SRI&ETTC

A Reggio-inspired tinker box is a learning tool inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to education. This approach emphasizes the importance of hands-on, experiential learning and encourages children to explore, tinker, and discover for themselves. A Reggio-inspired tinker box is filled with various materials and tools that children can use to explore and create. The box's contents might include craft supplies, beads, buttons, scissors, paper, tape, and more. The purpose of the tinker box is to allow children to use their creativity and problem-solving skills to create and explore on their own. It is a way to encourage open-ended, imaginative play and promote learning through hands-on exploration and discovery. In addition, some Tinker boxes are tech-enhanced or STEM educational kits that contain materials and instructions for children to engage in hands-on, creative problem-solving activities. They are designed to encourage children to explore and experiment with different materia...

Virtual field trips are an exciting way for middle school students to experience new places and concepts without ever leaving the classroom. Using technology, students can visit locations and learn about subjects in a interactive and engaging way. One great example of a virtual field trip is the American Museum of Natural History's Hall of North American Mammals (Grades 3-5) You can do a virtual hall tour with a student worksheet that is designed to span about one class period, or you can assign additional activities to extend the exploration over two or more class periods. Their tour allows students to explore habitat dioramas to learn how animals must be adapted to an environment in order to survive in it. Another excellent virtual field trip is the "Virtual Youth Docent Tours" tour offered by the National Air and Space Museum. Each interactive Virtual Youth Docent Tour presentation for 3rd - 5th grades lasts approximately 45 minutes and will be hosted on Zoom. Links: A...

STEM challenges are important in the classroom because they help students develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity skills. These skills are essential for success in the 21st century and will serve students well throughout their lives. One way to make STEM challenges even more fun and engaging is to pair them with a holiday such as Valentine's Day. This can help shake off the winter doldrums and add an element of fun and excitement to the activity. For example, you might have students design and build a structure using candy hearts or create Valentine's Day-themed robots using recycled materials. There are many ways to incorporate STEM challenges into the classroom, and they can be tailored to fit the interests and abilities of your students. Whether you're using them to teach specific concepts or just looking for a fun and engaging activity, STEM challenges are a great way to get kids excited about learning. Plus, they're a lot of fun! So don't be...

Choice boards are a great tool for middle school teachers to use in their classrooms. They allow students to have a say in their learning and can be used in a variety of subjects and settings. What is a choice board? A choice board is a visual representation of a set of options that students can choose from to complete a task or activity. It can be used in place of a traditional worksheet or assignment, giving students the opportunity to select their own learning path. Choice boards can be created in a variety of formats, including physical boards with cut-out choices, or digital versions using tools like Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint. Benefits of using choice boards in middle school Choice boards can be especially beneficial for middle school students, as they are at a stage where they are developing their own interests and preferences. Allowing them to choose their own learning activities can increase motivation and engagement. Choice boards can also support differentiation i...

On World Water Day, it is essential to recognize young people's role in making a positive difference. Students are becoming more aware of their own water footprint and what they need for sustainability; we should empower them with knowledge about how much effort goes into providing clean drinking water around the world each day and ways they could help make an impact! These Third-grade students created their own PSA for the Global Goals Project on Goal Six, "Clean Water and Sanitation." You can watch their video at this link.  These students operate on the fundamental principle that all people have access to clean water and proper sanitation regardless of economic status or location. While working on this project, they discovered that the only way we can achieve this goal is by working together as one human family, and achieving the sustainable management of fresh drinking-water supplies requires collaboration at both the domestic level (between families) but also interna...

In honor of World Wildlife Day, we would like to share some resources with educators on how to help students learn about and appreciate wildlife. The UN celebrates World Wildlife Day on March 3, marking the day they signed an important Convention to protect endangered species. The theme for 2022 is 'Recovering key species of flora and fauna in our ecosystem. The goal? To raise awareness about critically endangered animals, with an aim at generating workable solutions that will conserve them.' There are many ways for people of all ages to get involved in helping protect wildlife and their habitats. In observance of World Wildlife Day, be sure to explore all the resources available, the UN has an extensive list of resources for celebrating World Wildlife Day with your students. So today, let's all take some time to appreciate the amazing creatures that call our planet home. By immersing students in the beauty of the plant and animal kingdoms, educators can help inspire a life...

Virtual field trips have evolved into an innovative way to teach. They provide a different perspective, meaning teachers can now explore anything they want while providing their students with valuable knowledge. They offer a different perspective, which means teachers can teach about anything in any situation while providing their students with useful and practical content understanding. Imagine if, instead of showing videos and primary source examples from other countries, teachers were to take their students on tours in person? It's more exciting as students could be sitting in classrooms anywhere while learning through engaging lectures or presentations by experts who have traveled extensively through other countries! If you haven't yet dipped your virtual hiking boots into a Scottish stream, try this one on for size; hike the Old Man of Storr .

Heritage Documentation Programs offers a virtual field trip takes you through the experience of  Ellis Island in a 360-degree tour.  This tour is excellent for students as they learn about the history of the arrivals and see where many of our families came through when making their way to America from other countries. Each screen offers information and history on each page, with primary source images and files from immigrants, as well as videos to watch and mesh models of architectural features to examine. We suggest you explore the toolbar, which offers thumbnail views and site fly-throughs of the entire complex. No matter where you click, there is historical information on the right-hand side.  When you are done with one "slide" you click "next" and it brings you to more information and media including data about the immigrants. To frame the conversation with students, try the five-part video series on this page that includes some essential questions to dri...

Mathematical manipulatives such as Algebra tiles allow students to practice algebraic thinking.  These tiles have been proven to provide concrete models that can help students develop concepts related to integers, algebraic expressions, equations, and polynomials.  For students new to solving equations, solving for x is abstract. In elementary school, we use number lines to understand integers. Similarly, algebra tiles make solving equations, combining like terms, or factoring polynomials a visual and more kinesthetic process. This virtual option from @DidaxEducation   allows you to use Algebra tiles regardless of where the student may be, provided they have access to the internet. Some teachers actually prefer the virtual tiles to having plastic pieces or cardstock bits that need to be managed, organized, and cleaned after each use. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics  @NCTM also has a virtual option with a little more explanation on how to use them an...

Challenge your students to draw isometric hearts for a Valentine's themed STEAM activity. We also love these origami hearts folded in three different ways from Emma at Gathering Beauty.  Please visit her site for the templates and directions.    For the Littles, we have these Valentine's cards with yarn and cardboard shared by @DarcyGrimesNC and if you really want to get making, dig out the wood, hammer, and nails, and some threads to create these beautiful string art woodblocks. In West Orange, @BevTindall had a "Hearts and Crafts," idea that involved paper quilling. There are so many STEAM and STEM-based choices for us to use, depending on what we have on hand in our MakerSpaces.  It isn't "Heart" to get started... and we hope you share your 2022 ideas with us! 

"How do we make Energy from Air? Cesar, Alejandro, Maynor explored that topic and the Sustainable Development Goal #7 (Affordable and Clean Energy). @AshleyShunk393 was one of many teachers who took their science fairs online! The main goal of a virtual science fair is to give students a way to showcase and share their science projects in an approach that adds more audience to the experience and extends the communication about their work. Take a moment and learn how to host a Virtual Science Fair in Wakelet. Students do not need accounts, you can create your own collection and invite students to be contributors. They can embed their own text and screen recorded videos from Flipgrid and links to their work.  @techieteacherZA   from   Steyn City School has a wonderful explanation of how they managed the process  in 2020, but you can look at some later efforts by searching Science Fair 2021 in the top search bar of Wakelet, to find more recent samples. 

Using 360 Cities, we can take a virtual field trip to the  Coral Reef in Panglao, Philippines . Thanks to the 4K video we can zoom in to catch a closer look, look up to see the sun shining down on the ocean water, and look down to see the reef below.  Created by Alexey Kormylyev, t here are multiple view options in the immersive video, which allow students to explore the reef in different ways.  Virtual field trips are a fantastic way to show students in the classroom different places they would never have a chance to visit. Keep them engaged and excited in class when they see the variety of areas they can visit.

International Children’s Digital Library , provides free books in the public domain for children that can be read online with the ICDL Reader.  The focus of this site is on forming a global community and exhibiting tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages, and ideas. Easy for students to use, they click on the book list, and a huge list of books are available with descriptions. Books are sorted by language, color, shape, format, genre character, and true vs. make-believe. Hopefully, we will see accessibility features available in the future! 

National Geographic, has released an innovative educational tool that allows classrooms to connect with real-life explorers, scientists, researchers, and storytellers from all over the globe. This tool is called “Explorer Classroom”. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/tickets/explorer-classroom/ This interactive program is completely free!  Explorer Classroom includes hosted events for ages 4-8 on Mondays at 11am, and events for ages 9-14 on Thursdays at 10am & 2pm. During these events, students can interact live with the hosts, asking questions and more.  Past event recordings are open and free to the public. Join ocean explorers, Asha de Vos and Erin Spencer aboard the OceanXplorer–the most advanced ocean exploration vessel ever built. 

If your school does not have Google Apps for education, Ethermap allows your students to participate in creating shared maps just by sharing a link! You can even password protect your maps to keep them private for your own classroom. Just enter the website, create a name for your map and start dropping markers, It is seriously easy. Teachers can create custom maps for the classroom based on historical data, and even add annotations and hyperlinks.

What engagement strategies do you use? Watch the premiere of the spotlight, a short film series that illuminates the work that teachers do to engage their students. Featured in this episode is Dustin Ecker, a 4th-grade teacher at Grassy Creek Elementary School in Indianapolis, IN. This series will shine a spotlight on nominated teachers that others felt exemplified student engagement in the classroom.

Add accessibility by using the alternative text feature in Google Slides. If you have students using a screen-reader, you will love this feature.

Middle-school teacher Brett Slezak used the Hummingbird in his PE/Health class to model joints with robotics!