my blog

 

 1. The title of my first podcast is: Episode 31: Sequencing in the Primary Grades. It lasted for 16 minutes. The hosts were Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. This was an audio podcast in which the teacher from Texas, Lori Reed, Describes using a SMART board and projector to teach sequencing in reading. She begins with easy things first , such as days of the week and months of the year, then works up to more complicated things like sequencing a story. She uses slides with text and then an interactive activity. I chose this podcast because sequencing is an important part of the reading process and it gave me some very good ideas. There is also a PDF version for those who don't have SMART notebook.

 

 2. My next podcast  is called The Bobby Bucket Show - An Overview. The author is Bob Sprankle. This podcast lasted only about 2 minutes and is an audio podcast. It features the character Bobby Bucket and some other engaging characters. In the overview, the reading strategy of making predictions is the focus. It gives some good ideas to parents and teachers and would be interesting and engaging to students. I chose this podcast because predicting is a reading skill we talk about a lot in second grade. Anything to make it more interesting and engaging to my students is very welcome!

 

 3. The third podcast I picked is called The Dr. C and Elwood Show. The author is Dr. Sam Caron and this one was 6 minutes long. It was also an audio podcast. The guest on this show was Dr. Steve Richfield and he explained to the puppet Elwood that in the ADHD child  the thinking side and the reacting side of the brain usually work together just fine, but sometimes in children like this, the reacting side takes over and the child doesn't think before acting. He described his "talk to yourself message", which can help children think before they react. He also has a website that provides Parent Coaching Cards to help parents at home. I chose this podcast because I have a child in my class who is on medication for this very problem and it gave me some insight into how to deal with him. There are other podcasts in this series which sound helpful also.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.framingham.k12.ma.us/mccarthy/butterfly.htm       This link has lots of information and activities which are geared for second grade, which is what I teach. We study butterflies, especially the Monarch at the beginning of the year when the caterpillars can be found. There is information about metamorphosis, the 4 stages of a butterflies life, printouts and even a lesson plan! There would be more information and activities than I would probably need in just this one webquest.

http://warrensburg.k12.mo.us/webquest/monarchs/ This webquest is geared for first grade, but I think it would be appropriate for second grade also. The children have to find facts about the Monarch and also create a book about their findings. When they are done, they earn the title of "entomologist". I found this webquest to be something I think second graders would enjoy.

http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/fellows/Mass/webquest/ymindex.html This webquest is also geared for second grade. The children are put into groups of 4 and each person in the group has a certain role (lepodopterist, conservationist, horticulturist, and reporter). Together, they must convince their towns planning committee to preserve the Monarch's habitat. The terms and information they have to find are all things that we also learn about in our class. This seems like a rather complicated job, but With the information that they can find on the web, I think second grade could learn a valuable lesson from it.

http://www.milton.k12.vt.us/WebQuests/KChase/monarch.htm This webquest gives the children a fairly simple assignment. They are to find pictures of a butterfly egg, a caterpillar, a chrysalis, and a Monarch butterfly. They have to use the worksheet provided or materials from home or the classroom to show the stages of a butterfly. We learn about all of these things in our discussion of the Monarch so this webquest would also be helpful.

http://nb.wsd.wednet.edu/lmc/pathfinders/butterflies_pathfinder.htm This webquest  has tons of information about books (fiction and non - fiction),general information sites which tell about migration, metamorphosis, the life cycle, anatomy, habitat, and the list goes on. Again, we learn about many of these things in our classroom and I would probably have to pick the things I would most like to focus on because there is so much information!