"Economics in the Elementary Classroom
posted Sep 3, 2010 6:31 PM by lezlie harris [ updated Sep 3, 2010 6:50 PM ]
I am so convinced that little children learn more by pretending and playing. I recently found a role-playing economics unit on the Scholastic site. During this unit, the teacher creates a community in the classroom where children apply for jobs, keep time sheets for those jobs, tally their wages, receive a pay check, cash it at the bank, and shop in the class store. Wow, how powerful is that! Think of all the concepts that can be taught within this unit! I can teach data, charts, graphs, money, persuasive writing, and many social studies standards.
Since I am always trying to convert classroom activities into elearning activities, here is a Google Template for submitting job applications. My 2nd graders have loved submitting these applications. Their responses are so sweet! I may copy them to include in my parent conferences."
"There's no right age for having that money talk with your kids. If he or she can spend or borrow, they sure can learn to save and invest. As a recent Reuters article says, it's important to start early because by the time your child reaches high school, their money habits are already forming.
So, the buck stops with the parents. Start the money education at the dinner table or take the help of these interactive websites that impart financial literacy in a fun way."
"Last week, I began to sketch out the current poetry unit I am teaching in the seventh grade. I am still not ready to share the "paper work." You now the objectives, essential questions, assessments, and criteria. I have it all planned out, but I don't feel the need to document that part of the story on my blog just yet. I want the story of this unit to be like the work with my students; we are still trying to pry ourselves away from the literal. English is not their first language you see, so they are having a difficult time allowing language to set them free. They still cling to what they know and write exactly what they see. They cannot see that poetry is the key that will free them from the shackles of language acquisition"
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Looking for hands-on training on Tech Tuesday topics? Here is a quick tip to use the archive videos as a hands-on, just-in-time, training tool:
Open two browser windows side-by-side (one for the tool you plan to learn (if using an online tool like SharePoint or WordPress) and the other with the Tech Tuesday list of archives.) OR open the desktop application and a browser window with the Tech Tuesday archive list.
Click on the link for the Tech Tuesday archive you want to view (make sure your speakers are on or use a headset)
Pause the archive to try a task demonstrated and try that task in your the appropriate window. You can then hit the play button when ready to continue. You can also move the scroll bar to either review or skip ahead."
"This list of top tweeters is specifically designed with maths teachers in mind. Many of the tweeters are fellow maths teachers from across the globe whilst others are people who get very excited about maths and just love to tweet about it. Many of these people tweet about a lot besides maths but I think each of them would be a valuable addition to your timeline if you're a maths teacher or interested in maths. Follow them if you'd like links, ideas and conversation about maths and maths teaching."
"Assessment of how students meet these goals is done by the students themselves, as for each piece they publish they write a reflection where they identify and explain aspects of their piece that show the following:
-evidence of themselves as thinkers
-evidence of using revision to improve their writing
-evidence of how they worked through challenges
I love using this method as a way to assess my students' writing, which I was introduced to last summer at the UNC Charlotte Writing Project. It focuses students attention on their own process, encourages them to try new ideas and approaches, respects their diversity, and guides students in being better able to talk about their own thinking and learning.
Up until today, I've been having my students complete this reflective/metacognitive assignment by responding to these directions on their own sheet of paper, which they then would turn in to me.
But this morning while I was preparing my class for the day, it occurred to me that Diigo's web highlighter and sticky note tools would allow students to carry out that same assignment without paper. In addition, it would also take students less time to complete, let others read the reflections they wrote, and make it easier for me to access and assess their work. "