Our Favorite Open Educational Resources of 2012

By Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

 

 

Here are a few of our favorite resources from 2012. If you look these over, I’m sure you’ll find at least a couple of them to be interesting and useful! Click on each title to go to that resource at Curriki.

STEMware Zombie Plague 

Why We Like It: STEM and zombies were popular in 2012– this is a great combination of them both! Contributed By: Barbara UCD

Fiction 

Why We Like It: Karen has always contributed a ton of resources. Most recently several free Kindle versions of books. With the increase in e-readers, this is a good collection of free options. Contributed By: Karen Fasimpaur

Investigating Bikes 

Why We Like It: A cross curricula approach using bikes as a starting point for arts math, science. Way cool! Contributed By: Andy Hannaford

Average speed inquiry lab 

Why We Like It:Students will feel like they are playing while learning about concepts such as average speed, data collection, graphing, extrapolation and interpolation of data. Contributed By: Carol Hagen

Reading Lolita in Tehran  

Why We Like It: A full unit on an eye-opening novel that incorporates music, poetry, group activities, current issues AND is aligned to Common Core State Standards. Contributed By: Sue Costagliola 

Rice Elementary Science Curriculum  

Why We Like It:The RESCu.Rice.edu site contains numerous inquiry based lesson plans for K-5 teachers and super engaging activities for kids. Contributed By: Carolyn Nichol

WikiPremed 

Why We Like It: WikiPremed is a comprehensive, creative commons licensed MCAT course, notable in demonstrating a unified curriculum for teaching undergraduate science is a true treasure trove of learning materials and over 100 hours of course video. Contributed By: John Wetzel

Scatter It!  

Why We Like It: Scatterplotting has never been easier to learn! Contributed By: Mary Richardson

Music Lesson Plans  

Why We Like It: Music is an important subject, even if not part of the core curriculum. This collection is a good starting point for teaching music. Contributed By: Nate Merrill

TED (free app)  

Why We Like It: TED talks are known for being some of the most engaging, timely, and progressive presentations. This is amazing access to all of them–free! And there’s no fear of the content getting stale. There are new videos posted every week. Contributed By: Sandy Gade 

Othello 2012 and BEYOND!– 2012-2013  

Why We Like It: Modernize the teaching Othello through the use of news articles, non-fiction pieces, technology, and recent news events, aligned to the CCSSO. Contributed By: Sue Costagliola East Meadow School District

 

STEAM = STEM & Arts Enhances Learning

By Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

In June, I wrote a blog about STEAM, which is the incorporation of Arts education into STEM learning. I noted that scientific progress and excellent design and engineering require insight, creativity, collaboration, communication and thinking out of the box. An appreciation of the Arts fuels creative thinking and innovation. Furthermore, technology needs to be developed with the human user always in mind. The full blog can be found here – http://currikiblog.wordpress.com/tag/steam/

Here is another interesting blog on how STEAM ties into 21st century learning: http://goo.gl/Zk512. The author notes “Many scientists I’ve met integrate art into their work intentionally or unconsciously.  Communicating scientific concepts and data requires creating visual and even sonic representations.”

Hurricane Fran 1996, Source: NASA/GSFC

Apple, the most valuable company in the world today, creates products that are as much about design principles for the user interface and about the product look and feel as they are about the internal technology. Design and technology are complementary and both necessary in developing everything from automobiles to cola bottles to electric guitars.

The goals of a STEAM-based approach are functional literacy and holistic learning. A good presentation on why STEAM can be found here: http://www.steamedu.com/WhySTEAMshortWeb.pdf

School arts programs can improve student performance. Large enhancements in reading scores have been seen in some trials through the DREAM program, which guides third- and fourth-grade teachers in incorporating arts into their lessons.

And below you can find links to a number of free, curated Arts and Language Arts resources on Curriki, and over 80 STEM resources as well!
http://currikiblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/free-language-arts-curriki-curated-resources/

Easy Ways to Integrate Educational Technology into the Classroom

By Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

Do you know what digital storytelling is? Think of it as a short “film” that uses a combination of still images, video and sound to more effectively tell a story.

Here is a peek at one new resource on Integrating Digital Storytelling in Instruction that helps students and teachers build on 21^st century skills and introduce educational technology into the classroom in a fun and engaging way.

We are excited to unveil a number of NEW resources on the topic of educational technology now available on Curriki. Other very useful collections are Internet safety and Digital Citizenship, which covers everything from plagiarism on the web, to digital responsibility and cyber etiquette for all grade levels. To give you an idea of what’s included, here is a middle school teacher’s guide on copyright laws and digital responsibility with content from ww.B4Ucopy.com:

We encourage you to check out more related resources that have been recently added:

1. Integrating Wikis in the Classroom
2. Integrating Blogging in the Classroom
3. Web 2.0 and Social Media for Collaboration
4. Teaching with Mobile Devices in the Classroom
5. Keyboarding
6. Study Skills

Curriki features more than 150 NEW COLLECTIONS. See our collections on social studies and health, language arts, and STEM. Please share these resources with your friends and colleagues!

Free Language Arts Curriki Curated Resources!

By Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer, Curriki

Wow, it’s been a busy summer here at Curriki as a small but energetic team of teachers put together more than 150 curated collections in several subject areas. A big thank you to Jessica Flint, Nate Merrill, and Marlaine deGuia!

These new collections are available to you for FREE and we simply ask that you share Curriki with your colleagues so they can take advantage of these time-saving, best-of-the-best lessons and activities.

Since there are so many new resources, we’re breaking this up by subject area. In a recent blog we presented over 80 STEM resources. Today, we’re proud to share more than three dozen Language Arts and Arts collections with you.  Please check them out, put them to work, and tell us what you think!

 

Language Arts:

1. English Interactive Whiteboard Activities
2. Ancient Greek Religion Lesson Plans
3. Teaching Shakespeare:  Julius Caesar
4. Teaching Shakespeare:  Macbeth
5. Teaching Shakespeare:  Romeo and Juliet
6. Teaching Shakespeare: Othello
7. Writing Assessments
8. Grammar Worksheets
9. Language Arts Games
10. Language Arts Webquests
11. The Bible: literature and testament
12. Sentence Structure
13. Ancient Rome
14. Ancient Greek Religion Lesson Plans
15. Resources for Implementing Book Reports in the Language Arts Classroom
16. General Resources for Approaches to Literary Analysis
17. The Literature of Mark Twain
18. Resources for The Call of the Wild
19. Literature of Edgar Allan Poe
20. Resources for Fahrenheit 451
21. Resources for Teaching Satire and Parody
22. Writing Expository Essays]
23. Newbery Literature Guides
24. Resources for The Giver
25. Resources for To Kill a Mockingbird
26. English Language Arts Diagrams and Photographs
27. Language Arts Graphic Organizers
28. Language Arts Videos
29. Language Arts Rubrics
30. Language Arts Vocabulary Lesson Plans
31. Verb Worksheets
32. Noun Worksheets
33. Noun, Verb, Adjective and Adverb Lesson Plans

Arts:

1. Using Film and Movies in the Classroom
2. Wolfram Alpha Activities
3. Music Theory
4. Music Activities and Worksheets
5. Music Lesson Plans

We hope you enjoy working with these new collections.  Stay tuned for more new resources in the Social Studies and Health subject areas!

Don’t Overlook the Arts

by Janet Pinto, Chief Academic Officer

September 11-17th was National Arts in Education week.  How did you celebrate the week?  Did you teach your students the joy of listening to great music, or how to appreciate a new piece of art? Studied Browning or acted out a 2 part play?

For many educators, Arts education is becoming an afterthought as the focus and funding is on STEM.  As we totally support STEM, we want to call attention to the study of  the Arts.  As a global community, we need to ensure Art Education does not become optional. The importance of stretching a student’s imagination

and innovation through artistic expression and study is as critical as doing so in the study of science or mathematics.  As the US House of Representatives stressed in their designation of the 2nd week of September as “Arts in Education Week,” the “Arts education, comprising a rich array of disciplines including dance, music, theater, media arts, literature, design, and visual arts, is a core academic subject and an essential element of a complete and balanced education for all students.”

Let’s ensure the study and focus on Arts in Education is not confined to only the 2nd week in September.  To help you with this endeavor, we have provided a list of free Arts resources available on Curriki.

1. Arts  - This rich curriculum includes videos, full lessons, worksheets, and technology covering  a broad array of topics from Drama, to Popular Culture to Visual Arts and careers in the Arts.

2. Language Arts - Covering all ages, you will find great resources in literature, story telling (almost a lost art!), writing, journalism and more.

3. World Language Resources - Broaden your students’ understanding of the Arts through the teaching of world languages. From Cultural Awareness to linguistics to writing and informal education you will find a fascinating assortment of curriculum and resources.

4.  Join a Curriki Group on the Arts - Connect with other teachers to share best practices, discuss issues and engage in new ways to ignite students’ interest in the Arts.

We would love for you to share your thoughts and your great Arts curriculum. Your work may make the difference to another teacher as they strive to  inspire a student in Arts!