PBS Teachers

The World Wide Web provides an endless amount of resources for anyone and everyone. When thinking about the teaching world: blogs, freebies, cutouts, and lesson plans are just a few online sources for teachers. Instead of going from web page to web page,  pbs.org/teachers allows teacher to sign up free of charge and have endless resources all within one site.

After signing up, the site can be a lot to handle, a recommendation would be sorting through it all based on the grade level that you teach. For example, a third grade teacher would click on the 3-5 category. After doing so, navigate based on the subject area of interest. A Social Studies lesson, could be found best by looking under the Social Studies subject area. This page automatically brings up 75 different pages to choose from (not to mention how many lesson ideas are on each page)! Next, filter resources again by choosing the topic, media type, and PBS program. Lesson plans are available for so many different sub subject under Social Studies and there are mulitiple different sources available.

Another aspect that PBS offers is a PBS Kids in the Classroom page. The site says, "Many producers create educational materials to help teachers reinforce the learning goals of PBS KIDS programming. For each of the on-air or Web-original series below, teachers can find information on the educational philosophy of the series, episode descriptions and related online content, and classroom activities or lesson plans to help extend the learning of PBS KIDS programming in the classroom." Clearly this is a wonderful resource for students to use! Off of this page there are many other sites for students to also check out!

The PBS Teachers Blogs page allows teachers to go on and discuss with others different topics of their choice. Along with this, a professional development page is also available.

PBS Teachers LIVE! is a great way to watch different recordings and audio pertaining to things of interest for teachers. The webinar calendar is also displayed for future viewings.

In conclusion, resources are available to teachers for everyting inside of the classroom! Be creative by using ideas and materials that will help you with your grade level, subject area, or specific lesson. As teachers we are working together to create a future for students today. Get involved and get online! Visit http://www.pbs.org/teachers/ today!

Fun with Pixton!

This was my first Pixton experience, and let me tell you...it was actually fun! I have been working with technology for quite some time now, but I have never really enjoyed it or found it fun- until I met Pixton. The site allows you to create comic strips (and they even have a school version)- the comics can be 100% handmade or you can use templates/backgrounds/characters/props all from the site.
For my specific comic I created it for my third grade class and it is on helping your community. I also made a secondary comic for the students to finish and to also find ways to help the community using their own creativity. I think that my students will actually really enjoy this because it combines many interactive ideas- from color to characters to pictures and even more!
I would highly recommend someone who is interested in teaching a unique lesson in a fun way to make a Pixton comic! It is even easy for beginners or new users because there are tutorials and how-to's.