Spring Trading Cards

I have 2 sites to share in this post. First of all Big Huge Labs. At this site you'll be able to add your own photos to create magazine covers, jigsaw puzzles, cubes, posters, trading cards and more. I'll add more posts with ideas for some of these things later. But for now take a look at the trading cards. Spring is such a beautiful time of the year, a great time for students to go on a photo shoot. (Kodak has great visual hints for taking outstanding pictures.) Have students take pictures of signs of spring: trees budding, flowers blooming, birds returning, green grass, etc. Upload a picture to Big Huge Labs into the trading card.
Now for the second site in this post. There is a fun poetry generator site with many types/styles of poetry. Poetry has never been easier to write than at this site! Students basically just fill in the blanks then generate the poem. Once the poem is generated copy/paste it onto the trading card to match the photo they inserted. This gives them a start at poetry writing!
One more idea: students love Photo Booth on the Mac. They can take their picture in photo booth, then upload it to the trading card. Use the poetry generator and create a bio poem or biography poem. Add this to the trading card. Ah - what a wonderful idea for Mother's Day!

Squirt the Dog

Need an activity that will help students understand 45˚ angles? This activity from BBC is motivating for students and will help them see that angles in 45˚ increments. This should also help them understand angles greater than 90˚ and less than 90˚ so they can identify acute, right, and obtuse. There's even a quiz that students can take after practicing this game and other games at the site. In the game below use the red arrows to scroll to the correct measurement. Then drag the number to the picture.
If the game doesn't work here for you, go to the website and try it.

Did You Get It?

You've just taught a lesson and actually you're feeling pretty good about it. How do you know if your students got it? Just what did they get out of?
Exit slips are a quick way to check for understanding. Give your students a 3x5 card at the end of class - allow about 5 minutes for this. Give them a question to answer that will show you their understanding of your lesson. On this website, click on the assessment tab and there's a rubric to use to assess their reflection. Of course, you always give students the rubric ahead of time so they know your expectations. Use their responses to design your next lesson or to see which students need extra help.