboose always has great info and resources. Clcik on the link to find a short list of countries. When you get to the country info you may find activities, crafts and songs to help you plan your unit.

Christmas Around the World is a web site developed by a teacher. She has an extensive list of countries with links, some that are already listed above. Make sure you scroll up and down because she has links to other holidays.

Christmas Traditions Around the World from How Stuff Works looks pretty good. Not all countries are included but I think many of you will find some information.

History.com has some good videos to use on the histroy of Christmas. Remember to always watch these before showing them to students. Scroll down the page to find other resources. Some things are informational only but can certainly help with your unit.

Keep in mind that I still have my membership to ABCTeach. If you need any printables, let me know and I will check aavailablity of country specific worksheets. I'll continue to add resources over the next week so keep checking back!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Make Five

Here's a simple math game to practice addition, subtraction or multiplication. You can use this on the whiteboard or have pairs of students take turns on a computer. All you have to do is click on the math problem that goes with the number at the top. It is similar to tic tac toe and students are trying to make a line of 5 correct answers. Each student will be designated with their own color. Have fun practicing those facts!

The House of Scary Words


I know...this sounds like a Halloween story. It's not! This is an interactive book which allows students to read the story and change words and pictures to make their own book. The book can be printed out to add to your classroom library.

The book is 17 pages long with quite a bit of reading to it and it doesn't seem to have a spot to stop and save. It looks like you need to finish the project in one sitting. At the end you will see a print button and a save as a pdf. If the kids save the book, remember to have them save it in their file. Hope your kids have fun writing their book!

Tales of Curiosity

I was looking for a short video about Paul Revere this weekend and followed a link from Surfnetkids to Tales of Curiosity. I didn't find what I wanted however I did find a small collection of videos that might be of interest to you.

I particularly like the video of A Visit from St. Nicholas read aloud with the great illustrations from the book. It's less than 6 minutes and most kids would enjoy this.

A Curious Trip in the Solar System was also good however there are pictures of the gods and some are scantily dressed. Check the video out before you show it to the children. It is certainly not offensive but I am sure the kids will giggle when Mars comes up on the screen!

I'm going to bookmark this site and watch as they add new videos. This looks like a keeper!

Writing Fix


Thanks to TipLine for sharing this resource! Writing Fix is a website from the Nevada Wrting Project. It's been around since 2001 and I keep wondering how I missed this great resource. You find all you need for writing here...prompts, lessons, ideas, activities, professional development...anything and everything.

Have you run out of ideas for writing topics? Click the prompt link and you will be given a random writing prompt to use. I was given one to describe my first kiss! Now I wouldn't share that one with kids but you can click again to get another prompt!

I found guides you can print, books you can order but most importantly I found ideas and samples. Sometimes I just need to see the project to decide how I might use the lesson.

Expect to spend some time here. It's a great website and is packed with lots of information that can help you with writing in the classroom.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

WatchKnow


This is a wonderful resource for teachers. Here's how they describe their service:

“What is WatchKnow? Imagine hundreds of thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught to school kids. Imagine them rated and sorted into a giant Directory, making them simple to find. WatchKnow--as in, "You watch, you know"--is a non-profit online community devoted to this goal.”

The site is easy to navigate. Just go to the left side to search subject areas and click away. A good number of videos are hosted by YouTube which is blocked here in WV but other hosting services are included.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day is just around the corner. Here are some links to some good resources.

Pete's Powerpoint Station has hundreds of slide shows for all kinds of topics. Check out the link for his Veteran;s Day powerpoints.

VA Kids has some neat games. This link takes you to a word jumble. Take a few minutes to review other things on this site.

Education World has a basic webquest of Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It asks students to explore the Unknown Soldier website and then answer 5 questions.

Histroy.com has a number of videos on Veteran's Day. Check them out before you share them with the kids and remember that streaming video sometimes has stops and starts!

Fact Monster has lots of information about Veteran's Day. Anything you want to know is right here.

Thanks to Anne Marie and Larry Ferlazzo for sharing resources

Scholastic Webcasts

Did you miss the RL Stine webcast last week? You can still watch it. Just click on this link to watch a recorded session. RL Stine Webcast

Many students were able to watch the 39 Clues webcast and it was GREAT!!! I think we all loved this. In case you missed it, you can still watch it by clicking on this link. 39 Clues Webcast

I'll keep a look out for upcoming webcasts and let you know when they are happening. This really is a great way to motivate the kids to read, read, read!

Thanksgiving Handprint


This looks like great fun for our primary students. Seems to be simple to do and the finished project looks quite nice for a family gift or a bulletin board decoration. Thanks to Kids Craft for tweeting this and all the RTs out there!