ORC Lesson Plan

 This is a science lesson plan for first graders.  Using the internet, the students will explore insects.  I will have some live insects in the classroom for observation.  The students will then pick one to learn more about and make of model of it.  As they makes plans for their model, they will be learning about specific body parts and the uses of them.

LIFE SCIENCE - GRADE 1
Basic Needs of Living Things
Living things have basic needs, which are met by obtaining materials from the physical environment.
Living things survive only in environments that meet their needs.
NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS
Science as Inquiry
Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry (Grades Kindergarten - 4)
Life Science
The characteristics of organisms (Grades Kindergarten - 4)
These Common Core standards will be met when the students observe, read about, and make a model of their chosen insect.  They will learn how the insect’s body allows it to survive in its environment.

I would use this lesson in the fall while we could go outside to observe insects in their natural environment.  I would have the students look through books and use the internet to expose them to numerous insects.  Trying to learn and understand the different parts and uses of an insect would be very challenging for first graders. It could also be very difficult for them to create a model of their chosen insect based on which they choose and what materials they decide to use.  Since this lesson also covers some of the Common Core standards for third graders, we would work with a third grade class to help with certain parts of the lesson. They would be responsible for answering the questions listed below.  















http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/insect-mo






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Assistive Technology for Students with Dyslexia

   Dyslexia is listed under Learning Disabilities in the categories of disabilities of IDEA. This problem often goes undetected in the early years, because children develop academically at different ages.  Dyslexia is caused by the brain's inability to take the images that are seen and heard and turn them into an understandable language.  The severity of dyslexia can range from mild to severe.  During testing of people with severe dyslexia, it was seen that the side of the brain that is mostly used for reading was very inactive, while the opposite side was working extremely hard.   Having dyslexia as a student, causes a lot of learning struggles.  These children struggle to learn to read because they do not see the written language as the average person does.  As they do begin to learn, their reading fluency is very slow because they have to read word by word instead of seeing several words at a time. They struggle with comprehension because they lose the meaning since they have to stop and decode so many words.  These children also struggle with spelling.  They cannot close their eyes and picture a word like other children.  Since math is a form of reading and processing to solve the problem, children with this disability often struggle in this subject as well.  Unfortunately, these students will struggle with more subjects as they get older and have to do more independent reading in subjects such as science and history.   

   One assistive technology for children with dyslexia is Bookshare which is the world's largest online library. https://www.bookshare.org/_/home/learnMore This online library is free and provides about 90,000 digital books, textbooks and books recommended by teachers for any student in the U.S. who qualifies.  The qualifying students are given the password that their school uses in order to access the books.  The students can complete reading assignments in a timely manner when using these books.  

   There are electronic pens that can help students with dyslexia. http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/tools/software-assistive-technology   One is called Livescribe SmartPen.  Often these students have a difficult time keeping up with taking notes during a class lecture.  This pen will record the lecture at the same time the student is using it to write notes.  If the students misses something, the pen can be tapped on the paper and they can hear what was missed.  The notes taken using this pen are transferred wirelessly to a device the student has set up to receive them such as a computer or Ipad.  There is also ReadingPen 2  that can help the struggling reader.  The pen can scan a text and then it can be enlarged to make it easier to read.  The pen can read the text aloud and break a word into syllables so the reader can sound it out.  It also comes with vocabulary games and a thesaurus.

   So much progress has been made to help students with dyslexia.  It was exciting to me to see all of the different devices that can help these children.  They will continue to develop  ATs that will eventually become more affordable and available in each school.  There will be more items like the SmartPen that will greatly benefit these students.  There will be apps that can be downloaded to a phone or Ipad that will help with decoding words and comprehension.   

References:

http://www.ncld.org/students-disabilities/assistive-technology-education/apps-students-ld-dyslexia-reading-difficulties

http://www.idaga.org/Downloads/AssistiveTechnologyForDyslexicStudents.pdf

http://www.medicinenet.com/dyslexia/page2.htm#what_causes_dyslexia_what_are_the_different_types_of_dyslexia

http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/tools/software-assistive-technology

My Xtranormal Video

1st Day of School
by: KNadolson

Interacting with student
In this video, I am greeting a little girl who comes into class early. We introduce ourselves and discuss what she did on her summer vacation. We talk about some of the things we will be doing in class and then she heads to her desk as the other students arrive.

Picmonkey

It was fun to play around with Picmonkey.  I am sure my students will really enjoy it.  I changed the coloring to give it an antique look and added the overlays.  I chose the hearts since it is close to Valentine's Day.  I wrote Happy Valentine's Day on the bottom, but it was a poor choice of font.  My own children will have fun using this to make silly pictures of themselves and their friends.

Ohio DL Schools

   After looking at the five Ohio DL schools, I would choose Ohio Connections Academy if I was going to have my child do an online school.  They were the only e School that was rated excellent in 2010 by the Ohio Department of Education.  ODE's report card has shown two successive years of adding more than a year of academic growth for each student.  When I am making decisions about an investment, I like to see what others have to say about it.  Looking at this website, I see that 90+% of the families involved with OCA agree that the curriculum is high quality, that their children are satisfied with the program, the parents are satisfied with the teacher helpfulness and they would recommend the school to others.  I also like that they have field trips, clubs and other activities so the children involved can interact. 

   The e School that would be the last choice for my child is Virtual Community School.  I know the website is not the important part in deciding on a school, but theirs was not appealing.  I did not like that they were advertising a free laptop to promote their school. When reading about the school, it seemed that it was geared to students who had some reason they could not attend the public school, such as a physical or learning handicap or behavioral issues.  It did not seem to sell the idea that students should participate in this school because they will get a better education than in their public school.    

The Online Disinhibition Effect

This was very challenging for me. I was not familiar with how this worked, therefore I was very slow, while Melissa is very strong with her computer skills and quick. I felt like I was a beginner on the piano playing Mary Had a Little Lamb while Melissa was playing a piece from Mozart. I was very pleased with the end result. I really liked this assignment, so in my own "slow" time, my husband and I made one using OSU as our theme. This was fun to learn.