401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing

The Learning Network on The New York Times has updated their 200 Prompts for Argumentative Writing to 401.  You may want to have your students go to their site and follow the links on each prompt to an article that might get your students ideas to write about.   You could bring your class to the library lab to do this.   Just click here.  Alternatively you can print out a pdf list of all 400 and just the title might of one of these 400 might be enough to get them going and you will not need access to the computer lab in the library.  Click here for the pdf.

Origami DNA

Discover more about DNA, genes and genomes, and the implications for our health and society.  This website has videos, lots of paper based activities, interactives and a glossary.  

One paper activity that I really like is the origami DNA.  This hands-on activity allows you to create your own paper model of a DNA double helix.  Watch the video below.  Click here to go to the website.

elink

If you want to share some web links (URLs) with your students or friends, elink is a great visual way to do this.  According to their website, "Create Newsletters and Content Pages in Minutes.
Turn web links into visually appealing newsletters, web pages and website embeds.  Combine web links and share them in three beautiful ways."  To see their website click here.  Watch the video and it explains everything.

Towering Charcoal Portraits of Women by Clio Newton

I am just linking an article in Colossal about Clio Newton's charcoal portraits of women.  They are outstanding and of photographic quality.  If you did not see the pictures during the process you would swear they were photos.  If you are using charcoal in your art class you might want to show the pics in this article and go to her website.  The article can be found by clicking here.

Play Your Dates Right - History

Our friends at ClassTools have another game out for your History class.  The game will give you 3 historical events and your task is to put them in the correct order. The middle event will be in the correct spot but the first and last might need to be swapped, or not.  Simple.  Right.  To see the game, click here.

Dia de los Muertos Next Week

If you teach High School Spanish Catharyn has 5 mini activities that you might incorporate into your lessons next week for Day of the Dead.  To see her activities click here.

Unit Circle

There are quite a few different topics on this site but I liked the unit circle to print out and have your students fill in or just give them the completed one.  To see the unit circles click here  for the completed one or click here for the for the fill in the blank one.  To see the main page click here.

Crello - a tool for creating graphics

Crello is a tool similar to Canva.  If you or your students need to create graphics, they have many different templates to pick from.  If your students are making infographics or posters for class, this might be a place to start.  To see the website click here.  

Organized Chaos

If you are teaching middle school music or maybe even junior high school music this site might have some things in here for you under the Music Education tab.  She also has many other items that teachers might like under Planner Tips and Tricks.  I noticed a nice her blog on Drum Circle Lesson Ideas. Take a look by clicking here.

Where in the world?

This is a Geography game where you have to figure out where you are using Google Street View.  You have a choice of 3 picks and only 12 seconds to make that choice.  To see the website click here.

Persuasion Unit

From their webpage, "PERSUASION ACROSS TIME AND SPACE

This unit shows instructional approaches that are likely to help ELLs meet new standards in English Language Arts. The lessons address potent literacy goals and build on students’ background knowledge and linguistic resources. Built around a set of famous persuasive speeches, the unit supports students in reading a range of complex texts. It invites them to write and speak in a variety of ways and for different audiences and purposes."  To see the lesson plans click here.

Young People's Trust for the Environment

I read the following write up from Top Marks, "The site has hundreds of superb resources both for primary aged children and for teenagers. Topics range from global issues such as the rainforests to those closer to home such as minibeasts in the garden. The excellent factsheets include both animal facts and environmental facts. There are downloadable lesson plans, videos and presentations for teachers and up-to-date articles on environmental news."  To see YPTE's website click here.

Class Hook

Need a video clip for your lesson plan, give Class Hook a try.  Class Hook will return clips from TV shows or movies.  Just type in a topic or grade level or subject and you will get some clips.  Try it by clicking here.

Art, Math and Cake Design

Dinara Kasko, a Ukranian pastry chef has been making some great geometrically inspired tarts and other deserts.  These all involve math, art and food technology.  Talk about cross-curricular.  Maybe some teachers can combine there skills and do something like this with their classes.  To see an article about her in Colassal click here.  Her webpage can be found by clicking here and her Instagram page can be found by clicking here.

Historica Canada

If you are teaching Canadian History you might want to look at this site by clicking here. 

How To Write Like James Comey

You remember him.  He was the former FBI director that POTUS Trump fired.  Here is an article from Lifehacker on "How to write like James Comey".  To see the article click here.

Visible Learning For Mathematics

"Visible Learning For Mathematics" is a book by Linda M. Gojak  and Sara Delano Moore.  The following link is to an article written by Larry Ferlazzo where he questions the authors about there book.  The article can be found by clicking here.

Smarter Every Day

Destin is an Engineer with a Youtube channel.  He shows lots of cool things through the eye of a scientist.  If you are teaching science you might want to look at this site for your intro or hook.  To see his website click here or his Youtube channel by clicking here.

World Teachers' Day

Happy World Teachers' Day.  This date was created by UNESCO and info can be found on their website by clicking here.

IWitness - The Holocaust

According to their site, "IWitness is an educational website developed by USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education that provides access to more than 1,500 full life histories, testimonies of survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust and other genocides for guided exploration. IWitness brings the human stories of the Institute's Visual History Archive to secondary school teachers and their students via engaging multimedia-learning activities. Designed to be participatory, academic and student-driven, IWitness addresses education standards from the Common Core State Standards Initiative (United States) and the International Society for Technology in Education, among others. "  To see the website click here.

Notas de Agradecimiento

This might be an idea you can use if you teach High School Spanish (but could easily be used in your French class too).  This comes from Catharyn Crane at Sol Azucar.

Write "Notas de Agradecimiento" en Español

Practice real world Spanish interpersonal writing skills while showing some thanks with a nota de agradecimiento for a favorite teacher.

Task:

Students will be able to write a simple thank you note in Spanish to express their gratitude to a favorite teacher of their choice.
I collect all the thank you notes at the end of the day and leave them in teachers' mailboxes as a special treat.
Materials:

1 piece of card stock for each student (cut in quarters for a post card OR in halves to be folded like a thank you note)
List of useful thank you phrases (I post on the chalk board)
Markers, colored pencils, other decorating materials (glitter and feathers if you dare!)

Today I Learned

These videos on this site are all short.  According to National Geographic, "Learn something extraordinary!  National Geographic explorers tell you new, obscure, and amazing things about the world (and beyond)."  To see their website click here.