Beyond Just Language Arts: Science and Math Tools for ALL Educators

Recursive Daisy (by gadl)

While my posts tend to be about literacy and reading technologies, I feel like it is time to mix it up a bit. After all, most literacy teachers I work with often teach reading within science and math themed units of inquiry and many math and science teachers I meet find themselves teaching basic literacy and language skills as well.

So, today’s post is devoted to useful math and science resources for educators of all types! Take a look at the links below and prepare to be dazzled!

• GLOBE Teacher Resources: “GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program. GLOBE’s … supports students, teachers and scientists to collaborate on inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system working in close partnership with NASA and NSF Earth System Science Projects.” For a sneak peak at what GLOBE has to offer, click here for a bird migration monitoring activity and here for an activity using GPS!
• Skoool: Select your country and have at it with the wealth of science and math simulations on Skoool. I am rather fond of the Skoool Sri Lanka Math, Chemistry, Physics and Biology English-language resources. I work with a number of Arabic speaking teachers that are huge fans of the Skoool Yemen Arabic-language science resources. For a taste of Skoool, check out this angle measuring simulation.
• MSP2 Math and Science Pathways: I recently spoke with the folks at MSP2 and was blown away by the wealth of resources here. Make sure to take a look at the Math Resource Guides and the Science Resource Guides. While on the call I learned about Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears–an online magazine integrating science, literacy, and the polar regions. Woohoo! Anything about the cold sounds wonderful to me (she says from 110 degree plus Dubai)!

If you know of other great resources that integrate math, science and literacy, please share them in the comments section of this post!

Enjoy exploring!

Anna

P.S. Looking for the perfect math and science books for your literacy, math or science classroom? Check out these thematic booklists from TeachingBooks.net. (Hint: Make sure to use the grade and curricula area search toggles at the bottom of the page to refine your selection!)

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Rap, Hip Hop, Vocabulary, History and More… Word up!

Ever since I met the two founders of Flocabulary (Blake and Alex) in 2007, I’ve been a huge fan of the guys, their company and their mission.

Flocabulary helps teachers use hip hop and rap music to teach their students ELA, social studies. math and science. The Flocabulary site states:

The idea for Flocabulary first came to founder/lyricist Blake Harrison in high school. A good student who still struggled to memorize facts for tests, he wondered why it was so easy to remember lines to his favorite rap songs but so difficult to memorize academic information. Blake realized that if a rapper released an album that defined SAT vocab words, students would have a fun and effective way to study for the SAT…

Curious? Take a look at the video above and make sure to visit Flocabulary’s website after!

Word Up!

Anna

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Integrating Themes from Science, Social Studies and More into your ELA Block

While exploring the Teaching Matters Top-Ten Resources page, I learned about Carol Hurst’s Children’s Literature site. My favorite part of the site is a section titled, Curriculum Areas. Carol writes, “The curriculum areas listed here each have one or more pages on this site with information such as: related children’s books, activities, related professional books and links to related sites on the internet.” The following is a sampling of some of the curriculum areas she features:

1) Appalachia

2) Flight and Planes

3) Fools and Tricksters

Carol’s list is super extensive! Whether you’re interested in doing a unit on quilts or buildings, Carol’s got a book and activity recommendation that is sure to make your students excited to read and explore!

Anna