Drones aren’t just for the military anymore. With cheap models flooding the market, schools are finding new and exciting ways to engage with their students and, more importantly, improve learning. Edudemic recently highlighted 11 ways you could use drones for learning at your school. There are obvious ones like survey school land, but also ones that push students to think deeper like debating the ethics of drones. Here are the highlights but make sure you read the whole article too!
1. Make Your Own Drone
2. Survey School Land
3. Weave a Tensile Structure
4. Monitor Natural Disasters
5. Shoot Video for a School Project
6. Lead a Treasure Hunt
7. Navigate a Drone Obstacle Course
8. Make Art
9. Learn About Our Environment in Real Time
10. Debate the Ethics
11. Brainstorm Alternative Uses
Quiet time isn’t just for preschoolers anymore! The benefits of less stressed, healthier, and ready to learn students have even been shown to improve student behavior. A middle school introduced a Quiet Time program which consisted of two periods, 15 minutes each when students could choose to sit quietly or meditate. The benefits? The school saw a 50% reduction in suspensions and a 65% reduction in truancy!
Want to start using Quiet Time, Mindfulness, or Silent Sustained Reading at your school? Check out this great document that “explains the purpose and rationale behind quiet time in the classroom and goes on to provide implementation guidelines.”
Do you need storytime lesson plans? Then look no further than the new Minnesota Storytime Hub. A recently announced home for storytime lesson plans created for and by Minnesota librarians. Check out the announment from MN State Library Services:
“We are excited to announce the creation of an online storytime lesson plan resource created for and by Minnesota librarians! The Minnesota Storytime Hub houses an easily accessible set of high quality resources that streamline storytime planning, increase awareness of materials used successfully in storytime practice, and allow professionals to share quality early literacy practices. A dozen children’s librarians from across Minnesota have already contributed lesson plans, and now it’s ready for you! Take a look around, and then start remixing already existing plans or adding your own. Check out our instructions to register with OER Commons and guidelines for adding lesson plans. We can’t wait to watch the Hub grow and expand with your expertise! If you have questions or comments, please contact Jen Verbrugge at jennifer.verbrugge@state.mn.us.”
What better way to get students excited about reading and writing then to ask them to write a letter to their favorite author! This is exactly the premise behind the Letters About Literature Contest.
“Letters About Literature asks student readers to write a letter to an author describing how his or her work touched their life in a personal way. Authors can be of any genre or time period and can come from any country. The contest focuses on reader response and reflective writing and has three competition levels: Level 1 for students in grades 4-6; Level 2 for students in grades 7 and 8; and Level 3 for students in grades 9-12. State level judges choose the top letter writers from each of the three competition levels who will advance to the National Level Judging. Then, a panel of national judges for the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress will select one National Winner per competition level to receive a $1,000 cash award. The judges will also select one National Honor per competition level to receive a $200 cash award.”
Drones aren’t just for the military anymore. With cheap models flooding the market, schools are finding new and exciting ways to engage with their students and, more importantly, improve learning. Edudemic recently highlighted 11 ways you could use drones for learning at your school. There are obvious ones like survey school land, but also ones that push students to think deeper like debating the ethics of drones. Here are the highlights but make sure you read the whole article too!
Do you need storytime lesson plans? Then look no further than the new Minnesota Storytime Hub. A recently announced home for storytime lesson plans created for and by Minnesota librarians. Check out the announment from MN State Library Services:
What better way to get students excited about reading and writing then to ask them to write a letter to their favorite author! This is exactly the premise behind the