Describing a Place | Teaching KIds to Write with Vivid Vocabulary “Descriptive writing is an art form. It’s painting a word picture so that the reader ‘sees’ exactly what you are describing.” ~Brenda Covert This post contains affiliate links. Read our full disclosure policy. What’s the big deal about writing descriptively? Writers use this powerful method to make their pieces memorable—even brilliant—rather than dry and boring. Even if your child never aspires to write stories or poetry, description is a wonderful skill to develop. Describing a Place Vivid writing is especially important when describing a place — whether to describe a vista for a travel guide or flesh out a scene in a novel. Master storyteller Charles Dickens was also a master of using description to create a mood. It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. But your child doesn’t have to be a Dickens to add color, depth, and interest to his writing. Using a Search Engine
Reading (and Engineering with) “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” The Innovation Celebration at St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School in Alexandria, VA As the sun beamed down on the assembled school community, a kindergartner flew a tissue-paper kite across the field, while a freshman pushed third graders down the hill in a cardboard multiuse sled. To celebrate and deepen this shared experience across our K–12 community, we created an Innovation Celebration, a day to meet the author and put the book’s themes of innovation and resilience into action by engaging in a variety of cross-divisional maker-style challenges. Finding the right read Wanting to tap into the energy around STEM, sustainability, and globalization, I had planned to use the newly released young reader’s edition of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind as the middle school summer reading title. William Kamkwamba speaks to students. Community Investment I was fortunate enough to receive enthusiastic administrative support for the creation of an all-school read. The Planning process It took a village
How Stories Change the Brain Ben’s dying. That’s what Ben’s father says to the camera as we see Ben play in the background. Ben is two years old and doesn’t know that a brain tumor will take his life in a matter of months. Ben’s father tells us how difficult it is to be joyful around Ben because the father knows what is coming. But in the end he resolves to find the strength to be genuinely happy for Ben’s sake, right up to Ben’s last breath. Everyone can relate to this story. A recent analysis identifies this “hero’s journey” story as the foundation for more than half of the movies that come out of Hollywood, and countless books of fiction and nonfiction. Why are we so attracted to stories? Why the brain loves stories The first part of the answer is that as social creatures who regularly affiliate with strangers, stories are an effective way to transmit important information and values from one individual or community to the next. Think of this as the “car accident effect.” What makes a story effective?
5 Good Resources for Teaching and Learning About the American Revolution Today is Patriots' Day. Here in Maine as well as in Massachusetts and Wisconsin it's an official state holiday. The day commemorates The Battles of Lexington and Concord. As a New Englander this is a good day to review some good resources for teaching and learning about the American Revolution. Teaching American History has a series of interactive lessons about the American Revolution that are suitable for middle school and elementary school use. America, A Narrative History is a text published by WW Norton. Pictures of the Revolutionary War is a compilation of images about the Revolutionary War. Crash Course has a ten part series on U.S. Keith Hughes offers Colonialism for Dummies as part of his series on U.S.
5 EASY Techie Tools for Social Studies Projects - The Techie Teacher Are you looking to spice up your Social Studies lessons this school year? No iPads? Then here are 5 EASY technology tools you could use with your students using laptops/desktops. #1 Scribble Maps When I think of Social Studies, the first visual I see in my mind is a MAP. There is an option to sign in but you don't have to. You could even use the pencil tool to draw out different geographical regions you are studying: There are a lot of other really cool features to this site but let's continue keeping it EASY today :) #2 Powerpoint/Keynote These programs have A LOT more power than creating slideshows. The students clicked on the middle of the boat and dragged their cursor (that displays a line) to their final destination. Here is a FREE planning sheet that contains the website address at the top if you would like for your students to pre-plan before getting the computers out. ReadWriteThink also has an EASY Timeline Maker that you can add images to!
8 Excellent Free Timeline Creation Tools for Teachers 1-TikiToki TikiToki is a great application for multimedia timelines making . It allows its users to create stunning animated timelines. TikiToKi is very easy to use and above all its basic version is completely free . 2- Time Glider This is a web tool that lets you create, collaborate on, and publish zooming/planning interactive timelines for free.It is like Google Maps but for time. 3- OurStory Ourstory enables you to write stories, tag friends, and add media to collaborative timelines either privately or in public. 4- Capzles Capzles is a web tool I have reviewed here a couple of times. 5- Read Write Think Read Write Think has a beautiful timeline tool that allows users to add project labels and easily create timelines. 6- Xtimeline Xtimeline is a free web-based timeline that you can use to easily create and share timelines with pictures and videos. 7- TimeToast TimeToast is another great tool that allows you to create timelines and share them on the web. 8- Dipity
Makin' It Merry Looking for a few making projects to celebrate the holiday season? Check out these merry finds to add some holiday cheer. For Meghan Trainor, it’s all about the bass, but I think it’s all about makin’ it merry with animated GIFs! My colleague Miguel Guhlin inspired me and then taught me how to create an animated GIF. Check out my second ever GIF above with the holiday theme. I made my first animated GIF for Twitter. Step 1 Open Google Slides Under File >Page Settings >Pixels Set 400 x 400 Create your first slideChoose a background colorAdd your content: I drew lights and added clip art snowflakes and a text box with HappyDuplicate your first slideI changed the coloring of the lights and switched out the word “Happy” for “Holidays,” but used the same text box. Step 2 1. (Click on <Select a File) Find your Google Slide Presentation and click select This will save the three slides as a .png. 2. 3.Download this file. Step 3 Viola! More Merry Making for the Holiday Season Paper Snowflake Maker
Two Simple Timeline Creation Tools That Are Frequently Overlooked This morning I answered an email from a reader who was looking for a suggestion for a timeline creation tool. My recommendation was to try Timeline JS which is my favorite tool and is featured in my Teaching History With Technology course. But there are many other ways to create timelines. Two of those ways are hidden in the tools that many of us use on a regular basis. Google Slides and PowerPoint have templates for making timelines. Browse through Microsoft's templates gallery and you will find an entire section devoted to making timelines in PowerPoint and in Word. Google Slides also has timeline templates that your students can use.