How it works

This site is a place for LVUSD teachers to share resources related to our Forward Learning initiative. To share a lesson plan you can use the lesson plan template by clicking on this link. The document will open in your Google Drive. This is a view only template so you will need to make a copy by going to File - Make a Copy. Rename your copy the name of your lesson and include your name as well. Once you have completed your lesson you can copy and paste it onto our blog! Make sure you use labels/tags when you post so that your lesson is searchable. Some examples of labels that should be used are: the grade level, content area and topic.

If you have a lesson using one of the other templates that we have worked with you can share directly to the blog by either copying and pasting your lesson into the blog or by giving a brief description of your lesson and attaching a link to your lesson. If you are attaching a link to a Google Doc make sure you have shared your document with anyone in LVUSD to View Only. Here is a video tutorial that shows how to share a doc with LVUSD view only.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Acer Laptop Tour

Just like we give the students a "tour" of their textbook at the beginning of the year, Carissa Shaw and I created a tour of their new laptops.

Laptop Tour

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Parts of Speech Boot Camp

This lesson was created by Kristy Kimball at AEW for 7th graders but it can be easily adapted for 6th grade students!

Monday, January 5, 2015

Using Padlet to Teach Image Citation

Our students need to be able to find, use, and cite copyright-friendly images in their projects. You can use Padlet, a free, online bulletin board, to help them learn how to do this.

Depending on the age of the students, you can modify the requirements for citing the images you find. Ideally, you should include the following (or as many of them as you can find for your image):
  • Title of the image
  • Author
  • Source
  • License (Creative Commons type, note that the image is public domain, or a statement that the image is used with permission)
The example below was created by 3rd grade students. They were only instructed to include the photographer's name below their own. Older students would of course be asked to include more complete information.


Lesson steps:
  1. Before the lesson, create a Padlet wall where the information will be posted. 
  2. Discuss the importance of citing sources for anything students have not created themselves. Explain the citation format you want students to use.
  3. Instruct students to find an image by using search.creativecommons.org. This will ensure that any media they find should be licensed for reuse. The students doing the project above looked for landforms and the natural environment.
  4. Students copy the image url.
  5. On the Padlet wall, students double click to add a note. They paste in the url and add the citation information.

For more specific information about image citation, see this page on the Creative Commons wiki.