Category Archives: Social Studies

Walk the Trail

Posted on December 10, 2012 by | Comments Off

DSC_0842Each time someone enters my classroom, they are remindedDSC_0849 of the upcoming Iditarod.  There are 2 large maps, several pictures, daily high and low temperatures in Waupaca and Nome, news articles, and much more.

One of the maps in the entry is for students to track the progress on their IditaWalk.  Each day when my students walk into the classroom, the first thing they do is put on a pedometer.  Their goal is to “Walk” the Iditarod Trail.  It started simply – converting their steps to miles (2,000 steps = 1 mile) and moving their marker along the trail.  As time went on I made things more complicated.  PAWS (Pulling Ahead With Students) is a theme I’m using this year for Character Education. Students can earn dog paws for doing DSC_0850something “good”.  4 paws = 1 dog.  With 2 dogs, students can multiply their daily miles by 2.  With 4 dogs, they can multiply by 3, and so on.  They had to think of a theme for their dog team and name their dogs.  While they haven’t formally been introduced to multiplication yet, they are multiplying to figure out their daily progress.  They are also moving more to pick up steps on their pedometers.  Win – win.DSC_0840

A few students thought this was going to be easy and within a few weeks they would have walked the entire trail.  They are now realizing it’s a lot longer than they anticipated.  They are also learning names of checkpoints and the distance between them.  The attached lesson plan and activity sheets are a little different than what I am doing this year, but it gives a basic overview.  Take the general idea and make it your own.

Classroom Iditawalk

IditaWalkTracker copy

TeamIditawalk

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Posted in Geography, Math, Messages from Linda

Finding What Works in the Classroom 2.24.11

Posted on February 24, 2011 by | Comments Off

Temperature in Wasilla, late morning, 20°F, little wind

Teachers want to know what works in the classroom to facilitate student learning and to achieve growth in their learning. The research-based document,What Works in Classroom Instruction by Robert Marzano, Barbara Gaddy, and Ceri Dean (http://www.leigh.cuhsd.org/teachers/pdf/Marzano_Strategies.pdf),  is a good resource which explains the research behind classroom strategies and their effect. The effect sizes of various strategies range from .59 to 1.61. An effect size of 1.0 is roughly equivalent to one year’s growth in achievement. Please refer to the above article for a table of strategies and effect sizes.

Strategies that were found to strongly affect student achievement include homework and practice, setting goals and providing feedback, non-linguistic representation, summarizing and note-taking, identifying similarities and differences, cooperative learning, reinforcing effort and providing recognition, generating and testing hypotheses, and activating prior knowledge. The two highest effect sizes fell in the strategies of summarizing and note-taking and identifying similarities and differences. This site has helpful information about using these strategies.

http://www.tltguide.ccsd.k12.co.us/instructional_tools/Strategies/Strategies.html

Part of my job as the Target® 2011 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ is giving presentations to students in Alaska schools. I started those today.  The presentation gives students a chance to learn aboutsome  similarities and differences of Alaska and North Carolina. Letting students use a Venn diagram, Thinking Maps (double bubble or bubble maps) or write about the differences and similarities of the two states would be methods to carry out a strategy with a high effect size.

The Iditarod Race is a tool to use to create a lesson on note-taking and summarizing or on identifying similarities and differences. Perhaps your area has a sport or race which could be compared and contrasted with the Iditarod, or watch Iditarod Insider video clips to practice taking notes and then organizing those notes into categories. Maybe those categories could be more easily remembered by using non-linguistic representation, another strategy which can positively affect student learning.     

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Posted in Art, Art, Art, Curriculum, Elementary, Environmental Education, Environmental Education, Environmental Education, Geography, Geography, Geography, High School, Language Arts, Language Arts, Language Arts, Math, Math, Math, Math, Messages from Martha, Middle School, PreSchool & Kindergarten, Reading, Science, Science, Science, Social Studies, Social Studies, Social Studies, Technology, Technology, Technology

More Lessons & Ideas to Fill Your Sled!

Posted on August 7, 2010 by | Comments Off

August is upon us, and we teachers know the clock is ticking towards that first day of school. In July, I posted clip art to help you with bulletin boards, room decorations, and more. You got a great start with reading Big-Enough Anna by Pam Flowers, too. The lessons this month will show you how to apply an article in almost any subject and how to take a seemingly unrelated lesson and use it in your subject area. The first lesson, Using The Story of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, takes an article from The Learning Works, Inc. and shows you how to use it not only for reading and language arts, but for subjects such as science and history, and that it can be used with all ages, including adults. I use the article to introduce the race and its history to my classes each year, and I share it with adults and staff as a quick way to familiarize them with the race. Here are two sets of questions to use with the article, too. One focuses on reading for detail, and the other set is multiple choice informational text questions.

The second lesson is a physical education lesson plan by Terrie Hanke, the Wells Fargo 2006 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™, and shows how I adapted it for my English/language arts classes several years ago. This scavenger hunt got us running around outdoors, but it also taught cooperation and problem solving. We put the checkpoint names on the cards under the cones for student teams to find. When we finished the physical education part of the lesson, students wrote a summary of the activity’s procedures and an evaluation of the successes and challenges of the activity. The writing portion of the activity was completed over several days. One modification I made to Terrie’s lesson was to only have one team running the hunt at a time. We played our scavenger, or checkpoint, hunt outdoors on the softball field’s outfield to avoid conflict with PE classes in the gym or on other fields. This hunt is also a good way for students to become familiar with the names of the race’s checkpoints. Younger students can focus on writing directions for playing the activity. Secondary students should write clear, varied sentences with correct mechanics and show insight regarding the activity in their writings.

The photo of Togo was taken at the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla, Alaska. He is “stuffed”, having been preserved by a taxidermist. The statue of Balto is also at headquarters. It is identical to the one in New York’s Central Park. Read the article The Story of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to find out more about these dogs.

Fill your sled this year with your variations on my plans. Let us know what you do and how you do it!

Mushing on,

Martha

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Posted in Elementary, High School, Language Arts, Language Arts, Language Arts, Messages from Martha, Middle School, Science, Science, Science, Social Studies, Social Studies, Social Studies

Lessons From Herb Brambley

Posted on November 29, 2009 by | Leave a comment

(Under construction.  Links to be added soon.)

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Iditarod Sled Dog Race; Grades 2-8; Geography, Social Studies, and Science; This lesson introduces how climate relates to lifestyle and culture.

Lesson 2: The Alaskan Husky; Grades 4-8; Technology, Science; This lesson uses computer skills such as cutting, pasting, and saving a Word document as a vehicle to learn the unique characteristics of the Alaskan Husky. 

Lesson 3: Making Electricity from the Sun; Grades 4-12; Science, Technology, Geography, Environmental Education; In this hands on lesson students see how the angle of a solar panel in relationship to the sun’s rays directly effects voltage output.  The Internet is used to research the average hours of sunlight per day for locations across the globe.    

Lesson 4: Wilderness Survival; Grades 4-8; Social Studies, Environmental Education; Students actually build a debris shelter(or model) as they study the hierarchy of survival priorities.  Read Iditarod stories of survival from the book More Iditarod Classics.

Lesson 5:The Reason for the Seasons; Grades 2 -6;  Science, Environmental Education; Students learn about the tilt of the earth and the angle of incidents of the sun’s rays and explain the causes of seasonal change.

Lesson 6: Are We There Yet; Grades 5-12; Technology, Geography; Find out how far it is from your house to Alaska and how long it will take to get there driving, walking, or using public transportation.

Lesson 7: Why is Iditarod a Ghost Town ; Grades 4-12; Environmental Education, Social Studies; Students determine the best place to locate a village by evaluating several locations for available water resources, type of soil, signs of wildlife, and ease of travel.

Lesson 8: The Cold Hard Facts; Grades 4 and above; Technology, Science, Math;In this lesson students use an Excel spreadsheet to record temperature data from their local area and a location in Alaska.  They also use the graphing capability of Excel to create a graph that compares the 2 locations.

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Posted in Curriculum, Elementary, Environmental Education, Environmental Education, Environmental Education, High School, Math, Math, Math, Middle School, Science, Science, Science, Social Studies, Social Studies, Social Studies, Technology, Technology, Technology

Meet Target® 2010 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™Herb Brambley

Posted on June 22, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Herb Bramblely, Target® 2010 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™

Herb, along with his wife Jamie, who is a librarian, live in a log home they built and now share with 3 huskies, 5 cats, and a mule.  Herb is a K-6 environmental education and technology teacher at Southern Fulton Elementary School in Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania.  He is also a part time grant writer for the district and has been instrumental in helping the school secure more than $115,000 for the environmental program and the nature trail.  Herb says he has the best teaching job anywhere and also the biggest classroom, since his classroom is the 140 acre school property of woods and fields, which also includes a pond, wetlands, and several streams.

Before becoming a teacher, Herb had a variety of occupations.  He was a farmer, blacksmith, farrier, sawyer, machinist and tool and die maker.  Having these experiences has enriched Herb’s classroom by giving him the necessary background from which to draw upon in order to make real life situations a part of the curriculum in his classroom.  What better way is there to give meaning to learning other than to use the lessons to solve problems students may face once they are in the real world?  Herb was also a Youth Conservation Corp Crew Leader for the United States Forest Service at the Teton Basin Ranger District in Driggs, Idaho.  That was one of the most rewarding and fun jobs he says he ever had.  Imagine getting paid to experience the Tetons and all the adventures they provide and, at the same time, teach students how to care for a fantastic resource so that it is there for future generations.  Speaking of future generations, the next generation has recently been added to Herb’s family by way of a grandson Zeke, and a granddaughter Ella.

Herb also volunteers his time to several community organizations.   He has been treasurer for the local soccer club for 20 years, and because of his extensive experience playing and coaching soccer, he also is a clinician at soccer clinics for coaches.  After receiving the necessary training, Herb became a Trail Stewardship Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Equine Council.    His skill and experience in building and maintaining trail has also led to a volunteer position with the Mid State Trail Association as a trail maintainer.

One project Herb’s school will be participating in this year is the “Books to the Trail” program.  Schools involved in this program hold a fundraiser to help schools in need receive books.

When Herb isn’t coaching soccer you can find him working with his Huskies.  He recently acquired a dog sled and spent a major portion of his spare time last winter viewing the blue ridge mountains of Central Pennsylvania from the back of a dog sled.

If you ask Herb, there’s no better way to travel than dog sled and it sure beats the noise and toxic exhaust of a four-wheeler or snowmobile.

If you ask us, there will be no better way to spend the 2009 – 2010 school year than being on the Iditarod Trail with the Target® 2010 Iditarod Teacher on the TrailTM Herb Brambley.

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Posted in Announcements, Geography, Geography, Geography, News