http://school.discovery.com

            Discoveryschool is a website by the creators of The Discovery Channel that proves to be a wonderful technology resource for both teachers and students.  This user-friendly website can be incorporated in the classroom, shared with fellow teachers, explored by students at home, and used to create lessons. This site provides a plethora of lesson plans, worksheet and puzzle generators, fun facts, and homework and science fair help. 

It can sometimes be tiring to try to “reinvent the wheel” when creating lesson plans and worksheets.  I may be teaching science next year and will definitely need these resources!  Looking up fun facts and sharing them with the kids would be wonderful.  I would love to share and explain this website to my team and the new teachers next year.  To introduce this website to the students, I will use my scan converter.  Then, I may give pairs or individual students a website challenge to complete and then let them explore.  At some point, I will let the pairs or individual students use the computers in the classroom to have fun learning on this website.  When it comes time for the science fair in the spring, I can send home information telling the families of this website (I’ll reiterate this in my classroom).  I can also tell the students that they may use Puzzlemaker to create puzzles for the group projects.  Above all, I want to stress to my students that this website is a wonderful resource for them with their homework, their projects, and to be enjoyed.

            Discoveryschool has many resources, but I will only go through the most beneficial aspects of the website that does not require signing-up or buying a service.

 The Teacher Discovery  

1. Find the Internet Explorer icon and click it, then type in this address:  http://school.discovery.com/

2.On the left hand side will be all of the beneficial links that teachers will most likely use.  Clicking on any of these following links will bring up another page with information or other links.

3.Lesson Plans:  In the center of the page will be the “featured lesson plans” to look at.  On the left-hand side, the lesson plans are grouped into categories.  You can choose by grade range (i.e. “Grades K-5”) or by content area (i.e. U.S. History, Astronomy, etc.). Click on the category you would like lesson plans for.

a.  Selecting a grade range will produce another set of content areas, from which you will choose a desired lesson.

b.  Each lesson has it’s own objectives, materials, procedures, assessment, and vocabulary.

c.  When finished viewing the lesson plans, click on the words at the top of the page, “discoveryschools.com” to take you back to the homepage.

4.  Brain Boosters:  This contains an array of questions that make students think.  You could give the students a question a day in the morning from here.  The questions are grouped by types of thinking skills such as; Categorization, Lateral Thinking, Spatial Awareness, Reasoning, Logic, etc.  So much fun!

5.  Puzzlemaker:  An awesome resource!  Once you click on this, you have the choice to create puzzles online or buy a CD Rom.  Underneath “Create Puzzles Online”, click on the drop-down menu to select what kind of puzzle you would like to create.  You have the option to create word searches, letter tiles, cryptograms, hidden messages, etc.  Once you have chosen, for instance “word search”, the step-by-step directions will be at your fingertips.  When you have filled in the categories, select Create Puzzle. Your puzzle will appear.  Print it and the solution.

 The Student Discovery  

1.  Make sure the students are familiar with the internet and this site.  These following links are on the left hand side of the home page.

2.  Homework Help:  This page on the website is geared directly towards students.  The students can click on a link to get homework help, they can play a “Geo Game”, and they can go on various “Learning Adventures”.  Lots of fun!

3.  Science Fair Central:  Students and their parents can look at this link for science fair help.  In the “Soup to Nuts Handbook” you can read about everything that goes into a project and report, and includes project ideas, how to write the paper, and the scientific process, etc.  There is also a “Links and Books” link that takes you to a list of websites and books that would be helpful.  A link for tips on science projects is listed as well.  Finally, under this section of the website, there is a place to ask questions about your science fair project.  This is an amazing tool for students and their families!

4.  Study Starters:  Included here are awesome short fun facts about science topics that would be beneficial for students to explore.

*This website is wonderful!  There is so much learning, fun, and resources to explore.  I know my fifth graders will have fun while learning through this website.  I look forward to incorporating this website into my lessons!

                                                      

            Everyday Math is a wonderful math program that many schools in Boone County have adopted.  Everyday Math incorporates hands-on learning experiences and includes lessons that spiral.  This program is relatively new to our county, so teachers are still getting their “feet wet” but may be missing one of its best resources; the Everyday Math Assessment CD. 

            The Everyday Math Assessment CD does not come with the teacher’s kit, but has to be ordered separately.  This CD is a lifesaver!  On the CD, the teacher can design study guides and tests for any unit in the book.  The teacher can include any kinds of question that he/she covered in class, can include multiple forms of one question, and can even edit any given problem.  The teacher can also rest assured that he/she can measure exactly what goals are desired, and include questions of the same format the students are used to. 

            This CD is a time saver, but learning how to navigate through it can be overwhelming.  Following these instructions can not only make your day and learning easier, it will allow you to help out team members; making you their “Hero”. 

 How do I begin my “Day”? 

1.  Place the Everyday Math Assessment CD into your CD-ROM drive.

2.  When the installment directions appear, follow them to install the program to your hard drive. 

3.  When the installation is finished, find your newly created file on your hard drive and double click to open it.

4.  Many different icons will appear, click on the icon that says “Tester – Worksheet Builder” to begin.

 Now What? 

1.  Now that you have the assessment CD open, you will see all of the units are listed on the left-hand side of the screen.  At the top are words and buttons much like you will see in Microsoft Word.

2.  Let’s make a Test or Study Guide!

a.  Find the unit you are studying (i.e. Unit 1), and click on the arrow to the left of the unit (do not click on the words – nothing will happen).  Now, you will see an arrow pointing to the right – click it.  Now you will see an arrow pointing down, and the “Review and Assessment”, and “Unit Learning Goals” will appear.

b.  Select the arrow next to “Review and Assessment”.  Then, click the arrow next to the words, “Checking Progress”.  Now you will see all of the different topics learned from that unit (i.e. addition, prime factorization, prime numbers, etc.). 

c.  Choose one of the topics that you would like to include on your study guide or test, then double-click it.  In a new window, a problem will appear.  If you are happy with the problem, click on the word “Add”.  You have the option to select “Close” if you do not like the problem.  If you do that, select a different topic from the list and repeat this step.

3.  How do I add similar problems and edit problems?

a.  Adding similar problems: Let’s say you want 3-4 problems on the same topic, like prime factorization.  Underneath “Checking Progress”, double click on your desired topic (i.e. prime factorization).

1.) As soon as the sample problem comes up, click “Add”, then select “New Values”.  Doing this will keep the same type of problem, but change the numbers (don’t get carried away with this).

b.  Editing certain problems:  If you are not happy with a problem that comes up due to directions or values, have no fear, it can be fixed!

1.)  Underneath “Checking Progress”, double click on your desired topic (i.e. odd numbers).

2.)  As soon as you see the newly created problem, select “Clone”, then click “Edit”.

3.)  You will see a white box that includes the problem, just click on what you want to change, and begin correcting.

4.)  When you are happy, click “OK”, then click “Add”.

 4.  How will each page on my study guide be arranged?

* You have the option of placing lines to separate your problems, and including page breaks.

a.  Creating Dividing Lines

1.)  At the top of the screen are listed words that will create drop down menus.  Select “Worksheet”, and then select “Layout”.

2.)  In the window that appears, select the “Dividers” tab.  You can choose what kinds of dividers to include, horizontal or vertical or both.  You will see a demo of what it will look like.

3.)  When you are happy with it, click “OK”.

            b.  Including Page Breaks

1.)  Select the “Worksheet” drop-down menu at the top, and then click “Insert”.

2.)  Click “Start New Page”.

3.)  Look at the right-hand side of the main page that includes a list of all of the topics selected for questions, you will see where the page break was inserted (it will say “page break”).  If you want the page break in a different spot, click it and drag it to the right place.

5.  Where is the title?

            a.  Select the “Worksheet” drop-down menu at the top, then click “Insert”.

            b.  Select “Header or Footer”.

c.  Type your title in the white box.  There are different things to choose from (all pages, header or footer?).  Make your selection, then click “OK”.

 6. Yea!  I’m finished!

a.  To View your finished piece, select the button on the tool bar (4^th from the right) called “Preview Worksheet”.  Make sure you do this to see if it is correct.

1.)  Click “Next Page” or “Previous Page” to see the entire piece.

2.)  Click “Close” to go back to the main page.

b.  To print, select the button on the tool bar (3^rd from the right) called “Print”.  Click “OK”.  An answer key will automatically print out.  Make sure you save it!

                                                   

            PowerPoint is a program designed to create slide shows.  This program is included with Microsoft Office, which most schools have.  PowerPoint is a wonderful tool to teach students how to take notes, write daily math messages or assignments on, and to create student-generated slide shows.  PowerPoint has been an asset in my classroom.

           Being able to teach both my students and colleagues how to spice up their PowerPoint presentations (by backgrounds, slide transitions, and clip art) is a wonderful task.  It is good for students to learn this for future individual or group presentations (projects, book reports, etc.) throughout their lives.  It is also beneficial for other teachers to learn PowerPoint more in-depth so that they can keep the attention of the class when using it and feel more confident.  My goal is to help both my students and my colleagues become more comfortable and expand their knowledgeable with the program.

Before I teach a lesson about sprucing up a slide show, I first make sure that the students/colleagues were familiar with the program.  When teaching these ideas to my students, I would have my computer connected to my TV by the scan converter, and model using whole-group instruction. Then, the students could practice and explore in groups.  Giving simple tasks to reinforce what we learned would be ideal.  When teaching a colleague, I would sit down with him/her and show him/her the step-by-step process of adding to PowerPoint presentations.  Printing out these directions for him/her would be a nice gesture as well.

 How can I Power-up? 

• Go to the start menu on your computer.  PowerPoint is usually near Excel and Microsoft Word (computers will vary).  When you find the icon, double click on it (if showing this to the students make sure you locate this first).
• I am assuming that you know how to include text on PowerPoint with multiple slides; because we will focus primarily on backgrounds, slide transitions, and inserting clip art.

Creating a Background – There are two easy routes to take: choose a plain background or choose a pre-designed background template.

a.  Plain Background with Color

            1.)  On the toolbar, click Format, then select Background.

2.)  Underneath the box entitled “Background Fill” you will an arrow button next to the small empty box: select it. 

3.)  You have the option of  using one of those colors, or More Colors ( which is a spectrum of colors). You could also chose “Fill Effects” in which you could choose a type of pattern, gradient, or texture that you like.

4.)  Once you have selected a color and/or effect, click “ok”, which will take you back to your original “Background Fill” box.  You can now choose to “apply to all” (meaning all slides), or “apply” (meaning one slide).    

b.  Pre-Designed Background

1.)  On the toolbar, click Format, then select Slide Design.

2.)  To the right-hand side of the computer or in an additional pop-up box, a plethora of different backgrounds will appear.

3.)  Click on the desired background, and immediately the background will show up on all of your slides.  You can test them to see which one you like the best.

4.)  Don’t worry if your font changes – each background contains a different font.

 Slide Transitions

a.  On your PowerPoint presentation, select which slide (for instance, slide 1) you would like to work with.

b.  On the toolbar, select Slide Show, then select Slide Transition.

c.  Similar to designing a background, the information box will appear on the right-hand side or in a new pop-up box on the screen.

d.   Click one of the transitions listed.  As soon as you select a transition, it will appear on that particular slide.  You can preview as many as you like. 

e.  You are given the choice underneath the slide transitions option to Modify the transition, in which you can choose how fast your slide will change, and whether or not you want sound. 

f.  To make slide transitions as painless as possible, you have the option to select Apply to All Slides, which will cause every slide in your presentation to transition in the same way that you chose. 

g.  To create variety in the transitions, select the next slide in the presentation (slide 2), and repeat steps a-e, until you are satisfied with your transitions.

 Inserting Clip Art

a.  On the presentation, select on which slide you would like to include a clip art picture.  For instance, you might want to include a picture of a cow on a slide about farms.

b.  On the toolbar, select Insert, then select Picture.  Another menu will appear.  Click on Clip Art.

c.  A box will appear.  You can now do one of two things: choose a picture already stored in the Clip Art files, or download clip art pictures from the Internet.

d.  Using an already stored Clip Art picture:

1.)  In the box titled “Search For”, you can type in a key word, such as cow.  Clip Art will pull up any pictures that are related to your key word. 

2.)  Once you have found an appropriate picture, double click on the picture and it will appear on the slide you have selected.  Don’t fret if the size is wrong!  Move your mouse to one of the corners, then click and drag to adjust it.

3.)  To move the picture to its desired location on the slide, click on the picture, hold down the mouse and drag it to set the picture where it looks the best.  Make sure it does not cover any words!

e.  Downloading a Clip Art Picture.

1.)  In that same box that you can search for existing clip art, there will be a button to click that says “Clip Art on Office Online”.  Choose this, if your computer has Internet access.

2.)  Near the top of the page, there is a white box underneath the words “Clip Art”.  In this box, type a key word relating to the pictures you would like to find, such as “cow”, and click Search.

3.)  All related pictures will come up.  They may have multiple pages to view. Some pictures will be moving, called “motion clips” – you are free to download these as well.  The kids love them!

4.)  To download a clip, select the small, white box underneath the desired picture(s).  A check mark will appear.  Once you have all of the pictures you want, on the left hand side of the screen, select Download Items.  Follow the directions to download.

5.)  Follow the directions from “part d #2-3” to insert the new clip art on to   PowerPoint.

* PowerPoint offers so many more opportunities than this short lesson can provide, but this provides a better stepping stool for your students and colleagues.  Your students and colleagues will be so happy you took time to show them how to spice up their PowerPoint presentations.  Once your students and colleagues are finished with their presentation, they can’t help but to sit back and admire their new creation!

www.whitehouse.gov/kids 

            To incorporate this website into my lessons, I will first introduce the website using my scan converter that is hooked up to my TV.  I will model how to navigate through the website and the different “cool” aspects the site has to offer.  I will let the students explore this site during the down times of class (i.e. independent working time).  This website could easily lend itself to being used on an individual basis, or with a partner.  The students can explore the website freely, or I can incorporate a scavenger hunt, in which they have to find the answers on this website.  I just know the kids will love this website, even though they are learning with it.

How do I tour this White House webpage?

1.  Find the Internet Explorer icon and use your mouse to click on it.

2.  At the top of the screen, type in this address: www.whitehouse.gov/kids . 

3.  Now you can begin your journey through the White House, because you will be on the White House Kids home page.  The icons that help maneuver through the site are set up in a square around the homepage.

4.   At the top of the page underneath the words www.whitehousekids.gov, are the names of our president, vice president, and their wives.  If you click on each name, a biography will come up about that person.  To return back to the main page, on the left hand side of the page, there is a list of 7 blue buttons underneath a cartoon picture of the White House.  Click the Home button to return to the main page. 

5.  On the right hand side of the homepage, there are picture icons that are interactive.  They are: News, Math Challenge, Quizzes and Games, Photos, Videos, and Parents and Teachers.  In order to get back to the homepage, either click on the Home button on the left hand side of the page, or if the link takes you to the official White House site, just click the back arrow at the top of the page next to the address bar.

a.  News:  This includes kid-friendly news stories listed by date that have to do with the White House or the Bush’s and Cheney’s.  Click on the blue highlighted titles underneath the dates to link to that particular news story with pictures.  This will be great when talking about current events.

b.  Math Challenge:  These include math problems or questions of the day separated by elementary, middle, and high school.  They consist of one problem each, but do include archive problems to play with. 

c.  Quizzes and Games: There are quite a few multi-question quizzes available to take in a variety of topics, such as the Declaration, First Ladies, and the West Wing, etc. As you answer each question, it checks your response and explains why.  There are word games and matching concentration games for the kids to play that offer more fun facts and good information.

d.  Photos: Students can click on the different categories to see different interesting pictures taken at White House events.

e.  Videos:  Included are Barney the Dog webcam videos.  Other videos include kid-friendly ideas that they may want to look at.

f.  Parents and Teachers:  This provides information about this site and ways to help get kids thinking about the different things they have done or read about on the website.  It is a guide for parents and teachers – very helpful.

6.  At the bottom of the homepage, there are more links to activities and information about the White House.  The Holidays at the White House take you to the official website that shows pictures and information about how they decorate, includes more beautiful pictures, and press releases and speeches.  The White House Tee-Ball would be interesting for those in sports and shows pictures and talks about what tee ball is and information about being on the White House lawn.  The White House Easter Roll shows pictures, news releases and information about the Easter egg hunt.  The Inauguration of 2005 is a long piece about George W. Bush being sworn in for his second term.  Kids can also take a White House quiz to see how much they know about the White House. 

7.  On the left hand side of the webpage, there are links to look up the history of the White House, find out about tours, find out about the pets of the White House, traditions and supports at the White House, and Patriotism.

* This amazing website provides teachers and kids with a wealth of knowledge, all while making the learning interactive and fun.  This is something my fifth graders will enjoy.

                                                 

When thinking about teaching elementary school lessons, Microsoft Excel may not readily come to one’s mind.  Microsoft Excel comes with the Microsoft Office program, which school computers most likely have.  Excel is a wonderful tool for charting data and organizing information.  Teaching lessons about how to use Excel will be very beneficial for students to know.

Due to the limited number of computers in an average elementary school classroom, grouping the students into groups of 3 to 4 would be beneficial.  If the classroom is set up so that one of the computers is hooked up by a “scan converter” to the TV; modeling how to use Microsoft Excel would be wonderful, so that the students can see how to use the program step by step.  The teacher has many options of how to present Excel; the teacher can model first by using whole group instruction, and then let the students get into their groups to practice, or the students can be at the computer already and go through the steps with the teacher as she/he models the lesson.

In the fifth grade, interpreting and gathering data is heavily taught in math in accordance with the statistical landmarks (i.e. mean, median, mode, range, etc.).  The students love gathering data about themselves, so I focus a couple of math lessons on measuring the span of their hands, the length across their backs from their left hands to their right hands, and the distance of their stride.  During this coming year, I am looking forward to having the students take this information and chart it by using Microsoft Excel. 

When teaching the students of this age, simplicity will be the key.

 How does one excel when modeling Excel?

1.  With your mouse, go to the Start menu on your computer.  Dependent upon how your classroom computer is set up, Excel could be in a different place than on your home computer.  It may be under Accessories, Microsoft Office, Favorites, or it might even show up on your desktop screen.  When you locate the icon, double click on it.  (Make sure you know where this is prior to the beginning of the lesson).

2.  The page that comes up is what you will directly use to insert the data.  The letters at the top of the screen can be used for the name of the category (i.e. Right Hand Great Span, Left Hand Great Span, etc.)  To insert the name, click on the box below A, for instance.  You can immediately begin typing your title.

a. If your titles are too big for the title boxes, don’t worry, you can fix that.  Move your mouse to the vertical line that separates the “A” and “B”.  When you see a line with an arrow going through it, click on it and drag it to be the desired size.  Repeat for any other headings.

4.  At the bottom of the sheet, after all data is entered, in Column A, you could include the statistical landmarks. 

a. When finding the data, the students could have calculated the landmarks, so all they have to do is insert it. 

b. For instance, on line 24 in Column A, type the word “Mean = 12 in.”.  On line 25 in Column A, type the word “Mode = 13 in.”, and so on.  Repeat steps for each category.

5.  Now that the data is entered, you may want to define the borders of your data sheet.  Take the mouse and click on box A2 and drag to highlight all of the boxes that you have inserted the data in.  

       a.  Once it is highlighted, go to the toolbar and find the icon that looks like a window or a“four square game”.  This is called the “border” icon; click on it.  You will be given a variety of options to choose from.  Choose the border style that will best suite your needs.  I suggest that you select the “four square” picture again to include all borders.

6.  Now it is time to give the spreadsheet a title. 

            a.  In the tool bar, go to View, then click on Header and Footer.

b.  Next, click on Custom Header.  You will see 3 separate boxes: Left Section, Center Section, and Right Section.  Decide where you would like the title to appear, and then enter your title in one of those 3 boxes. Click “ok”.

7.  Last but not least, go to File, then Print Preview to see your masterpiece.  Make any needed changes, then select the print button on the toolbar to print the final copy.

*The students will be very proud of themselves when they have mastered Excel.  You should be proud too for teaching them this important program successfully.  Now the students have their very own class copy of the results from their gathering of their data, which you can further explore, and compare measurements.  After the students feel comfortable with Excel, you can always expand on their knowledge by tackling more complex ideas this program has to offer.

*Above all, have fun helping students excel with Excel!