Looking for Something Different? Here's a website that leads you to contests

Teachers,

We know there are plenty of contests out there that the children can use to showcase their talents and you can use to reinforce lessons. There is a website that catalogs contests and offers other types of entertaining ways to use contests in the classroom.

Try the website, http://teachingwithcontests.com/ - Teaching with contests. Right now is a contest for saving animals represented by St. Francis for the Animal Society. Contest ends April 15th so look it up quickly!

Have you used Kidspiration?

Kidspiration is a great tool for helping students up to grade 5 learn how to organize thoughts and outline ideas. Kidspiration can be used for all types of classes - science, social studies, math, etc. There are activities already built into the program and it allows you to create your own.

Want an idea on what it looks like and how to use it? Atomic Learning Library has some great tutorials for both PC and Mac users - click here to go to the portion of the website that has the tutorials - you will need QuickTime and your speakers on to view and listen to them.

Want to try it? Here's the link to the Inspiration/Kidspiration website for a free 30 day trial: http://www.inspiration.com/Freetrial

How are things going with your Professional Development?

Do you feel the Professional Development that is offered on a one day basis is enough? Or do you feel there should be ways to continue to learn more about the new ideas you found? Take my poll and see how others feel as well. It's anonymous and will be shown at the ASCD conference on March 16th.

Click here to go to the poll

Thanks!

Consider using wikispaces for your classroom!

I know you all have heard of Wikipedia and how content can be edited by anyone who logs into the website. Wikipedia is a good place to start for a conversation regarding almost any topic and we know that there are times when the information is accurate and times when it is not. However, did you know you can have your own little wiki for classroom use? As the teacher you can start the wiki with a question that students log on to answer or you can post something and encourage the students to add to it or make their own corrections.

I have a wiki for you to look at:
http://dom-powerschool.wikispaces.com/. I took one of my blog posts from the past and made a few errors to it. Feel free to log on and make some corrections, or leave a discussion on the page.

Try it - it's free! Go to wikispaces.com to begin your own account. Students will love the interaction and being able to see what the other students have added.

Use Verizon's "Thinkfinity" to find lessons on everything from A to Z

Verizon Foundation has long ago created a website that can verify content on any subject and provide availability and verification in one site. This free service is available to educators, students and parents. Since today is an important day in history, I went onto http://thinkfinity.org" and looked up "inauguration." It offered several sites by reputatable companies such as EdSitement and Smithsonian History by grade level, state standards, interactivity, lesson plans, etc. Here's what I found interesting today:


Celebrating Inaugurations

George Washington (1789-1797)
gave the shortest inaugural address, 135 words, at his second inauguration.

James Madison (1809-1817)
held the first official inaugural ball in 1809.

William Henry Harrison (1841)
gave the longest inaugural address--8,445 words.

Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)
was the only president to use the words "I affirm" as he took the oath of office, rather than "I swear."

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
wore a ring to his 1905 inauguration that held a lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair, cut off after Lincoln was shot.

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
was sworn in using his nickname, Jimmy, instead of his given name, James Earl.



Why not start incorporating this site into your lessons? Have your students look for information on ThinkFinity and have them site the sources and reliability? Happy hunting!

Start the Year off right - use Google Earth to add to any lesson

New Year - Renewed Ideas!

Have you every used Google Earth to highlight an area that is of interest in your curriculum? It's not just for Geography or Social Studies - use it for Language Arts, Science, Art, Music, etc. Discussing Edgar Allen Poe? Log into Google Earth and bring the students to his Philadelphia quarters.




Click on the link and it was take you to more information regarding the hours to visit and website information.



Think of the possibilities - look up the birthplace of anyone - Barack Obama perhaps? Tour the White House this month when discussing the Inauguration. Have the students use Google Earth to determine how long far in distance to fly from your school to the Vatican. And the best part? IT'S FREE!!!

Download the program today and try looking for your school or house:

http://earth.google.com

Here's a great site for podcasting and geography

Teachers,

While searching for some interesting podcasting tools, I found this wonderful website called "Learning in Hand." Tony Vincent, who created and runs the site has great directions on using podcasting in the classroom, but I love his "Our City" podcast site. Your students research the city where the school resides and shares the facts in a conversational format using either GarageBand or the free Audacity program. The great thing about Tony's site is that you can upload and share your podcast from his site easily. People all around the United States can click on the link for your town and listen to the podcast about your school and the area. Click on this link, Our City Podcast and listen to some of the podcasts on the site from all over the country.

If you'd like to add yours and need assistance, please contact me - this is a fun project.

Adele - aellis@diometuchen.org