Sunday, May 25, 2014

Engaging History Lessons



If you teach history you are intimately familiar with the look 80% of your kids give when you even mention the word “history”. Most of the kids glass over and groan “I hate history. It’s so BORING”. Sound familiar? If not, you either come to work in full theatrical costume every day or I’m doing something terribly horribly wrong.


I happen to develop my love for history very late in life. So, I appreciate what it feels like to be one of those glassy-eyed students who would have rather given myself 1000 paper cuts than sit for an hour in history class. Gag! Especially since history seemed to be so disconnected from my own world.

Since I regret deeply developing my love so late in life, I want to help my World History students appreciate history while they are young. To that end, I believe student engagement really helps to raise the level of interest and ultimately achievement. A colleague of mine turned me on to some wonderful YouTube resources which have transformed my student’s interest.
The first resource is from History Teacher’s Channel on YouTube. If your kids are music lovers, they will adore these videos. Amy Burval is the actress and lyricist who writes and performs in all of the videos which parody popular songs with a history twist. They have 52 videos on topics ranging from early world history, but seem to focus on the late middle ages and Renaissance period of Europe. They have a few key outside topics, like Mansa Musa and Chinese Dynasties. Below are a couple of my student’s favorites.

William the Conqueror (by HistoryTeachers)


Charlemagne (by HistoryTeachers)

 
The other site that I love is Horrible Histories. It was a series by BBC and is available for purchase though Amazon and Scholastic. Since the original aired in UK which is DVD region 2, pay attention to the region code to make sure that the videos you purchase are in your region. For the US, you will want Region 1.

Several clips are available on Horrible Histories YouTube. Unfortunately the BBC1 YouTube link has only a limited selection compared to what the rest of the site offers. It’s worth a few minutes just to search the site and find independently posted clips. I have included one of my favorites below. A good flatulence joke goes a long way in Middle School.

Roman Toilets (by Horrible Histories)

Now, having said all of that, if your district is anything like mine, YouTube is banned on district servers. I have a workaround that may help. My friend I mentioned converts that YouTube videos to MP4’s and saves them on a flash. She uses shareware to make the conversions. But there is also a simple way I have found that doesn’t involve downloading software. I have included a link for a how-to video that will give you some idea on how to DIY.

If you have other resources that you think would be share-worthy, don't hesitate to let us know!

Friday, May 23, 2014

Logos and Covers

Hi All,

So, I've decided that I need your feedback. I am working to customize my blog design and am thinking of migrating my website here. This is a good time to think about updating my logo. I was wonder if you found it eye catching and recognizable or if you think it needs a facelift.

My Logo

Also, I have refreshed the look of my Jamestown cover and am wondering if you all think I should go back and refresh the cover of lessons 1-6. With the new cover, essentially I can change the background and photos to have it appear more unique for each product, but still have an overall universally connected feel.

Old Cover

NEW COVER

Let me know your thoughts and have a great LONG weekend!

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Last Days Count Down

Trying to hang in there those last few weeks after testing can challenge even the most seasoned teachers. Once testing is done teachers and students alike are quite frankly over it. Finding activities that still hit curriculum and feel fresh to the students is challenging.  I have found a few ideas lessons that I think might fit the bill. And the best bit is that they are FREE!!!

From Lovin Lit, students will read all 4 witness accounts and become newspaper reporters. They will have to weed through the extra information to find the most important and relevant facts that should be included. Then, they'll write an informative newspaper article!

From Runde's Room 3 different assignments for student-created commercials.


And finally, from Tracee Orman Use Katy Perry's popular song "Firework" to teach figurative language, sound devices, and other poetry terms.


I hope that you find these activities fun and that they help you and your students through those last few days before summer!

Have a great week!
Cori

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Tips From Vet Bloggers

I have started following some wonderful blogs from other TpT sellers and am ever so thankful that I did. I get the best advice and wonderful ideas from them. Most recently I was checking out Jennifer Smith-Sloane's site at 4MulaFun and she posted some wonderful ideas about how solve the problem of using Interactive Notebooks with kiddos who are absent.

Her tip was that she creates a crate with her worksheets and posts snap shots of her pages on her classroom blog. What a great idea! Not only is using the crate a benefit, but the idea of a classroom blog is wonderful too. I felt like I got a two-for in reading her post.


The other wonderful tip I got this week by following blogs was from Erin at Lovin Lit. She does a Five for Friday where she post freebies for the week. This summer SYNC YA is offering free weekly audio book downloads. I am a big fan of Audible, but hadn't heard of SYNC YA before. The titles that are FREE this week are:

 This was very exciting to me and I am a fan of both Colfer and Wells. So, I signed up and requested notification of future FREE titles. I will also be adding my 13 year old to the list as well.

Happy Thursday!
Cori

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Fantasy Literature

So, I'm back in college again starting Wednesday and will be spending my summer exploring the depths of fantasy literature for children and later digging into mythology. These are two topics I adore and am looking forward to dawning my fairy dust encrusted diadem and wizards wand with dragon claw core as I venture into my quest. I can hardly wait.

I am wondering how much fantasy literature you use in you classroom, particularly in the middle and secondary venues. With the push in Common Core to squeeze out literature in favor of informational reading, I have my reservations about how much time will actually be spent on using the genre in the real world classroom.

I see fantasy literature (particularly sci-fi) just as relevant in the upper grades as it is in elementary (and I won't blah-blah-blah you with why).  And want to ensure that this isn't lost in our classroom in favor of the recent educational climate shift. How do you plan to keep it alive in your classroom? What titles do you use? How do you manage to work around the Common Core restrictions?  What feedback have you had from parents and admin?

As I delve deeper into my semester I am sure I will have LOTS more to share and ideas on ways to embed the genre into your curriculum. Chime in and let me know your thoughts.

Monday, May 12, 2014

I Still Appreciate You!

Teacher appreciation week seems to have come and gone - but I still appreciate you. Only another teacher knows just how hard you work all year. And with only just over a month left of school I thought that I would let you know how appreciated you are by hosting a sale in my store. My entire store will be 20% off from now until Thursday!!!!

So come visit and stock up for the end of the year or on something new for next fall!

Easy Lit Units & MORE!

Saturday, May 3, 2014

I'm Back From Outer Space!

It's been awhile and I had some recent technical hiccups, but thanks to my IT guy (aka my wonderful husband), I think it is all resolved now.  Having said that, thought you would like to know that I recently added two wonderful products to my store.

The first is Lesson 6 in my Jamestown Unit. It is a DBQ that focuses on primary source documents addressing how colonists fared the first year.

The second I have been working on for over two years. I am truly excited about it. If you ever needed fresh ideas and activities for your novel or literature unit, then consider Any Novel Unit! It is over 100 pages of ideas for you to use with absolutely ANY novel in your classroom. I use many of these activities all year.

And in appreciation of all you wonderful teachers out there I want you to know that I will be having a sale on 5/6 - 5/7.  Everything in my store will be 20% off!  So, be sure to take advantage of the savings. Find something that has been on your wishlist or stock up for next year.  This is a not to be missed event!

And one final thought - be sure to follow my store. I have several products that will be launched over the next couple of months and followers will receive exclusive notification of their arrival and promotional pricing!

Happy Weekend!  Keep Calm and Teach On!