Creative Projects

Being bored with academics is the one thing teachers face when trying to get their students to succeed during the year. However, if you have inquiry based projects that allow the students to create, think, and evaluate what they are learning, then miracles can happen. Two of my students read the novel "1984" and decided to create bulletin boards about what they read. They were given specifics to follow, yet they each went above and beyond with their bulletin boards and the concept of the project overall. More importantly, they were able o show their classmates and friends what they had accomplished. I asked them at the end of the project for teacher feedback, and they told me to do more projects that allowed them to express themselves and post for many people to see. They also told me that they were much more motivated to work on something over a period of time when we met to discuss their projects. The feedback has helped me to build more inquiry based projects that also integrate the arts and early college model by having the students' visualize their ideas and use their research skills to evaluate the text.

Integrating Magnet Themes Into Your Content

Magnet Themes come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. Oftentimes, schools become overwhelmed with integrating Magnet themes into their units, lessons, or content areas. During the Magnet Schools of America conference held in Hartford, Connecticut my Magnet Theme Coach Janice Andrews and I presented simple ideas that schools could use to integrate their magnet in an easy way. We used David Conely's 4-Keys to success and showed participants how they can use a template for planning that would ensure their magnet theme was being implemented. Check out the powerpoint, and the testimonials from teachers who used the strategies. Enjoy

Autumn Baltimore

https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B3Di0b8R0_z1LUtlLWlFRmFsalk&export=download

Powerpoint View: Download the Powerpoint and it will open up in your Powerpoint App.

Reinventing Literacy Night at Your School

 

Are you looking for new ideas for Literacy Night? Are you looking for an innovative way to integrate Literacy and 21st Century Learning? Then planning a Digital Literacy Night is right for you!

This year for Literacy Night, I wanted to find a creative way to incorporate ELA and Technology. Our students are living and learning in the digital age and it seemed like a great idea to run Digital Literacy workshops for our parents and students on the following topics.

• Internet Safety
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Blogs
• Wiki’s
• Interactive Storytelling
• Interactive Writing
• Webinars
• Podcasts
• Informational Text/Literature
• Digital Storytelling with Lego’s
• Research

Our teachers chose a Digital Literacy topic and ran four 30 minute workshops. Our parents and students rotated through each grade level workshop.  Once students completed four workshops they entered their stamped passport to win a new Nook. Our community partners including University of Hartford, Cigna and the Hartford Public Library, volunteered their time and ran interactive workshops for our families. Overall, it was a very successful evening and a great learning experience for our parents and students.I highly recommend planning a Digital Literacy night for your school. If you have any questions or want to learn more, please feel free to contact me!

Here is a list of interactive and educational websites for kids to use at home.

http://www.starfall.com/

http://www.brainpopjr.com/

http://pbskids.org/

http://www.readingrockets.org/

http://www.storylineonline.net/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

http://www.andersenfairytales.com/en/main

http://www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/

http://www.bookadventure.com/Home.aspx

http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/

https://www.edmodo.com/

http://www.dreambox.com/

http://timeforkids.com

 "Get Your Learn On" - Erin