Other Social Studies Blogs

Check out Jon Bergmann's blog. He focuses on flipping the social studies classroom, specifically looking at what you do IN class.

This blog, called the Social Studies Teacher Blog, is very advanced. Not only does each post provide the answers for homework problems, it also suggests related support links for students. There are also links for teachers available in the blog.

The Curriculum Corner is a homepage of many social studies blogs.  There are over two million blogs linked to this webpage! Enjoy!

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Sunday April 27 through Monday April 28 was celebrated to remember the Holocaust. TeacherVision has tons of free lesson plans, activities, and printables to use to teach students about the Holocaust. Check them out here!

Earth Day!

As we celebrated Earth Day earlier this week, many classrooms focused on Earth Day activities. Following is a great article about Earth Day history and what it means.
http://www.dogonews.com/2014/4/22/its-earth-day-today-and-every-day

Social Studies Current Events- DOGO News

This website is chocked full of social studies related articles. These articles are designed for kids to read and comprehend. Check out all of the neat articles here.

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring seems to finally be here to stay! It has been so wonderful for both teachers and students to have fresh air and be able to play outside. It is like the whole atmosphere of the classroom changed once the students were able to release their energy outside. Now we just hope that Spring is actually here to stay! :)

Geo Touch iPad App!

Get the feel of how our world fits together with this app by Clever Dragons. Learn the shape and location of each of the US states (included for free) or purchase additional maps to learn the shape and location of every country on earth! Geo Touch is a fun way for students to practice the geography of the United States. As I began my exploration of the app, I really enjoyed the detailed tutorial that was given when I first began. It explained how to move the map, enlarge it, and how to move the pieces. I also really like how this app has different levels, a great way to differentiate in the classroom! Overall, I really enjoy this app to learn about each state and its characteristics!

NAEYC WOYC

*You just have to love all of the acronyms in the education field!

HAPPY WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD! As an early childhood major, this week is a fun and exciting time to rejoice in the spirit of young children. This years theme is "The Early Years are the Learning Years!" The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The purpose of the Week of the Young Child is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs. Reflect and advocate for those young children who so desperately need the love, respect, and education that they deserve!

All About G...Google, Glogster, etc...

Following up from last week's post, I have provided my Google Presentation about Glogster for viewing. I am really enjoying the simplicity of Google presentations. One aspect that I especially enjoy is being able to share a project on Google that other group members can add to. It makes it easy for everyone to contribute even when all members have conflicting schedules. I have used Google Drive for a while now, but my biggest problem is usually changing the privacy settings in order for others to view, edit, or comment on. I remembered to do it now for you to view my presentation. ENJOY!

Glogster

I am doing my Web 2.0 presentation using Google Presentation on Glogster. This is a fun and interactive website where students and teachers can create posters using text, images, videos, and more. This is a neat tool to make lessons more enjoyable for students. This is also a great way for students to present information to the class. Whether it is a book report, a speech, or group project, this is a nice way to demonstrate to the class what the students have learned. An example Glogster created about America can be found here. GlogsterEDU is created with students and teachers in mind. All educators utilizing Glogster EDU’s inventive platform have direct access to individual students through a single portal – the Teacher Dashboard. Not only can teachers see all student activity within their own Teacher Dashboard, each student can also easily view and manage all of their classes and projects within their Student Dashboard. A single login and password will provide each teacher and student with complete access to multiple classroom activities. In the near future, Administrators will have a unique, secure login access for monitoring entire district or state-level Glogster EDU activities. This is a growing site which is becoming more and more attractive to the field of education.

Technology in the Classroom

In my field experience class, the 4K students have free play time. Every day the students are able to play on the Mac computer or the iPad. The students enjoy playing various games and activities. Most of the students are better at using the tools on the computer and iPad than I am. I realized that if children are exposed to technology at a young age, they will be more confident and comfortable using it everyday. Students that are using technology in the classroom today will be much less reluctant than my generation is.

Weebly!

Weebly was an amazingly easy site for me to maneuver to create my WebQuest. Named one of TIME's 50 Best Websites, Weebly gives everyone a surprisingly easy way to create a unique site. Make a free website, blog or online store with Weebly. As a technologically disadvantaged person, I was able to create an entire website. I began my WebQuest with the basis of a previously created WebQuest. To view the original WebQuest, click here! To view my finished product, click on my WebQuest. 

Ahoy Matey!

I have begun to build my own personal website at weebly.com! The focus of my webquest will be on the oceans and continents around the world. To aid the students in their discovery, they will work alongside Captain Jack Sparrow! This adventure will be both fun and educational. The students will complete a worksheet, view some information online, and play a few games! Come along on our journey to discover the world!

WebQuests

A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational Technology staff at San Diego Unified School District, and waves of participants each summer at the Teach the Teachers Consortium.

Since those beginning days, tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires. The model has spread around the world, with special enthusiasm in Brazil, Spain, China, Australia and Holland.

http://webquest.org/index.php

This link has some great WebQuest examples, including a section of social studies WebQuests:

http://www.kathimitchell.com/quests.htm

Here is a neat a WebQuest about volcanoes:

http://rocksforkids.com/WebQuest/VolcanoWebQuest.htm

WebQuests are neat ways to individualize instruction and engage students in learning!

Great Googely Moogely!

I think that Maggie and the Ferocious Beast would agree that Google is quite amazing. Not only do I love that my gmail account separates my emails into my primary category, emails from social groups and promotional emails; but I love that there is just so much to do. The one aspect that I frequently use is Google Drive. I often start my homework at home at night, want to work on it while at work during the day, and then need to finish it the next night. So instead of having to constantly email updated versions of the document to myself, I can just work on it using Drive and I can automatically access it no matter which computer I am on. I also think that it is valuable to use Google Drive when working on projects within a group. I worked with two peers to present information about Digital Literacy to my classmates in one of my reading classes, and we used the presentation aspect of Google Drive to present our findings. It was so convenient that we could each add our own information and still see what the other group members were doing. Apps, maps, and more can be accessed through Google. There is so much to investigate! Come explore it with me!

Blogging

Blogging Discussion Questions Due Feb 12

 

How can you use blogs in your classroom? What is the purpose of blogging in the classroom?

 

-Teachers can share important information such as links, lessons, and newsletters to students via blogs

-Students and teachers can collaborate and post discussion questions (could be used for Book Clubs)

-Teachers can relate news to parents online that would normally be in a newsletter, parents can view students' work and projects 

-Teachers can share their lesson plans and get feedback and ideas from colleagues

-Teachers and parents can give and get feedback 
-Teachers can post tutorials on math lessons and social studies projects
-College online courses involve a lot of posting to discussion questions which essentially is blogging, so it is important to teach skills that go along with blogging at a young age so people are comfortable with it as an adult

This video expresses some of the ways to incorporate blogs into the classroom:

 

Where or how will blogs fit into your curriculum?

-Book Club: Have each group create a blog to discuss their book, each member can post their response for their job for that day (Questioner, reporter, word wizzard, etc.)
-Students can collaborate on group projects 
-Students can blog about places that they visit throughout the year, with their family or as a field trip and then pinpoint them on a virtual map on the blog
-Students can post their hypotheses about a science experiment before conducting the actual experiment in class
-The teacher can post a variety of journal prompts and have the students record their responses in the blog instead of on paper
-Students can report on a social issue in a blog post
-Students can pose questions on math assignments to be answered by the teacher or classmates

 

WELCOME!

Welcome to my blog! 

      My name is Kelsey Schneider and I am a Junior at Marian University. I am pursing a degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. I have created this blog as a requirement for my EME 322 Social Studies Methods Class. My blogs will include lessons for teaching social studies, uses of technology in the classroom, and other relevant information. I look forward to having you read my posts! ENJOY!