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Project Tips

1/13/2017

As many of you know we love making lesson plans that are engaging and project-based. We have made hundreds of projects, and every project we have designed we have used in our classroom. Over time it’s clear to see what is successful with our students, and what needs some work.

One huge area educators struggle with is making lessons or projects that are able to reach all level of learners. There is one technique that we have started implementing in our lesson plans that have been extremely successful in differentiated learning. The trick is with our projects we give step by step instructions, along with pictures, and include a video tutorial too. This may seem like a lot of work at first but it truly allows of levels of learners to succeed. As a teacher we are providing visual, verbal, and aural learning styles. After using this technique for a few years now we have seen a very high success rate in our classroom, and this has allowed our time spent with students helping assist them on the quality of their work vs. being repetitive on explaining expectations and instruction.

Project Example

This is a very basic project that I students complete but it is a great example of how to setup your projects.

Tips:

Take a previous lesson plan or make a new one and write out the instructions.
Make a table with 2 columns on Word and insert each set of instructions in a box.
While you are writing these instructions go do these steps yourself and take screen shots using the snipping tool ( windows) or command + shift + 4 (Mac).
Insert the picture explaining that step to the right of the instructions on the table.
Continue those steps till the instructions are complete.
Go through and read your instructions and pictures and proof read it to make sure all steps are correct.
Be sure to include the project description, and how to turn in the assignment. Students can refer back to the document if they have any questions.

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Coding For All Ages

1/4/2017

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We were recently featured on blog.clastag.com sharing information about must have apps and website for elementary teachers. We shared the following information about two great coding websites that are great for all ages.

"Computer Science isn’t a required class in all schools but the skills that students can attain from this subject are extremely beneficial for students of all ages. The trick is to start teaching students how to code and be innovative at a young age, some say it’s similar to learning a new language. There are two websites that require no prep for teachers that are perfect for K-12 students to learn about coding. The first website is scratch.mit.edu: This site is a free program where you can create interactive stories, games, music, and art with step by step tutorials for students. This website is created to making programming simpler. The other website is code.org. It is a free non-profit organization that has made coding simple to learn for all ages. It has wonderful lessons for students that can be taught with a computer, or unplugged. It comes with full lesson plans for teachers and even has students learn coding with fun games such as angry birds, frozen movie, star wars, and so much more! We have personally used these websites in our classrooms and our students loved them!"

To check out the full article go to http://blog.classtag.com/12-must-have-elementary-school-apps/

If you are interested in a full unit plan for scratch.mit,edu then click on the link below.

Scratch Unit

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