Children love to build! The Keva Planks have become very popular to use in classrooms. KEVA planks are about 1/4 inch thick, 3/4 inch wide and 4 1/2 inches long.You build structures by simply stacking the planks. There is no glue and no connectors. Keva planks creations are meant to be temporary. Students can create beautiful works of art, towers and much more and half the fun is destruction.

Students learn how to choose effective KEYWORDS for searching online. Finding the right keyword/s to use when doing research is extremely important so that your search is relevant and you don't waste time during the research process.

PBS Kids Design Squad Global provides information, videos, and opportunities for students to participate in hands on activities. The site allows students to develop design process skills and apply them to a variety of engineering challenges

Students will use ABCYA Storymaker to create a published writing piece along with a digital artifact that demonstrates learning of a concept.

Kids Math has free interactive learning activities, math games, facts, printable worksheets, quizzes, videos, and other fun resources that will keep students engaged while learning.

A Google Slide Deck introduction to the MITECS competency Knowledge Constructor - Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.

Example: Fifth grade classes sought to find a cure for cancer. They learned about healthy cells, and researched the difference with cancerous cells. The studied and collected information about the social and economic impact of cancer on families and communities with the help of local doctors and nurses who worked in a children’s cancer ward in a local hospital. Because of the health professionals’ schedules, this collaboration was done through video conference and shared documents. The students compiled their findings after much fact-checking, and reported to the community through a free evening dinner at the school. A donation box was present in case anyone wanted to make a donation, with the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society in the name of the hospital children’s cancer ward. That night the students raised over $1000.

Questions for Reflection:
- How do the MITECS complement core content?
- How might you and your colleagues develop cross-curricular experiences to support the MITECS?
- Which of the competencies are you most familiar with?
- Which competency is an area of growth for you, as an educator?

Using Kodable students will learn about sequence and algorithms and use code to direct classmates during a fun game that gets the class moving.

Students will use Google tools to actively engage in landforms by creating a thin slide and then working in teams to solve the clues.

Meg set out to climb up and investigate the rain forest tree canopies — and to be the first scientist to do so. But she encountered challenge after challenge. Male teachers would not let her into their classrooms, the high canopy was difficult to get to, and worst of all, people were logging and clearing the forests. Meg never gave up or gave in. She studied, invented, and persevered, not only creating a future for herself as a scientist, but making sure that the rainforests had a future as well. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Your community has many different areas to explore - it might be a park, a grocery store, a forest, or an alley. For some people, it might be difficult to explore these areas because they may have differing abilities. Select one area in your community, and come up with a plan to build a way for it to be more accessible to everyone.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Students will be able to learn about pronouns by watching a Schoolhouse Rock video, Schoolhouse Rock Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla, with its catchy tune, then see instructional videos on the definition of pronouns and how they are used in sentences. Finally, students will be able to check their knowledge of pronouns through games and online quizzes and apply their knowledge in their own writing.

Students will be able to learn about tangrams and basic shapes through a read-aloud of Grandfather Tang’s Story, which describes various animals being made with Tangrams, understand how they make shapes by reading the book Tricky Tangrams, and then try making tangrams themselves using a game on digipuzzle.net.

Learning to copy and paste is an important skill to learn. Students will learn how to highlight text, copy it, and then paste it into a document. Students will have fun adding text to National Geographic's Funny Fill-ins and then will copy and paste the completed story into a word document.

Students will get the opportunity to program a version of the game “Flappy Bird” using simple drag and drop programming to make connections between computer science concepts and the real world.

Legends of Learning provides interactive math and the sciences games to students that give them superpowers. The teacher can select games that are connected to current lessons. It is aligned with the common core and NGSS. It is FREE for teachers and students in school.

ChessKids is a website that teaches children how to play the game of Chess. It walks them through the game, has tutorials, puzzles and involves the child. It helps to keep them motivated as they are learning the game and improving their skills. It also helps with critical thinking skills.

Going online is so much fun! But how can you stay safe? Just like face to face field trips, there are also rules for staying safe on online trips. Students will learn skills to help them stay safe online through virtual field trips.

Starfall is an interactive alphabet-teaching website/app. Letters are presented in a variety of ways -- visually, audibly, and within words and sentences. Students interact with letters to help with phonics as well as reading.

Students will review parts of friendly letter to type a letter to a soldier.

Slidedeck with information on: Introduction to OER, Creative Commons licensing, finding OER, and additional information.

Students will use knowledge of coding to create a closed circuit. Microbits will be required for this activity.