Student Tech Tips
Possible Student Schedule During Shelter-In-Place:
- 8-9 Breakfast– find out what’s happening in the world!
- 9-10:30 Choose a complete lesson and focus your undivided attention on it. Set the timer. Take notes, use colored markers if you want. Read aloud, if necessary. Our ears learn language and concepts long before we learn to read.
- 10:30 – 12:30 Listen to podcast related to lesson while you have lunch; take a walk or investigate your yard.
- 1-2:30 Review lesson material; write out key points, or if already written, type them up; find one example of real-world info on it; this would be a good time to keep a journal and highlight the things you’re learning. If you keep a journal, be sure to tie the new information to information you already know. Look for connections or analogies to help you remember.
- 2:30 rest of school/work day:
Enjoy it! Spend it with your family, outside, taking a walk, completing projects, etc…
Read before bed—pick something you’re interested in!
This is only one suggested schedule. Figure out what works for you—actually write it down and post it. Then keep to it! Share it with your family and other fellow shelterers so they know when you are available. Encourage them to do the same so the semblance of normalcy is complete. The old adage is we make time for the things that are important to us—employ this.
Student Resources
LANGUAGE/WRITING
Daily Writing Tips – This site offers a free subscription via email for writing tips. Aimed at the intermediate to advanced writer. Topics vary from usage to punctuation to colloquial expressions, etc…
http://www.dailywritingtips.com
Dictionary.com – This site is a must-have on your favorites list for all levels of writers. It gives basic definitions, parts of speech, audio recordings of how words are pronounced, word origins, and example sentences
Word of the Day – There are many of these available, and they’re excellent at helping users build their vocabulary and writing confidence. Some sites are more involved with activities and games, while some will simply email their mailing list a word with its meaning, usage, etc… One of the most developed is the following:
This winning site houses spelling practices, spelling bees, and games called jams, as well as assignments you can do yourself or tell your instructor about.
SOCIAL STUDIES
When you are preparing for social studies, remember that this is an umbrella term for several areas of study including history, geography, religion, political science, social science, philosophy, civics—generally anything that looks at the systems we humans put in place to organize and interact with each other. This is why it can feel a bit overwhelming at times. Fortunately, there are many sites available to help you. Here are some of the best:
This site is pretty straightforward high school level help with American History, Civics, Economics, Government. There are links to other sources and readings. It’s not aesthetically beautiful but there is some help with writing a social studies paper at the high school level, in addition to some advanced placement information. Some of our famous historical documents have copies linked here as well.
This is a great site that covers all educational areas. Under the U.S. and World drop down menus, you can find information about U.S. History, government, Laws and Rights, Speeches and Documents, Timelines, World History, World Wars, Current Events, Religions, etc… Everything is easy to locate and the information is current and easily accessible. Don’t look to go too far in—depth with this, but it’s a strong contender for being your new best friend as you study social studies.
This site really breaks down the areas of social studies into age/level appropriate sections. It also offers a list of apps students can use on their phones that have been reviewed for effectiveness. There is also a list of podcasts related to various subject matter. Probably the best conceived resource you can use.
MATH
Math requires practice. Many times when you are taking a course online, your instructor has given you a couple problems to worth through, but you may feel tentative after completing them. Here are some math resources to give you additional practice and build your math confidence:
This source is completely free to users. It is particularly useful for math instruction since it begins with an assessment of what you do and don’t know or understand about math. Then it builds instruction modules based on that assessment. There are many problems, videos offering instruction, gamification to make the learning more memorable and fun. One of the strongest resources out there for learning math.
This source will be useful in your later math lessons, as you begin working with algebra, geometry, and graphing calculators. This site is actually a portal for free apps that you can download onto your phone to help you learn. Note: these apps do not replace learning the concepts—they make the concepts easier to understand and give you visual tools to help you remember.
This is Math Central, an impressive web site run by the University of Regina in Canada. There are portals on its home page for teachers and students alike. It really is the source for all things related to math, from curriculum to math camps to careers to math beyond school. This site is also available in several languages, based on the buttons you click on its home page.
This Web site offers you the chance to assess where you are in your math studies, then select various learning modules to move along to where you want to be. If you ultimately want to go on to higher education, this will help with that, too.
PBS Math Club – This interactive site helps with math grades 6-9, Common Core. There are videos, episodes, quizzes, and more, all broken down into very specific lessons on math skills, i.e. “Subtracting Positive and Negative Numbers,” etc…. It has more of a kid feel to its presentation, but the content is high quality.
SCIENCE
This is a thorough examine of how everything works, from cars to tech to money to animals and gardens. You should be able to find anything you need here. Site is attractive, updated, in motion.
In addition to being the Web site for the museum in San Francisco, this site actually promotes science learning and has an engaging set of links with detailed information about various exhibits and concepts.
This beautifully rendered site takes scientific concepts and shows how they’re working in today’s world, including news stories, photographs, charts, etc… There is a strong tie to current events with the articles on the home page, but the site has depth and breadth, so prowl around and find what you need.
This site is based around Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and includes books, documentaries, shows, links to experiments and broadcasts, home demos—the works.
This web site features science in the real world and identifies how its impacting us through current events. There are radio broadcasts, podcasts, stories, lessons, and events available. This site is updated weekly.
Seven Simple Comma Rules – Nancy Heuer-Evans
1.) Use a comma between two independent clauses using coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, nor, or, for, yet, so.
We would go to the lake, but our boat has a leak.
She promised we would go, and we did.
2.) Use a comma between items in a series.
It was a long, dreary, ugly drive.
The team was tired, cold, hungry, and dispirited.
3.) Use a comma between cities and states, cities and countries, and in dates.
We are going to Lincoln, Nebraska, over Thanksgiving vacation.
We scheduled our conference for November 22, 2020, but now we’ll have to change it.
4.) Use a comma to separate the person being spoken to.
Mother, I tell you I have to go.
Could you please drive tonight, Jim?
5.) Use a comma to separate words that do not flow into the sentence.
Moreover, he did not understand the work that was given to him.
Therefore, he was fired.
Ultimately, she divorced him because he didn’t have work.
6.) Use a comma with an introductory expression that does not flow into the sentence.
When you see a hot air balloon, take a picture of it for me.
Wherever you are, stop the car and get out.
After you do that for me, I will be grateful and will owe you one.
7.) Use a comma to separate phrases of unnecessary/nonessential information.
We were not nice to Jerry, the boy with the boils on his face.
We took Wilma, the girl with the broken leg, because she couldn’t drive.