AACPS OIT Byte

 By: Samantha Wilkinson, OIT Elementary Teacher Specialist Tomorrow is March. You know the saying... In like a lion, out like a lamb! Of course for us it has been more like experiencing every season in a week. Either way, there is a lot going on in March, especially in Discovery Education.  To start, Read Across America Day is on Thursday, March 2nd. Did you know DE has a channel that is a collection of storybooks brought to life through animation and voice? In partnership with Vooks, this collection of stories is great way to have students hear someone else read a favorite book, or to access text that might not be available in your school library. See the collection here .  Consider choosing " Sweet People Are Everywhere ", written by Alice Walker. After students listen to the story, they can use the studio board questions for discussion. Or perhaps share this video , which features the author reading the book and being interviewed along with the illustrator, Quim Torres...

  By Tracey Brown, Instructional Technology Teacher Specialist The Project At the start of this school year, like many central office teachers, I was asked to teach a class. I taught a one semester 6th grade science elective called Mission to the Stars. Throughout the course students learn about space exploration, what we have done, what we have planned for future missions, what we have learned and what we hope to learn. The overarching question is, “why are we exploring space?” And the answer (for the purposes of this course) is to find habitable planets, Earth-like planets that we could someday travel to and possibly colonize. The course culminates with a project in which the students are supposed to design and build a colony on a habitable planet that we have yet to discover. Their project must include 9 elements from throughout our course that colonist would need to survive on another planet: A research center A medical facility A recreation center Dormitories Bathrooms/showers...

By: Samantha Wilkinson, OIT Teacher Specialist Let's celebrate Black History Month by using our instructional technology applications to highlight the lives, contributions, and impacts of Black Americans, Black culture and Black history.  Wixie: Give students a choice in how they show their learning and new information from Black History Month lessons and research. Have students create a historical newsletter, trading card on a historical figure, and more . Consider using the Black History Month Choice board : Discovery Education:  Black History Month Channel “The resources in this channel can be utilized to offer new perspectives, drive a deeper cultural understanding, and help students see themselves in history.” K-2 Beautiful Shades of Brown  Growing up in the late 19th century, Laura Wheeler Waring didn't see any artists who looked like her. She didn't see any paintings of people who looked like her, either. This DE board has students hear a reading of the book, an...