6th Grade

6

Reading Treks: Bud, Not Buddy

— TeachersFirst

2-6 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://teachersfirst.com/reading-treks/content/bud-not-buddy Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for using Bud, Not Buddy with students in grades 3-7. Take advantage of the robust teaching guide. This historical fiction novel takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during the time of the Great Depression. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks <a href="/reading-treks ">here</a>.

In the Classroom

Encourage students to understand the Great Depression’s impact upon everyday life in the 1930s and explore these periods of history using primary sources. As you discuss the book and incorporate the suggested activities, be sure to include discussions on racism’s effect upon the book’s characters. Use <a href="/single.cfm?id=18751">this</a> curated list of primary source resources to engage students in learning about the past through comparisons to current day life. Use an online tool such a Creately, <a href="/single.cfm?id=13559">reviewed here</a>, to create diagrams, mindmaps, and other visual graphic organizers to compare and contrast the different periods. Engage students as they explore events shared in the book through the use of bite-sized podcasts using Synth, <a href="/single.cfm?id=18458">reviewed here</a>. Synth is an easy to use audio tool that encourages students to share their thoughts and learning reflections in 256 seconds or less.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): racism, civil rights, cultures, michigan, great depression,

Reading Trek: March, Book One

— TeachersFirst

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://teachersfirst.com/reading-treks/content/march-book-one Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

TeachersFirst Reading Treks create a virtual field trip of resources about a piece of literature or text using the My Maps feature of Google Maps. This Reading Trek provides inspiration and suggestions for sharing the autobiography of Congressman John Lewis who as a student met Martin Luther King, was instrumental in the birth of the Nashville Student Movement and their "lunch counter sit-ins." View the robust instructional guide for suggestions to use with students in grades 7-12. Content correlates to Common Core Standards, ISTE Student Standards, and National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Find the entire selection of Reading Treks <a href="/reading-treks ">here</a>.

In the Classroom

Using the Reading Trek, explore the periods of the 1930s and 1960s using maps and other non-fiction resources. Engage students and use an online organization tool like Padlet, <a href="/single.cfm?id=10007">reviewed here</a>, to collect and share resources with students. Organize information within the Padlet using columns to sort content by decade. Be sure to allow comments to encourage student discussion and collaboration. Enhance learning by asking students to create infographics using Canva Infographic Maker, <a href="/single.cfm?id=17570">reviewed here</a>. Use the infographics as an alternative to a book report and ask students to share important places, dates, and historical characters to tell the story of John Lewis.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): civil rights, black history, congress,

Teach Writing With The New York Times: A Free School-Year Curriculum in 7 Units

— New York Times Learning Network

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/learning/free-writing-curriculum-with-nyt.html?em_pos=small&amp%3Bref=headline&amp%3Bnl_art=0&amp%3Bte=1&amp%3Bnl=learning-network&amp%3Bemc=edit_ln_20190822%3Fcampaign_id%3D55&amp%3Binstance_id=11840&amp%3Bsegment_id=16419&amp%3Buser_id=dba57cf4bb6c7878b5dbffd98ccc54fa&amp%3Bregi_id=49980457emc%3Dedit_ln_20190822 Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Take advantage of prize-winning journalism published by the New York Times to teach writing to middle and high school students. The staff at the Learning Network of the New York Times shares a curriculum focused on seven different genres of writing. Each unit includes daily writing prompts, guided practice, mentor texts, opportunities for student work to be published on the New York Times site, and culminates in a monthly writing contest.

In the Classroom

This writing curriculum includes units for bi-monthly teaching activities, be sure to bookmark this website to view and take advantage of lessons throughout the school year. Begin your unit using a learning management system like Actively Learn, <a href="/single.cfm?id=14705">reviewed here</a>, to share articles with students. Actively Learn allows educators to integrate assignment directions, polls, companion videos, and more to create an in-depth learning experience. Enhance learning and help students identify writing techniques within the articles shared in each unit using Fiskkit, <a href="/single.cfm?id=18515">reviewed here</a>. Fiskkit allows groups to collaboratively examine and discuss online articles by highlighting sentences and sharing thoughts. For example, during the first unit focused on the Personal Narrative Essay, use Fiskkit for students to find and discuss details, including examples of writing with voice and use of specific examples instead of broad descriptions. As your unit moves into focusing on student-created work, use FlipGrid, <a href="/single.cfm?id=17677">reviewed here</a>, to amplify student’s voice and discuss topics for the culminating personal narrative writing project. Pose a question on Flipgrid for students to share portions of a personal narrative they have read, then discuss what makes that portion of the writing stand out. Help students collaborate on ideas for their narratives using a Flipgrid video question asking students to share two or three ideas they have for their narrative and asking peers to share their ideas on what they consider to be most interesting or sharing ideas for inclusion. As a final project, use Sway, <a href="/single.cfm?id=16373">reviewed here</a>, to publish and share student work. Create a class Sway with all student work, or ask students to create their own Sway to include their writing, a link to the New York Times article inspiration, images, and more.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): creative writing, Research, persuasive writing, descriptive writing, critical thinking, essays, journalism, writing,

Constitutional Rights

— Constitution Center

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://constitutionalrights.constitutioncenter.org/app/home/world Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Explore the rights the United States shares with other countries around the world with this interactive from the Constitution Center. Begin by selecting a constitutional right from the list next to the globe to highlight the countries that also include that right for their citizens. Select any highlighted country to compare their version with the U.S. In addition to sharing the text from each country, this interactive includes the percentage of text with content that matches between the two chosen countries.

In the Classroom

Include this interactive with any lessons on constitutional rights or when studying different nations. Create a Padlet, <a href="/single.cfm?id=10007">reviewed here</a>, for your class to add and comment on constitutional rights around the world. Create columns on your Padlet by country or specific rights, then enhance learning by asking students to share information and articles detailing information on that right. Use an online news site like World News, <a href="/single.cfm?id=8568">reviewed here, </a> for students to find news from around the world and search by regions. Extend learning by challenging computer-savvy students to create a game using Scratch, <a href="/single.cfm?id=9202">reviewed here</a>, that takes players around the world to learn about rights and freedoms found in different nations. Ask other students to create podcasts discussing current events and freedoms from around the world. Buzzsprout, <a href="/single.cfm?id=17015">reviewed here</a>, is an excellent podcast creation tool and includes features for adding links and lists to shows, and allows users to schedule podcast releases for specific dates and times.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): countries, cross cultural understanding, bill of rights, constitution,

The Top 6 Population Migrations in American History

— HomeArea.com

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://www.homearea.com/featured/historical-us-population-migrations/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

This interesting site features a look at major population changes in the United States from 1790 through 2010. Begin with the big picture, an animated image featuring population change per square mile over time. Scroll down through the site for additional maps featuring populations changes due to the Gold Rush and railroads, the Civil War, and America’s infatuation with cars among others. Scroll further down to choose from links to maps by individual decades, regional population maps, and additional facts and data of different counties throughout the U.S.

In the Classroom

Use this site for many different purposes in history and geography classrooms. Data found on these maps only go up through 2010, ask students to research data through the current year. Create and annotate your own charts using ChartAccent, <a href="/single.cfm?id=17926">reviewed here</a>, to demonstrate population changes in your state or community. Take advantage of a large amount of data and information found on this site to use as a starting point for student research projects. Ask them to transform their learning by creating and presenting their information through a multimedia platform such as History in Motion, <a href="/single.cfm?id=16572">reviewed here</a>. Use this tool to add texts, images, maps, and more to tell the story of changes over time within a community.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): STEM, native americans, civil war, gold rush, railroads, 20th century, 1900s, 1800s, migration, population,

Periodic Videos

— Periodic Videos and The University of Nottingham

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://ed.ted.com/periodic-videos Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Periodic Videos provides videos and lessons teaching about each element on the periodic table. Choose any element to view a short video (most are less than 10 minutes) demonstrating the properties and providing background information on the element offered by university scientists. Each video also provides a link to a complete TED-ED lesson including questions for discussion and further exploration. Use the filters on this site to sort the elements displayed into different categories including halogens, non-metals, and more. If your district blocks YouTube, videos may not be viewable. This site suggests that you contact whoever administers your school’s IT systems to see if you can whitelist videos that are embedded on ed.ted.com.

In the Classroom

Include this resource with your other materials for teaching about the periodic table and chemical elements. Customize any of the lessons within TED-ED to meet your lesson objectives. Register for a free account, then follow the steps to duplicate and edit the lesson to meet your needs and share with students. Be sure to share this site with students to use as part of their review and learning activities. Share all of your bookmarked sites with students using a bookmarking tool like SearchTeam, reviewed here. SearchTeam includes tools for collaborating and sharing online resources and provides the ability for you or your students to add notes and comments to shared resources. Include this site and others to provide differentiated learning activities for your students using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here. In addition to web resources like Periodic Videos, Symbaloo Learning Paths provides options for including quizzes, uploading documents, and more to create an entire unit in one place. Instead of a final assessment using a paper and pencil quiz, ask students to modify their learning by creating explainer videos about elements using My Simpleshow, reviewed here. If you are unsure about how to assess multimedia projects, find many ideas for implementing rubrics for assessment along with examples and online tools at TeachersFirst Rubrics to the Rescue reviewed here.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): elements, chemicals,

Aquation

— Smithsonian Science Education Center

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://www.ssec.si.edu/aquation Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Play this game to solve the world’s water crisis through careful management of resources and responses to global events. Before playing, be sure to check out the tutorial to understand the available options. Your mission is to make water available to all regions through a series of decisions based on cost and research. Be sure to check out the text alternative short story to the game sharing a tale of the importance of water within a small community.

In the Classroom

Include this activity with any unit on the environment, water cycles, or weather. Extend this activity further to learn more about water conservation in your community. Ask students to take pictures around the school or at home showing the inefficient use of water. Use PhotoCollage, <a href="/single.cfm?id=18310">reviewed here</a>, and have students create a collage of their images to use as a starting point for research. Ask students to enhance their learning and upload their collage to a blog and write analyzing and sharing ideas for water conversation based on their collage. Use a blog tool such as Edublog, <a href="/single.cfm?id=13449">reviewed here</a>. Use Symbaloo Learning Paths, <a href="/single.cfm?id=17347">reviewed here</a>, to create a learning path for your students for your entire unit. Add videos, quizzes, embed this game and add all the information for students to follow. Symbaloo Learning Paths also includes options for differentiation for different interests or ability levels of your students. Ask older students to modify their learning and create their own Learning Path to demonstrate and share learning throughout the unit.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): game based learning, DAT device agnostic tool, water, recycling, conservation, weather,

Fake It To Make It Game

— Amanda Warner

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.fakeittomakeitgame.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Learn about how and why fake news is created and distributed with this game where players earn money by spreading false news. Begin by selecting a guide for the game and choosing a financial goal. Follow the game to create your site and choose from different payment and options for monetizing information, while at the same time working toward optimum credibility. As the game continues, players select options for sharing their fake news to gain the maximum number of shares and likes. Throughout the game, follow your progress to your financial goal chosen at the beginning of the activity.

In the Classroom

More than ever, understanding the use of media to manipulate readers is a critical skill. Use this game as a supplement to lessons on verifying news sources and fact-checking. Help students discover trigger words found in fake news articles by creating lists of sensational words. Replace word lists with a word cloud creator like Wordsift, <a href="/single.cfm?id=12844">reviewed here</a>, to help visualize the use of trigger words found in online news. Have students find fake news online to analyze for misrepresentations of facts. Instead of doing this as a pencil and paper project, ask students to transform their learning and use ThingLink, <a href="/single.cfm?id=13216">reviewed here</a>, to share an image of the article and add links, images, and videos to "debunk" false information. As students become more familiar with recognizing fake news, have them use a comic creation tool like ToonyTool, <a href="/single.cfm?id=17781">reviewed here</a>, to modify their learning by creating single frame cartoons with tips for avoiding false information then share these comics on your class or school webpage.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): problem solving, newspapers, news, journalism,

PeoplePlotr

— PeoplePlotr.com

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://www.peopleplotr.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Create interactive family trees or hierarchy representations using the drag and drop features of PeoplePlotr. Features include options for embedding images, videos, and text within plots. After registering using your email, use your dashboard to begin. In addition to the visual tree, options include adding and viewing information in a timeline format. Follow the steps to fill in the information (only the title is required) and choose the link to create your plot. From this step start adding information to your family tree. Share with others using your unique URL. PeoplePlotr limits free accounts to one plot with 15 people and no embedding on your website.

In the Classroom

If your students have a school email address use this information to sign individuals up to create their own plot. View examples on this site to get inspiration for creating plots in several different ways. Create family trees of story characters to help visualize family legacies, have students create a hierarchy chart representing government leaders, or have students research their own family tree. After completing timelines, ask students to use the information learned to enhance their learning by creating an explainer video sharing their timeline or hierarchy details. Biteable, <a href="/single.cfm?id=18155">reviewed here</a>, is a very easy to use video creation tool.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
  • Donec rutrum congue leo eget malesuada. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a. Curabitur aliquet quam id dui posuere blandit. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a.
  • Donec rutrum congue leo eget malesuada. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a. Curabitur aliquet quam id dui posuere blandit. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a.
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Tag(s): timelines, family, graphic organizers,

History Tech

— Glenn Wiebe

6-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://historytech.wordpress.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

History Tech is an outstanding blog for history and social studies teachers created by curriculum and technology integration consultant Glenn Wiebe. Wiebe shares resources and lesson ideas with a focus on game-based learning and technology integration. Browse through the blog’s feed to view the latest posts, use the search box to search by keyword, or click on commonly used tagged words. To find specific topic content scroll down to the bottom of the home page and use the drop box featuring History Tech Topics. Be sure to sign up with your email address to receive the most recent posts directly to your inbox and follow the site on Twitter @glennw98.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site to reference throughout the school year. Use the keyword search option to find ideas for specific units or technology tools to use. Use a bookmarking tool like Wakelet, <a href="/single.cfm?id=17619">reviewed here</a>, to collect and share information from this blog along with your other resources. As you gather lesson ideas and create your unit, use Symbaloo Learning Paths, <a href="/single.cfm?id=17347">reviewed here</a>, to create differentiated lesson activities for your students.

Technology Heads-up!
  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
  • Donec rutrum congue leo eget malesuada. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a. Curabitur aliquet quam id dui posuere blandit. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a.
  • Donec rutrum congue leo eget malesuada. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a. Curabitur aliquet quam id dui posuere blandit. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a.
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Tag(s): branches of government, social media, politics, maps, digital storytelling, primary sources, teaching strategies, back to school,
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