Curriculum Idea: Nature Series from PBS

I ran across a Behind the Scenes video for Nature Episode called “Hummingbirds: Magic of the Air” on one of the Facebook groups I follow.  It showed the wonderful marriage between technology, cinematography, and the study of animals.  Ann Prum, producer and cinematographer, explained how she and her team were able to catch the unbelievable grace and agility of hummingbirds in the wild using an HD camera called the Phantom High-speed Camera.  The high speed frame rates allowed the film makers to slow down the hummingbirds world and really see how the animals interact with each other, feed, etc.  See behind the scenes video below!

To see the full episode, go to the following website:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/hummingbirds-magic-in-the-air/video-full-episode/5475/

Other episodes can be found here with the same full length episodes and behind the scenes shorts:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/category/episodes/

Now for Classroom Connections:

Science and Hummingbirds– Use these videos to give students a chance to truly study the adaptations and interactions of hummingbirds at a slower pace.  While it is invaluable for students to do real field work in real time, this video will help them to practice identifying special characteristics like how hummingbirds eat from flowers, catch bugs, flap their wings in a figure eight, fight with one another, etc.  From experience with my Operation Ruby Throat Lessons, I know that students will find this video amazing. 

More Classroom Resources from PBS’ Nature- The creators of nature also have developed lessons using the videos and video shorts of other episodes of Nature.  Be sure to check these out at the following site: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/category/for-educators/

Image above from: http://www.thirteen.org/home/images/large/logo_nature_lg.gif

Cool Tools/Curriculum Idea: Google's Toolbar's Translate Gadget

Google may not create tools specifically in mind for education, but the tools certainly fit our needs. The Google Toolbar has fantastic shortcuts for many Google created features for personal web browsing.  One of the great gadgets you can add is called the Translate Gadget.  A friend and colleague of mine, Jamee Childs, was using this when we were team planning her unit on animal adaptations.  She is a Spanish immersion teacher at my school, so all websites and documents she gives to students must be in Spanish.  Jamee has found that this tool "accurately" translates most print information found on webpages.  Be aware that not all sentences/words can be translated, and literal translations can be a problem. However, my colleague has found that the Google translator tools are accurate and constantly updating their vocabulary.  You will notice that this tool translates anything that isn't an image on the page. This includes adds, etc.  WOW! The video below shows you how easy it is to install and use this gadget.

Now for classroom connections:

ESOL Students - If you have a popular/useful website you want to use with students, don't let a language barrier be in your way.  This tool can "accurately" translate websites in over 20 languages.  In the lab or on your classroom computers, set up the Translate Gadget, and train your English Speakers of Other Languages students to use this tool on pages where the English reading or sentence structure may be too challenging.

World Language Teachers/Students - Have you ever been stumped by vocabulary on a page, schedule, or authentic WL document?  Use this tool to help you navigate through the harder vocabulary on a page.  While we don't want kids to use the tool for word for word translation, you may find that some words need to be defined on a page to aid comprehension.  If your translate button has been installed on your toolbar, and if you have set your language, you can mouse over words in documents, and it will give you all the possible English definitions for that word.

Curriculum Idea: Using Journey North to Inspire Kid Citizen Scientists

Image from http://www.learner.org/jnorth/

Journey North has to be the one of the (if not the) VERY best science websites for teachers and kids out there.  I've used this site repeatedly as a resource for my school's Operation Ruby Throat project each year, and last year our school's feeder project was highlighted on this great resource. Students use the site to upload our first hummingbird siting of the spring season, and we check the real time siting data for updates on migration status.  Teachers and students can also use this website to do all kinds of great things with their hummingbird data including keeping a migration journal and predicting spring routes, or they can use the site to learn how to build school yard feeders, to know more about torpor, or to discover hummingbird adaptations.  The site also has daily updates on migration sitings, interactive migration maps, loads of videos, online kid friendly books, and GREAT photos. The creators of the Journey North site had education and students in mind when they created it.  On student resources the creators have posted thought questions and activities that help guide students through the material.  The questions are higher order and engaging.  All student resources also have teacher companion guides.  Teacher guides are well written and are easily adapted to any class.  The best thing about this website is that hummingbirds are not the only topic it covers.  All kinds of natural science topics can be explored with the same rigor and engagement.  These topics include: Climate connections, gray whales, tulips gardens, Sunlight and Mystery Class, Symbolic migration, whooping crane, Phenology, signs of spring, maple sugar...  The list is very extensive.  So, take some time to explore this great resource.  You can easily use these resources as your vehicle to teacher weather, animal adaptations, migration, and seasons!

Here's what the website says about themselves:
Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of spring through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles— and other birds and mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight; and other natural events. Find migration maps, pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context. Widely considered a best-practices model for education, Journey North is the nation's premiere "citizen science" project for children. The general public is welcome to participate.

Click here to link to the Hummingbird Resources.
Click here to link to the Journey North Home Page.

Cool Tools & Curriculum Idea: YourFonts.com

In my district, handwriting has once again become a skill that students must learn.  Kindergarten students begin to learn how to print their letters and numbers on the very first day of school, and 2nd grade students are beginning to write in cursive during 2nd semester.  Children need to see lots of examples of "correctly" written letters, and teachers are always looking for fonts that depict this.  However, I know that teachers struggle finding fonts that are consistent with the line style and stroke of print and cursive handwriting.  This is now over.  Font generator website called YourFonts.com (http://www.yourfonts.com/) gives teachers 7 easy steps to create their own hand writing friendly font for the computer.  Although this is a paid service ($14.95 for a font of 200 characters), I can see that this would be a cost that a school could foot or a group of teachers could share.

Curriculum Idea: Visual Web Searching with Google's Wonder Wheel

So, I know I've told many people how much I love Google.  I've been using Google Docs for a couple of years, and have had the Google toolbar in IE since it was available.  But today, after reviewing some information I received at this spring's SCETV edu conference, I came across Google's Wonder Wheel.  Now, Google has always done a great job of organizing information for consumers, but the Wonder Wheel organizes the sites, images, videos, etc. into an interactive mind map of keyword topics.  See video below:


To view the video via YouTube so that the whole screen is visible, click in the middle of the video above.

Wasn't that easy!  I can't believe I hadn't found this before.  Now for a classroom connection:

Research: Searching the web can be very frustrating for kids, especially young learners, who can get frustrated with the amount of text you find on a web page.  Surfing the web doesn't have to be that frustrating if they concentrate on the main idea, topic, or keywords.  That's what the Google Wonder Wheel does.  It searches and connects realted content based on keywords or tags assigned to a website.  Your visual learner and students who get easily distracted by all the "internet glitz" can narrow down their search easily by using the interactive wheel to find the specific content they need!

Stretching a Topic: Sometimes kids need a jump start on a topic for a project or paper.  Tell them to use this tool to find other topics about a subject that can help to "stretch" what they are researching.  For instance, in a search I did about ruby throated hummingbirds, the Wonder Wheel suggested I also look at bee hummingbirds. I had forgotten about this species of hummingbird, but I know my kids will just love comparing how small the bee hummingbird is even when compared to our little ruby throat.

So... if you are planning to take your class into the lab for any kind of web based research, be sure to show them the Wonder Wheel Video first.  You never know what you will find!

Edu Philosophy: When Ok is not Good Enough

I spent the last 2 days working with Tom Welch concerning 21st century learning and curriculum continuums. While my brain is flying, he shared various helpful videos when thinking about why education must change. It's not OK to be mediators of information any longer. So, with that in mind, I wanted to ask this essential question posed by Tom Welch (@twelchky on Twitter): What year is it? Think about this question and what it means for student learning after watching the three videos below. Feel free to comment to this question in the comments section below!

Curriculum Idea : Graphing Real World Data with Elementary Students

Here at Pleasant Hill Elementary we are participating in the GLOBE program called Operation Ruby Throat. Teachers and students have classroom hummingbird feeders, and they count the number of visits to the feeder that occur during a particular length of time. We talk extensively about the dimorphic nature of ruby throated hummingbirds, and students have to take data based on the number of adults, juveniles, males and females that come to the feeder.

I will be entering the data on the GLOBE website for scientist to use, but the real question is, “What do students do with all this data?” I’ve found that students K-5 need experience reading and creating graphs with real world data. While we can easily use Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheets to create data and charts, one of the neatest graphing applications I have found to use with Elementary students is Create a Graph . This simple yet colorful website is visually stimulating yet easily manipulated by all young students. We use Create a Graph here at PHES to help students see when the hummingbirds are coming to the feeders most often (line graph), to see if we have more males or females (bar graph), and to see if we have more adults or juveniles.

You should implement Create a Graph into your science, math, and social studies curriculums. For a site tutorial, click here!