Having fun with TED-Ed and Video Flips

Hello, Students!

 

Welcome to the flipped classroom in its best format! I am a bit partial to TED, and I believe this is transformative. This takes TED and brings it to you, the students, in the most meaningful way possible. Here’s our first lesson: “The Power of Simple Words”:  http://ed.ted.com/on/J9rqmrsY. Be sure to follow each step. I look forward to our discussion and learning tomorrow.

Teen Writers Group – Frisco Public Library

Originally posted 4.24.12

Reminder:

The FPL Teen Writers Group is meeting this Saturday, April 28th at 3pm in the Frisco Public Library Teen Room. We’ll meet award-winning short story author Glen Pourcieu. We’ll talk the craft of writing and the art of the short story. This will the last FPL Teen Writers Group meeting until June! Don’t miss out!

Cool Tool

“PicMonkey is a wonderful photo editing tool that is fun, full-featured, and easy to use. Picking up where tools that have disappeared left off (Picnik) this one allows users to just get to work without signing up or entering an Email. There are lots of filters, effects, and tools to enhance a photo from a number of galleries online or using an uploaded image. PicMonkey is truly a breath of fresh air with a clean interface that begs for a user to unleash their imagination. PicMonkey can be used for the obvious art purposes, but can also be woven into many other areas of the curriculum – editing a map, working with manipulatives for math, and much more.” (http://www.edutecher.net/links.php?id=1519)

http://www.picmonkey.com/

 

Peace Like A River and Cowboy Poetry

In celebration of poetry month and to connect with Swede’s epic cowboy poem, here’s a link to cowboy poetry:  http://www.cowboypoetry.com/.

Cowboy Poetry Week is celebrated each year during April, National Poetry Month in the United States and Canada.

In 2012, Cowboy Poetry Week—the eleventh annual—was celebrated April 15-21, 2012. The 2013 celebration takes place April 21-27, 2013.

http://www.cowboypoetry.com/week.htm.

 

 

Peace Like A River – Musical Connections

The title of the novel is taken from the hymn: “It Is Well With My Soul”

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford

 

Mario Armstrong’s Apps to keep kids learning over the summer

http://mxp.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/23/mario-armstrongs-apps-to-keep-kids-learning-over-the-summer/?iref=obnetwork

Posted: 06:51 AM ET

1. KHANAPP:
– about 150,000 videos are watched everyday by students to help them with a variety of subjects
– covers K-12 math, science topics such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and even reaches into the humanities with playlists on finance and history.
– every single problem can be broken down, step-by-step, with one click. If you need more help, you can always watch a related video.
– get badges as rewards, some students spend hour after hour watching physics videos to earn Khan Academy badges.

2. Brainpop:
– creates animated, curriculum-based content
– include movies, quizzes, experiments, timelines, activity pages for hundreds of topics
– content is aligned to academic standards

3. PBS’s Word World – awesome word game for young kids
– targeted to 3-7-year-olds
– based off the highly successful PBS show Word World
– kids try to spell words and then squeeze them to reveal the shape of the word

A good site to find apps and resources is: eduTeacher.net

Celebrate Student Wittiness

Random joke question while we are studying The Hound of the Baskervilles:

Student Arjun: Mrs. Caskey, “Who is the funniest character in The Hound of the Baskervilles?”

“Uuh….I have no idea. Who is it?” – (Afraid to answer thinking this is a trick question J)

Student Arjun: “Mr. Frankland of Lafter Hall”

 

Student B: “Oh, and that’s ironic because he’s the angry old man.”

 

Students C-Z: Congratulating the wittiness of Students A and B.