Volume 3, Issue 1
February,2012
Unlimited Learning, Inc.
640 East Second Street
PO Box1273
Cortez, CO 81321
970-565-1601

SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES

You have often expressed to me the difficulty our students have interpreting GED readings and other test items in Social Studies. Following are resources that might give you a hand.

• http://www.valrc.org/publications/gedasproject/content_areas.htm - This site has great information about the GED. If you click on the Science and Social Studies link on the page that opens, you'll find another link to "View or Print Entire Text." That PF file has many activities to help you prepare students to take that portion of the GED. Check the Table of Contents to pick activities that suit your needs and desires.
• http://www.gedforfree.com/free-ged-course/ged-social-studies.html - Get an overview of what is included in the SS test, and complete the lessons listed at the bottom of the page. As you open each lesson, tabs at the top also lead to other areas of the GED.
• http://www.gedprepinfo.com/ged-social-studies.htm - Scroll down to the "Social Studies Practice Questions" link.
• http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/ - Intute: Social Sciences provides free access to high quality resources on the Internet. Each resource has been evaluated and categorized by subject specialists based at UK universities. This site closed in 2011; however, many of its resources will prove helpful if you check the many links offered.
• http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0809222299/student_view0/ged_practice_test.html - Contemporary's practice test.

Charts, Graphs, and Maps

UCATLAS - This site is a gem when it comes to introducing students to how to read maps, charts and graphs.

• http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/howto.html - This link opens an animated "how to" tour to help navigate the site and its resources effectively. Click on any item and you'll be shown how to use it on the site.
• http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/site.html - List of site resources.
• http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/howto/graph.html - This is a simple page that reviews parts of a graph. Includes some animation.
• http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/instruct.html - Instructor section.

Other Links

• http://www.google.com/earth/index.html - If you teach GED content and don't have your students using Google Earth, you are missing one of the best interactive Internet learning tools of our times. Google Earth tutorials on limitless topics (math, literature, culture, geography, reading, writing, on and on) abound. Yes, you will need to spend some time up front learning the tool, but once you start using it, you won't be able to stop. Neither will your students! Download the free tool, start searching for student projects, or invent your own. Do a Google search on "xxxx Google Earth projects," and watch the links develop.
• http://www.wtamu.edu/academic/anns/mps/math/mathlab/beg_algebra/beg_alg_tut9_bar.htm - This is a great site that teaches "how to" and provides exercises to reinforce comprehension. Covers the bar graph, line graph, double line graph, and Venn diagram.
• http://www.tv411.org/lessons/cfm/reading.cfm?str=reading&num=10&act=1 - This is an easy, little tutorial that goes slide by slide explaining how to read charts and graphs.
• http://cstl.syr.edu/fipse/tabbar/revbar/revbar.htm - Nice coverage of bar graphs with exercises an answers at the bottom.
• http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/lessons/ - This is a cool site with many interactive, java-based lessons. This page lists many math-related activities just to introduce you to the resources. Scroll down to the graph lessons that interest you.
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/maps/index.html - This site has several helpful resources, also listed below. Click through the tabs to find what you want on the Middle East.
• http://www.compassdude.com/map-reading.shtml - How to read different types of maps.
• http://www.wikihow.com/Read-a-Map - Nice little wiki map tutorial.

Political Cartoons

• http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/analyzing-purpose-meaning-political-794.html - Let's hear it for the International Reading Association, which has great resources on its site, readwritethink.org. This link takes you to lesson plans on Analyzing the Purpose and Meaning of Political Cartoons. Notice the tabs that open to different choices. Select the Instructional Plan tab to find five lesson plans covering political cartoons.
• http://www.wikihow.com/Analyze-Political-Cartoons - Quick and helpful tips.
• http://billyhughes.moadoph.gov.au/political_cartoons/ - This is an Australian site, but the discussion and analysis given for each of the four cartoons is very helpful. Click on a cartoon, and then follow the arrows on the left to interpret it.
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/educators/types/lesson3.html - This is a lesson plan with links to a print out of cartoons and other resources to analyze.
• http://politicalhumor.about.com/ - This site covers political humor with current resources. Links lead to many political cartoons to examine.
• http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=266500 - Great little lesson plan with links (see tabs) to lots of good resources.
• http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/ - lots of current cartoons to examine.

Well, those will get you started and lead you into further exploration on this challenging topic.

QUICK TIPS (Windows 7)

Record steps taken on your computer - Click the Start button and type psr to open the Problem Steps Recorder. This tool can capture step by step (even take screenshots) of what a person is doing. When you stop the recording, the session is bundled as an MHTML file and compressed for easy emailing back to a support techie if that is what you want. (An MHTML file is an IE-only HTML variant.) Alternatively, you may want to use the Snipping Tool for teaching or for other purposes to suit your fancy. If you don't see the Snipping Tool listed when you click on Start, then continue to Accessories, where you'll find it listed. When the tool opens, just drag the cursor around the part of the screen that you want to capture, and it's a done deal.

Create Sticky Notes - I use Sticky Notes increasingly to keep tasks in front of me on a daily basis. They look like sticky notes and you can create as many as you want, wherever you are. Right click the note to choose different colors if you wish.

TEACHING ACROSS THE MILES!

When teaching at a distance, grade reporting can be a challenge. I use http://www.engrade.com/ to post my grades for students at a distance. Then I give students access to their own grades so that they can keep up with their progress. I also give the distance facilitator authority to check and report student grades. Engrade is not as robust or as flexible as some grade books, but it has enough to suit me: categories, grade items, and options to use them. Best of all? It's free!

BRAIN CHALLENGE

(You might want to post these on a wall for students to interpret! Encourage them to develop their critical-thinking skills. Post riddles and other puzzles on walls, too.)

A. This came across my desk this week. Take your time looking at the words until you find the answer to "What do these words have in common?" (And it's not that each has at least one doubled letter.)

1. Banana
2. Dresser
3. Grammar
4. Potato
5. Revive
6. Uneven
7. Assess

B. Truer words were never imaged. Two sides of the same thought.

C. What phrase does the image depict?

D. Your turn. Create a message and hide it among letters in a word search.

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/WordSearchWithMessageSetupForm.asp

More Recommended Resources

http://www.anatomyarcade.com/ - Anatomy Arcade makes basic human anatomy come ALIVE through awesome free flash games, interactives and videos. Anatomy Arcade is perfect for the novice teenager in the classroom, right through to students and professionals of health care looking for a fun way to review. If you teach health topics or have students who are interested in knowing more about their bodies, this is a great site with vast resources on human anatomy, which even include games.

http://pilotincolorado.wordpress.com/ - Shirley Penn from Morgan Community College has posted her first blog! It discusses a topic of great interest, discussed at CAEPA this year: databases! Check out her blog giving more details about the pilot project that she and Julie Oliver are running on a program from Literacy Pro called Laces.

Why not start your own blog? It is a simple and easy process that takes 5-10 minutes to set up, and it's free!

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Send us your ideas, contributions, and requests! We want to meet your "tech-knowledgy" needs! Use the Contact information below.
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Leecy Wise, Editor
Ann Miller, ULC Director
Contact us at ulc@fourcornerslearning.org
http://www.fourcornerslearning.org
970-565-1602