Art Projects for Kids.org

Hey Elementary school teachers! If you struggle to think of good art projects to do with your class then have I got the site for you!!

Art Projects for Kids

This is the most amazing website stocked full of art project ideas on dozens of different artists, on a plethora of themes, holidays, and medias. Kathy Barbro is the author of this blogger site and she also has a few pintrest boards full of her ideas. So check it out and happy art making!!

Halloween Planning!

Hey hey fellow Teachers!

I know your all anxiously awaiting the start of a new school year! (he he)

Well even if your not, I've started thinking about my 405 practicum and what better way to start the planning than by looking up my favorite holiday!! Halloween!!

Links:

Halloween Art Projects

Halloween at History.com

Halloween Writing Activities and Ideas

Halloween Math Game

Synthesis of Feedback

I was blown away by the positive comments from everyone and by the amazing job that Lanz did on the editing and game production.  That was definitely his baby. If we'd had more time, I would love to have polished up the illustrations a bit more and added a few more to the story, but thanks for the amazing compliments. The rhyming and story flow got very positive feedback and that's all thanks to Sarah.

As many pointed out, we really did intend for this to be a ready-made hook for a lesson and digital activity. Extensions could include introducing your students to the website odosketch and having them draw their own illustrations and drawings. This could then become an activity for them to do if they finish their work early or want to extend their learning through an art medium.

Overall, it seems that everyone was please with the professional results and I think that that is due a lot to Lanz's professional editing skills and Sarah's attention to detail with the voice over. Thanks Craig for your comment about it being so entertaining that kids wouldn't even realize that they were learning anything. I always like to make learning sneaky, especially for the primary grades.

The Peanut Butter and Jelly Dilemma

Digital Math Story:

The Peanut Butter and Jelly Dilemma!

When asked to design and create a story that was not only brilliant but also dealt with the BC Curriculum PLOs for Mathematics, Jade Seto, Lanz Singbeil and Sarah Seller huddled together and decided to create a story that would introduce multiplication up to 2 x 5. In the classroom, stories can provide a clear introduction to a new concept and allows for cross-curricular connections. According to the BC Ministry of Education, in grade 3, students are required to “demonstrate an understanding of multiplication to 5 x 5 by representing and explaining multiplication using equal groupings and arrays.” In our story, which works with the two times tables, students can visually see how we use equal groupings to solve the dilemma involving the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches. Students can also visually see how they can relate multiplication to repeated addition.

Working collaboratively, the trio decided to use Jade’s keen artistic ability, Lanz’s technical prowess and Sarah’s love of word play to design the book.

A11 demonstrate an understanding of multiplication to 5 × 5 by representing and explaining multiplication using equal grouping and arrays creating and solving problems in context that involve multiplication modelling multiplication using concrete and visual representations, and recording the process symbolically relating multiplication to repeated addition relating multiplication to division [C, CN, PS, R]

Hungry Aliens!

http://www.sfu.ca/~lws2/PDP/HungryAliensGame/

After watching the story, students can extend their learning by playing Hungry Aliens! This flash game, created by Lanz Singbeil, puts players into the position of a deep space explorer suddenly confronted by a hord of hungry alians! But fear not! Because just like Zac, this explorer is armed with a pack stuffed with sandwiches! Each alien is asking for a certain number of sandwiches that will make them full. Your students will practice grouping by 2's, 3's, and 4's and matching them with the correct total.

This game encourages primary age students to begin thinking in terms of multiplying numbers rather than just adding them together. This game can be used to help solidify understanding of basic multiplication concepts or just as a fun extra activity.
 
Click on the link above to check this amazing game out!

Leave your comments below for both the math story and the game ;)

3D Shape Walk

This project was created for my Elementary Mathematics course with fellow student teacher Tracie Brown. The video is a how-to video of a lesson on 3D geometric shapes for Grade 3.

We had so much fun making this lesson and we want to share it with anyone willing to listen! The lesson include a full lesson plan with PLO's from the BC Ministry website, a student handout document, and differentiated student records sheets. I'm hoping to upload the documents soon but for now enjoy the video!

Welcome to my blog! 

This is my second attempt at a blog for one of my courses at SFU on Digital Technologies. Its amazing the technologies that are out there for teachers these days. Its all about finding them and learning how to best incorporate them into your teaching.

I want this blog to be a resource for other teachers, new and old, with links to great websites, lesson plans, and publications; helpful information and resources created by other teachers and student teachers; and (hopefully) inspirational stories from my own experiences as I complete my student teacher journey.