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Lesson Plans: Engage Students and Enhance Learning!

It can be difficult and time consuming to find reliable resources for creating and implementing lesson plans, specifically those that point to interactive and engaging material.  Here are three that display high-quality content & align with learning standards: PBS LearningMedia, Illuminations and Library of Congress.

These resources are helpful to use while creating lesson plans for your classes and for use with students in the classroom. In addition to containing subject and topic specific videos, they are also rich in lesson planning and activity ideas, many aligned to learning standards.

PBS LearningMedia provides access to thousands of classroom-ready, curriculum-targeted digital resources. Resources are aligned to national standards and include videos and interactives, as well as audio, documents, and in-depth lesson plans. You can browse by standards, grade level, subject area, and special collections. To take full advantage of this resource, you will need to sign up for a free account.

Illuminations is designed to provide Standards-based resources that improve the teaching and learning of mathematics. Lessons and interactives are searchable by NCTM’s Principles and Standards and by the Common Core State Standards.

The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library’s vast digital collections in their teaching. You will find lesson plans that meet Common Core standards, state content standards, and the standards of national organizations.

In addition to providing access to online resources, Milne Library houses a large collection of teaching strategy guides. These guides, from all major subject areas, display a variety of teaching topics with summaries of best practices on teaching these topics.

A few titles include:

  • The writing strategies book: Your everything guide to developing skilled writers with 300 strategies by Jennifer Serravallo – call # curr 372.6 SER 2017
  • Differentiation in middle & high school: Strategies to engage all learners by Kristina J. Doubet, & Jessica A. Hockett – call # curr 371.9 DOU 2015
  • Problem-based learning in the earth and space science classroom, K-12 by Tom J. McConnell, Joyce Parker, & Janet Eberhardt – call # curr 550 MCC 2017
  • Teaching STEM outdoors: Activities for young children by Patty Born Selly – call# curr 372.3 SEL 2017
  • Developing fractions knowledge by Amy J. Hackenberg, Anderson Norton, & Robert J. Wright – call # curr 372.7 HAC 2016
  • Social studies & exceptional learners by Darren Minarik & Timothy Lintner – call #  curr 372.83 MIN 2016

For more resource ideas, visit the Education Lesson Planning guide, or contact the Education Librarian, Michelle Costello, directly at [email protected]

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Do you or someone you know love LEGO®? Then this event is for you!

Join SUNY Geneseo students and members of the Rochester Lego Users Group in exploring and creating with Lego® bricks!

WHEN:
Saturday, April 22, 2017 from 11:00am – 1:00pm (registration from 10:30-11:00)

WHERE:
SUNY Geneseo, Milne Library, TERC area  CLICK FOR MAP

Members of the Rochester Lego Users Group will introduce basic concepts in Lego® design and showcase some of their creations.  Attendees will get a chance to build their own creations, and explore physical and digital Lego® design. SUNY Geneseo students will be lending a hand to help younger enthusiasts in designing and creating their projects, however, parents must stay with children during the event.

This is the latest in several planned joint SUNY Geneseo and Community events involving LEGO® designed to bridge the gaps of fun and learning with students and families!

This event is FREE and open to anyone interested in Lego® creation and NO experience required!

For more information or to RSVP (not required!), please email Michelle Costello (costello@geneseo.edu)!

 

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Get Graphic: Bringing Literature to Reluctant Readers

Using graphic novels in the classroom is a great way to bridge what students already know with what they have yet to learn. Graphic novels are multimodal and help facilitate and support students’ ability to visualize and understand complicated ideas. In addition to being manageable for students to read, they are relevant, engaging, and approachable. Milne Library has recently acquired a large collection of graphic novels in a variety of subjects, topics, and reading levels. For help finding graphic novels, visit the reference desk or contact the Education & Instructional Design librarian, Michelle Costello.

A sampling of graphic novels found in Milne Library:

Coral Reefs: Cities of the Ocean
by Maris Wicks.

juv 741.5 WIC

A look at ocean science covering the biology of coral reefs as well as their ecological importance.

Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir
by Amy Kurzweil
juv 741.5 KUR

Flying couch tells the stories of three unforgettable women. Amy Kurzweil weaves her own coming-of-age as a young Jewish artist into the narrative of her mother, a psychologist, and Bubbe, her grandmother, a World War II survivor who escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto by disguising herself as a gentile. The voices and histories of these wise, hilarious, and very different women create a portrait not only of what it means to be part of a family, but also of how each generation bears the imprint of the past.

Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom
by Booki Vivat
juv F VIV

Nervous about middle school because her family does not get her and her friends know exactly what they want to do, Abbie Wu searches for her own passion before discovering a knack for leadership when injustices in the cafeteria come to light.

Such a Lovely Little War: Saigon, 1961-63 by Marcelino Truong ; translated by David Homel
ya 741.5 TRU

A memoir, in graphic novel form, on the early years of the Vietnam war through the eyes of a young Vietnamese boy.

The Maid of the Mist
by Tanya Anderson
juv 741.5 AND

In graphic novel format, retells the Native American legend about a young woman living along the Niagara River near its waterfalls who is transformed into a Thunder Being.

Sidewalk Flowers
by JonArno Lawson
juv P LAW

A little girl collects wildflowers while on a walk with her distracted father. Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter.

Space Dumplins
by Craig Thompson
juv 741.5 THO

For Violet Marlocke, family is the most important thing in the whole galaxy. So when her father goes missing while on a hazardous job, she can’t just sit around and do nothing. To get him back, Violet throws caution to the stars and sets out with a group of misfit friends on a quest to find him. But space is big and dangerous, and she soon discovers that her dad has been swallowed by a giant, planet-eating whale. With her father’s life on the line, nothing is going to stop Violet from trying to rescue him and keep her family together.

El Deafo
by Cece Bell
juv 741.5 BEL

In this graphic novel memoir, author/illustrator Cece Bell chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic Ear, a very powerful–and very awkward–hearing aid. The Phonic Ear gives Cece the ability to hear–sometimes things she shouldn’t–but also isolates her from her classmates. She really just wants to fit in and find a true friend, someone who appreciates her as she is. After some trouble, she is finally able to harness the power of the Phonic Ear and become “El Deafo, Listener for All.” And more importantly, declare a place for herself in the world and find the friend she’s longed for.

Sisters
by Raina Telgemeier
juv 741.5 TEL

Three weeks.

Two sisters.

One car.

A true story.


Tippy and the Night Parade: A Toon Book
by Lilli Carré
juv 741.5 CAR

Follow Tippy on a nocturnal adventure through mist, up a mountain, down a hole and back home.

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Need a place to work on creative projects? Imagine this!!

Welcome to the Imaginarium!!

We are Megan and Emily, second year students in the Childhood and Special Education program at SUNY Geneseo. We are your Imaginarium curators for the Spring 2017 semester and are always willing to help with your creative needs when it comes to projects! Here in the Imaginarium, there are lots of resources for your use. We have over 100 die cut stencils, three die-cut machines, a paper cutter and LOTS of space for project creations. The Imaginarium has limited resources this semester, but you’re welcome to use what we have to offer!

Everyone can use this space!

The Teacher Education Resource Center (TERC) space and the Imaginarium is available for everyone’s use. Located in Milne Library on the lower level, the TERC area and the Imaginarium have lots of resources to offer. TERC includes fiction and nonfiction books for all grade levels, puppets, videos, and other materials for teachers’ lessons. We encourage that students take advantage of these materials.

Our office hours are:

Monday 2:30-3:45
Wednesday 6:30-7:45

BOTH the TERC and Imaginarium are open during all library hours. If you have any question, concerns, or suggestions you can email the Imaginarium curators at [email protected] or [email protected].

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Igniting a passion for STEM with rich and engaging resources

STEM
Image credit: FlickrUser natàlia i xavier de Lu2

Are you interested in learning more about STEM activities and resources. Would you like to explore ways to incorporate STEM across the curriculum with the goal of building student understanding?

Connecting hands-on STEM activities with books, games or manipulatives can be a great way to strengthen understanding and literacy skills while inspiring inquiry and creativity.

Milne Library has recently acquired a collection of STEM books, games, and manipulatives. These high quality resources illustrate activities that encourage scientific and artistic creativity and help increase student learning.

A few items found in the collection include:

Books
Getting the most out of makerspaces to create with 3-D printers by Nicki Peter Petrikowski
High-tech DIY projects with 3D printing by Maggie Murphy
Lego awesome ideas by Daniel Lipkowitz
STEM to story: enthralling and effective lesson plans for grades 5-8 by Jennifer Traig

Manipulatives
Hands-on soft geometric solids
Molymod organic teacher set
Lego Education. Duplo: Animal bingo kit
STEM: simple machines STEM activity set

Games
Ion: a compound building game by John J. Coveyou
Prime climb: the beautiful, colorful, mathematical game
Pandemic by Matt Leacock

To learn more about STEM resources contact the Education Librarian, Michelle Costello ([email protected]).

In addition, read the following Education Update article by ASCD, “Teaching and Learning Resources for STEM Education.”

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Lesson Plans: Resources to Engage Students and Enhance Learning

MichellePostIt can be difficult to find the right website to use in lesson planning, specifically one that contains videos, activities, games or other engaging material. I am highlighting three that stand out: two because of their high-quality content & their alignment w/the Common Core (BrainPop & PBS LearningMedia), & one that specializes in hard-to-find educational videos (Kanopy Streaming Video).

These media resources are helpful to use while creating lesson plans for your classes and for use with students in the classroom. In addition to containing subject and topic specific videos, they are also rich in lesson planning and activity ideas, many aligned to the common core.

BrainPOP creates animated, curriculum-based content. Resources include: movies, quizzes, games, mobile apps, experiments, activity pages, and much more covering hundreds of topics within Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Technology, Arts & Music, and Health. All content is aligned to and searchable by state standards including Common Core.

PBS LearningMedia provides access to thousands of classroom-ready, curriculum-targeted digital resources. Resources are aligned to Common Core and national standards and include videos and interactives, as well as audio, documents, and in-depth lesson plans. You can browse by standards, grade level, subject area, and special collections.  You must be a SOE faculty member or student to access this resource. Please contact me if you have issues accessing the site.

Kanopy Streaming Video is an on-demand streaming video service for educational institutions that provides access to more than 26,000 films. Over 80 subject areas range from Global Studies & Languages to the Arts, to Education (K-12); Technical Training to Career Development to LGBT.

For more media resource ideas, visit the Education Lesson Planning guide, or contact the Education Librarian, Michelle Costello, directly at [email protected]

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Wave Machines, Puppets, and a Scavenger Hunt: The Perfect Field Trip!

On Friday, March 27, SUNY Geneseo was host to four 3rd graders and their teachers from the Genesee Valley BOCES program. The purpose of the visit was to introduce the students (all on the Autism Spectrum) to the idea of attending college and for them to experience the life of a college student (at least for one day). Each of the visiting students was paired up with a Geneseo School of Education student, who served  as their “buddy” for the day. The following is a write-up from one of the buddys.
miranda2“…I was able to spend the morning and afternoon with four great students from the BOCES program. My buddy for the day was a third grader named Makayla. We spent the morning looking at the wave machine in the Science building at Geneseo and seeing the cool things that happened when waves caused erosion on a shoreline! At lunch Makayla and I sat together with another student, Landon, and his college-buddy. They were telling us all about themselves including their pets and siblings and even what they have learned in school this year (they were especially excited to tell us about their fraction knowledge).  Makayla was full of questions about college and was really interested with the fact that we lived here as well as went to school! We next got to have some fun running around campus during our scavenge hunt. Makayla was especially excited about finding a colorful piano in the College Union, and even started to play some notes! When we finally arrived at our last location, the library, there were prizes waiting for the students. Makayla was really excited about her prizes and showed them off all around! It was a great time to read with her and see her interest in all the different books and puppets she could look at and use in the library. Overall it was a great day filled with lots of fun and excitement!”

patrick2lauren2andy2

This was an amazing experience, not only for the 3rd graders but for the Geneseo students (and staff) as well! We hope that this is just the first in many such opportunities.

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The Imaginarium: A creative Space for SOE Students

The Imaginarium is an open space located in Milne Library on the Lower Level. It is place where School of Education students have access to a wide variety of materials and resources that help them to create dynamic lessons, displays, bulletin boards, models and many more projects.

imaginarium-collageThe Imaginarium helps students connect manipulatives and other additive resources such as, games, textbooks, and videos to their lessons and assignments to create more exciting and lively projects and presentations.

The Imaginarium is also available to clubs, organizations, and the community to use along side the wide variety of materials in the TERC collection, including lots of fiction and non-fiction children books, games, and puppets.

Office hours are on Monday and Wednesday from 7pm-9pm. Please feel free to stop by with questions or help you need with upcoming projects! In addition send an email directly to the Imaginarium curator, Miranda ([email protected]) or Education Librarian, Michelle Costello ([email protected]).

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Picture Perfect! Teaching with Picture Books

picturebooksThe adage “A picture is worth a thousand words” rings especially true when talking about picture books. Anyone who has browsed through bookstore or library shelves can attest to the fact that a compelling photo or illustration on the cover may entice us to pick up a rather dull sounding book. We may ask ourselves “Why is there a skull and crossbones on the cover”, or “what is that woman thinking, swimming with that shark?”

In addition to making texts more appealing the artwork in picture books can make it easier for readers to make sense of the accompanying (sometimes complex) text. This can be particularly helpful to classroom teachers who are looking for ways to introduce complicated or controversial topics to their students.

Milne Library has a large collection of picture books on various subjects and themes such as: geometry, human impact on the earth, disabilities, grief, and acceptance. Using picture books to introduce these topics can help both the teacher (making it easier to cover difficult to understand content) and the students (may engage them with content they normally wouldn’t choose).

All children’s picture books are located on the lower level of the library in the Teacher Education Resource Center (TERC). A few new titles, with summaries (from the catalog/book jacket), are listed below. For help on locating these books visit this site or contact the education librarian, Michelle Costello ([email protected]).

Titles:

  • Bats on Parade by Kathi Appelt — “On a midsummer’s night the Marching Bat Band makes a rare appearance, its members grouped in formations that demonstrate multiplication from two times two up to ten times ten.”
  • A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz — “The renowned cat conservationist reflects on his early childhood struggles with a speech disorder, describing how he only spoke fluently when he was communicating with animals and how he resolved at a young age to find his voice to be their advocate.”
  • Cloud Spinner by — Michael Catchpool “When the king orders a boy to make him a huge wardrobe out of the clouds in the sky, the boy warns him that it is more than he needs but the king does not listen.”
  • Half a World Away by Libby Gleeson — “When Louie’s best friend Amy moves to the other side of the world, Louie must find a way to reconnect with her.”
  • House Held Up by Trees by Ted Kooser– “Built on a treeless yard by a family who cleared away all the sprouting trees on the property, a house is eventually abandoned and left to deteriorate on a lot that is gradually overrun by wild trees, in a poignant tale of loss, change, and nature’s quiet triumph.”
  • Same, Same, but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw — “Pen pals Elliot and Kailash discover that even though they live in different countries–America and India–they both love to climb trees, have pets, and ride a school bus.”
  • The Tin Forest by Helen Ward– “An old man’s persistent dreams transform a garbage dump into a forest full of life.”
  • Varmints. Part One by Helen Ward & Marc Craste — “When tall buildings and loud noise drown out the sounds of bees in the grass and birds in the sky, one soul cares enough to start over again and help nature thrive.”

 

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Imagine This! Creative Space for SOE Students

The Imaginarium is a place of creativity. It is an open area that contains materials, ideas, and tools that can be used to enhance learning. School of Education students can use the space to meet for projects, use the material to create bulletin boards, complete assessment pieces, and use a variety of resources, models, and manipulates available in TERC to enhance lessons.

imaginarium-collageTeachers can send students to the Imaginarium as a resource of ideas for lesson plans, projects, and unit plans.

The area is also open to the community. We would love to encourage members to explore the fiction and nonfiction novels available for variety of grade levels. In addition, there are many games and resources available for students to practice skills.

Office hours are available on Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6-8pm. Please stop by and meet with the Imaginarium curator for help with your projects.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last you create what you will.” So visit the Imaginarium and allow your imagination to flow.