Read these accounts of Notable Climbing Accidents, particularly the ones where the climber cut his own arm off to save himself, and where one climber cut the rope that was holding his partner.
What would you have done in those two situations? Why?
Look at this chart of the ten tallest mountains in the world. Do some research on them using the Internet. Without including Everest, if you had to pick one you were going to climb, which one would it be? Why?
You have to pick one even if you don’t really want to climb any of them!
Type your Jamaica essay in a Word document. Print it out, and also copy and paste it in the comments section of this post.
After you’re done, complete the Corkboard in the previous post.
Use Corkboard to create a bulletin board of the two Jamaica Data Sets.
Please post the link in the comments section.
Go to Fotobabble, and pick a photo from here.
Record your song — reading it with feeling or singing it, and paste the link in the comments section of this post.
Type your biographical essay on Bob Marley in a Word document, print it out, and also copy and paste it in the comments section of this post.
Use Fotobabble to record your “Jamaica-speak” dialogue.
Paste the url address to your recording in the comments section of this blog.
Remember to read and speak with feeling.
Use Bookr to make a slideshow out of you “ABC” paragraph on music.
Email it to yourself, and then post the link in the comments section.
If you’ve completed your other English assignments, and have a few minutes left in class and don’t want to start a new project, you can play these learning games. After you play all of them, please leave a comment saying which you like the best and why:
Headline Clues from Michigan State University is a great activity. In the game, you’re shown the lead paragraph, but letters from two words in the headline are missing. Players have to use clues in the first paragraph to identify what the missing words should be. As you play the online version, you can ask for clues.
Wordmaster is from the BBC. In it, you’re shown a sentence with a word missing (indicated by a blank). Then you have to click on an on-screen keyboard to type the correct word “hangman” style. You can ask for clues, and you’re competing against the clock. You can also choose various levels of difficulty, and the game has thousands of words. And after you’ve either guessed the correct word or the timer is up, you can have the sentence read to you.
Free Rice is the “granddaddy” of “cause-related” games. If you choose the correct definition of the word, the next word you’re given is “harder.” If you answer incorrectly, the next word is supposed to be “easier.” In addition, for every word you get correct, ten grains of rice are donated to an international aid agency. A year-and-a-half ago, the BBC published a story quoting United Nations’ officials as saying the game has generated enough funds to feed 50,000 for a day at that time. Free Rice recently expanded its game and now has questions related to grammar, geography, art, foreign language and math, too.
Other games:
Wordmaster (different link)
English Grammar Lessons has tons of engaging activities. Click on the grammar lesson you want on the left side of the page and, then, when you get there, click on any of the exercises that will be on the right side.
A group of fifth-grade students from a nearby elementary school would like you to try and answer their questions.
Please go to their blog, look at the comments, and reply to any of their questions you think you can answer.
If you are ever done early on Fridays with the assignments from Ms. Hull or Mr. Ferlazzo, you can do any of these activities for additional extra credit and paste the link in the comments section of this post:
MAKE A BOOK, FLYER OR BROCHURE: Simple Booklet is a great tool that lets you create online books and reports that can be embedded or linked to by its url address. It’s free, you can grab images and videos off the web, and extremely simple to use. No registration is required.
ANNOTATE A WEBPAGE: WebKlipper lets you easily, without requiring registration, annotate any webpage with virtual post-it notes or a highlighter. You’re then given the url address of the annotated webpage. It’s quite easy to use. Students can use it to demonstrate reading strategies (visualizing, asking questions, making a connection, etc.).
MAKE A SLIDESHOW: Bookr is about as easy of a slideshow maker as they get. You can search through images with a tag word, drag them into a flip-like book, and add text.
CREATE A TEST: Testmoz is an app that lets you create an online, self-correcting quiz without having to register.
MAKE A LIST: Thinkmeter lets you makes lists. If you pick an item from Amazon, it will show an image of the item and, at least if you list a book, it will also show a description of it. In addition, if you insert the url address of an image from the Web, it will show it. You can post the link to your survey wherever you please. You can’t write descriptions of the items as you are making the list. However, once it’s made, you are given the ability to make a comment on each item. I think it’s the best thing out there (that doesn’t require registration) for students to make a list of their favorite books and explain why they picked each one, or, if we’re studying a unit like “Jamaica,” listing the things they like best about the country and explaining why for each one.
MAKE A MAP: Zee Maps, without registration, lets you create a map and add media by pasting the url address of any photo you grab off the Web.
MAKE A GAME OTHERS CAN PLAY: Jeopardy Labs lets you easily create an online Jeopardy game without having to register. Maybe I’m the only teacher who feels this way, but I’ve always found that playing Jeopardy the way they do on TV — giving players the answer and then they have to come-up with the question — is confusing. Please ignore the site’s instructions and just write the questions first and the answers second so that the board displays the question.
CREATE A WALLWISHER TO SUMMARIZE DATA SETS: Wallwisher lets you make a virtual wall of “sticky notes” where you can include images, text, and/or videos. You can summarize the categories from any data set and use them to create a Wallwisher. (Corkboard might be an easier tool to use)
CREATE AN INTERNET SCAVENGER HUNT: You have been completing Internet Scavenger Hunts or Webquests. Now it’s time to create your own for your classmates to complete. Design a scavenger hunt with at least fifteen questions, using the older ones you’ve completed as models. Write the questions and paste the url addresses where their answers can be found on Copytaste. You just have to make the list of questions and websites and the page is automatically converted into a website whose url address can be pasted on our class blog.
CREATE A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION: Like the online book and slideshow tools mentioned at the top of this list, converting something you’ve written in class (or writing a short piece in the computer lab about a topic we’re learning) into a PowerPoint presentation and uploading it to Slideshare is another project you can do.
SEND AN E-CARD: In several of our units, students write “postcards” to people they know from the places we are studying, sometimes including some of the local dialect or slang. Nations Illustrated has thousands of world images. Imagine that you are in the place we are studying, choose an image, and write a postcard. Email it to yourself and then post the link on the comments section of this post.
Using Bookr, please make a slideshow about any aspect of Jamaica that we’re learning about — history, Bob Marley, Rasta, etc.
Post the link in the comments section.
You might want to start your research here.
Play these two online games and then please write in the comments section three things you’ve learned:
Please complete this Internet Scavenger Hunt on Bob Marley and Jamaica.
Copy questions from this page and paste them into a Word document.
You can find the answers to the questions here.
Please type your Nelson Mandela biographical essay in a Word document. Then, both print it out and paste it in the comments section of this post.
Do the same for your essay on Reconciliation.
Write a one sentence summary of each category in the second Mandela data set and use them to create a Wallwisher.
Post the url address of your Wallwisher in the comments section of this post.
Please type your Letter To A Young Child in a Word document,and copy it in the comments section of this post.
Go to The Best Sites For Learning About Nelson Mandela.
With your partner, find at least five new pieces of information to add to each category and write them down on a piece of paper.
Copy and paste the questions in this Webquest onto a Word document.
Please type the answers next to each question and print it out when you’re done. Be sure to put your name on it. Turn it into Ms. Hull or Mr. Ferlazzo.
This is a much more complicated Webquest on South Africa. It is designed for four people to complete. However, each student will do it individually. Each week, you must complete one of the four assignments, print them out, and give them to Mr. Ferlazzo or Ms. Hull.
Please type your Cesar Chavez Biographical Essay on a Word document, and then copy and paste it in the comments section of this post.