by Shelley | English/Language Arts, Novel Studies
I came across a wonderful discovery, Google Lit Trips!
This site is amazing to expand the background knowledge of a novel and to add a whole new dimension to the book. From the Google Lit Trip site:
What is a Google Lit Trip?
Lit Trips are downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. Along the way, placemarks with pop-up windows contain “just in time” resources including relevant media, thought-provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about “real world” references in that portion of the story. The focus is on creating engaging and relevant literary experiences for students.
It is free to use for individual educators and classroom teachers. There is an option to sign up for a multi-user registration to use within a classroom. All you’ll need on your computer is to download Google Earth. The Google Lit Trip “Getting Started” page explains all you need to do.
One of the available titles for a Google Lit Trip is Esperanza Rising, by Pam Múnoz Ryan.
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
This Google Lit Trip maps Esperanza’s trip from her home in Mexico to California.
Along the way, you can make a stop and read about the location. This information can tie into the story and/or add background information to the reader to enhance the story using photos, videos, Google Earth visuals, and descriptive information.
If you are using my Esperanza Rising Novel Study, I highly recommend you check out this accompanying Lit Trip to enhance the learning and enjoyment of the novel for your students.
I can’t sing the praises of this Lit Trip highly enough. It is such a fantastic addition to using this novel in the classroom.
Are you interested in reading about and sharing ideas with other educators on using children’s literature in your classroom? My goal is to bring together teachers and homeschoolers who teach grades 3-8 and use novels with their students. I’d love for you to join me to learn, share, and grow together!
Click here or the image below to join my Facebook group, Book Talk with The Teaching Bank!
*The Teaching Bank participates in the Amazon Associate Program and earns a fee from qualifying purchases made on the Amazon.com site.
by Shelley | Math
I came across this article that discusses how children’s brains go through different transitions as they age in the ways that they interpret and figure out math. Some excerpts that I found interesting from the article are below:
“Students start off at the foundation of counting fingers or objects to figure early problems. “Healthy children start making that switch between counting to what’s called fact retrieval when they’re 8 years old to 9 years old when they’re still working on fundamental addition and subtraction. How well kids make that shift to memory-based problem-solving is known to predict their ultimate math achievement.”
“Stanford University researchers first peeked into the brains of 28 children as they solved a series of simple addition problems inside a brain-scanning MRI machine. The children were tested twice, roughly a year apart. As the kids got older, their answers relied more on memory and became faster and more accurate, and it showed in the brain. There was less activity in the prefrontal and parietal regions associated with counting and more in the brain’s memory center, the hippocampus. The stronger the connections, the greater each individual’s ability to retrieve facts from memory,” said Dr. Vinod Menon, a psychiatry professor at Stanford and the study’s senior author.”
“Next, Menon’s team put 20 adolescents and 20 adults into the MRI machines and gave them the same simple addition problems. It turns out that adults don’t use their memory-crunching hippocampus in the same way. Instead of using a lot of effort, retrieving six plus four equals 10 from long-term storage was almost automatic, Menon said.”
“If your brain doesn’t have to work as hard on simple math, it has more working memory free to process the teacher’s brand-new lesson on more complex math. ” The study provides new evidence that this experience with math actually changes the hippocampal patterns or the connections. They become more stable with skill development,” she said. “So learning your addition and multiplication tables and having them in rote memory helps.”
“Stanford’s Menon said the next step is to study what goes wrong with this system in children with math learning disabilities so that scientists might try new strategies to help them learn.”
The quote: “If your brain doesn’t have to work as hard on simple math, it has more working memory free to process the teacher’s brand-new lesson on more complex math.” really stuck out to me. I have always felt that math instruction needed to combine both the rote memory of basic facts and give students a good foundation in number sense and higher-order math skills. Unfortunately many of the different math curriculums out there today don’t emphasize both. It always seems like it is basic facts vs. high order thinking. Problem is good math students have BOTH of these skills in their repertoire and good math curriculum should contain both as well!
What are your thoughts regarding helping students become fluent in the basic facts? What are your tricks and tips?
by Shelley | Science
My daughter has made the comment that she didn’t like science because it is “boring”. I was not happy to hear that comment at all, but sadly I can’t say I am surprised. Science used to be a favorite subject of hers but for some unknown reason textbook publishers, and school districts that adopt them, choose science curriculum for the intermediate and older grades that can bore you to tears! They take the fun out of science that you find in the primary curriculum
In primary grades, science is taught within the context of a unit. The students learn the concepts by DOING things, it is fun, interesting, and engaging. Hit the intermediate years and it becomes a system of memorizing vocabulary and reading from a textbook. The fun is removed. WHY? Science curriculum has the potential to be exciting and interesting. Why doesn’t the curriculum reflect that?
I know many have created and adapted the science curriculum to better meet the needs of your students to make it more interesting and engaging. Please share some of your suggestions in the comments section and please share links to great ideas and products that you’ve found to be effective!
Let’s get these exciting lessons into the classrooms around the country to make science FUN instead of boring!
by Shelley | Novel Studies
Miss Giraffe’s Class had a link up a couple years ago devoted to what TpT has brought to our lives. It’s worth sharing again as we draw on this season of gratitude.
One of my favorite things to do as a teacher was to create and teach novel studies. I loved to spark that interest in real, whole books in my students, many reluctant readers who didn’t have ready access to chapter books.
After the birth of my second child, way back in 2003, I came up with the idea of attempting to sell my novel units on eBay. My goal was to make enough to pay the preschool tuition for my oldest son ($75 month). I was shocked and so pleased that people actually started to buy them. With that interest, The Teaching Bank was born. Over the years I was able to grow and expand to a couple different websites. With my preschool tuition covered my goals grew, save for a family trip, save for Lasik surgery, be able to provide money for extracurricular costs for my kids, etc. These things were all a blessing and I am so grateful for the small success I had.
In June 2010, all that changed when I found TeachersPayTeachers.com. I discovered the site at the disboards.com (website for planning for Disney trips and just to talk with others who love Disney) of all places. Someone mentioned TpT as being a great place for retired teachers to sell their no longer needed classroom materials. This sparked my interest so I checked it out. TpT gave me a platform to sell my units in a downloadable format instead of burning to a CD and shipping as I had always done. I uploaded my work and the buyers followed.
Of course, I am thankful to TpT for the monetary contributions to my family, but an even more important thing, has come out of it, professional pride and a feeling of worth, that I thought were gone for me forever. I was forced to leave the classroom due to a rare auto-immune hearing loss that had progressed. I truly enjoyed teaching and even though I loved to be home with my kids, I missed the feeling of productivity and contribution that a professional life brings. TpT came into my life at the same time my kids were in school full-time so I was able to devote much more time and in return I have been given such a sense of purpose and pride that even though I am no longer in the classroom on a day to day basis, I am still touching the lives of students all over the world with materials that I created. I have been able to work in the education field creating products that I have a passion for despite my hearing loss, and TpT has given me the platform to do that for which I am grateful.
by Shelley | Organization
I found an interesting article: How to Build a Better Teacher, by Elizabeth Green, that I thought was worth sharing.
The article talks about the myths and perceptions of what makes a great teacher. Are they natural born? Can it be learned?
The article gives five examples, taken from educational research that shows what sets apart a great teacher from a mediocre or bad one.
1. They can right a wrong: “The best teachers put themselves in their students’ shoes—and grapple with how they arrived at the wrong answer in order to set them right.”
2. They never say Shhh!”: “The best teachers eradicate ambiguity and respond to misbehavior with specificity, describing the desired behavior rather than the problem. “We’re following along in our books,” the teacher might say, gently reminding the distracted students to get back to work.”
3. They encourage deeper thinking: You will hear a lot of “why” or “explain how” type questions in these classrooms.
4. Great teachers “cold call” with a purpose: “The goal is to extract the maximum possible mileage from each question. By introducing the possibility that anyone can be asked to speak at any time, the teacher decreases the chances their students will tune out.”
5. They show more than they tell: “The teacher needs to be specific, showing students what detailed thinking looks like by illuminating the invisible mental steps that go into it.”
As I read I couldn’t help but compare myself and see my successes and shortcomings. This is a great article to think about as you navigate your school year. How do you measure up? What are you doing right? What can you improve to make this your most successful year yet?
