Wednesday, July 9, 2014

What Day is It?

I attended my first ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference last week!
And there are so many ideas, resources, and experiences bouncing around in my head!!!
I am not even sure what to write about first …
So I am going to start by writing about a resource that was not new to me …
Not new? Why start there?
I am going to share some of the pieces of that resource that are new to me!
In the past, I have shared the ReadWriteThink site as a content partner of Wonderopolis and a few things I have found on the site.  
I had the chance to attend a session at ISTE on using ReadWriteThink throughout the day in the classroom (which is an awesome way to structure a session) … and found some really neat things that I want to use and share!
One of those is the Calendar Activies that can be viewed by day, week, and even month!
What a treasure chest full of ideas!!!!
Have you ever had one of those days where you seem to be all out of ideas? Or a day where nothing seems to be going right no matter how much you planned? What if you just need an informative time filler, conversation starter, or even a journal prompt?
The ReadWriteThink Calendar Activities can help in all of those situations and more!!!!
Let’s start by looking at the listings for this week:
Just from a quick glance at the first page, do you have some ideas?
And it doesn't even matter if you don’t use it on that date!!! :)
You can use as much or as little as works for what you need!
The July 7th teaser caught my attention, so I clicked to see what I would find …
So one of the first things I noticed is that this information and activity can be adapted to meet student needs at any grade level!
I like the navigation helpers at the top of the screen (reminds me a bit of a table of contents) so you can go straight to what you need or want! What do you think the leader said in his return letter?
Here are just a few of my initial ideas:
  • The event description would make a great into or fuel for a brainstorming session … or even for a journal topic
  • Think about the questions that could stem from that … What was going on in the world at that time to prompt her to write that letter? If you could write a letter to a world leader, who would it be and what would it say?
Then you have the Classroom Activities which include links to resources and even another list of resources below (not pictured). Remember you can use as much or as little as you want …
You can use what you find as a jumping off point …
You can use it as a springboard for student learning …
You can use the information to connect to something else you are learning …
There is no telling how many ways you could use this!
And guess what?!?!?!!
At the bottom of the Calendar Activity page, you can find even more!!!

Look at the wide variety of resources and audiences!
Do you have a certain day (like a birthday or a special day in your classroom) that you want to look for? Then you are in luck since the calendars for all 12 months are always available!
The RWT Calendar Activities would be great to use even if you don’t have a calendar time … when you search RWT Resources, the Calendar Activities are included in the results, so you never know what you might find!
Go see what you can find and do!

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