Math Lesson Plan Incorporating Technology

One lesson that I did with my 1st graders was patterns and they LOVED it. Now with everything they are seeing patterns. Patterns are great because they can be used with everything in everyday things.
Start by showing patterns in everyday things such as clothes, pictures, anything that kids deal with everyday.
Next have kids make patterns with the pattern blocks of colors. They can also use their own colors to color boxes in a pattern.
They can use anything to make patterns. They start using numbers, shapes, and colors.

Another lesson that is fun to do that my 1st graders loved was surveys. First go over a question as a class that can have a yes or no answer. Have them as a class answer it. They can come up to the board and mark their answer. Then compare as a class if more people said yes or no. Next move on to this or that questions as a class. Do they like cats or dogs? Blue or Purple? Pick a question and then have the kids come up to the board again and have them mark their answer and compare again. Next have each of the students make up their own question. They can pick a yes or no question or a this or that question. Then have them go around to each student in the class and ask them the question. An easy way to help them learn everyone's name is to make copies of the class list. Then they can learn each other's names and the spelling.
Also be sure to talk about how to mark each answer. Easiest for yes or no questions is Y and N. For this or that questions they can make their own up, but make sure to talk about keys so they know what an X or Y or whatever they choose means.

PE Websites for Kids

1. PE Links 4 You - Games
This site has tons of links to different games that can be played with kids in PE.

2. PE Central
This site has lots of great resources for teachers and even parents. There are lesson plans, assessment ideas, ideas for preschool pe, and many other great ideas.

3. Energizers
This site has lots of activities that can be done in the classroom to get kids moving. It has ideas for all grades.

4.Better Bodz
This site gives ideas on how to exercise certain body parts. Just click on a part of the body that you want to work on and there will be different exercises.

Links to Primary Source Documents

1. Our Documents.gov
My favorite part of this website is the 100 Milestone Documents. This has all of the great documents in our countrys history. With each document there is a picture of the document that you can navigate to look more closely at it. There are other great parts of this site, but I find this link as the most helpful.

2. National Archives
Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept by us forever.
Those valuable records are preserved and are available to you, whether you want to see if they contain clues about your family’s history, need to prove a veteran’s military service, or are researching an historical topic that interests you.(from About the Archives)
On this site there is a place for teachers and for students. To get here, just click on Education.

3. History Central - Primary Source Documents in American History
This site is similar to the other two. There is American History and World History. There is also links to Aviation History, Navy History, Railroad History, American Wars, and Election Central.

4. The American Colonist's Library
These are primary source documents pertaining to early American history.

Art and Music Sites for Students

1. National Gallery of Art
This site is a lot of fun. Students can make art on the computer. There are different links they can choose to make certain types of art.

2. SmART Kids
This site is through the University of Chicago and they have set up a place for kids to go and they can tour different paintings, learn about the different styles, and tour an artist's studio.

3. Play Music
This interactive site lets students write their own music, take a seat in an orchastra, and click on different instruments to hear what they sound like.

4. Fun With Music
The San Francisco Symphony has put together a site for kids to come and have fun with music. They can meet the music notes, they can go to the music lab and experiment with the sights and sounds of music, and they can even see what is going on with the San Fran Symphony.

5. BrainPOP - Music and Art
BrainPOP has come out with an art and music section now. They can learn about different music artists, painting artists, colors, harmony, and many other things. I think this part of BainPOP is really cool.

6. Andy Warhol
This is a link to the Andy Warhol museum. I have a really great art project that goes with Andy Warhol that is one of my favorites so I thought this would be a great link to do a little mini unit on him.
Art Project:
Give each student a plain white sheet of paper. For younger students (K-3) have different colored paper torn or cut up. Also some magazine pictures or headlines cut up as well. For older students (4-6) they can cut/tear any colors they want and choose pictures and sayings from magazines. On the white sheet of paper they can glue and paste any colors and pictures that they want in some sort of collage. When the collages are done, make a transparency of an important person they are doing a report on, a soup can, shoe, or just a face. Tape the transparency to the top of the collage and each student will have their own Andy Warhol. I did this wiht 4th graders and they loved it and had a lot of fun.

Heath Websites for Students

1. Nutrition Data
At this website, students can check the calorie count of different foods and can also check how many calories are in some of their favorite fast food places.

2. Kids Health
This website is not only for kids but for parents and teens as well. They can learn about what goes on in their body with food, they can print off recipies for snacks, they can play games, learn about everyday illnesses and injuries, and many other things as well.

3. The Game Closet
This site has alot of activities for kids to learn about their bodies, good nutrition, illness and so much more! It has informative movies, experiments, quizzes and activities for even the most inquisitive minds. (from Jason Hughes' Blog)

4. Juicy Juice - Just for Kids
This site has lots of games and activities for kids to learn about thier fruits.

5. PE Links 4 You - Health, Fitness, and Nutrition
This is another link from the same website in the PE links, but for many different health sites.

Science Websites for Students

1. Science K-6
When clicking on this site, it will take you to 2nd grade sciences, but the site is for Kindergarten through 6th Grade. There are many things for each grade to learn about.

2. Animal Adaptations
This site starts off with a description of a habitat so children will have an idea of that when they look at the sites about different animals provided. There are questions for children to consider as they look at the different sites of animals. There are some there that they may never have heard of.

3. Magic School Bus
Everyone loves the Magic School Bus! This site takes students on tours with Mrs. Frizzle that they can choose from. There are also resources for teachers and parents. It's a very fun site for kids of all ages.

4. Build A Prairie
This interactive sites where students try to make a barren plain into a healthy prairie. Do you think your studets are up for the challenge?

All of these sites are from The Global Classroom, which can be found under my Social Studies links.

Reading Sites for Students

1. Starfall
I really like this site because it is great for students, especially students who are learning to read or learning english. This site is very interactive and speaks the words and letters in kids' voices so it's easier for the kids that are trying to learn to read.

2. Reading A-Z
My favorite thing about this site is that there are printable books for students, so they can print them and read them whenever they want to. They can be printed in spanish or english. There are many other things on this site that are great and it would take too long to describe everything.

3. KidPub - Children's Publishing
This is a very nice site. Children can come here and write their own stories, read stories that other children have written, and add on to a never-ending story that many children have helped to write.

4. Reading Rainbow
A beloved TV show for children and they can also find the books online. There are also games, adventures, and contests. If children love the TV show, they will love this site.

Social Studies Websites for Students

1. Literacy CyberSpace - Family Literacy Instruction
This site has lots of great sites for all ages, Preschool to Highschool. All the sites have a little description of each of them, and also above the sites there is a note to parents and kids that a new window may open when they click on a site, and they tell them how to get back to Literacy CyberSpace.

2. Elementary Social Studies Links
This site is broken up by grade. There are only a few sites for the lower grades, but it goes from Kindergarten to 5th Grade, and it also includes Teacher Resource websites.

3. Education World
This site could be used for teachers or students to seach for social studies topics. It's not very younger student friendly, but I think for the older grades they would have fun using it and find a lot of good information.

4. Global Classroom - Interactive Resources
I really liked this site because of everything it has on it. There are sites for school publishers, interactive whiteboards (SmartBoards), and then the subjects are broken up. There are many sites for math, reading and language arts, and social studies. Within each of these there are different subjects as well. I think it is a very organized site and great for teachers or students.

Digital Camera Ideas for Elementary Students and Teachers

These websites were given to me by one of my middle school teachers, Mr. T, who uses technology and art together.

1. 1001 Uses for a Digital Camera
This site has tons of uses for digital camera use in the classroom. It has ideas for just certain subjects and also for school wide use.

2. Kodak - Taking a Great Picture
This site has some great infomation about digital cameras and how to use them. There are some people that get cameras and can't use them very well to take a good picture, so this site can help them out with that.

3. Using A Digital Camera in the Classroom
This site has a bunch of different ideas of how a school or student council could use a digital camera in their school.

4. Teaching with Digital Camera
This site gives teachers ideas on how a digital camera could be used in conferences with parents. They could show pictures of their student in class working or having fun. This article has some really good ideas.

Math Sites for Students

1. Kidsites.com (Approved Sites)
This site has a lot of other educational sites for kids to go to besides math sites. For every subject kids study in school, they can click and find just as many sites as there are for math. There are also fun activity sites that kids can go to. There is coloring, video games, crafts. and even a link for girl's interests. I thought this was interesting because girls are usually not the ones who are on the computer all the time and into all the video games that boys are, so this link can give them things to do on the computer as well.
Each of the sites listed has a little information about it so parents and kids can find one that is right for them.

2. Cool Math for Kids
This site is really fun for kids. The look of it alone will really catch kids interests. Each of the sites are in a geometric shape so they are easy to see. There is addition, subtraction, geometry, long divison, fractions, decimals, and even a link for ages 3-5.

3. First Gov for Kids
This site is a government site of math and science links for kids. Because this is a government site, I thought it was really nice because parents can know that these links are safe for kids to go to and they are trustworthy.

4. King's List of On-line Math Activities
This site has lots of links to different math activities. Some are the same as the other sites, but I chose this site because there are different ones. For example there is a link to Everyday Math Activites, which is a math program in the curriclum at some schools. It's not very kids friendly, at least for younger kids, but I think teachers would enjoy it for their students.

Stop Cyberbullying

1. i Keep Safe.org
This site has fun games, activities, and books for kids and parents to download to learn more about Cyberbullying and how to stay safe when browsing the Internet. There is even a link to play games with McGruff, whom we all know as the dog who likes to keep us and our children safe.

2. Bullying Quiz
This quiz is on Wired Kids.org but I wanted to make a seperate link for it so parents and kids would not have to look around for it. It's a good quiz to see if they are being bullied online.

3. Bullying.org (Where you are NOT alone!)
This site has a lot to offer kids and parents. There are different parts titled "I Want to Learn", "I Want to Share", "I Want to Help", and "I Want to Play". I think it is another good site for kids and parents to learn about onlne bullying.

Online Safety Sites for Kids

1. Net Smatz
This site has different sites for kids, teen, parents, educators, and even law enforcement. In the kids link, there is an interactive city they can click around and play, all the while giving them tips for how to be safe online.

2. Safety Tips for Kids from the FBI
This site is not interactive but has 5 really great tips for kids to remember what to do and what not to do when they are surfing around on the Internet.

3. Wired Kids.org
This site also has multiple websites, they have a list under "Our Websites A-Z". There is also sites for kids, tweens, and teens, and also one just for kids. This site is similar to Net Smartz, though with this site you can join to help fight against all the online preditors. On the Just For Kids link, there is a note for parents so they can read all about what this site is about and to make sure this is something they want their kids looking at. There is no interactive city or games, but there are articles by kids and teens to read. Also one thing I really like about this site is that you can report a cyber crime here, which I never would know where to report one.

4. Surf Swell Island - Disney Online
This is a nice interactive site that helps kids learn about online safety with Mickey and Friends.

Constructivist Websites for Students

1. NASA Kid's Club
This site is a great exploration site of space and our solar system. There are animated videos you can watch about space shuttle launches, astronauts, and other topics. There are also games you can play and lists of activities that you can do that are related to learning more about space. The games are not problem-based, but more of learning basic information. Another thing I really like about this site is that it is level based so kids of all ages can play.

2. Enchanted Learning
This site is great for kids and teachers to find fun projects to do and activities to go along with lessons, such as maps, flags, pictures to lable the different parts, and many more. It's one of my favorite sites to look around and see what new things they have.

3. National Geographic Kids
Students can go on the Lewis and Clark expedition and travel on their journey. They make important decisions as they go, such as navigating rivers and deciding what to bring on their journey. It asks questions about these decisions, and students click on the answer they chose.

4. Brain Pop
This site contains hundreds of animated shorts that explain content from all areas. Children take quizzes and perform various activities to apply what they have learned.