Super Bowl Integration Ideas

This week I am going with the Super Bowl theme.  Students are really excited about the game coming up on Sunday.  This is a great opportunity to integrate some Super Bowl learning into your classroom.  I have found two sites that have links and resources for all subject areas.  They have a ton of great information that you can easily adapt to fit your classroom/grade level.

7 Super Bowl Integration Ideas

Super Bowl Across the Curriculum

Yummy Math Activities

 

Hopefully these links will help as you use this fun week to harness students energy about the big game.  Please share any other great super bowl links you have found in the comments section below.

Kid Friendly Search Engines

source:  http://bit.ly/10DjYhu

Throughout a normal school day students are asked to inquire about topics, gather research information, and find answers to some of their other questions.  As teachers we sometimes fear what they may come across if we just send them to Google.  Our media center has excellent resources for research, but sometimes you are looking for more.  For this weeks tech tip of the week I have put together a list of student friendly search engines that will work for any age level.  This would be a great link to have on your website or blog so students can easily access them.  Please remember this list is by no means exhaustive.  Please share via email or a comment below any sites which you have used in the past that I could add to the list.  Also please remember that even though they are labeled "kid friendly"  the moderators can not stop everything. 

Underground Railroad

I got an email yesterday with the January and February Scholastic resources.  I noticed they have tons of great underground railroad resources. 

Here are some of the resources:

• Harriet Tubman's readers theatre
• Underground railroad book videos
• Slideshows with important themes from that time in history
• Activities, online and offline, that investigate the people, places, and events of the 1800s.
• Primary Resources

You can use these resources individually or Scholastic has put together an interactive journey along the railroad. (SMART Board Compatible)

This looks like a great resource for multiple levels.  They also have audio attached for all parts that have reading which makes it great for younger students.  Please leave a comment with any other resources you use, or something great you found on the site.

Class Dojo

Class Dojo is a free classroom tool that helps teachers improve behavior in their classroom quickly and easily.  This tool can be used on a smartphone, iPad, and computer.  I was very apprehensive in recommending this site because I wanted to make sure it was more than a fancy behavior management tool.  After having a few teachers try it I have gotten a great response.

Some of the great features:

• You can customize the behaviors you are tracking
• You can print off reports for students and parents
• The site provides a code so parents/students can view real time data on their student
• Its Free!

Instructional Impacts:
I have tried many different ways to keep track of students behavior data.  None of them have been seamless and are always hard to refer back to when I am filling in report cards or during conferences.  Class Dojo fixes that problem by allowing you to keep track of both positive and off task behaviors throughout the day.  It also builds an individual graph for each student and the class.  The other nice part is this can be kept just for you as the teacher or you can easily share this data with parents and students.  I also like how you can customize the behavior to match the 7 Habits or parts of our report card.  This is also a great way to build gamification into your classroom through this online tool.

Student Devices

Infinitec Information

Infinitec is a resource our district has access to and it has many great resources available.  The tech tip of the week focuses on how to register an account and sign in.  I also show you how to access the Minnesota licensure videos that are available on Infinitec. Below you will find the video and a handout explaining the process.  Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Account Setup

Finding Common Presentations

  Answering Common Questions About Infinitec