The exciting world of Ancient World Civilization!

As a resource special education teacher, it is clear that many different hats will be worn each and everyday. A few of my hats this school year are Resource Ancient Civilization teacher, Resource US History teacher, Support teacher (more information about that in a later post), as well as a CT teacher in 7th grade Science, 8th grade US History, and 6th grade Geography. Yes, the feeling of being overwhelmed comes quite often. 

I have enjoyed history as a student for many years, and being able to pass on some of the powerful events in history to my students in order for them to understand how they came to be in our powerful nation is exciting. Ancient World Civilization can sometimes be difficult for the students to relate to due to the major differences we see from the beginning of civilizations to our world today. Some connections can be early farming techniques to how we get our food today, or the fact the Egyptians explored so much about the body that they were able to teach us about anatomy. It is true...I have gone as far as to say "If you would like to be a professional football player, you are going to need to know how your body structure works." It's OK to stretch a little. 

The bottom line is...working some technology into what we are learning can be a powerful tool to solidify the understanding of a concept. I want to share a resource that I have to be engaging for my 7th graders. Another great plug for this site: It's FREE. Below in the logo for the site and the link, so you can find yourself in the right place. 

The Children's University of Manchester

This site has so many opportunities for active and engaging learning. I, so far, have been able to use the Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece sections of the resource, but there is so much more to offer. Language, Art & Design, and Science also have active learning resources here too. 

Below is an image from the site that shows a the beginning of the interactive game when teaching the Ancient Egyptians gods and goddess. 

I hope you are able to explore all that this site has too offer. We have enjoyed it in 1st hour AWC!

Enjoy, 

Emily 

Character Education Lessons

As we continue down the journey of creating a school with Multi-Tiers of Intervention, students best interest is, of course, at the heart of all of the many changes. We have transitioned our 'Academic Lab' time to a 45 minuter class period twice per week. This had made a tremendous that opportunity to provide some very important and needed interventions during the school day. When sharing this change with the staff and even colleagues from other schools, we were met with the same question time and time again. "What are the students who do not need intervention during to do during this time?" This is a difficult question to answer, especially at the beginning of such a big transition for our building. While the hope is to eventually offer extension lessons specific to student interest, the focus has become to use the time for students who do not require intense intervention to experience future planning skills as well as character education lessons. A great foundation for our middle school students as they begin the decision making process for the rest of our lives. 

Below are a couple of the lessons created for character education purposes during Academic Lab:

The Kindness Boomerang:

This lesson focuses on the simple act of kindness. The lesson was created around a video that has been circling the internet showing small acts of kindness passed from one individual to another. The lesson includes an brainstorming time for students to determine acts of kindness they can perform for others in their daily lives and scenarios of social situations that allow students to determine ways to show kindness. Even my 8th grade students found this lesson intriguing and worth their time!

Click the link to go to the Essential Edification TpT store for the Kindness Boomerang Character Education Lesson. 

The Kindness Boomerang

Our Digital Footprint:

This lesson focuses on the fact that all actions in the world of technology can never be erased. Especially in the secondary schools, but also in the elementary schools, the use of technology is a topic of conversation that should be taken very seriously. This lesson allows students to think about their use of technology and how it effects the friendships, relationships, families, and even their very bright futures. This lesson forces students to ask themselves, "What digital footprint are you leaving?"

          Click the link to go to the Essential Edification TpT store for the Digital                                   Footprint Character Education Lesson. 

                                              Our Digital Footprint 

Thank you so much for stopping by, 

Emily