Increasing Scientific Literacy through Apprenticeship into Science Journalism

"The National Science Foundation-funded "Scientific Literacy through Science Journalism" (SciJourn; "ttp://www.scijourn.org) project aims to increase the scientific literacy of high school students by involving them in a learning environment based on science journalism. The primary purposes of scientific literacy should be for personal life and for democratic citizenship. In other words, educators should be preparing young people to make personal decisions and participate in public debates related to science and technology."

Check out the link for more. Could be a good way for Secondary Science teachers to engage their students.

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Annie's Resource Attic of Teacher Resources

Ann Brundige has collected a range of free and mostly free resources and links on her Wordpress blog. Check out her many "treasures and finds."

http://www.annbrundigestudio.com/

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The Governor's Letters - Vancouver Island and BC before 1871

Use primary source documents to enliven your Socials or History class.

http://www.govlet.ca/en/index.php

"The Governor’s Letters website provides learning materials about the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia before the province was created in 1871. We’ve developed some Curriculum Challenges for students and teachers, which are suitable for elementary and secondary school classes."

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The Girl Who Hated Books by Jo Meuris - NFB

A nicely done animated version of "The Girl Who Hated Books" on the NFB site. Some of you have this book in your collection.

http://www.nfb.ca/film/girl_who_hated_books/

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CBC Archives: Soccer Clips

"It's been called "the beautiful game." Soccer, the most popular sport in the world, draws an unwavering devotion from its fans. Yet soccer as a spectator sport has never quite caught on in Canada, despite growing youth participation rates and a series of professional leagues."

http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/topics/2273/

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Drop Everything and Read posters

The "2010 Drop Everything and Read" posters are now available on the BCTLA website at http://bctf.ca/bctla/pub/index.html.

This year, three posters have been created, in English and French, in multiple sizes.  Choose and print posters from the BCTLA website. Join in participating in Drop Everything and Read on October 25, 2010!

Check the site for other Librarian resources as well.

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Some ideas for building a "program" for Library

Lesson Plans to complement the Hanover County Library Media Curriculum.

http://hanover.k12.va.us/instruction/media/LessonPlanBook.htm

North Carolina Scope & Sequence

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/information/scos/

Bowen Elementary Lesson Plans

http://www.powell.k12.ky.us/bowen/library/LessonPlans/index.htm

Utah Curriculum Resources

http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/LPview.cgi?core=9

ISAIL Lesson Plan Resources by Grade

http://isail.wikidot.com/lesson-plans

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Title Lists for Series and Sequels

Are you frustrated when you can't tell which title is the first in a series? The "Mid-Continent Public Library" has a great site that will answer all your questions! (It also tells you if the series is "Juvenile" or YA)

http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/series/juv/book.cfm

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Sample Library Page using Blogger

Sometimes I get asked about Web 2.0 tools that can help with the easy creation of school library pages. I've tried a number of them, but one of the easiest is Blogger.

Here's a sample I created:

http://anywhereelementarylibrary.blogspot.com/

Here's one from a school in North Carolina:

Wendell Creative Arts & Science Elementary School Library sports a great logo and an Xtranormal short video introducing the resource centre.

http://libraryatwendellelementaryschool.blogspot.com/

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5 practical strategies for solving difficult behavior problems - preview online

Solving Thorny Behavior Problems:

How Teachers and Students Can Work Together

By Caltha Crowe

http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/bookstore/ascdsolvingthorny.html

"Solving difficult behavior problems with children leads to long-lasting change. Arguing, excluding classmates, forming cliques, "forgetting" to do homework, balking at sharing, refusing to do work—these common but challenging misbehaviors often disrupt learning, frustrate children, and exhaust teachers. Veteran educator Caltha Crowe shares five practical strategies that will help teachers and children solve these problems together. You'll learn to use:

• Problem-solving conferences
• Conflict resolution
• Role-playing
• Class meetings
• Individual written agreements"

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Storynory - Audio stories

Storynory is an online repository of audio stories. There is a mixture of new stories, fairy tales, and specially adapted myths and histories as well as some verses. (Some Bible stories are included in the "myth" section.)

Visit http://storynory.com/

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What the BP oil spill would look like in your area.

Here is a "personal" way to visualize the oil spill.

http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/

Help put the size of the BP oil spill into perspective with this site that lets you see it in relation to your own area.  Click on the link, then enter your town and province in the location box at the top of page. You can even 'move' the oil spill around.

Some Science Links -

Science Links to Explore

Freezeray (a site developed by teachers in the UK for middle and high school that offers visual teaching-aids for use with interactive whiteboards)

CassioPeia Project (provides video resources for middle and high school science classes)

The Periodic Table of Videos (provides entertaining and instructional video explanation of each element)

Genetic Science Learning Center (provides information for high on the basics of DNA, stem cells, cloning, etc. in interactive learning ways, 3D animations, and more for high school science classes)

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Some sites for teaching Math -

Math Links to Explore

Learning Today teacher toolbox (grade K-5; with resources for use with interactive whiteboards)

Think Math (grade K-5)

[Smart Measurement] Wikispaces (grade K-6)

Math Apprentice (grade 4-7)

Math Snacks (grade 6-8)

Math and the Movies (grade 6-12)

10 Minute Math blog (a blog by a high school teacher)

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More online French Reading

Il était une histoire

Stories can be read (or listened to) on-line, or downloaded as PDFs and even as sound files. Stories, legendes, fairytales and and some non-fiction reading as well.

http://www.iletaitunehistoire.com/genres/albums-histoires

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FYI - Tracking Series Mystery Books

While this might not be so useful for your students, here's a site that will let you track the release dates of mystery books that are part of a series. It also lists Award winners and nominees. You can even subscribe to the newsletter.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/

"Stop, You’re Killing Me! is a resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books. We list over 3,300 authors, with chronological lists of their books (over 37,000 titles), both series (3,700+) and non-series. Use the alphabetical author and character links above  or the special indexes in the left column."

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Want to explore some eContent?

Here are some places to visit to find some content in ePub format for eBooks.

(These will work on most ereaders, including the iPad.)

epubBooks

epubBooks provides a selection of high quality, free ePub eBooks, for everyone to read and the collection is growing daily.

http://www.epubbooks.com/

Google Books

http://books.google.com/books?id=S9sNAAAAQAAJ

To get started, just find any public domain book on Google Books and click on the Download button in the toolbar.

Feedbooks

On Feedbooks you'll discover thousands of public domain books and original books from new authors that you can read on any mobile device.

http://www.feedbooks.com/

Snee

These were created from the free books available as part of Project Gutenberg. (In English and other languages)

http://www.snee.com/epubkidsbooks/

epub2Go

This free web site allows you to convert a PDF to an EPUB file (for easier reading on an iTouch or iPad.)

http://epub2go.com/Web/default.aspx

Using video clips for Pro-D

Digital Handouts: An Alternative to More Paper and Meetings

Jill Ostrow

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1106.cfm

Jill suggests that video clips can be an effective way to expose colleagues to great content. She uses Keynote and iMovie, uploading the final product to Youtube. The clips can be embedded in a webpage or sent as a link via email. Short booktalks or strategy overviews or resource presentations could all be done this way.

(snip---------EDITED VERSION OF ARTICLE------snip: http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/1106.cfm)

"I want to contribute, I would just rather do something different than a presentation," Jane shared with me after one of her district meetings on English language learners (ELLs).

I tried to think of an alternative way for Jane to get the information out to her staff that didn't involve paper, wouldn't take too much time away from her teachers, but would be rich in content.

"What about a video?" I asked her." I'll record you with my Flip camera while you talk about something and then you can share the video." From that initial idea, came the notion of the digital handout.

Short and Sweet

We made a commitment that these videos needed to be short. No more than three minutes long and not a link, but a video embedded within an email.

Response

The feedback from teachers has been very positive. One teacher wrote, "These are much more accessible to classroom teachers than a handout. I copied the URL, converted it, and saved to our school share drive."

Below are the first three digital handouts we have created so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJU2VcBYGOI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4UtqEitVlY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7xFkDg4tzo

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'Mr. 2000' - imagining the future

'Mr. 2000'

Broadcast Date: Dec. 9, 1961

http://archives.cbc.ca/lifestyle/fitness/clips/10076/

This CBC radio clip from the early 60s might be a fun way to introduce a writing activity on "Mr or Ms 2050". Students could be asked to imagine life for the average person 40 years from now.

How will man look and feel in the year 2000? According to Lloyd Percival, "Mr. 2000" could be seriously out of shape. In this 1961 clip, the host of CBC Radio fitness program Sports College offers data showing that "modern-day automation and labour-saving devices" are already causing men to be weaker and fatter than they were in the past. Unless North Americans make a concerted fitness effort, says Percival, the problem will only get worse.

Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop - preview onine

What Student Writing Teaches Us

by Mark Overmeyer

c 2009

Preview the entire book on-line

http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=9173&r=sb100610b&REFERER=

"Framed within the context of writing workshop, the book examines the reasons for reading student work and provides various methods for helping students improve as writers. Formative assessment presents teachers with multiple opportunities to read student work, with a clear focus, thereby supporting students in all stages of the writing process."