I
am glad that you and your students have decided to use this
interactive web site to complete your Bearstone book
unit.
This
page is designed to help you, the teacher, get started on
this interactive book unit and work through it successfully
and with little trouble. This is what you can find on the
Teacher Resource page:
Getting started.
Computer programs needed to complete the
unit.
Structure of each unit.
Worksheets for your students.
Overview of Discussions and obtaining
Key Codes.
How the online questions work.
Vocabulary
Various
resources for you and your students.
Puzzles
& Games
Final Reminder
Getting
started.
Here are the steps you should follow to help get
your interactive Bearstone Unit off to a good start.
1. Read through the entire Teacher Resource page.
2. If possible read the Bearstone book. (You can also
read it along with your students.)
3. Review the entire web site. Doing this after you have read
the book will help you to better understand the layout of
the unit. Become familiar with the layout of the site.
4. It would be a good idea to take a day and "tour"
the web site with your students. This will help familiarize
them with the site layout, how to navigate the site, and in
what order they are to complete the required work. The more
comfortable your students are with the technology aspect of
this unit, the smoother things will run
5. If possible, obtain the map of the region in Colorado described
in the book. All of the locations mentioned in the book are
really in the southwestern part of the state. Having this
map on hand will help your students complete their own Colorado
Maps. You can get the map by contacting Trails Illustrated
Maps, P.O. Box 3610, Evergreen, CO 80439-1643. Order map #140,
Colorado Weminuche Wilderness. Phone 1-800-962-1643. You can
also acquire the AAA road map called "Indian Country."
Either speak to your local AAA or order from: AAA, 1000 AAA
Drive, Heathrow, FL 32746-5063. (You can find names of locations
on Will Hobb's Official Web Site. You will find this link
on the "Will Hobbs" page.)
6. Always have a back-up plan! Who knows when a server may
be down and you are unable to access some or all of the online
resources. Be prepared. Keep offline books and resources handy.
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Computer
programs needed to complete the unit.
In order to access all of the web site's resources, you will
need to have the following programs on your computer. All
of them are FREE!
An email address (Is needed to receive student's work.)
If you do not have an email address, you
can get a free email account at Yahoo.
Adobe
Acrobat Reader (Is needed to download all PDF files.)
WinAmp
(Is needed to listen to vocabulary words.) (top)
Structure
of each unit.
Each unit is structured in the same fashion. You
can visit "The Bear's Den" for a complete overview
of this structure.
As the
teacher, you have the choice as to what order the work for
each unit is completed. Obviously you will want the reading
to be completed first. You can then let students know in what
order you want Ongoing Work, Unit Work, Discussion, and Questions
completed. I would recommend that you have students complete
the Questions as the very last thing for each unit.
Feel free
to add additional work and/or modify the current work for
each unit. As your student's teacher, you know their needs
and abilities the best. You will also want to let your students
know what work for the unit will need to be handed in to you.
You will
notice on Unit 9, the Post-Reading unit, that students have
the opportunity to choose which activities they would like
to complete. Based on the individual abilities of your students,
you will need to let them know how many activities they need
to select and complete.
In the
"Various Resources" section below, you will find
additional resources that may help with instruction and assessment
before, during and after the unit. (top)
Worksheets
for your students.
There are several worksheets that your students will need
throughout the unit. If you do not want them to print the
worksheets on their own, you can provide them with copies
of the worksheets. You can download each worksheet below.
Technology
Behavior Contract (PDF File) - Described
in the discussion section below.
The
Guide (PDF File)
Cause
& Effect Chart (PDF
File)
Character
Map (PDF File)
Colorado
Map (PDF File)
Chapter
Titles (PDF File)
Character
Actions (PDF File)
Unit
2 Vocabulary (PDF File)
Unit
3 Vocabulary (PDF File)
Unit
4 Vocabulary (PDF File)
Unit
5 Vocabulary (PDF File)
Unit
6 Vocabulary (PDF File)
Unit
7 Vocabulary (PDF File)
Unit
8 Vocabulary (PDF File)
The
Menu (PDF File)
(top)
Overview
of Discussions and obtaining Key Codes.
For each unit, your students have the opportunity to discuss
their thoughts, understandings, and questions related to a
specific unit. A board has been established for each unit
to help eliminate students learning about upcoming events
in the story. It will be important for students to only access
the discussion board for the unit they are currently working
on. The amount of discussion on the boards will depend on
the number of classrooms that are completing the unit at the
same time you are.
In order
to access a unit's discussion board, students will need to
have that day's Key Code. This code is only given to teachers
who are completing the interactive unit and will help make
the discussion boards a safe learning environment.
There
are Discussion Board Guidelines that will always be posted
on the boards. Please review these with your students. You
may even want to use an informal contract with your students.
You can download a simple one here,
or create one of your own. Some school districts include message
boards and email in their Internet Use Policies. Understand
that the contract I am offering here is simply a behavior
expectation contract to use within your classroom. Please
investigate any school and or district internet policies prior
to beginning this unit.
You will
need reach me through the "Contact" page to get
the Key Codes. This will be a one-time contact for the codes.
You will not need to contact me every day. (top)
How
the online questions work.
After students have completed all of the assignments
for a unit, they will then answer a series of higher-level,
online questions. There are specific directions for your students
on how to answer and submit the questions on the "Unit
1 Questions" page. (Be sure this page is visited while
you are taking a tour of the web site with your students.)
When students
submit their answers to you, the email will contain the following:
the student's name, the unit number, the questions, their
answers, and the actual answers. The majority of the questions
are based on Bloom's Taxonomy and will have more than one
correct answer, but the information contained within the student's
email should help give you an idea of what information their
answers should contain. If you would like more information
on Bloom's Taxonomy, you can visit a great resource below.
(top)
Vocabulary
All but two of the units contain vocabulary words. Along with
the list of words, students will find an audio recording of
these words. The recording also includes the page number that
contains the word. You will need a program that reads mp3's.
If you do not have that, you can download WinAmp for free
using the link provided above in the Computer Programs section.
It may
be beneficial for students to listen to the audio clip prior
to and during their reading. There are no set activities for
the vocabulary words, so feel free to incorporate them however
you see fit. (top)
Various
resources for you and possibly your students.
Here is a collection of helpful links.
Additional Bearstone Resource
Here is a PDF file that may provide you with additional
ideas to use with the book.
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/bearstone.pdf
General Rubric Generator
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/general/
How to answer a question using a complete sentence.
/bearstone/units/one/complete.htm
Lesson Plans for Teaching Letter Writing
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson281.shtml
Letter
Writing Rubric - Create Your Own
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=NewRubric§ion_id=5&PHPSESSID=5623184a1f3d974db640e90c796a2107#05
Report
Rubric
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/actbank/reportrub.html
Types of paragraphs
http://www.lessontutor.com/eescw4.html
Paragraph
Evaluation
http://home.att.net/~teaching/langarts/paraeval.pdf
(PDF File)
Paragraph
Rubric
http://www.idecorp.com/teacher/documents/wMilford_arch_pararubric.pdf
(PDF File)
Project
Rubric Generator
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/project/
(top)
Puzzles
& Games
Most of the puzzles will have to be created by the students.
They can then print these puzzles out and have friends complete
them.(top)
Final
Reminder
Don't forget, as you and your students are completing this
book unit, you can reach me through the "Contact"
page with questions and or comments. And be sure to let me
know how your experience went. I am always looking for feedback
as to what went well with the unit, as well as what could
be modified. (top) |