The Latest from Lesson Mag

Teacher Deals and Discounts

July 13, 2010 By Lisa Overman 2 Comments

The Florida Aquarium

These discounts are offered to Teachers in the state of Florida. Judging from my research I imagine educators in each state receive discounts to local attractions and services. Use this article as a guide to find discounts in your individual state. Check with your school district or on your employer website.

T-Mobile offers plan discounts to State employees in Florida through employee websites such at school districts. My best advice is to check your indivual state or federal employer website for discounts. When I called T-Mobile and identified myself (as a customer with my phone and account number) and asked if they offered the same discount in each state I was told due to privacy issues they couldn’t give me that information.

The Kennedy Space Center offers 12 month Educators Pass to teachers who hold a Florida or Georgia teaching certificate. Educators must show proof of certification and be employed as a full time k-12 teacher at an accrediated school.

Sea World offers free Study Passes to Teachers with Florida Certification and a valid ID. These are good from August to August.

The Florida Aquarium offers a single free admission to Teachers showing their pay stub with a teacher payroll code.

Lowry Park Zoo is offering public and private K-12 teachers with Florida certification free admission between June 1 and August 21 with a valid school ID.

The Florida Aquarium By: VSumner

Environmental Education, Recycling and Trash Pickup

July 9, 2010 By Lisa Overman Leave a Comment

The Importance of Recycling

As concerns mount regarding the state of our gulf coast and the oil spill, it’s a perfect opportunity to increase our children’s environmental awareness and educate them further about the ways our planet is being damaged. There are many great programs for recycling but there are many people who don’t participate. A great student project to demonstrate the importance of recycling is to have the students collect various types of trash from the classroom and home and dig a classroom landfill in a school approved area. If your school doesn’t have an area where you can dig there’s another excellent options in this article to achieve similar educational awareness about trash and recycling.

Project 1 Take student collected trash (food trash, plastic trash, paper trash.) It works best to include all types of trash for this project.

Phase One: As a class dig the landfill hole and place your trash items in the landfill. Have students map the landfill area, so that you know where each type of trash is located, for the second phase of this project. Take photos of the trash items before covering your landfill with soil. Cover the landfill area and then have a classroom discussion about how long the trash items will take to decompose in the landfill. Discuss recycling options in your individual area. Field trip option; visit a local landfill in your area for students to see the reality of what our garbage actually does to the planet.

This is part one of a two part series on Recycling and Trash.

Recycling Photo Credit By: Bucklava

Filed Under: Lessons and Projects, The Latest from Lesson Mag Tagged With: landfill, Recycling, Trash

Celebrating Cultural Diversity

July 6, 2010 By Lisa Overman Leave a Comment

Cultural and Musical Diversity

Living and working overseas taught me the importance and joy of celebrating the cultural diversity of my students. Celebrating cultural events raises awareness among students and staff. Exploring the varied ethnic cultural diversity of students through cultural celebrations gives children a taste of ethnic customs, food, dance, language and dress. It’s an exciting way to involve everyone in a no pressure environment where learning takes place naturally.

In Germany I included local celebrations in my plans. Students enjoy sharing little gifts on December 6th, which is the European St. Nicholas Day. In German custom bad children receive a lump of coal and good children receive small gifts. Another special celebration that all small school children in Germany celebrate is the receiving of their Schultute , a giant cone filled with sweets and treats to take away the bitterness of school starting. Directions to make your own Schultute.

When I taught on the island of Guam we celebrated United Nations Day with a day long celebration of costumes from cultures around the world and a musical program where students and staff shared songs and instruments around the world. Through our experiences we learned about new foods, ways of life and activities that raised awareness of cultures different than our own. In each of these very different cultures teachers brought the culture of our “second home” to life through customs and experiences that drew children closer to each other, while teaching them more about their second home culture.

Photo Credit Secret Tenerife’s

Filed Under: Lessons and Projects, The Latest from Lesson Mag Tagged With: Celebrating Cultures, Cultural Diversity, United Nations Day, World Cultures

Teaching Tools for Floating Educators

June 29, 2010 By Myscha Theriault 2 Comments

Are you an instructor with no space of your own? Stuck floating from room to room, finding an available corner to offer your support services from? If you’re finding it difficult to function on the fly, here are several teaching tools to get you on the right professional track. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Classroom Management, The Latest from Lesson Mag Tagged With: floating teachers, mobile teachers, teachers without their own classroom, teaching tools

Tie Dye Tee Shirt: Class Project

June 27, 2010 By Lisa Overman Leave a Comment

Tie Dye Tee Shirt

Making memories is what the end of the school year is all about. As a teacher I always tried to plan something the kids would love. One event that works well is to have an outdoor activity day combined with dying tie dye tee shirts. I’ve participated in such an event and I’ve planned a follow up event. It’s fun and well suited to work together. Here’s why.

When you tie dye you should really be in a space where sloppy messes don’t matter. The outdoors is a wonderful space for tie dye, if a pan of dye gets spilled the grass can be hosed down and there are no classroom messes to deal with. Secondly if you pair the tie dye activity with an outdoor activity such as volleyball or kickball then students can rotate in and out of the game to tie dye their shirt. This allows you to supervise the game and oversee shirts being made a few at a time, with no waiting or fussing among students. Remember when planning to choose a sporting activity that doesn’t require a huge team of players. This will allow you to start a few on the shirts and then rotate additional students into the tie dye and back into the game seamlessly.

Tie Dye Spiral Tee Project

Tie Dye Heart Tee

Tie Dye Tee Shirt Ideas and Instructions

Photo Credit: Tie Dye Tee Flickr

Filed Under: Lessons and Projects, The Latest from Lesson Mag Tagged With: classroom crafts, end of the year projects, summer school ideas, tie dye

Pueblo Ingles: A Volunteer Program for English Speaking Teens in Spain

June 14, 2010 By Lisa Overman Leave a Comment

Marbella, Spain

Pueblo Ingles for Teens is a program for native English speakers to spend a week or two in Spain, in one of seven locations speaking to Spanish speaking teens to improve their English language skills. [Read more...]

Filed Under: News and Commentary, The Latest from Lesson Mag Tagged With: Spain Volunteer Vacations, Teen Volunteer Program, Teens, Teens Volunteering Abroad, Volunteer Vacations

Family Fun Offers a Student Incentive

June 8, 2010 By Lisa Overman Leave a Comment

DODDs School Celebration

As an International Teacher I created quarterly incentives that involved an interesting extra curricular activity to involve students and their families . Students who kept their grades at a B average could participate in each Family Fun quarterly activity. Some of the regular quarterly activities included family picnics, hikes on Guam, beach picnics and BBQ;s at my home.

Because some students didn’t manage to keep the necessary grades to participate I also planned an activity once or twice per school year related to a holiday and invited each student along with their parents. One particularly fun activity was a cookie baking party at my home. The kids and parents alike enjoyed that one and everyone went home with fresh baked cookies.

Requirements and activity parameters are different around the world so it’s important to plan activities through your administrator. I’ve been fortunate with schools and parents signing release forms and allowing participation in some unusual activities. My requirement has always been that at least one parent attend the event. Also on Guam when we went on jungle hikes we went with first aid supplies and a cell phone. We did some pretty amazing things, including a hike to Guam’s Pagat Cave. The cave contained a underground swimming hole and as I had been previously several times we hiked the mile or so into the jungle and swam in the cave by candle light. It was fun for everyone and the parents loved it. Today, I’m not sure I would plan such an extreme event, but it was well supervised with parents, myself, a DARE officer and release forms signed by every family.

The reality is that every student is not going to be able to earn incentives, so it’s important to plan at least one or two activities with your students outside the classroom where students, teacher and families can bond and enjoy wonderful day together. My years as an International Teacher created friendships with my students and their families that continue today. The activities and events I planned brought my students closer together and helped us bond each year as a class.

Pagat Cave You Tube video

Flickr Creative Commons Photo By: USACE Europe District

Filed Under: In the Field, The Latest from Lesson Mag Tagged With: classroom tips, Incentives, Motivating Students, Student Incentive, Student Motivation, teaching tips

5 Science News Services for Teachers

June 3, 2010 By Myscha Theriault 1 Comment

We all want to stay on top of the latest info in the classrooms, but science teachers have an extra burden, as traditional texts are outdated practically before they’re printed. Sure they’re fine for traditional concepts and historical biographies, but what about the newest and coolest science research? That’s where these five resources come in handy. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Supplies and Resources, The Latest from Lesson Mag Tagged With: education, external classroom reading, Science

Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag Project

May 30, 2010 By Lisa Overman Leave a Comment

This is a fun project to do with students or with the children in your family on a vacation day. I used this as a Science activity with my seventh grade students in Hawaii. The instructions and ingredients are simple enough that this ice cream project can also be used with younger age children. My students did this particular ice cream activity outside to minimize the mess. As an added bonus students can bring their favorite ice cream topping in a ziploc bag to add into the ice cream mixture as it is firming up.

Homemade Ice Cream

Here are links to three options for Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag.

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/homemade-ice-cream-in-a-bag-684806/ (This one uses half and half.)

http://homeparents.about.com/od/recipesandcrafts/r/zip_icecream.htm (This one uses milk rather than half and half.)

http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/science/icecream051999.html (This one offers the option of making the ice cream in a coffee can.)

Ingredients and Materials to Make Ice Cream in a Bag

1 C half and half

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 C rock salt

ice cubes

ziploc bags (One gallon size bag and one quart size bag will be needed for each recipe made)

towels

permanent marker to put names on the ice cream bags

Divide your ice cream mixture into individual ziploc bags and then place the sealed bag of ice cream mixture into a larger gallon sized bag filled partially with ice. Add rock salt to the outer bag and seal it carefully. Have the students toss the ziploc bag back and forth within their hands, using the towels as needed, when the bags become too cold. I remember this project taking about 10-15 minutes. We then took the ice cream out of the exterior bag and placed it in the freezer for a firmer freeze. When you are taking the ice cream bag out of the larger bag to put it in the freezer wipe it off and then add in your individual ice cream toppings. When the ice cream is firm the kids can eat it directly from their individual bags which have been labeled with their name.

Homemade Ice Cream Photo by: Enersauce