The Human Body. . .Immune System, Heredity & Endocrine System &

Learning about the human body. . .there are so many facets that we can study about.  These lessons focus on the Immune System, Heredity and the Endocrine System.

The Immune System


Our first resource is a Smart Board lesson.  This lesson, entitled Fighting Diseases, focuses students on the science behind how our body keeps itself healthy.

The next resources is a BrainPOP lesson.  If you read my blog, you know that I am a HUGE fan of BrainPOP.  Our district subscribes to it and I find it invaluable.  Check out their Immune System resource.

This Arm Surgery game is very difficult.  Cool to do with students who are looking for a job in the medical profession!

An easier game, the Baby Hospital game, is super cute.  It appears to be in an Asian language, but you don't need to speak the language to play the game!

YouTube!!!!

The last resource in this section is an hilarious game from PBS Kids called Germinator.  This game, unfortunately, cannot be used on the Smart Board.  However, kids will love trying to avoid the spit and mouthwash and make it into the mouth to infect Nelson.

Heredity

The first resource is a Smart Board lesson.  This lesson, entitled Heredity, Genes & DNA, helps the students to understand how DNA works in living things.  

YouTube!!!!

BrainPOP!!!  This lesson focuses on Heredity.  Don't forget to explore the bonus activities and quizzes associated with each lesson!

Genetics:  Kids Style is a website that introduces the history of genetics and how genetics work.  There is even a quiz at the end.  It reminds me more of a WebQuest, but you don't have to surf the web.

The Endocrine System

I couldn't find a ton of information for kids about the Endocrine System.  I did find a BrainPOP lesson entitled The Endocrine System.  

As usual, if you have another resource you'd like to share, please leave it in the comment section. Come back and check us out again!

Happy Teching!  

Maria

Learning About the Holocaust

Our school participated in World Read Aloud Day on March 7th, 2012.  One of our classes Skyped with author D. Dina Friedman.  She wrote a book about the Holocaust entitled Escaping the Night.  In the book, she writes about Jewish people who escaped the Nazis by living in tunnels in the woods.  They would live there during the day and then come out of the tunnels at night.  The Skype session was awesome and the students really enjoyed it!

Through this collaboration, our high schoolers are going to do a book study.  They are going to read Escaping the Night and then Skype with Ms. Friedman to discuss the book.

Our high schoolers have been learning about the Holocaust and tomorrow, during our first Gund School Technology/Literacy Open House, they will be researching more into this topic.  I've collected some resources below that I want them to use during their time in the Learning Lab.  If you have additional resources you can share with us, please do so in the comments section.

There is a movie, entitled The Freedom Writers.  It is about a teacher who tries to teach her class about the affects of racism through the Holocaust.  They read the book The Diary of a Young Girl and write their thoughts in diary form.  It is based on a true story and the book The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them.

You may have visited or heard about the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  It is located in Washington D.C.  The website has a lot of information about the Holocaust in many different languages.  You can find information about the history of the Holocaust, how to teach about the Holocaust along, links for students to find information on the Holocaust and information about the museum itself.  What a great resource!

Here in Cleveland, Ohio, we have the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.  It is a museum celebrating diversity and tolerance.  Not only does it focus on teaching people about the Jewish Heritage, but it also aims to teach and encourage tolerance of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds.

This website has tons of information and links to other sites.  It's called The Holocaust/Shoah Page.

This website has eyewitness video clips from survivors of the Holocaust.  It's called Dornslife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences.

This website has many lesson plans on the Holocaust.  It's called US History.  

There are two Holocaust Webquests I'd like to highlight.  The first one, Holocaust Unit Webquest, takes the students on a journey through the Holocaust starting with the people who were responsible, to the countries, and the Nazis.

The second Webquest is another Holocaust WebQuest.  This one begins with it's history and takes the student through the different facets of this horrible time in our history.

A few YouTube videos. . .there are many, but some were also blocked by our school's firewall:

There are three different BrainPOP resources that you can use.  Remember to find out who in your area has a subscription and utilize it often!  It's a great resource.

BrainPOP has one lesson specifically focused The Holocaust.

Another all about Anne Frank.

A third one al about Adolf Hitler.

For the Smart Board, one of my all time favorite tools. . .

The Holocaust

Understanding the Holocaust

World War II- The Holocaust

Happy Teching!

Maria

January's Language Skills Focus is. . .

For our Speech Language Pathologist:
each month she works on lessons in the Learning Lab with her students.  January's focus, which I am just now getting to post. . .was on synonyms, antonyms, left/right, ordinal numbers and skipping.  Here are some resources that I found for her and I hope that you can use some of them as well :)

Synonyms & Antonyms

Smart Board Lessons:

Synonym/Antonym Song

Synonyms & Antonyms

Websites:

Synonyms & Antonyms Websites

Tons of resources!!!

Synonyms Game

Synonym/Antonym Game

Antonyms Game

Synonym Sam's Lab

Synonyms and Antonyms

BrainPOP:

Synonyms, Antonyms & Homonyms

Left/Right

Smart Board Lessons:

Left/Right

Screenshots you can use so that the children can circle left and right.

Ordinal Numbers

Smart Board Lessons:

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal Numbers

This will link you to the search in Smart Exchange.  There were too many good ones to choose from!

Websites:

Ordinal Numbers

Squigly's Apples

Position & Location

Smart Board:

Position & Location

Happy Teching!

Maria

Animal Migration

Another of our teachers, whose students range in age from K-5, wanted me to find some resources on animal migration.  After some digging. . .this is what I came up with!

LOVE BrainPOP and you should too!

BrainPOP:  Animal Migration

Here are some games focusing on migration!

For this first site, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a list of games your students can play focusing on migration.

Migration Games

Animal Migration

The Cat in the Hat's Animal Migration Game

Now we have a list of information websites.  Most include videos of the animals in action.  Also, there are many animal specific informational websites available and I've included a few. . .

Here's a cool project to do with your class:

Track Spring's Journey North

Power Point Presentation on Animal Migration

Sandhill Crane Migration

Tundra Swan Migration

Gray Whale Migration

Hummingbird Migration

Why Animals Migrate

Happy Teching!

Maria

Black History Month

A teacher in our building was teaching about American history from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Movement and asked me to find some resources to support her teaching.  Here's what I have so far. . .if you find anything else or have a great resource. . .please share it with us in our comments section.

This BrainPOP video is all about slavery from ancient times through it's time in the U.S.A.  Remember that you need a BrainPOP membership to view these videos, but look around you.  I'm sure either a local district or library has one!

Slavery

This book, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, has been mentioned in several blogs I've been reading.  Here's the link to one post from National Geographic:

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Here' the link to Amazon:  Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

If you choose to read the above book, there's a Livebinder link to a resource for a Literature Circle on Slavery.  It's a wiki that you'd have to join, but it looks very promising!

Livebinder:  Literature Circles-Slavery

Here's a reference site for more Children's Literature related to African Americans.

African American Children's Literature

Here's a YouTube video entitled Slavery:  The Downward Spiral.

Here's another video brought to you by the Week in Rap crew.  It's called Ghosts of the Civil War.

Now, I have some websites/online games that you can use with your students.  Love the Smart Board for this!

Journey Through the Underground Railroad

Slavery and the Making of America

Great reference sites for your planning/teaching. . .

Black History and Heritage Month

Black History Month

Happy Teching!

Maria