42 Fill-in-the-Blank Prompts For Students To Design Their Own Projects 42 Fill-in-the-Blank Prompts For Students To Design Their Own Projects by Terry Heick So often, we make learning more complicated than it has to be. Local planning requirements are usually at fault here–plan this way and prove that you’ve done so here and here, fill out this and this, etc. Those legitimate concerns aside, the following series of fill-in-the-blank prompts can be used by teachers to create lessons, students to create projects–or teachers to collaborate with students to create lessons–or projects. Or, well, you get the idea. Please steal them, add to them, or otherwise do with them what you will. 42 Project-Based Learning Ideas For Any Content Area A few examples of how it might work? Clarify racism in the United States for a high school in India. Design and publish a compelling eBook your friends would actually want to read using a simple smartphone app. Practice coding until you can make a ball bounce. Compare the force of a tsunami with a nuclear bomb.
Student Discovery Sets - For Teachers The new Library of Congress Student Discovery Sets bring together historical artifacts and one-of-a-kind documents on a wide range of topics, from history to science to literature. Interactive tools let students zoom in, draw to highlight details, and conduct open-ended primary source analysis. Full teaching resources are available for each set. Children's Lives at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Children of a century past: How were their lives different from today's? How were they the same? The Constitution The drafts and debates that brought the Constitution and the Bill of Rights into being, including notes by the documents' framers. The Dust Bowl Songs, maps, and iconic photographs document the daily ordeals of rural migrant families during a disastrous decade. The Harlem Renaissance Discover some of the innovative thinkers and creative works that contributed to the cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. Immigration The Industrial Revolution The U.S.' Jim Crow and Segregation
WRITE ON! Sandra Markle: Share The Long, Long Journey I'm delighted to share the story of the bar-tailed godwits. Every year these birds make a marathon migration from their summer home in Alaska to their winter home in New Zealand. This bird's story is very special to me. For thirteen years, I lived near Christchurch, New Zealand. That always signified winter was over and spring had arrived. Now open the book and enjoy the story. Check out the aerial view of Cape Avinof, Alaska (the godwits' starting place) by visiting this website. Can you fly non-stop, the way the godwits do? How much will it cost you to fly between Alaska and New Zealand? So you learned what it costs the godwits is energy--what they get from eating and storing body fat. Just for fun, figure out what you would weigh if you doubled your weight to make this long trip. Now, try this activity to find out how the godwit uses its long beak to find and pick up food. First, cut the top off an empty gallon-sized milk jug. Take a close look at this picture of godwits in flight.
6 Secrets to Successful Research with Kids Research, the very word, can draw shudders from teachers and audible sighs from students. If you are one of those shuddering educators dreading that next research project, then you are truly going about research all wrong. Take it from this elementary school librarian!! I have been an elementary educator for twenty years, and a certified library media specialist for the last seven years. How about a few insider secrets to turns those sighs into high fives?? 1) Your librarian should be your best resource. 2) You can easily teach inquiry-based research skills in short bursts of time. 3) I believe that it is our job to set our students up for success. Scaffold the project. Provide strong resources. Simplify the citation process. 4) Successful research inquiries begin with strong keywords! Some people, even a few librarians, think that simple fact-finding questions lack depth and complexity. 5) Create a final product that is fun and exciting. 6) Don't get hung up on the word research!!
Top 10 Blog Post Ideas for Students (and Teachers!) by Casey Robertson Student blogging is a growing practice within the classroom. With district & parent permission and the right privacy settings in place, this is an excellent format for students to express their ideas to an authentic audience. Blogging incorporates the use of technology and writing, helping to bridge the gap between student interest and classroom assignments. Whether you’re using student blogs for authentic writing purposes of as a means of formative assessment, the following prompts can be assigned or made available for students to select for more self-directed blogging. Students should know how to properly review a book before they start blogging. Top 10 ListsBooks into Movies | The 10 best and/or 10 worst movies based on books.Genre | Best genres or books from a specific genreBest Books | All-time, for the current year, for the year they were born, etc.Best Cover ArtLiterary Crushes | Tobias, Peeta, Prince Maxon :)Book quotesLiterary Shockers | Make sure to include a spoiler alert!!!
Picture Books as Framing Texts: Research Paper Strategies for Struggling Writers ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. More Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals. More Teacher Resources by Grade Your students can save their work with Student Interactives. More Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans Lesson Plan Overview Featured Resources From Theory to Practice In this lesson, students use picture books as frames for structuring research projects. back to top Possible Framing Texts for Research Projects: The picture books on this booklist are suitable texts for framing student research papers. Research papers can fill any teacher with dread. Further Reading This lesson plan was adapted from: Dean, Deborah.
Project ENABLE- professional online development for teachers, librarians Predicting/Making a Hypothesis | History Detectives Learning Objectives Students will analyze information from a variety of sources in order to create a hypothesis about the origin of an interesting family artifact.Students will create alternative hypotheses based upon available information in order to understand that some information can be interpreted in multiple ways. Tools And Materials Students will need their list of classifications of interesting items.You may also wish to provide access to computers with word processing software. Teaching Stratedgies As an introduction to the hypothesis and testing activities, have students watch the following clip from the Ernie Pyle's Typewriter investigation. Ernie Pyle's Typewriter Video: Ernie Pyle's Typewriter Watch the full episode of this story from Season Five. Students will need to make sure that they each have copies of the classifications and observations list they have created for their "interesting items".Explain that students will be creating hypotheses about their items.
Celebrate Science: Behind the Books: Even More About Nonfiction Structure Okay, I admit it. I’m obsessed with structure in nonfiction writing. I could talk about it all night and all day. And sometimes I do. The more I discuss the topic with people like Alyson Beecher, Cathy Potter, Carrie Gelson, Mary Ann Scheuer, Loree Burns, Deb Heiligman, and Sarah Albee, the more I learn and the more my ideas and understanding evolve. I think it’s interesting that a huge majority of nonfiction books for kids have a sequence structure. But recently I’ve begun to notice more and more expository texts with a sequence structure, and I’ve started to develop some subcategories. Chronological sequence structure, expository style Bugged: How Insects Changed History by Sarah Albee Poop Happened! Why'd They Wear That? Cumulative sequence structure, expository writing style Here Is the Tropical Rain Forest by Madeleine Dunphy No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart Older Than the Stars by Karen C. How-to sequence structure, expository writing style Try This! What do you think?