A Great Series About Redwoods

The Redwood National park is one of the natural wonders that I hope to share with my daughters in a few years. While the tall trees are the "stars of the show" there is much more to the redwood forest than just the trees. SciShow Kids recently released a series of videos that explain the redwood forest to kids. The first part of the series introduces kids to the redwood trees and what makes them grow so tall, the second part shows students the layers of the forest, and the third part highlights the animals of the redwood forest. 

Meet the Redwoods 

From the Ground to the Sky: The Layers of the Redwood Forest



Life in the Redwoods: Surprising Animals of the Redwood Forest



Applications for Education
All three of these videos could be useful as introductions to forest ecology. Before showing the videos to students I'd probably have them list the characteristics of the trees and forests with which they are familiar. Then after showing the videos I'd have students compare the characteristics of the redwood forest with those of the forests with which they're familiar. Finally, I'd ask them to think about the environmental conditions that affect the growth of plant life in both forests.

On a related note, the National Parks Service hosts a series of virtual tours of the redwoods forest. There is also some nice Google Street View imagery from within the park. 

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin and WayBetterSite. Featured image courtesy of Pixabay.

PDFs, Science, and Gravel - The Week in Review

Good morning from Maine where the sun is rising on what should be a nice summer Saturday. At this time last week I was riding my bike across the gravel roads of Emporia, Kansas for the Unbound Gravel 200. Today, will be a little less physically demanding. We're going to the Living Shores Aquarium to feed stingrays and learn all about marine life. It should be fun. I hope that you also have something fun planned for the weekend. 

More registrations for the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp came in this week. There is still time to register for the June session that begins on June 21st. Register here.

These were the week's most popular posts:
1. Three Good Options for Annotating PDFs
2. Science Research Papers Annotated With Teaching Resources
3. Five Cool Canva Presentation Features
4. Expeditions Pro - A Replacement for Google's VR Tour Creator
5. Unbound Gravel 200 – The Hardest Bike Event I’ve Ever Done!
6. Four Important Padlet Updates to Note
7. Five Sources of Summer Math Activities for Elementary School Students

On-demand Professional Development

• Ten Search Strategies Students Need to Know
• A Crash Course in Making & Teaching With Video
• A Crash Course in Google Earth & Maps for Social Studies

Other Places to Follow Me:

• The Practical Ed Tech Newsletter comes out every Sunday evening/ Monday morning. It features my favorite tip of the week and the week's most popular posts from Free Technology for Teachers.
• My YouTube channel has more than 36,000 subscribers watching my short tutorial videos on a wide array of educational technology tools. 
• I've been Tweeting as @rmbyrne for fourteen years. 
• The Free Technology for Teachers Facebook page features new and old posts from this blog throughout the week. 
• And if you're curious about my life outside of education, you can follow me on Instagram or Strava.

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Sites that steal my (Richard Byrne's) work include CloudComputin and WayBetterSite. Featured image captured by Richard Byrne.