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http://www.google.com/earth/

Imagine: Teaching a lesson on immigration, and having the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island at your finger tips!

• No fund raising
• No bus trips

All through technology with:

http://www.google.com/earth/

Google Earth: Allows you to visit any location in the world simply by entering a location name and hitting “enter”, through this program you can see both aerial and street views of any location!

Standards:

Third Grade Math: 3.N.BT: 2. Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.

Third Grade Math: 3.MD: 1.Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes, e.g., by representing the problem on a number line diagram.

Third Grade Social Studies: Geography: 7.Systems of transportation and communication move people, products and ideas from place to place.

Third Grade Social Studies: Geography:8.Communities may include diverse cultural groups.

Classroom Ideas:

Images taken from Google Earth (inspiration for lesson):

The Statue of Liberty:

Street View:

Ellis Island:

Street View:

Immigration

Using the above standards I would create a unit about Immigration.

1. We could begin by discussing immigration and the many places people came to the U.S. from as well as how they arrived here.
2. Using Google Earth to view things such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Discuss what these symbols meant for immigrants, how they felt seeing these things for the first time.
3. Together we could then calculate how far various groups of people traveled to arrive to the Statue of Liberty, how far the Statue of Liberty is from Ellis Island, how old these monuments are, or even how long the journey was from other countries to the United States.

Google Earth could be used for many other subjects as well such as:

• Exploring different climates and ecosystems
• Looking at other cultures
• Explore other landmarks
• Discussing rural vs. urban
• Looking at economic statuses of other countries
• Learning science terms (mountain, volcano, forest etc.)

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Unpack those survival kits and get busy!!

-Kambra Runyon

Google title & Hello, Earth: http://www.google.com/earth/

Google Earth Screen Shots: Google Earth Downloaded Program

Survival Kit: Kambra Runyon

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Travel around the world, back in time and even to the future without leaving your classroom!

http://www.si.edu/Educators

Allows educators to take their students on virtual field trips of the Smithsonian Museums!

Take a panoramic tour through the National Museum of Natural History

OR

Visit specific exhibits in the other Smithsonian Museums!

The possibilities are endless!

Virtual Tour of the

National Museum of Natural History:

http://www.mnh.si.edu/vtp/1-desktop/

Enter into the Rotunda of the main floor of the museum:

Pan up and down, left to right and even zoom to view the beauty of the building itself

Navigate your way through the museum using the guide:

Explore exhibits such as Mammal Hall without even removing students from their seats!

360* view of exhibits!

Readable exhibit information

Standards:

Third Grade Science:

Physical: All objects and substances in the natural world are composed of matter.

Life: Offspring resemble their parents and each other.

Earth & Space: Earth’s nonliving resources have specific properties.

Classroom Implication Ideas:

1. Mark days on the classroom calendar as virtual field trip days
2. Use virtual field trips and the Smithsonian exhibits as a reward system (instead of passing out unhealthy treats)
3. During science or social studies simply pull up the website and project it onto the SmartBoard and navigate your way through the exhibits with students, exploring and discussing topics related to the standard you are covering in the said subject.

Although nearly all of the Smithsonian Museums have some form of education resource,

I found these sites to have the most interesting:

Take a virtual trip through the museum with:

View exhibits and objects with:

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Unpack those survival kits & get busy!!

-Kambra Runyon  

Information about websites: http://www.si.edu/Educators

Screens shots of virtual field trip of National Museum of Natural History: http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/#

National Zoo Logo: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/education/

American History Logo: http://americanhistory.si.edu/

History Explorer Logo: http://historyexplorer.si.edu/home/

Survival Kit: Kambra Runyon

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http://www.thestorystarter.com/jr.htm

Teachers may be creative, BUT coming up with new story

starters can get tiring and they can become not-so-creative.

The Story Starter, Jr. generates random story starters for students.

Some Examples of Story Starters I Found:

1. The monster was experimenting in the lonely room.
2. The apple picker was laughing when it was snowing.
3. The ghost was crying on top of the mountain.

Standards:

Math: Second Grade: Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies.2 By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.

What Would I Use This For:

*Of course, I could use these story starters for the students to create stories, or to journal about*

However when thinking outside of the box, here’s what I came up with…

I would this site to generate a story starter and write it on the board.

I would then allow students to free write using the written sentence as either a beginning sentence

or use the sentence as inspiration for a story.

I could also use this to create funny, story problems for math with my students.

For EX. The apple picker was laughing when it was snowing.

-Let’s imagine that this apple picker has 15 apples in his basket, as he is laughing he drops 10 apples. How many apples does he have left?-

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Unpack those survival kits & get busy!!!

-Kambra Runyon

Story Starter Logo Retrieved From: The Story Starter, Jr. http://www.thestorystarter.com/jr.htm.

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http://www.teachertube.com/

Throughout my teaching experience,

I have used many

videos in order to take students to:

1. Take students to locations outside our immediate grasp
2. View science experiments not possible to complete within the classroom
3. Allow students to travel back in time

Unfortunately, YouTube (which is what I would typically use) contains advertisements and videos inappropriate for student viewing

One of my cooperating teachers introduced me to Teacher Tube

This is a website (identical to YouTube) that only allows educational videos to be posted (no need to worry about inappropriate  information)

Teacher Tube Can Be Used For Any Subject Area:

Videos are available for any subject area and any standard

How would I use Teacher Tube:

(While this is not a second grade standard, it was part of the school math curriculum)

Recently, I used Teacher Tube in a second grade classroom to explain the idea of fractions to my students.

The video I selected was a video about a group of students who found bars of gold and wanted to split them equally between one another.

In small groups (during centers) we watched the short video clip the imagined what we would do with the gold if we found it

Together we then solved multiple problems by splitting up our “gold bars” (which were really base ten blocks).

This is not only one way you can use Teacher Tube… Teacher Tube contains videos to match every standard imaginable…

There are many, MANY possibilities!!!!

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Unpack those survival kits & get busy!!

-Kambra Runyon

Logo retrieved from: Teacher Tube. Last modified March 6, 2007. Accessed February 24, 2014. http://www.teachertube.com/.

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www.Turtlediary.com

In past experiences I witnessed teachers using center time for students to

create crafts, like coloring a scarecrow, weaving a “blanket” or throwing play-dough across the room…

Teachers, drop those silly pointless crafts your

students are doing during centers!

Introduce them to technology, give them a jump start, allow them to learn in a fun way through:

www.Turtlediary.com

100% FREE

Includes: games, stories, videos and worksheets

For all grades & all subjects!

Choose parent/teacher account: each is unlimited and each is free!

This website is wonderful for centers because:

1. Each day the students can do something different. Example: Monday: games, Tuesday: Story, Wednesday Video…etc.
2. OR sort days by subjects for centers: Monday: Literacy, Tuesday: Math, Wednesday: Science…etc.
3. One resource…MANY possibilities: No mess, no set up, students receive wonderful information
4. Easy to navigate website!

What is Available:

Games: Fun games for all students, select games by grade levels, topics or subjects. All games are educational.

Worksheets: Teacher tool…sorted the same way as games.

Stories: Fun, short stories for beginning and proficient readers up to grade 3, audio available.

Videos: Sorted by topics, animated videos, seems like students would enjoy them!

An example of a standard that could be taught:

Third Grade: Life Science: Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments.

This game allows to students to purchase, plant and care for various vegetables.

This game demonstrates the needs that all plants have and also takes students through the life cycle of a plant.

A great website to pull up and

allow students access to during centers:

EDUCATIONAL!
Games/videos/stories to fit nearly every standard across the curriculum
www.Turtlediary.com also allows you to track your class’ progress!

Therefore making it a great assessment tool, without giving the students the pressure of a quiz!

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Unpack those survival kits and get busy!!-Kambra Runyon

Screen shots & logo retrieved from:

Turtle Diary. Last modified 2014. Accessed February 24, 2014. http://www.turtlediary.com/.

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How many times have you:

1. Put the perfection lesson together?
2. Created the perfect presentation?
3. Typed a unit plan?
4. Made something amazing for your classroom that you couldn’t wait to use?

Then you did what all of us have been doing for years, uploaded it onto a flash drive.

Only to find out..that the universe has different plans:

1. You lose the flash drive.
2. You break the flash drive.
3. Or the flash drive just wont work in the desired computer.

Solution: Dropbox

Dropbox is the equivalent of an online storage unit.

Upload any file you wish to access from a different point

Log on to your account from the new device

All uploaded files are in one place ready to go!

Never worry about another dreaded flash drive!

Classroom Implications:

• Allows teachers to move files from home to work, without messing with multiple flashdrives
• Allows students to create an account and transfer: reports, presentations, various other activities from home to school (or school to home) for editing or completion.
• Great for group products! This Website could allow one file to be sent home and worked on by multiple students. Students could then compile their files into one big file once each individual file is completed.

A way for all students to have access to a free flash drive:

• Instead of parents spending money on flash drives for student use, this website cannot be lost or broken and serves the same purpose and did I mention it is FREE!
• This will make many parents happy seeing one less item needed on the back to school list.

Beneficial for all teachers, across curriculum

Have faith that your perfectly planned lessons, activities,

units and presentations will ALWAYS be there for your students!

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Unpack those survival kits & get busy!

-Kambra Runyon

Dropbox logo: Dropbox. Last modified 2007. Accessed February 24, 2014. https://www.dropbox.com/.

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Smart Exchange is an online forum

that allows educators (and other creative minds)

to post useful information that can be used through Smart Board technology.

You may ask, “What sorts of things can I find on Smart Exchange?”

1.  Activities: Math, Science, Reading, Writing, Social Studies. They have it all! Every grade, Every subject!
2. Classroom Tools: Calenders, Weather Charts, Timers, Random Selectors, Management Tools
3. Stories: Some Interactive, Some Can Be Read To You, Some Are Just Stories Your Class Can Read Together

Example of how I would use this in a classroom:

Smart Notebook Lesson:

Addition Fishin’

In reality, there is a lesson to fit all standards

If there is a standard you are planning on teaching Smart Exchange has a lesson that will cover it!

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Unpack those survival kits & get busy!!

-Kambra Runyon

Screen Shots & Images retrieved from:

Smart Exchange Logo: Smart Exchange. http://exchange.smarttech.com/index.html#tab=0.

Addition Fishin’: http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=9ce7ee63-85ec-4718-a8d1-3d3250cee44c