Project Learning Tree

Today I attended a workshop called Project Learning Tree (PLT), a product of the American Forest Foundation. This is one of the premier environmental education programs in the world, using hands-on, interdisciplinary activities to help students think about environmental issues. The activities are great because they can be adapted for a wide array of grade levels (PK-8) and many incorporate several academic subjects such as language arts, social studies, math, science, art and music.

For our participation in the workshop, we received the amazing Project Learning Tree Pre-K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. This activity guide is full of 96 different activities, each with detailed, step-by-step information on conducting the activity in the classroom as well as grade level recommendations, subject areas, materials needed, background knowledge, time considerations, ideas for enrichment, literature connections, ideas for differentiating instruction and technology connections. The activities are organized into five overarching themes: diversity, interrelationships, systems, structure and scale, and patterns of change.

We actually got to participate in some of the activities ourselves during the workshop including Tree Cookies, To Be a Tree, Make Your Own Paper and A Peek at Packaging. Most of these activities did not require a lot of expensive or complicated materials, but were great in that they got students up and moving and thinking about trees and the environment in different ways. Many activities also allowed students to go outside for a very hands-on approach to learning, such was the case in The Closer You Look, The Fallen Log, and Birds and Worms.

I am looking forward to use Project Learning Tree's lesson plans and resources in the future! To find out how PLT correlates to your state standards, click here!

Homemade Paper from the Make your Own Paper activity
Paper Bag Tree Vest from the To Be a Tree activity

Using Interactive Notebooks in the Classroom

Have you ever heard of an interactive notebook? I hadn't until a couple months ago. But after finding out more about this tool and the different ways it can be used in the classroom, I think it is a great way to make learning fun and interactive for students, giving them ownership over the material and choice in demonstrating their knowledge.

An interactive notebook is designed to be used in your typical marble composition notebook. Generally, the right side of the notebook is for the content knowledge, whether class notes, a reading passage, vocabulary words, or diagrams. The left side of the page is for student interpretation and demonstration of that knowledge. This can take many forms - drawings, answering questions, making observations or predictions, written summaries... the possibilities are endless.

Interactive notebooks are used primarily for science and social studies but could be adapted for language arts, math, or other subjects. They are most commonly used in the upper elementary grades and require few materials (pencils and pens, colored pencils, glue sticks, scissors).

If you are interested in using an interactive notebook in your classroom, there are some great resources on the web to check out:
Interactive Student Notebooks Wiki
Sparks Fly: Interactive Notebook
Interactive Notebook Resources for Teachers
Teaching Social Studies: Interactive Notebooks
Science Notebooking
Note taking and Interactive Notebooks

Podcasting 101

Well, I successfully completed my first podcasting assignment. I used Apple's GarageBand software which overall I found very user-friendly. Since I don't have a Mac, I used the free download, Audacity, to record my audio on my PC and saved the files as mp3s. I found images that tied into my audio using Google Images and saved these files as well. Importing the media into Garageband was easy once I got the audio into Itunes and images into iPhoto. Garageband has its own "Jingles" and sound effects as well, making it possible to incorporate a variety of different types of audio and play them simultaneously.

The most tedious part of creating the podcast was arranging the images and voice tracks so that they flowed and were timed appropriately. I hit some bumps along the way in this process. One problem was that I saved my information to the desktop as I went. When my computer unexpectedly shutdown, I faced the realization that I had lost my entire podcast and has to start all over again. Luckily for me, I had saved my audio and images ahead of time so it was much easier to put it back together. Secondly, I had problems previewing my podcast as I went along and had to troubleshoot to find a solution to this problem. Luckily there are some great resources out there for Garageband support and troubleshooting.

The final product is one that, though far from perfect, I think is a good start as my first podcasting attempt. Check it out on Youtube - Oceans of the World podcast. I am open to suggestions for improvement so let me know what you think!

I can see how podcasts are great tools to use in the classroom or for homework assignments. They are short and engaging, giving students a different way to learn as opposed to the usual pencil and paper type assignments. I think with older students, creating podcasts would be an extremely valuable learning experience for students to show their understanding of a particular topic. I hope to use them in my teaching in the future and I know the more I practice creating them, the easier and less time consuming they will be!

Google Earth

I am amazed by the many capabilities of Google Earth. This is a great interdisciplinary tool that can be incorporated across the curriculum into a variety of subjects including math, social studies, science, and foreign language. Moreover, it is 100% free to download and use!

The Google Earth site includes great tutorials for getting started from the very basic to the more advanced. Not only is there Google Earth, but also Google Oceans and Google Sky! Through Google Earth's Gallery, you can search for tours created by others users on anything from world population density to a 3D tour of major league baseball stadiums.

Check out this Google Earth Blog for what's new with Google Earth, from the latest features to the many ways to utilize Google Earth in the classroom.