Techie Tuesday...Best Social Studies YouTube Channels

YouTube is an excellent resource for all educators with this week's focus on Social Studies channels.

Please click on the thumbnail picture to go to the website.

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Happy Exploring,

Techie Tuesday...Library Resources without leaving your Couch

To say I like the library is an understatement.  I.Love.My. Library.  Everything about it!!  I'm always sad when I learn of folks who are unaware of the FREE resources available without leaving your house.  For this post, I have listed five of my favorites from our local library in Oregon.  Many libraries across the U.S. have these same options.

Please click on the thumbnail image to go to the website.

1.  E-Books

With all the electronic devices available, ebooks are quite the rage, but can get expensive, especially if you or your family member is a voracious reader.  Of course, your local library has solved the problem for you with free ebooks available with only your library card information and a click of the mouse.  Many school libraries have this option also.



2.  Audiobooks

Having just completed a long road trip with a group of teens, I know the value of a good audiobook to capture and hold their attention.  Library2Go has a variety of options available to fill your electronic needs.



3.  Free Music


My daughter and I have been collecting our three free songs off of freegal for over a year and have amassed quite a music library without spending a dime.  HUGE variety of songs both popular and old, as my daughter would say, are available.



4.  Online Resources

There are a number of databases available to help in your quest for quality information without leaving your couch.  With my goal of learning Spanish, I am going to try the free Powerspeak option from my public library.



5.  Online Catalog and Request Materials Resource

And my favorite and most used resource is the online catalog where I can look up the latest New York Times bestsellers like the one below and request it.  In a few short days or weeks, it will become available to me and conveniently be ready for pickup at my earliest convenience.  Oh and don't forget there are videos available too--and only for $1 and three weeks of viewing pleasure.  LOVE IT!!



Happy reading and exploring,

Techie Tuesday...Resources to explore Women's History Month

Please click on thumbnails below to go to website.



Women's History Month.gov is dedicated to providing history, upcoming events, teacher resources and all things important to the celebration of women.



National Women's History Project has a few videos, quizzes about important women, information about the women's rights movements, and much more.  Treasure trove of information!



The biography channel's homage to women and their history showcases videos on women famous for their talents and gifts to the world.  There are many wonderful resources for teachers on this website.



The National Women's History Museum is an interactive website to explore history specific to the United States.  Now I have another museum to add to my ever growing list of museums to visit in Washington D.C.  I love their weekly "This week in women's history..." and their detailed lesson plans.



Time for Kids's webpage devoted to women is a great spot to bring elementary students who want and need to more about the history of their grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunts, and every other woman in their life.

Happy "reading" and exploring,

Techie Tueday...Top Five Crash Course Videos

John Green...when you hear that name, many of you will think of his fantastic YA novels that have become a sensation.  This year's Schneider Family Book Award and Odyssey Audiobook winner, Fault in our Stars, introduced us to Augustus and Hazel who are dealing with cancer. Their thought-provoking life experiences and relationship brought a new understanding to me of life with cancer especially as a young person.

Click on image below to Goodreads Summary.



But John Green isn't only an author.  He is also upending the world of education through his and his brother, Hank's, videos on YouTube.  John focuses on History and Literature while Hank is the science guy with videos on Biology, Chemistry and Ecology.  Crash Course! is worth watching and sharing.  Below you will find the 5 most viewed and popular of the videos with the countdown starting at number 5.

Click on image below to go to website for all of the videos.



Top 5 Most Popular/Viewed Videos

5.  [youtube=http://youtu.be/3PszVWZNWVA]

4.  [youtube=http://youtu.be/TpcbfxtdoI8]

3.  [youtube=http://youtu.be/QnQe0xW_JY4]

2.  [youtube=http://youtu.be/_XPZQ0LAlR4]

1. [youtube=http://youtu.be/Yocja_N5s1I]

Happy "reading" and watching,

Techie Tuesday..5 Online Tools to Teach Geography

This past week and a half, I was guest teaching in a 4th grade classroom.  They had recently completed a unit on United States geography.  I decided to use transition time to give them clues to a world geography question.  After reviewing city, state, country, and continents a few times, I started giving them clues.

1. Located south of the equator


2. Predominately Spanish-speaking


3. Has famous islands


4. Starts with an e


5. Means equator in Spanish

The guesses varied from New Mexico, Mexico, Spain...at least they, except for New Mexico, were getting the Spanish-speaking clue correct.  They guessed all the way around the globe, but did not get the correct one...Ecuador.  After this experience, I realized that geography is definitely a subject area that isn't getting as much time in the classroom.  So here are some fun websites that you might want to try either at home or in the classroom for a Social Studies center.

Here are five interactive geography games to help reinforce mapping and geographical skills.  Click on the thumbnail picture to go to the website.

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Students get to choose their character as they move across the United States answering geographical questions.

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Simple game that you could have students play individually or as a class where they match the name of the continent to the actual continent.

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This higher level game gives students the choice of "Running for President", "Going on a Road Trip" or "Going on a Rock Music Tour" while making the best choice for the next city in the United States.

4. 

Free Rice contributes rice to developing countries and teaches kids geography skills at the same time.  Win, Win!!

5. 

Through the National Park Service's website, this webgame first teaches kids about all kinds of different types of maps and then quizzes them on the information.

Happy "reading",

Technie Tuesday...The Odyssey Lesson Plan and Online Tools

During the first semester of this school year, I have substitute taught The Odyssey a dozen different times at four different high schools.  I just spotted the following web tool on a blog titled Free Technology for Teachers that I thought might jazz up the unit.

The Hero's Journey is an online writing activity produced by Read Write Think. It is an interactive resource that teaches students about the key elements required in developing a myth about a heroic character. The lessons are based on stories like The Odyssey. Completed stories must be printed in order to be saved.

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Below is a lesson plan to teach before doing The Hero's Journey.

Lesson Plan for Hero's Journey

These are the Picture Books to use for the lesson plan.



Happy Teaching with Technology,