My Gift to You!

Advent calendars were a tradition at our house while our children were growing up. It was exciting just to see what shape the chocolate was under each flap. I don't really think they even liked the chocolate. It was just the thrill of the unknown!
This Countdown to Christmas wiki, an advent calendar for teachers, is my Christmas gift to you this year. I hope you experience the thrill of clicking on each page as a new link becomes active each day and seeing something new (or maybe something old) that you'll be able to use in your classroom and in your home!
You will be able to respond to each topic by clicking on the Discussion Tab on each page. Please share how you might use this in your classroom. We'll learn so much from each other by sharing in this manner!
Join the wiki and you'll be able to upload photos of any of your projects. You should see the words Join This Wiki in the upper left hand corner.  Further instructions are on the first page of the wiki.
http://christmascountdown.wikispaces.com/

Happy Holidays!

Metrics Wiki

How many feet are in a yard? 3 How many inches are in a foot? 12 How many quarts are in a gallon? 2? How many cups in a pint? 2? Eeeeeeek! The numbers are all different and the units don't even sound the same! Which ones measure length and which ones measure capacity? This is so confusing!
Let's take a look at the metric system. How many millimeters in a centimeter? 10 How many centimeters in a decimeter? 10 How many decimeters in a meter? 10 How many meters in a decameter? 10 You get the idea? 10 is the magic number. That's what makes metrics so simple! If you've been afraid to learn metrics, take some time to learn the prefixes. That's the secret to understanding metrics. And don't just learn the tested ones. It doesn't make sense to only learn milli-, centi-, and kilo-.
This wiki was created to compile resources for teaching metrics in sixth grade. Most activities/resources are appropriate or easily adaptable to other grade levels too. Each page of the wiki has an open discussion forum. Please join in on the discussion and share your ideas!
http://metricssixth.wikispaces.com/

Word Magnets

Here's a great website to use with your interactive whiteboard. Enter any text on Word Magnets and your students will be able to manipulate the text in a variety of ways. Here's an example for words with prefixes and suffixes.
Step 1. Type a list of words, some with prefixes and some with suffixes then click on next.


Step 2. Click on Change to see a variety of background possibilities. Click done.

Step 3. Now you can move the words into the correct boxes. If you need to add more words click on Add New Magnet. In my example I added Prefixes and Suffixes to use as labels for each box. Click on one of the colors to color code the words. That's all there is to it.
Here are some other ideas for using Word Magnets:
ABC's - For smaller children, type in the alphabet. They can put the letters in order, form words, etc.
Parts of Speech - Type in a sentence. Students can color code the nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.
Growing Sentences - Start with a very simple sentence - just 3 or 4 words. Next add an adjective to the sentence, then an adverb, a prepositional phrase, another adjective.
ABC Order - Add a list of words and ask students to alphabetize them. While one student is on the board, students at their seats could also be ordering the words.
Story Starters- Ask students to randomly give you words to add. If all they give you are nouns, encourage them to add some verbs, some descriptive words, etc. Students can make their own sentences from the words given then use that as the beginning of a creative story.
A Picture's Worth . . . Show students a random photo. Have them generate as many words as possible to describe the picture. Students can then write a descriptive paragraph about the photo using some or all of the words the class generated.
U.S. Regions - Type in the states from 2 regions of the U.S. Students can categorize them according to their region.
Authors - Compare 2 authors. Use the Venn Diagram to show similarities and differences.
Introducing Vocabulary - Add the new vocabulary words for a science unit or social studies unit. Ask students to categorize them or take a guess at the relationships of the words.

Unfortunately the only way to save your magnetic board is to take a screen shot of it. On a Mac, that's Apple/Shift/4. Explore the site. Add your ideas in the comment section. Enjoy!

Spell with Flickr

Spell with Flickr is just a simple little site where you type in a word and the word is redesigned using letters from photographs in flickr. Where it says Spell, type in a word then click on spell. I've noticed sometimes the long words don't work very well. If you want to do several words, do one at a time.
You should now see your word twice in creative letters like the example above. Click on a letter in the top example to change the letter to a different design. When you're satisfied with your creation you have a couple of options as to what to do with it. If you want to put your word into a word processing document, take a screen shot of it (on a Mac, that's Apple/shift/4). Then insert it in your software. If you want to put it on your blog, webpage, or in a wiki, copy the embed code and paste it in. That's what I've done here!
Using Spell with Flickr will give you and your students a fun and creative way to decorate their projects, blogs, webpages, newsletters, invitations, etc. Have fun with this simple little tool!

My Award Maker

Since school is almost out you're probably wondering how you will be able to honor each student as they walk out the door this year. At this site, My Award Maker, you'll be able to print out certificates for each student. These certificates are totally finished except for the student's name and the teacher's name. Choose the certificate you want, then click on download. These download as PDF's which generally means that you can't change them. However, with these you can change the name fields. You will not be able to save the certificate with the student's name in it. Instead you should print them immediately. If you want a copy for you own records, print two copies.
There are NINE pages of certificates ranging from Perfect Attendance, to Great Writer, to Princess Award (I need that one for MY daughter!). Have fun with this site and think how special each child will feel from receiving an award from YOU!

25 More Ways to Use Discovery Streaming

Discovery Streaming is the best thing since sliced bread! Being able to download videos that match our curriculum standards is awesome. However there are many, many more features on the Discovery site. Check out our page on the wiki of 25 more ways to use Discovery Streaming.

Differentiated Instruction

I keep hearing that using technology makes differentiated instruction so much easier. Please complete the survey below and tell us how you use technology to differentiate instruction.