Secondary Smorgasbord - Happy Hour - Writing Freebie

So excited to be linking up with the inaugural Secondary Smorgasbord Linky!!  A great way to connect and see what other Secondary teachers are doing in their classrooms.  Be sure to hop over to the ELA Buffet or Desktop Learning Adventures to see what other great bloggers have linked up and grab some great resources at the same time.

Here's a freebie activity that can be adapted for many different subjects and themes.  Students are asked to write a themed newspaper about a topic of their choice.  A great activity for expository writing OR change the topic to suit your needs.  Students could write about an event in history, a scientific discovery, an invention, a current event... Includes all templates and even a marking rubric!!

Have fun discovering more freebies in the Secondary Smorgasbord Linky!!

~Addie

An InLinkz Link-up

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Music in My Science Classroom

Music in science class you ask??  How do you combine music with science???

I teach Earth Science and I love it... it's one of my favorite subjects to teach.  I love the hands on activities we can do, how easy it is to connect to the real world and I love that there soooo many songs that I can play in class.

In my room, if we're not doing a lab or activity I allow my students to listen to music.  However, I want us all to be listening to the same music, rather than allow them to plug into their own ipod or phone.  So I need to find music to relate to what we're doing in class.

Here are some examples:

If we're studying ROCKS... we only listen to songs with the word "rock" in the title.  I know, I know... there's no educational value to listening to "We Will Rock You" or "Jailhouse Rock"... but it's fun, the kids love to think of songs that work and it tends to put everyone in a good mood.  Plus... you might even educate them about some classic music!

Here are few more songs with "ROCK" in the title...

 - Like a Rock - Bob Seeger
 - Rock With You - Micheal Jackson
 - R.O.C.K In the USA - John Couger Mellancamp
 - Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley and the Comets
 - I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett
 - Rockin' in the Free World - Neil Young

But this works for so many of the topics we can cover in class...

Astronomy - look for songs with the word "STAR" or "SUN" or "MOON" in the title... you'll be amazed at how many songs do!!

Weathering / Erosion - look for songs with the word "RAIN", "WIND", "ICE", or "RIVER" in the title.

Weather - some good key words are "SUN", "WIND", "STORM", "WATER" OR "CLOUD".

Plate Tectonics - look for "FIRE" and "EARTH" in the title.

I'm quite sure that once you start looking you'll be amazed at what is out there that you can tie into your class sometimes.  It doesn't work with every unit and not every class is conducive to listening to music... but when I can play music I find it does wonders for my students' productive and their mood.

You're probably wondering how I have access to 1000s of titles of songs.... I just go to Youtube and play the songs from there.  I don't show the video... just play the music on my speakers.

Best of luck looking for music to play in class... I'm sure that other subjects are just as easy to find music for... you just might have to do a little digging.

~Addie

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