All About Our City: Las Cruces

With this post, I think I pretty much let the cat out of the bag on the fact that I live in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I've lived here since 2000, and love this great little city in southern New Mexico. So for my students, this means that you'll spend some time during the school year learning about Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley. We will study Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley as it is now, and the history of the area.

When studying Las Cruces and the area, you'll need to first focus on some facts. Let's start with demographic information. What I mean by demographic information is data about certain portions of the population. In kid words, I mean that we need to find facts about people living in Las Cruces (like how much money they make on average, or what percentage finished college, etc.). Use the following websites to find some good demographic data about Las Cruces:

Sites with demographic facts about Las Cruces:

• Las Cruces Real Estate Guide
• 2010 Census Information
• Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Las Cruces areaconnect
• Wikipedia

Hopefully you notice right from the start that the data you find one each of these sites isn't the same. Why might this be? It's because some of the data is older, and some of it is just estimations while others are based on certain studies. Look for the numbers to be close to know that they're correct.

Next up, let's learn about the history of the Mesilla Valley. Use the following websites to find some good historical facts about the area:

Sites with historical information about Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley:

• Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Special Documentary on Las Cruces made by CLCTV.com
• Doña Ana County Historical Society
• Las Cruces History at City-Data.com
• History of Old Mesilla
• Las Cruces Convention and Visitors Bureau (history of Mesilla)

Finally, we're going to use this information to create a profile of the area. I made a video about eight years ago that showed historical photos of the area alongside newer photos of the area. Using the Rio Grande Historical Collections, we are going to find photos that we can match to their current locations. I will make a trip to take photos of what these areas look like now, and we will make an updated version of this video, which I will then post to this blog (how fun!). 

Using your information, as well as some photos from the collections linked to above, you have a few options:

1. Head over to Prezi, and create a 15+ slide presentation about the area. 

2. Create a 15+ slide Animoto about the area.

3. Print the information, and make a poster board with at least 10 facts and 5 photos.

4. Write an 8+ paragraph research paper synthesizing your findings. 

Finally, we are going to create a large reproduction of a map of Las Cruces and Mesilla, and place some major landmarks on it. These landmarks include: our school, city hall, NMSU, the district, magistrate, and county court houses, Mesilla Plaza (and in Mesilla Plaza, La Posta, Fountain Theater, abnd San Albino Basilica), downtown, five restaurants, five favorite places of entertainment, and ten major roads).

We are going to use Google Maps, and will project this map of Las Cruces on the board for everyone to see. 

PicMonkey: Awesome Image Collage Tool

I was reading through one of my favorite blogs, Free Technology for Teachers, this morning, and came across a post about an awesome new image collage website called PicMonkey. I used it to make the collage of Mayan culture pictures at the bottom of this post, and it took all of two minutes, including the time to go find the images. This is a great tool that I intend on utilizing to assist students in either presenting, or organizing photos for printing.

Prezi For Presentations: Goodbye PowerPoint!

PowerPoint has been around since I was a kid. I remember doing my first PowerPoint presentation when I was in 6th grade, way back in 1992. It wasn't a very user friendly experience, but it was definitely groundbreaking. Sadly, it's not as exciting anymore, or as the kids might say, it's "played out" (do kids still say that?)

Now my students use Prezi. I have signed up for an educator account, and my students build their Prezi's under my account name. It's a fantastic update to the PowerPoint model. As they build slides, they are given a linear view to the side, but they can manipulate the space that the slides are in, making them bigger, smaller, turning them at weird angles. As the slideshow progresses, it zooms and flips around. It can be a little unnerving if you have problems with fast moving things, but students just love it.

In my class, students use Prezi to make presentations based on books and characters in reading class, present research in social studies, and to present concepts in both math and science. It's a great tool, it's easy to teach, and the students love it. Try it out!

I've included a Prezi here for you to see. This one was made by my son this past year while he was in 4th grade. He did this without me showing him anything but the absolute basics:

Westward Expansion of the United States Tech Tools

Every year, we do a unit on the Westward Expansion of the United States in the mid 1800s. There are two technology based activities that go with this unit that are always rated the highest by students. I also have a group/individual activity that student must complete as part of this unit. You can access that as a pdf document HERE. These two activities are playing Oregon Trail (yes, the original version) and watching The Donner Party documentary made by PBS awhile back. I have attached links to both here:

To play Oregon Trail online, follow the link, and make sure you've loaded up disc one on the site. It's an exact emulation of the original version that was played on Apple IIe computers way back in the 80s.
Play Oregon Trail 

Next up is The Donner Party documentary, an American Experience documentary from PBS, which you can access HERE or by playing the clip below.

 

Watch The Donner Party on PBS. See more from American Experience.

Kobe Bryant Teaches Data Collection and Analysis

I like to teach my students in as many different ways as possible while still getting through the message and the learning that needs to get through. In 5th grade here in the state of New Mexico, we teach data analysis and probability (this is also true of those of you in the upper elementary grades who are already on the Common Core or will be going to them soon). This activity is very simple, yet very effective, and will be especially fun for the sports fans in your class (and you have some).

When we start getting into discussions about data, it's important for students to know when to use the appropriate graphs (See How Do I Choose Which Type of Graph To Use?), and move on to data collection and finally to analysis of the collected data. Some of the mainstay data collection activities include measuring height of everyone in the classroom, asking everyone what their favorite color, food, animal, etc. is, and on and on and on. There are an infinite amount of possibilities.

So along those lines, when discussing growth over time, discrete events, comparing quantitative or qualitative data, it's important for students to know why they're choosing the graph they're choosing, and what they're graphing.

I have students watch the following video, which shows Kobe Bryant scoring 81 points on January 22, 2006. This video has been edited down to show only Kobe's scoring plays. I have students make a chart for the recording of raw data that divides their paper into minutes (starting at 12 and going down to 0), and they do this four times, once for each quarter. What they do is put a tally mark for each point scored, and at what point in the quarter that point was scored. Needless to say I have to do some pausing to make sure that everyone stays with the action.

When they're done, I ask students to analyze this data, and make a graph showing Kobe's point progression over the course of the game. This is a great opportunity for students to create line graphs, and build that graph up to the eventual 81 points. Many students want to start their graph back from zero at the end of each quarter, which is why I also ask students to analyze the data in at least one other way. I've had students come up with points per quarter, some say that he scored x amount of points before a certain time each quarter, and on and on. This simple activity gives students a chance to do some data analysis and collection of their own, and only takes about 25 minutes to complete.

So here's the video. I also have a simple data collection sheet you are free to use or modify. You can download that HERE:

My Restaurant: A Great 5th Grade Writing Project

Every year, I do a project called "My Restaurant," a great writing activity in which students envision their own restaurant, and must do a variety of activities, from planning the layout, hiring employees, making a menu, and learning to write checks. The main writing essay that goes with the project is a persuasive essay, but can be easily adapted. The attached document is provided in both .docx and .pdf (I keep having issues with Google Docs slightly changing the formatting, so if you download that format, make sure you look over the document before printing). This is a simple, yet effective project that can span days or even weeks, and is a great activity for students to work on during their down time.

Download My Restaurant in .docx format HERE

Download My Restaurant in .pdf format HERE

Presenting 9/11 to 5th Graders

I believe that by 5th grade, students are old enough to understand the gravity of the events of September 11, 2001, and discuss it with all of the emotion and historical significance intact. However, with that being said, we're still talking about young children, and with that in mind, I've developed some activities (with a heavy emphasis on borrowing ideas from other great teachers out there) that go well with teaching about 9/11.

I normally teach United States history chronologically, but I do teach about 9/11/01 on the anniversary or near it if it falls on a weekend. I invite parents to join us for a discussion and remembrance time, and this is how the afternoon goes:

I start with a video that gives a run down of the events of that morning, and play it in its entirety. I usually mix this up quite a bit, and there are hundreds of these videos out there, so I've just chosen the clip that I showed this past year:

After the video, I like to open it up to parents to share their stories of where they were that day. It's interesting to note that with this upcoming group of 5th graders, it will be the last group of students I teach that will themselves have been alive (most of them) on 9/11/01. This is a good chance for parents to connect the events to us here, and usually their stories are pretty routine, including where they were when they heard, what they did for the rest of the day (watched TV), etc. 

This past year, ESPN Outside the Lines showed a small 13 minute piece titled The Man in the Red Bandanna, the story of Welles Crowther, a heroic man who died in the World Trade Center collapse. This story gives a human face to this tragedy. When you tell kids that 2,996 people died that day, they have a difficult time imagining it and the emotions that are tied to that. But this fantastic documentary has been extremely well received. I even had a student opt to do their social studies Individual in American History research project on Welles Crowther.

Once students have watched the video, I invite them to take a copy of a blank bandana, color it red, and write a one paragraph statement about what it means to be a hero. The bandana I use (a large 3 megabyte JPEG file) can be accessed HERE. 

I end with two tribute videos, to further attach the emotion of that day to our discussion. It's not my goal to evoke tears from my students, but it is a common reaction. I might actually play the tributes before the Welles Crowther video this year. This first one is one of the most emotionally moving things I've ever seen, and will definitely evoke a strong response.

This second video is one I show every year and kids remember and enjoy. 

My goal is to give them a reason to care, and to attach meaning to this singular event that has had a huge impact on the world ever since, the most important day in American history over the past 30+ years, and definitely the defining moment of this century.

Student questions that follow can be quite deep, and some are just curious. I get a lot of questions about people jumping out of the buildings, about the terrorists, and about if it will happen again. This is why it's great to have parents in the room while the discussion takes place. I've done this talk each year for the past 7 years, and have always had a great response from both students and parents. It's a goal of mine for children to understand and remember 9/11, and I look forward to doing it again this year. 

If you're a teacher, and you work with students who are old enough to comprehend and discuss the events, I hope you too will teach your students, and take the time to sit and talk with them, and possibly their parents. 

American Revolution Video Project

Each year, my students are asked to create a small video based on one of the major events of the American Revolution. I have included a quick overview in this document. These topics include, but aren't limited to:




- Boston Massacre
- Boston Tea Party
- Signing of the Declaration of Independence
- Battle of Bunker Hill
- Battles of Lexington and Concord
- Shot Heard Around the World
- The Stamp Act
- First Continental Congress
- Signing on the Treaty of Paris


I have the class begin by splitting up into groups of no more than four (this could change depending upon class size). I like to have at least five of the above topics included in the final product. After each group conducts research and films their video, all of the videos are edited together, relevant clips from Youtube videos that give an overview of each topic are added, as well as music and titles, and we have a great classroom project.


Let's begin by looking at some places to get some great, kid appropriate research:


TimeRime timeline of the American Revolution (a great interactive timeline about 10 major events of the Revolutionary War)


The Chronicle of Revolution (PBS.org) (a site that includes tons of information on topics relating to the American Revolution)


Teaching American History (interactive lessons divided into chronological sections; 1775-1778, 1778-1781, and the Treaty of Paris in 1783)


National Archives pictures of the Revolutionary War (the best source I've found for images about the Revolution)


Revolutionary War Animated (animated battle maps from the Revolutionary War)


Now that we have some resources, we can move on to the content itself. Here are a few videos that really get the kids going and thinking about this great topic in American history:

Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration - This video is a spoof of the One Republic song "Too Late to Apologize," and is the single favorite thing that I present to my students each year, they LOVE this video.

A Schoolhouse Rock song about the Shot Heard Around the World

John Adams (HBO special) Boston Massacre scene: It's a little bloody, but very to the point in presenting the brutality of this event.

Obviously there are thousands of videos on Youtube and elsewhere on the internet that you can use, these are just a few that I have found kids to really enjoy and understand easily.

I hope this is enough to get any teachers interested started, or at least hopefully there are a few resources here that you can use.

Teaching the 50 States

It's shocking how little kids these days know about geography. From hearing a 5th grader say that China is a state, to having another student believe that New Mexico and Mexico are the same thing, it's enough to make you want to do something about it. Well, even though it's a stretch to fit state standards (or common core, depending on where you are), it needs to be taught. I've found a few resources to teach the 50 states that don't seriously impede on class time, and are engaging for students.

Right from the start of the school year, I play this little video each and every day before students head out the door to lunch (or recess, whatever suits your fancy).

The video is set to the lyrics, but if you'd like to have a copy to give to your students, go ahead and download the document HERE.


This song does a great job of teaching students the names of the 50 states, but it doesn't teach them shapes unless you actually show them the video each time (I just download the music to an mp3 file and play it that way), locations, or capitals. There are simple and effective ways to match states with their shapes, including these great Flash Cards (the site is already set up for printing).

If you have time, you might want to assign a research project to your students. I have done this both as a research paper and a poster. I prefer doing a poster, where each student gets a 2' x 2' cut of colored butcher paper (I'm assuming that most schools have rolls upon rolls of colored butcher paper), and must research something similar to the following information:

— State motto 
— State flower
— State tree
— Date of Statehood
— Nickname
— State flag
— State bird
— current events
— current events
— Drawing of the state
— Drawing of the state within the United States

If your students have atlas' with information about each state, or a set of encyclopedias, then these are great resources to use. If you don't, consider Enchanted Learning, they have great information on each state. 


Finally, your students are ready to challenge themselves with an activity that I'd be willing to bet a number of teachers and a majority of American adults couldn't do. Blindly placing each state on the map of the United States. The game is called Place the States, and is provided by Sheppard Software. 

Earth & Space Science Technology Based Learning

In the state of New Mexico, Earth & Space Science has a prominent place in the standards and benchmarks, especially in 5th grade. This being one of the primary topics students learn about in science class, as well as being the yearly focus for students participating in the after school science program run by SEMAA, it's important to have a few resources ready to utilize.

---------First, there is the ubiqutous Google Earth. It's a free download, and I've found that it runs pretty well on school servers. The great thing about Google Earth is the vast amount of ways it can be utilized. When using Google Earth, the first thing kids will want to do is locate either their own home or the school. It's important to give them this freedom. It helps them learn the controls, and get used to the software. If your computers have the capability, let students put pins on the places they find for future reference. Also, you can turn it around and get detailed renderings of the Moon and Mars, as well as the stars from a distance.

The first activity I usually do with Google Earth, and the students are still learning it, involves zooming to a certain point, taking a screen capture, then pasting that screen capture in a Word document (I have students push the print screen button, crop the resulting image in MS paint, then paste that in MS Word). I ask my students to start with a picture of the Earth, and zoom in using major points of reference, evenutally reaching their house or the school. This usually results in students zooming from earth, Western Hemisphere, North America, United States, New Mexico, and then into the county, city, neighborhood, then the final image is the target. This does a great job of teaching the controls, and how to do some simple copying, cropping, and pasting between the Google Earth program and a document.

---------Next up is Celestia, an awesome free download that is similar to Google Earth. What makes Celestia different from Google Earth is that instead of focusing on Earth (as well as Mars and the Moon), is that you can zoom in on the cosmos, and see the stars up close. Celestia helps drive that point home that the universe is really big, and the Earth is just a speck of dust in relation.

--------Now for a couple of great videos:

Cosmic Zoom is by far one of the most endearing videos in terms of teaching about the immense size of the universe, and our place in it. It's made even better by the fact that it's narrated by Morgan Freeman. The last few minutes of this video zoom into an atom, so it's great for teaching both about the scale of the universe and the atomic scale as well. It's eerie how similar the two seem in the end:

Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan might not hit kids as hard as it does adults, but it really puts the overall scale of the Earth as it relates to our galaxy and the greater universe in perspective. I've found that even elementary school aged kids enjoy watching this video and have a lot of great questions afterwards:

The Hubble Deep Field is a stunning video that nearly brought this science nerd to tears the first time I saw it. I show this to students because it's just amazing to see (if you're in a hurry, fast forward up to the 5 minute mark to catch the deep field portion of the video).

Order of Operations Game: Bowling With Math

This following worksheet is a great math practice sheet. In 5th grade, students work a lot with the order of operations:

Parenthesees
Exponents
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction

What many students struggle with is the fact that Multiplication and Division are considered to be a "tie," and when working from left to right, you do whatever is first. The same applies to Addition and Subtraction. Many kids to this day still use the pnemonic device "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" to learn the order of operations. However, using these is a whole different issue. I've included a great game here called "bowling with math" that teachers are sure to love.

For my class, wait for me to give you directions, for anyone else interested, go ahead and download the attached document and enjoy. DOWNLOAD BOWLING FOR MATH HERE

If you're struggling with the limited instructions provided, basically, you roll four dice, take the numbers from each, and then use them to create different equations that have answers ranging from 1-10. The player tries to create as many combinations to "knock down" as many pins as possible.

If you're in a lower grade level, this game could be easily adapted, just change the directions as you see fit.

Factors & Multiples

Having a working knowledge of factors and multiples is important as students move forward from the 5th grade. Knowing what each term means, as well as how to find the factors and/or multiples of a given number provides them with a foundation as they move forward into algebra. So let's get started:

First, head off to THE KHAN ACADEMY where you will learn all about prime numbers, divisibility, factors, and multiples. Each of these is necessary in order to understand fractions, and further on, algebra.

Next up, it's time to try out finding factors using a venn diagram format. Go ahead and click the image to play that game.

You can also try this exact same venn diagram with multiples by clicking HERE.

And finally, it's time to play the Legend of Dick and Dom from the BBC. Play this fun, interactive story to see what you know about factors and multiples (click to image to play).

 

Create Your Own Logo

If we're going to be using personal blogs in this classroom, everyone needs the opportunity to personalize their blog. This post gives you a very simple task. Follow the link to go to Logotype Maker, where you can make your very own free logo for your blog. Remember, only use the options marked "free," and you'll have your great logo in no time. Check out mine!

Timelines Online

Teaching involving the concept of time can be a tricky thing. Many kids don't understand the concept of time. We will start out by taking a look at the timeline of quite literally everything by using ChronoZoom. This site really drives home the point that we're very small, and our time in the universe is very short. Of course, I don't want my students to make a timeline of the entirety of the universe, but more along the lines of one major era in history.

Now, in 5th grade, we study United States history, but early in the school year, we talk about the history of the America's from the time before Christopher Columbus' expedition, an era we call "pre-columbian" history. This is a good place for us to start, and in my class, we always start by studying some of the cultures that had a major influence on the area, including (but not limited to) the Maya, Inca, Aztec and Navajo. I will make some more specific posts about this unit. I wanted to start off with this concept of time, however, and specifically the use of a timeline. So before we get into what has become known as "The Maya, Inca, Aztec Project," we will be making timelines using TimeRime.com. 
Using the website, each group will create a timeline of Pre-Columbian American history leading up to Columbus' expedition. Remember, Columbus didn't discover the America's, they were here, and millions of people lived here. All of the things you find must be from the time before 1492.

An Introduction To the Human Brain

I always like to start out the school year by teaching my students a little bit about the human brain. It's good to know what's going on in your own head, in a way, it might even make you a better learner. Over the course of the school year, we will talk about cells, the brain, and how the human body works. We will also discuss learning styles, and how each particular brain is different.

• First, we will start off by learning a little bit about the human brain. So CLICK HERE to read about the Control Centers of the brain. 
• Next up, it's time to make a model of the human brain using a fun potato flake mixture. (for you teachers out there wondering what this looks like, here's the recipe:

1.5 cups instant potato flakes
2.5 cups hot water
2 cups clean sand (can be found at home building stores or landscaping stores)
1 gallon Ziploc bag
Place all the ingredients into the Ziploc bag and combine thoroughly. You can squish the mixture around with your hands or you can use a spoon to stir it. After mixing completely, the bag should weigh about three pounds and have the consistency of a real brain.

• Here are a few videos (a TED Talk video that maps the brain, and a video with cool facts about the brain):

A Map of the Brain:

 10 Amazing Facts About the Brain:

Now, we're ready to take a closer look at how our own brains work.

Take the Edutopia Learning Style Quiz to find out how you learn best.

Here's my results, we'll take the time to discuss in class what this means:

A Simple and Cool Fraction Trick

When we're learning about fractions, it can be hard sometimes to visualize how many parts there are. This funny video called THE FRACTIONATOR shows that there is a simple trick to help you always know how many times you need to cut something in order to make it into a certain fractional part. For example, if you want to cut something in half, you need to cut it once, if you want to cut something into thirds, you need to cut it twice. If you're already learning algebra, the formula would be f-1=c, if we're saying that f = the fraction we're trying to figure out, and c = how many cuts will need to be made. Let's practice this on paper. You should make a table that looks like this, make it 2 by 6, and let's do some examples:

Fraction	Cuts
half	1
thirds	2
fourths	3

Teaching Volume Using Boxes

The volume of a prism is found using the simple formula of length x width x height. The answer is in cubic units because you are multiplying three dimensions together. The hardest part for most 5th graders is visualizing what this looks like. The link here is to a web tool that has you visually fill a prism with cubic units. We also do this in class using cut outs and centimeter cubes.

Animals Right Here In Our Own Backyard

The Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park is located just four miles west of Las Cruces. A bosque is a riverside forest. When it rains, water runs off of the Rio Grande river and provides the area with enough water to form small lakes and marshes. Many animals live here, animals that don't live anywhere else in our area. So let's check some of these animals out:

The park rangers use motion sensitive cameras to capture images and videos of the animals roaming the park.
Trail cameras photos

This video shows a coyote attacking a beaver at the bosque (it's a little violent, but that's nature!).

Youtube videos from the state park motion cameras

Amusement Park Physics

Here is a cool roller coaster building game to try out:

Amusement Park Physics

Fractals

A fractal is a design made out of one shape repeated over and over. Let's check it out:

Fractal Foundation

The Fractal Trianglethon: A cool activity for us to do in class. Let's see how big of a triangular fractal (Sierpinski Triangle) we can make.

World's largest Sierpinski Triangle:

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Welcome!

This blog will be the online storage house of the interesting links, videos, etc that our classroom will be utilizing this school year. I'll start posting things soon, and we'll be referring to them all year. It's easier to have all of the resources kept here for us to reach when we need them. Go ahead and click the bus at the top of the page to be taken to the most recent posts.