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Issue 23, Volume
10
February
11, 2010
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Thought for the
Week
Our
lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.
-- Martin
Luther King, Jr. |
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More Black History Lessons
|
 RaceBridges
For Schools presents to you four free lesson
plans to honor, explore and celebrate African
American History in your classroom in the month of
February . . . or at any time. Three of the lesson
plans are original stories, told by professional
storytellers that include teacher guides with
audio-downloads/texts and student activities. The
fourth lesson plan "Black History: We All Have A
Race: Addressing Race & Racism" presents a way to
understand the concept of race better, to
distinguish between prejudice and racism, and to
learn ways to stand up against racism and to act as
allies with students of different races.
Go to
www.RaceBridgesForSchools.com for your free
lesson plans that explore in different ways, the
traditions, themes and challenges we face as we
honor Black History Month. Also see over 20
diversity lesson plans and resources on a variety of
themes for the classroom. Be sure to check last
week's
TechConnect Newsletter, Issue 22 for more
links to lessons and activities. |
Celebrate The Games - 2010
Winter Olympics
|
 The
Winter Olympic Games are a winter multi-sport event
held every four years. They feature winter sports
held on snow or ice, such as Alpine skiing,
cross-country skiing, figure skating, bobsledding
and ice hockey. Cross-country skiing, figure
skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping,
and speed skating have been competed at every Winter
Olympics since 1924. Other athletic events have been
added as the Games have progressed. The 2010 Winter
Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter
Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, will be held on
February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver.
Free Videos Explore The Science Behind The
Olympics
http://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn
Teachers looking for ways to incorporate the
Olympic Winter
Games into their instruction have a new resource
they can use: NBC
Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, has
teamed up with the
National Science Foundation (NSF) to produce a
16-part video series focusing on the science behind
the games. The online videos capitalize on students’
interest in the Vancouver Olympics to make science
more accessible to them by illustrating how
scientific principles apply to competitive sports.
Narrated by NBC News anchor Lester Holt, the series
is available to educators free of charge on the NBC
Learn web site as a timely way to incorporate the
Olympics into their classroom teaching. Check out
NBC Learn at
http://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn.
Winter Olympics Sports Words Wordsearch
http://printables4kids.com/winter-olympic-sports-word-search/winter-olympics-word-search/
http://www.printactivities.com/Word_Search_Puzzles/Olympic-Word-Search.shtml
From luge to slalom, find Winter Olympics sports
terms in the first printable wordsearch above, with
further general terms associated with the games in
the 2nd link above.
Learn About Canada
http://www.kidzone.ws/geography/aboutcanada2.htm
http://www.k12studycanada.org/files/lesson_plans/2008SCSI_PrendergastS_BasicGeography_Gr4_7.pdf
Canada, our delightful neighbor to the north, is
playing host to the Winter Olympics this year. Learn
more about this country with your students, before
the games begin. Find a brief background on Canada
at the 1st link above, with an overview of Canadian
geography, including provinces and territories, at
the 2nd link.
Map Of Canada Quiz
http://www.canadainfolink.ca/map_of_canada_quiz.htm
Now that your classes have all learned a good bit
about Canada, try this map quiz to identify
provinces, territories, and capital cities. |
The Journey North
|
 Journey
North engages students in a global study of wildlife
migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share
their own field observations with classmates across
North America. They track the coming of spring
through the migration patterns of monarch
butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes,
gray whales, bald eagles— and other birds and
mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight;
and other natural events. Find migration maps,
pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities
and information to help students make local
observations and fit them into a global context.
Check it out at
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/. |
Browse Through Your
Browsers
|
 Within
the Promethean Board ActivInspire software, teachers
will find a number of browsers that can be helpful
in their teaching. Being aware of these browsers and
their function will make for a more efficient use of
the teachers’ time when using their Promethean
Board.
Page Browser allows teachers to
view the pages that they have created within their
flipchart. This helps navigation through a flipchart
be more efficient.
Resource Browser contains a wide
variety of resources that can be helpful to a
teacher. The folders within the shared resource
folder contain templates, backgrounds, sounds,
graphics, and subject-specific content that can be
used by the teacher and students.
Property Browser gives the teacher
the ability to establish important settings such as
page settings, tool settings, and grid settings. The
property browser is also the location where teachers
set up containers or restrictors to use with their
lessons.
Voting Browser gives teachers the
ability to register a set of ActiVotes or
ActivExpressions to be used with their Promethean
Board and ActivInspire software.
Object Browser allows the teacher
to view the layering within a specific flipchart
page. This browser is used if you wish to layer
objects or hide content to be revealed at a later
time.
Note Browser allows the teacher to
create notes which can be “friendly reminders” to
the teacher about what needs to be covered on a
particular page. The Note Browser is also useful in
a learning station environment because teachers can
supply information for the students as they work
independently on a project.
Action Browser allows teachers to
create interactions on the board. Teachers have the
ability to click on a flipchart object and have a
selected action occur. |
More Web 2.0 Tools For
Educators
|
 For
the past four issues of TechConnect, a multitude of
free Web 2.0 tools that teachers are using to expand
their professional knowledge and collaborate on
projects were highlighted. This week TechConnect
continues to introduce educators to Web 2.0 tools.
The following tools are all free and simple to use.
This means there’s no cost, nothing to download, no
CDs, no manuals and no training. The best of these
also do not require users to have email,
registration or logins.
Poll Everywhere
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
Poll Everywhere is free for people who need
to collect 30 or fewer responses per poll. Anyone
with a laptop or a cell phone who can send a text
message can use this tool. To use poll everywhere,
the teacher sets up an account at which they’ll be
assigned a number or URL for participants to send
their answers. Within the message students enter the
code corresponding to their response. This looks
similar to what you see on popular shows such as
American Idol. Without any additional equipment or
need to download software, within seconds, educators
will have student responses.
Etherpad
http://etherpad.com/
Etherpad is a web-based word processor that
allows people to work together in “really
real-time.” It allows students to write
individually, in pairs, or in groups. It tracks by
color who wrote what information. It has an area for
chat, and a teacher can play back and observe the
writing and revision process of their students.
This, in essence, gives teachers the ability to see
the writing process for any student, pair, or group
anytime, anywhere. Additionally, because each
participant’s input is color-coded there is never a
question about the level of contribution from group
participants. It’s all right there. Another terrific
feature is the live playback. This lets a teacher
watch the student’s step-by-step writing and
revision process including exactly which student
contributed what and when.
Find A Book
http://lexile.com/findabook/
To find the reading level of professionally
published material, teachers and students can visit
Find A Book which allows users for free to
type in any book and find the reading level of that
book. They can also type in their reading level and
interest and build a custom reading list on the
subjects that interest the reader most.
Additionally, there is an age slider that allows you
to move the sliders to adjust search results by
age-appropriateness. |
Check Your Reading Level
In Word 2007
|
 Microsoft
Word 2007 provides three indicators of the reading
level of the document you're creating. It will
calculate the Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid
Grade Level, and the Automatic Readability Index for
you.
To do this in Microsoft Word 2007, use the following
steps:
1. Click on the Microsoft Office button and select
Word Options (at the bottom
right-hand corner).
2. Click Proofing, make sure Check grammar
with spelling is selected.
3. Under When correcting grammar and
spelling in Word, select the Show
readability statistics check box.
4. Then open your document in word and run a spell
check. At the end of the spell check, you will get a
dialog box with all the stats.
This allows teachers and students to instantly see
the difficulty level of their writing. Are they
writing at a 2nd grade level or 12th grade? What
level is right for the audience they are trying to
reach? Writing teachers can use this to assess
growth of their writers across the year. For reading
instruction, this is a great way to be able to
determine the reading level of student and teacher
created work that can be used for mentor texts. |
Reinforce Multiplication
Skills With Fun!
|
 If you have children
struggling to learn multiplication, then you might
want to try the free version of the game, Timez
Attack, at
http://www.bigbrainz.com/Download.html. Children
can have fun, learn multiplication, and improve
computer skills simultaneously. The free version can
be used by individuals and schools. |
Classical Comics
|
 Classical Comics brings
classic literature to life in the form of comic
strips. Choose from comic strips with the original
text, a plain English version, or a simplified or no
text version. Free samples are available to download
along with a teacher resource guide. The URL:
http://www.classicalcomics.com/education/index.html |
Apply Now For Intel
Schools of Distinction Awards
|
 The
2010 Intel Schools of Distinction Awards recognize
U.S. schools that demonstrate 21st century teaching
and learning environments, and implement innovative
programs that inspire their students to excel in the
areas of math and science. Up to three schools will
be named as finalists in each level: elementary,
middle, and high school within the two categories of
math and science. All 18 will win a $5000 cash grant
from the Intel Foundation and a trip to Washington,
D.C. for a 4-member team from their school and
district. Six winners will be selected from the
finalists and one of these winners will be selected
as the "Star Innovator."
The application process consists of a one-time
online entry submission that will undergo several
rounds of judging. Entry is limited to one entry per
school and the
deadline is Wednesday, February 17th,
2010.
Find out more and apply at the following web
address:
http://www.intel.com/education/schoolsofdistinction/?iid=CAG6350 |
| Best
on the Net!! -- Visit this site for
hundreds of websites for teachers! We would love to
hear from you about the best educational sites you
have found on the web. Please submit, via email, the
sites you feel merit inclusion. Send to tech.connect@cpsb.org.
Please include the URL and a short sentence about the
site.
Featured
Sites: (These sites were submitted by teachers in
Calcasieu Parish)
Valentine's Day Activities For The Elementary
Classroom
http://www.songs4teachers.com/valactivities.htm
Fish Valentines, heart puzzles, a group Valentine
collage.... You'll find loads of activities and
ideas here to stage your own Valentine's Day
celebration in the elementary classroom.
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