English/Language Arts

www.thewritingsite.org is an excellent website that provides links to several writing resources. Last week while at a conference I became aware of this sites real purpose - Writing Assessment and Instruction. On The Writing Site homepage click on Scoring Instructions, which will lead you to a section where you can select a grade (k-12) and a genre. After selecting a grade and genre you are given a paper to grade. You will then be able to compare your scores to the expert scores and read the rationales. This is just one of the many things that you can do through The Writing Site.

Science Site

If you are looking for science experiments/activities to enhance your already great lesson plans then check out http://www.tryscience.com/ There are also some greats things on this site that you could use just for fun as the school year winds down. After clicking on a tab (Experiments, Field Trips, Adventures) be sure to use the arrows at the bottom to scroll through all of the ideas within each category.

Looking for New Resources?

The following two sites are great for finding free lesson plans, ideas, resources, etc.

http://free.ed.gov/

http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome

Great Things on Google, and more...

Now that you have a google account, thanks to our blog, there are so many other things you can take advantage of. #1 - Google Documents, ask Rachel; Google Docs Rocks. With Google Docs you can create Word, Excel, and PowerPoint like documents and then access them from anywhere there is a computer and Internet connection. You can also allow others access to documents of your choice for easy collaboration. #2 - Google Calendar; I would be lost without this application. You can create a calendar through Group Wise as well but the Google Calendar is much easier to access at home or via your phone. With the Calendar application you can create events and have Google remind you via the email you submitted when you signed up, plus much more. As educators, Google Books is another free application that we can take advantage of. Simply sign into our blog or http://www.google.com/ and click on More to view the different programs that are offered.

Another website to check out: http://www.education-world.com/

Earth Day

In observance of Earth Day (April 22) I was hoping that we could spend part of the week in the dark. Some of us may be in the dark all week, ha! By turning off some of our lights, or possibly all of them later in the week when the sun is out and we can use natural light by opening the blinds, we can explain to our students that taking small steps can lead to big rewards (e.g. saving energy and money).

Below our some links that you may find beneficial for Earth Day activities, information, etc.

http://www.earthday.net/

http://www.earthday.gov/

http://www.epa.gov/earthday/

http://www.designareusablebag.com/

http://holidays.kaboose.com/earth-day/