Sunday, March 13, 2011

Watch the Amazing Butterfly Life Cycle


As a child, I remember learning about life cycles by actually taking care of a monarch butterfly in my classroom.  However, I realized not every student will get the same experience I did, depending on the environment the school is located, school budget, etc.  It's great for students to have hands on experience inside the classroom.  However, if it is not possible, showing videos like this one may be the next best thing.  Or, even if they do get the hands on experience, this may be something they could refer to later on.  I would most likely use this in my science curriculum for probably upper elementary grades.

Breaking News: Massive 8.9 Earthquake & Tsunami Hits Japan


I think it is important for students to keep up with current events and I think teachers should provide access to resources for students to be able to keep up with current events.  For example, having current newspapers, magazines, etc. inside the classroom.  One thing I could do in my blog is to post videos of current events that I think are important for students to know.  For example, this news coverage of the disaster that hit Japan couple days ago would give students a sense of what is going on in other parts of the world.  This video could be watched by students on their own time or we could watch videos of current events as a class and discuss how they feel about it after.  This kind of video would probably be geared toward higher grades because it may be difficult for younger students to understand and I would incorporate it into my Social Studies curriculum, or whenever I feel is necessary. 

Dr. Suess - Green Eggs and Ham


I tutor a first grader in one of my other classes and she has trouble reading even simple Dr. Seuss books.&nbsp; If I could, I would have showed this video to her after reading it together with her because I knew she would have understood it better.&nbsp; I chose <i>Green Eggs and Ham</i> because it was one of her favorites.&nbsp; I think showing a visual of stories, like this video, will give students who are having trouble a better understanding of it.&nbsp; I would definitely incorporate videos of books that we are reading inside the classroom to give students a visual understanding.