Assignment #5: Assignment #8 Part 3

Assignment #5: Assignment #8 Part 3: Part 3 Assignemt 8 was tricky for me because I had not done anything this like before and I had to spend a lot of time trying to figur...

Assignment #8 Part 3

Part 3
     Assignemt 8 was tricky for me because I had not done anything this like before and I had to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to do.  Now that I know what I am doing (mostly) I can create diagrams to help students with animal research, vocabulary, math terms, spelling words and patterns, forming and organizing writing ideas, etc.  I am not sure that my second graders could create these documents, but I know they would definately benefit from using them.  However, my students could use word clouds more easily.  I have been teaching them to use a thesaurus to find new words for every day words.  They could create word clouds for new vocabulary words.  I can't wait to try out these new tools once we are back at school.

Assignment #8 Part 2

2. Word Cloud

Assignment #8

1. Bubbl.us

I started thinking about how these diagrams will be very helpful with science, especially our animal research project.  Consequently, I created a diagram with spaces for the animals habitat, physical characteristics, offspring, food/drink, and other interesting facts.

Assignment #6

Part 1:  Differentiated Learning Assignment

There are many things that I already do in my classroom like:
-flexible grouping consistently used
-strong classroom management
-initial and on-going assessment
-varying expectations for students
-emphasize creative thinking
-provide a balance between teacher assigned and student selected tasks

Part 2:  Diverse Learning Assignment

I focused on the visual link because I have so many ESL students every year.  These students need to see images that relate to vocabulary, new concepts, new strategies to help them make connections.  I would like to add more clip art and photos to worksheets, conceptual maps, etc. to help my struggling students.  All research indicates that the stronger a students vocabulary, the higher his/her standard test scores.

Part 3:  Universal Design for Learning

I searched the different sites listed that matched the content areas of language arts, math, science and social studies.  The link I liked best was http://www.mathisfun.com/ because of the variety of activities it included for second grade students.  It includes activities for learning about money, measurement, number sense, algebra and mind puzzles.  It also includes many general math games and worksheets.  I liked the mind games for extra challenges for my higher students while the general math games would be great review for the rest of my students.

Part 4:  Text-to-Audio Conversion Assignment

This is a wonderful feature that has so many uses for the classroom.  I can record books for students to listen to and also translate the words in Spanish for my ESL students. Students can also be talk how to change text to audio so they can hear themselves reading.   I could also use this at conference time and record how students are doing in English and/or Spanish to help communicate a student's progress.

http://vozme.com/index.php?lang=en

Assignment #5

I found two great ideas. 
1. We are really increasing our informational text at Alpine and the link I found talked about the 3-2-1 strategy.  Students read informational text (like our Time for Kids) and they write down 3 things they discovered, 2 things they found interesting, and 1 question they still have to help them with comprehension. 
www.readthinkwrite.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/reading-informational-text-using-951.html

2. The secong great idea I found relates to Martin Luther King Jr. who we discuss in January.  This link helps kids relate to MLK Jr. as a hero and how they can identify with him.  I want my students to understand how MLK Jr. was a regular person who was able to make great things happen.
www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/martin-luther-king-identifying-257.html