Graphic Organizer

This is my graphic organizer about waste management.

Graphic Organizer

Graphic organizers can be used in a classroom to better organize concepts being taught. There are many different kinds of ways to use a graphic organizer. I choose to make mine in a web with my subcategories surrounding my main idea of Waste Management. I would use this graphic organizer to help students visualize what we have been discussing and then add their own ideas of how to reduce, reuse, and recycle to. The website webspiration.com allows you to create an account to make your own graphic organizers. You can check out mine at this link:

http://www.mywebspiration.com/view/257858a883b

How the Sassafras Tree Came to Be

Periodic Table Game

This is my favorite resource I found! The classtools website allows you to create all different kinds of games with whatever your class is learning about. This is a great way to reinforce topics with students and help them to prepare for test. This could be used during class or at home to help students get as much practice as they need. You could also create games for different students that need help in specific topics. I made an example quiz that helps students practice recognization of symbols of the periodic table to their approriate element. Different choices float around the scene and you (the little man with the hat on) move around avoiding running into the wrong answers and making your way towards the right answer. You can try out the game here! ENJOY! http://classtools.net/widgets/quiz_2/bmqFp.htm

Everyone is Special!

Using http://www.myavatareditor.com/ younger elementary students can recognize their differences in a fun way! This website allows you to create your own avatar that can be compatable with Nintendo Wii. It allows students to create their own eye color, hair color, face shape, ect. This is another way to help build students esteem as they celebrate who they are! Since the world is becoming so globalized it will be important for sutdents to recognize other cultures and be respectful of others. This activity could be tied in with a lesson about culture and students' parents could be invited to come in and share interesting things about their heritage. On the left you can see an example of an avatar that I made of myself.

Create Your Own Timeline

Bu using http://www.xtimeline.com/ you can create your own timeline to be used for educational purposes. You could use this site to make your own timeline to help teach the key points that you want your class to get out of a history lesson. This could include events through history such as wars, inventions, or medical breakthroughs, or even the highlights in a life of a famous person.

Another way in which this online tool could be used is for students to make timelines of their own lives. This would help to build esteem in the classroom and allow the students to practice their writing and computer skills. When I was in elementary school we had to make timelines of our lives that were constructed with different pictures and captions. I remember that mine had to be all rolled up because it went all the way down my door. Making a timeline online would be a neater way to do this project and would also allow students to share their project with friends and relatives.

In my example you can see on the main view of the timeline will look. The site creates a bullet for each event and allows you to view a picture when you click on it. I would encourage students to use pictures of themselves for each bullet rather than pictures of objects, however that is all I had to work with for this example. You can follow this link to check out the rest of my timeline.

http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/All-About-Me-

Simple Machine Lesson

This lesson will teach you how a little creativity and using your resources can make a job a little easier and can even be a little fun!

Simple machines are used all around us each and every day. The different kinds of simple machines include: the lever, pulley, wedge, inclined plane, and wheel and axle. When multiple simple machines are put together you get a complex machine. Let’s take a look at how a complex machine helped out my cat Kyle.

This is Kyle. He is strictly an indoor cat. He has no claws, so for him to go outside puts him in great danger. My family does a pretty good job of keeping him in the house, but occasionally he slips out. Once he is outside he gets confused and doesn’t know how to come back. He likes to hide out under the deck– which can be very hard to get him out from under. After hours of calling his name, we came up with a different plan to get him back. Take a look!

First of all, we came up with an idea. Then we looked around at our resources. Our only supplies ended up being: kite string, a cage, and cat food. Kyle’s cage isn’t his favorite thing in the world, but within it we put Meow Mix– which is his favorite thing in the world. We decided that he should be getting pretty hungry and that if he tried to go in for a bite we could shut the door behind him with the pull of a string.

The string was really what brought the whole machine together. In the picture on the left, you can see how the string was tied on the upper corner of the door. In the picture on the right, you can see how the string is ran through the inside of the cage and then out a hole in the right side of the cage.

Lastly, we put some cat food into the back end of the cage. You can see here how the final set-up of the cat trap should look. But, where does the string run to anyway? I’m glad you asked.



Here you can see what we chose to do with the string. On the left, you can see the length of the string running up from the lower part of the deck to the upper railing. It worked out for us to run the string over a plant holder and our door allowed us to run the string to the inside. We were still able to pull the string from the inside, which was great so we wouldn’t scare the cat away. If you ever try this you can use the resources you have and improvize. Perhaps you could just sit quietly on the deck and wait there for the moment to pull the string.

When the string is pulled the door should swing from position (a) to position (b). Here we have our complex machine which is a combination of a lever— the hinged door and a pulley– the string. After you have the trap set up I would suggest a few practice swings to make sure you have it just right for the big moment!

With a little patience you too will be ready for the moment that you capture the cat! So, if you have a runaway pet like mine try making use of simple machines around you to build a complex machine of your own!

Special thanks to:
http://www.edheads.org
http://www.wordle.net
Kyle the Cat
Meow Mix