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Technology & Thanksgiving??

This is an awesome opportunity from Scholastic to participate in a more "interactive" study of the First Thanksgiving this year!

Register for virtual field trips to the Pilgrim village and the Wampanoag homesite.  Whether you actually are able to watch the live webcasts or not, you'll receive really neat email letters from a Pilgrim girl and a Wampanoag boy that your class can read OR listen to together! 

I registered for the virtual field trips (which was a quick and easy online form), and received this email:

Dear Jennifer Smith,

Thanks for registering for the email portion of your free Thanksgiving Teaching Kit!

Your class will receive a series of letters from Lizzy, a fictional character based on historical records of life in the 1620’s, who writes from aboard the Mayflower, from the Plimoth Plantation, and ends with her excited rendering of the first Thanksgiving. Along with learning about this young Pilgrim girl, your class will also get to know 12-year-old Pometacomet, a fictional member of the Wampanoag nation, who describes life in the autumn when the Mayflower was first sighted, his first impressions of the "coat-men," and, finally, the great feast with the Pilgrims!

All letters come with audio to give added life to Lizzy and Pometacomet and enhance the drama of their stories -- as well as offering pronunciation to new vocabulary introduced. Visually, the emails appear on a parchment like background and are accompanied by photographs. The roll out of the letters is meant to provide an historical backdrop to and build anticipation for the Virtual Field Trips to come – and to give you time for class discussion about each set of letters. As part of your registration, you will also receive email reminders for these video tours.

Letters Schedule:

November 3:
Autumn 1620
Letter From Lizzy — A Message from the Mayflower
Letter From Pometacomet — Harvesting and Preparing for Winter

November 10:

Autumn 1620
Letter From Lizzy — Arriving at Plimoth Plantation
Letter From Pometacomet — Will We Live in Peace?

November 16:

Harvest 1621
Letter From Lizzy — The Thanksgiving Feast
Letter From Pometacomet — The Feast of the Pilgrims

Hang this sign on your door or in your classroom to share how your class is using technology to study Thanksgiving!

Sign up NOW!  First letter comes November 3!



Other Scholastic Thanksgiving Resources:

First Person Pilgrim Interviews by Scholastic

Historical Fiction letters from a Pilgrim girl and Native American boy (with Audio, too!) by Scholastic

Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue...

BrainPop has nice Columbus Day activities at this link.  Even if you're not a BrainPop subscriber, you can access these activities.  IF you do have a subscription, you can also use the cute movie at the top of the page.

And, speaking of mapmaking...National Geographic has a new MapMaker interactive that would be great for middle and high classrooms.  Customize your own map, download, print, or share.  Check it out here!

Installing New Fonts

I love having new, fresh fonts on my computer to use on my documents.  It is easy to download FREE fonts from the web.  This site has a good collection to get you started.  If you want even more, there are MANY other sites that offer free fonts.  Just Google it.

How do you install a font?  Microsoft users can find that answer here.  Mac users here.

Rock Cycles Everywhere!

It seems that every school I've been in lately, regardless of the age level, has been studying Rocks!  So, here are a few interactives that cover the the Rock Cycle that hopefully some of you can use!

http://www.learner.org/interactives/rockcycle/

http://www.kscience.co.uk/animations/rock_cycle.htm

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es0602/es0602page02.cfm

http://www.phschool.com/atschool/phsciexp/active_art/rock_cycle/index.html

Free Resources

Teachers Pay Teachers has made a list of files free for you via The Organized Classroom blog.  Both sites are great to check out, but here is a direct link to the list of free files:

http://www.theorganizedclassroomblog.com/index.php/resources/500-fans

You'll see files for all levels and areas.

Enjoy!

Awesome Teacher Blog List

Wow!? Has it really been since February that I've written a blog entry here?  I will try to be more faithful!

Check out this blog site where there is an extensive list of teacher blogs organized by grade level.  You will LOVE it!

The Teachers Lane

You're Never too Old!!

You're never too old, too wacky, too wild,
To pick up a book and read with a child.

You're never too busy, too cool, or too hot,

To pick up a book and share what you've got.

In schools and communities,

Let's gather around,

Let's pick up a book,

Let's pass it around.

There are kids all around you,

Kids who will need

Someone to hug,

Someone to read.

Come join us March 2nd

Your own special way

And make this America's

Read to Kids Day.

Celebrate Read Across America March 2nd! Below are links to help you celebrate this special day in your classrooms:
Seussville--Read Across America Activities and Printables
Seussville--Fun Interactives for your Interactive Whiteboards or computer stations
Rick and Bubba Read Green and Eggs and Ham LIVE--Listen via the computer and participate in the World's Largest Classroom!!!
Reading Rockets--Green Eggs and Ham Participation Guide for teachers and parents
The Sneetches--Watch the Sneetches Full Version



Voki for Education

I've shown many of you the Voki site before, where you can make an "avatar" like character and instruct it to say what you want it to say.  For example:


Voki has released a new "Voki for Education" area on its Web site, with ideas for incorporating Voki into the classroom!  Check it out here!

Long Time, No Blog!!!

Well, I've fallen a bit behind keeping the blog updated.  But, saw this announcement this morning, and it definitely was worth stopping and posting about for you all to see!

I've been waiting for this contest to open back up again, and I really hope that we can have some participants from our area enter!  From the Doodle for Google Web site:

Visit the Doodle for Google page for contest rules and registration, and please email me and let me know if you are going to participate!

Google Science Fair

On 11 January, 2011, Google is launching the inaugural Google Science Fair. They have partnered with NASA, CERN, National Geographic, Scientific American and the LEGO Group to create a new STEM competition that is more open, accessible and global than ever before. Google is reaching out to educators prior to launch to let you know “the Google Science Fair is coming” and to extend an invitation to schools and teachers to get involved early in our global competition.


To sign up for fun and free resource kits for your classroom or school (with bookmarks, stickers, posters and more!) and a reminder notification when GSF registration opens, please visit the Google Science Fair at:
http://www.google.com/events/sciencefair/ .

The Google Science Fair is a global competition that any student aged 13 - 18 from around the world is eligible to enter. Students can enter as individuals or as teams of up to three. There is no entry fee and registration and submission will happen online. The deadline for submissions will be the 4 April, 2011. The Science Fair will culminate in a “once in a lifetime” celebratory event at Google headquarters in California in July 2011 where finalists will compete for internships, scholarships and prizes in front of a panel of celebrity scientist judges including Nobel Laureates, tech visionaries and household names.

The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!

This is old news for most of you, but PBS has launched a new animated show, "The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!" 

The show is designed to promote science among early learners.  There are great teacher resources that supplement the episodes available on PBS Teacher's Cat in the Hat Web site.  If you haven't seen the show or checked out these resources yet, take the time to do it today! 

GaETC 2010--Day 1

There are over 1800 attendees at this year's GaETC at the Georgia International Convention Center. Today was a great first day. We attended an opening session, concurrent sessions, and heard a hilarious keynote speaker--Jeanne Robertson. You can check her out on YouTube. You won't regret it!

Resources to note from sessions I attended today:

GPB/Discovery Education--http://www.multiurl.com/l/3JS (All of the links and handouts from their presentation are linked here.)

Tammy Worcester--If you've ever been to GaETC, you've probably heard Tammy before. She presented great materials today, as always. You can access all of the handouts from her presentations here: http://www.tammyworcester.com/TWHandouts/New_Handouts/Entries/2010/11/3_GAETC_2010.html

We saw several familiar faces today from our Chattahoochee-Flint RESA ETC counties!

Stay tuned for more resources and updates tomorrow!

Your Play by Play is Coming Soon...

GaETC is here again!  November 2-5, we will be in Atlanta at the annual Georgia Educational Technology Conference.  I hope I will see some of you there.  For those of you that can't make it, I will again blog each day with the conference highlights and happenings!  Tune in here for your GaETC play by play!

Printables and Pumpkins!

Thanks to my friend, Alice, I have a new site for great printables to pass on to you!  Print pdfs about pretty much every topic for every grade level.  From coloring sheets, to maps, to physics worksheets...there is a lot of variety!  Here is an example:

Also, for a little fall fun, check out this cute video all about PUMPKINS!

Web 2.0 Tools for Web Design

I am conducting a workshop on web design using free, web 2.0 tools this week at the ETC.  We are focusing on tools that can be used with students in the project-based learning competition, PROMOTE.  You can learn more about PROMOTE here, and view winning Web sites from last year's competition. 

It's helpful to start by teaching students about properly evaluating Web sites.  Eduplace has a simple tutorial.  Kathy Schrock also has several great resources on this topic.

What does "modern web design" mean?  This is a great explanation of common modern (2.0) design elements:  Web 2.0 How To Design and Style Guide.

View other award-winning web designs at the Webby Awards Web site.

Free Web site builders:
Webstarts
Wix
Weebly
DoodleKit
Moonfruit
Yola
Wordpress
Google Sites
EZWeb123

New Mimio Software

Have you downloaded the new Mimio 7.01 software?  You can download the latest version here.

Need a User Guide to help you get started?  You can find that here. 

(It's only available for Windows users now.  The Mac update will be available later this Fall!)

Which Founder are you Like?

September 17 is Constitution Day!  The National Constitution Center has a fun Interactive that lets your students determine which Founding Father they are most like.  Great activity for your Interactive Whiteboards!

Don't Forget about Thinkfinity

Great Back to School links to Interactives and other Technology Activities at Verizon Thinkfinity!  Scroll down to select your grade level.

ATTENTION Promethean ActiVote or ActivExpression Users

For all of you Promethean product users out there, they have announced a new partnership with BrainPop.  There is a new BrainPop "tab" that will appear in your software to use seamlessly with your Promethean ActiVotes or ActivExpressions!  Your students will be able to take BrainPop quizzes with their remotes.  Of course, you will have to have a subscription to BrainPop, or just take advantage of the free videos and quizzes.

Get more information and the download instructions HERE.