News & Current Events Sites for Kids

DOGO News - Kids news articles!  via kwout

Concise high-interest informational articles are not only excellent to use in building students' non-fiction reading comprehension strategies, but also as models of expository writing.  They help students to connect with their local, state, national and global communities and can be useful for classroom inquiry & research too.

Here are a few great sources:

• DOGO News: is a safe friendly environment for young kids to stay informed about current events. 'Dogo' means small or young in Swahili. Articles are short and focused with interactive videos and an integrated dictionary. (Sample  Article: If the World Were a Village of 100 People...)

• Wonderopolis offers terrific inquiry-based models of this genre. Browse 'wonder' categories along the right-hand side of each page or explore their awesome archive of past wonders.  Notice the structure that kids could adapt and draw upon to inspire both their research and writing organization. Questions grab the reader's attention and are always followed by an explanation and some how-to advice. 'Words to know and use' help to build understanding and increase vocabulary. (Sample  Article: Why Do Airplanes Leave Tracks in the Sky?)
• KidsPost is a kid-friendly extension of the Washington Post. (Sample  Article: Ever Wonder...How Animals Clean Themselves?)

• Tween Tribune is updated daily with articles on high-interest topics for upper elementary and middle schoolers. All comments are screened in this interactive community. (Sample  Article: Do we need Cursive Handwriting anymore?)

• A Smart Exchange keyword search for expository writing is another great source. There are many notebook files to download & adapt that will build student's conceptual understanding.

• Find more resources on the ROE Tech. Toolbox and ROE Library Magazines pages. Also, do a keyword search of the Searchasaurus database. Many articles from kid's magazines are available in both PDF and HTML formats.

Resources for Teachers: 

> 25 Great Ideas for Teaching Current Events
> 10 Ways to Use Current Events in the Classroom (Big Universe)
> Article of Week with Middle Schoolers (adaptable for elementary students)

September 17, 2011: Constitution Day

Constitution Day and Freedom Week are here! Constitution Day commemorates the signing of the September 17, 1787 signing of the United States Constitution. The purpose of Freedom Week is to educate students about the sacrifices made for freedom in the founding of our country and the values on which it was founded. There are many excellent online resources to support learning about this document. Here are just a few:

Try SMART Exchange Search: Constitution  or...

• BrainPop: Constitution
• Constitution Day Wiki
• Congress for Kids: Constitution
• Infographic: 10 Minute Guide to the Constitution
• Road Map to the Constitution
• Scholastic Constitution Resources
• School House Rock Preamble (linked at top)
• White House Kids: Constitution

Digital Communicators: Wednesday Morning Elective Class

We will be creating and publishing digital images, stories and informational writing across the year using a variety of technology tools.  Our individual and collaborative products will be published online in an anthology format full of informative articles, creative images, and fiction writing. We will use tools such as Storybird, Zooburst, and and Wikispaces, to name just a few. Student investigators will also interview, survey, and take photographs to gather facts about happenings around our school, and publish articles on our class site to share with our school community. We will also focus on meeting project deadlines, giving/receiving feedback on our work, choosing graphics for message impact, and digital citizenship.

ROE Technology Toolbox & Grade Level Websites

I'd like to introduce the ROE Technology Toolbox, a new site that organizes Web 2.0 creation tools for students. These tools are excellent options for students with teachers to build global connections, create presentations, collaborate within and among classrooms, record voice and sound, make charts and graphs, and edit images. While the year progresses, more tools will be added as we learn about them. Look for links to student projects too. New Technology Applications TEKS will be officially adopted in 2012-2013 so we are beginning to phase them in this year. The last revision took place in 1998!

Grade-level websites are in development over the course of the upcoming school year too, and they can also be accessed on the homepage of the Tech. Toolbox site. Each grade level is collaboratively developing new pages with updated learning resources for each of their IBPYP planners and including specific subject area resources also. Over the course of the upcoming school year, all of these sites will evolve to provide great learning opportunities for our students across the curriculum.

Back to School Overview

Creating Virtual Pinboards with Pinterest

Pinterest can be a great teacher tool for creating virtual pinboards of all the inspiring images and ideas we encounter online for later use in our work. Visual bookmarks are 'pinned' while at the same time citing back directly to the source. Here are some instructions on how the pinning process works.

You can add your own notes and descriptions, as well as tags that will define and organize your boards for you. What a great way to expand your PLN while organizing, sharing, and discovering great professional ideas! For now it is by-invite only. Email me for an invite, or sign up directly with Pinterest, and you will receive one a short time later. My boards are viewable here. I have collected quite a few Reading Strategy ideas and kid-friendly Infographics so far.

Summer Learning Notes

Ideas and resources from my summer learning:

Conferences and Online Learning
* TIBS: Internationalism in IBPYP @ Rice U.

* SimpleK12 online webinars 

* TCEA Summer Conference:Technology Learning in Elementary Classroom
* Edutopia Summer Boot Camp

Resources

• Fall 2011 Lunch and Learn Webinars via TCEA

• TCEA Recommended iPad Apps (cross-curricular)

• Edtech2020  and the 'New Normal' (Session Resources)

• Gail Lovely: Early Reading and Technology Resources, slides and Student Interactives

• EDU Teacher: reference and resources for Ed. Tech.

• Happy Birthday T.A. TEKS via Fried Technology (Revisions to TX Technology Applications with project examples from bie.org)

• iClassroom (T. Harkey--mobile learning considerations)

• ICT Magic Show (Web 2.0 tools in pageflip format)

New Tools

Wix: flash-driven website builder

Popplet: interactive mindmaps and concept-mapping

Edistorm: share + organize ideas via online sticky notes

Juxio: interactive posters

Sliderocket: sleek slide presentations

Vocaroo: easy audio recorder

Wetoku: quick video interviewing tool

Screenr: screencasting

Class Blogmeister (integrated classroom + student blogs)

Google: What do you love? Search

Many more great free webinars are coming up soon sponsored by Simple K12--see full list HERE. On-demand webinars are accessible also. 

(backchannel notes)