Coding for Kids Lesson Plan

    One of my favourite units when I was a student was the grade six sky science unit. Now that unit is one of my favourite ones to teach. For today's blog post I created a lesson plan that combines problem-solving through coding on the website Scratch and exploring the implications of gravity in space. You can take a look at my lesson plan here. 

"What happens when you burp in space?" lesson plan

    While creating this lesson plan, I thought this lesson plan would be most ideal to hook students into the sky science unit. The sky science unit has no outcomes related to gravity; however, students can take their prior knowledge from the air and aerodynamics unit and integrate it into the sky science unit through this lesson. I also think that it would be interesting to use this lesson plan in a classroom that is teaching students about their bodily functions. We all know that our students love to laugh when another students release their gas, so this lesson could introduce normalizing our bodily functions in a fun way. If you have any other ideas on how you would utilize this lesson plan, please leave them in the comments below!

Connecting With Nature Lesson Plan

    Two of my favourite things are spending time outside and technology integration in the classroom, so why not combine both of them into one lesson? Linked here is a lesson plan I have designed with grade one students who are exploring their senses in mind. In this lesson students will be going outside to learn how they can use their senses in nature. Additionally, students will be using their iPads to document themselves using their senses and learning how to use the airdrop feature on their iPads as a technique to eject media. I enjoyed creating this lesson as it allowed students to take their learning outside the classroom, while also allowing them to build their foundational knowledge on technology use. 

Connecting with Nature Integrated Lesson Plan 

    Although I specifically used this lesson to have grade one students explore their senses, I believe the nature and technological integration in this lesson can be used across the curriculum. One way I would like to alter this lesson plan in the future is taking my students on a field experience rooted deeply within nature, such as taking students to Ann and Sandy Cross here in Calgary. Although in the science curriculum you can find many integrations into nature, I believe it would be engaging for students take photos and videos of things in nature that they found interesting. Overall, I really enjoyed creating this lesson and I look forward to integrating it into my future practice. 

Disneyland Virtual Tour

 

Disneyland Virtual Tour

    For the first time ever last year I got to visit Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Disneyland has easily become one of my favourite places in the world, so naturally when I had to create a virtual tour for my emerging technologies class I would do one for Disneyland. Until I created this tour, I never saw the implications that Disneyland could have in the classroom, but now my ideas are flourishing. In this virtual tour I showcased three of the rides in Disneyland that I adore, and some interest points in those rides that I believe could be used in the classroom. You can click here to go to the virtual tour that I created. 

    I personally believe that the opportunities to implement Disneyland in the classroom are endless; however, I want to discuss three big ideas that I am interested into implementing into my own classroom one day using my virtual tour.

1. Create your own "It's a Small World Wall" 

The wall at the entrance of It's a Small World is stunning, but also features many patterns and geometric aspects. In my tour I feature the clock that was made to look like a face using different geometric shapes. However, when you encourage students to build their own It's a Small World Wall students are gaining experience with geometry, patterns, building, and potentially even colour. This can be linked to many curricular outcomes across all grades, especially in math and the visual arts.

2. Explore the rockets on Astro Orbiter 

In my virtual tour I showcased the rockets you ride in while riding Astro Orbiter. These rockets of course have many differences from real rockets, but do have some similarities. I think it would be particularly meaningful to students to explore these similarities and differences during the grade six sky science unit; however, they are many other curricular connections you could make to this. Additionally, I think it would be interesting to dig further into the imagineer's design of the ride Astro Orbiter, and how they came to develop the design of the rockets. 

3. Analyze a POV Scene from Nemo's Submarine Voyage 

In my virtual tour I picked one point of view shot for Nemo's submarine voyage as a point of interest; however, you can see all the ride in it entirety in many YouTube videos. I have linked one here. While creating this point of interest I thought it would be interesting to have grade one students, or any students who are exploring animals to analyze an animal POV scene from the ride. This could bring up many interesting, and important conversations such as if it is okay to take animals from their home in the ocean. 

    These are just a few of the ideas I have for integrating Disneyland, and my virtual tour of Disneyland into the classroom. I personally believe any virtual tour could be used similarly by picking out relevant points of the tour and finding ways you could integrate it into the curriculum. To me, virtual tours are like field trips, but you have the freedom to travel anywhere in the world to allow for more meaningful connections for your students. Therefore, I believe virtual tours should be integrated wherever relevant to allow students to make the most meaningful connections. If you have any suggestions on some of your personal favourite virtual tours I would love to hear them in the comments below! 

Sign Me ABC's App Integration

     For my emerging technologies course, two of my fellow teachers candidates and I created a lesson plan using the Sign Me ABCs app. The Sign Me ABCs app is an educational app that teaches its users how to sign the alphabet, some animals, and some songs. Our lesson had an emphasis on students learning the sign for one of their favourite animals.

    To download the app from the app store, click here. 

    To download the app from the Google Play Store, click here. 

Link to Sign Me ABCs Virtual Lesson

    After teaching this lesson plan to some of my peers, I found that an advantage of this app and our coordinating lesson was that it encouraged students to learn sign language, which is becoming more integrated into classrooms. Additionally, it allows for the classroom to be a more inclusive environment of hearing impaired students. However, a downfall I found with this app and our lesson is that it doesn't encourage students to engage with the sign language they are learning. In future lessons I would extend the length of this lesson and encourage students to engage more with their new knowledge. For example, I would get students to pair with a partner and sign their chosen animal and potentially the letters to spell out the animal. This would allow students to engage more with what they are learning and make more meaningful connections. 

    Overall, Sign Me ABCs is a well formatted app that is easy to use, and I would recommend it to any teacher who is looking to make their classroom a more inclusive space. Leave your comments below, and let me know how you would use this app in your classroom!