On the Trails

A typical lesson involving spreadsheets is one that focuses upon creating graphs.  That is a good skill to learn, but spreadsheets can be used in so many different ways. Here is one way.
How about creating a Know – Wonder – Learn Chart in your favorite spreadsheet software application?
Spreadsheets are great for organizing data – no [...]

Have you ever looked at the flags of the world and thought about a fraction lesson. Well, a fourth grade teacher that I work with had. She was looking for a way for the kids to demonstrate their knowledge of fractions. So we came up with the following lesson.
Resources:

wireless computer lab (OLPC)
Windows Movie Maker [...]

Education World has posted a Math Mnemonics archive to help kids learn math.
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/archives/mnemonics.shtml
Technorati Tags: onthetrail, math, mnemonics, parents
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I just completed a lesson with Kindergarten children with the Starfall Learn to Read site. We were working on reading comprehension. I had the kids listen to the story as I read it and then they painted answers using the artpad program.  I hated the results.
The painting skills required superseded their comprehension ability.  So then [...]

The ideas expressed in this blog, come from Dr. Lloyd Elm, a professor at Buffalo State College.
Read to Children – Read with Children – Have Children Readwith these ideas

Teacher Read Aloud with a purpose
Guided Reading in flexible groups
Shared Book Reading – focusing on comprehension
Individualized Reading, SSR – Self Directed Reading
Whole to part and Part to [...]

One of the powers of teaching with technology is the immediate access to different web experiences. These experiences can be as diverse as a video about cell mitosis to blogs about Edgar Allen Poe poems.
Today’s teacher needs to be able to provide quick and easy access to those web resources. Today’s teacher should be [...]

Please post your notes about World War I below.

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KNOWLEDGE arrange define duplicate label memorize name order recognize relate recall repeat reproduce state

COMPREHENSION classify describe discuss explain express identify indicate locate recognize report restate review translate

APPLICATION apply choose demonstrate dramatize employ illustrate interpret operate practice schedule sketch solve use write

ANALYSIS
analyze appraise calculate catergorize compare contrast criticize
differentiate discriminate distinguish [...]

Unit 2 – a, the, can, at, I amUnit 3 – like, is, big, in, it, butUnit 4 – look, see, my, we, little, haveUnit 5 – not, do, what, one, two, three, red, yellow, blueUnit 6 – here, to, up, get, and, where, you, that, go

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Skype does not have to be just a tool to communicate with others, you can also use it to brainstorm ideas and communicate with yourself.
I was writing a piece for a job application about what distinguishes me from others and I used Skype to let the ideas flow.
All I did was type in a topic [...]

The National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association have teamed up to create a web site called Read-Write-Think. I use the student materials (tools) in lessons everyday.  In this post, I want to share a lesson idea regarding the Acrostic Poem tool.
An Acrostic Poem is an excellent assessment tool. Students need [...]

How would you get to Washington, D.C.?

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In a workshop I delivered the other day, I used brainwriting to get a group of 5th grade teachers to brainstorm curricular topics. They spent 5 minutes using the sheets and came up with over 100 curricular topics. We then clustered similar topics together. Within these clusters, teachers picked one topic to [...]

Title of Lesson – Collaborating with Explorers, Lesson #1

Grade Level – 3 – 5

Content Area – Social Studies

Standards
New York State Standard – Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history [...]