Health



The standards that correlate to this lesson come from the National Health Standards Grade 4: Reducing Health Risks: //Students will demonstrate the ability to practice health enhancing behaviors and reduce health risks, demonstrate strategies to improve or maintain personal health.// This lesson would address standards related to the health benefits that derive from Rainforest plant life. Technology: ** In this lesson, students will use… · Worldpress.com blog set up by teacher · Internet access · SmartBoard Technology Day Activities: ** Students will create/contribute to a blog about health benefits that humans gain from plant life found in the Rainforest. · The teacher will give a guided tour of a worldpress.com student-friendly blog to familiarize students with the concepts and purposes of blogging. · Students will get the chance to interact with the blog on the SmartBoard with teacher direction and feedback. · Students are then sent to their computers in groups of two or three students where they will research websites that the teacher has bookmarked as appropriate sources of information for this lesson. · Students will look for Rainforest plant life that has health benefits for humans. · Students will summarize information gained from their research and will add comments to the teacher-created blog (each student will submit their own comments). · Posts will include the name of one plant, health benefits gained by the plant, an image of the plant, a link to the website where they got their information, and a statement as to why someone might want to read this blog. · As a summary, the class will review the blog on the SmartBoard and discuss the plant life and health benefits that can be gained by the Rainforest, what they liked/disliked about blogging, and any problems that they had with the project. Students will receive immediate feedback on their work through teacher comments.
 * Curriculum Area: **
 * 
 * 

<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">In the article //Internet Workshop and Blog Publishing: Meeting Student// //<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">(and Teacher) Learning Needs to Achieve Best Practice in ////<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">the Twenty-First-Century Social Studies Classroom //<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">, the benefits of blogging in the classroom are revealed. Teachers who previously did not use technology in their classrooms began using workshops and blogging when teaching the Social Studies curriculum. The authors of this article “believe blogs are the perfect medium for educators to publish, share, and manage information such as that generated in Internet workshops, because they allow teachers or students to (1) provide commentary and reflections on recent events or daily happenings, (2) create online journals or diaries, and (3) easily publish their work. Blogs provide opportunities for authors to share information with others, who, in turn, can further the classroom dialogue and motivate student learning by posting responses in the form of “comments” to blog entries” (2010). One of the educational benefits to using blogging is that students are more motivated to produce high quality writing pieces because what they are writing is no longer seen only by their teacher, but it is published on the Internet where anyone could read the material (2010). By using digital tools to publish student work for a broader audience, teachers “are encouraging students to write with a purpose, an authentic voice, and to create a meaningful representation of their learning” (2010).
 * <span style="color: #f79646; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Supporting Research: **

<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This lesson is “new and innovative” because blogging is a newer technology. Use of this digital tool is not a common practice in the classroom.
 * <span style="color: #f79646; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Tried and True or New and Innovative: **

<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> [|Frye, E. M.,][|Trathen, W., &][|Koppenhaver, D. A.] (2010). [|Internet Workshop and] Classroom. //Social Studies, 101 (2),// 46-53. doi: 10.1080/00377990903284070 Images []
 * <span style="color: #f79646; font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">References: **