Student Assisted

This past week my science students have been conducting small experiments in class (i.e. Who can hop on one foot longer, Boys or Girls?) while continuing to learn about the Scientific Method. Several of the experiments required the use of a stopwatch, in which we only managed to find a few. A student came up with an innovative solution...she searched for an online stopwatch, http://www.online-stopwatch.com/.
I believe that YouTube is currently being blocked on our school network without a way to override the system. An alternative; http://www.teachertube.com/. As I am sure you have probably gathered from the link...it's just like YouTube but built solely for the purpose of education.

Rubric Maker

To all of you wonderful teachers who use rubrics (or would like to),

I found a FREE rubric maker online that makes grading so much easier! The website is http://rubistar.4teachers.org. It has many topics that you may cover in class along with rubrics you can use. Happy grading :)

What's New?

Check out TweenTribune, www.tweentribune.com, it is a free news site created by and for tweens. This site contains wonderfully written articles that are interesting to ready for both us and our students.
It's Your Call, www.webwisekids.org, is an online interactive educational game that allows children to practice responsible cell phone use and personal safety.
The games section at www.eastoftheweb.com is perfect for improving fluency and building a stronger vocabulary.

Rhee's 200-Page 'Framework' Spells Out Teaching Guidelines

A highly skilled teacher should never have more than five instances of "inappropriate or off-task behavior" by students within a half-hour of class time. At least three times in that span, an instructor should respond to students' correct answers by "probing for higher-level understanding" of the idea being discussed. And no more than three minutes of teaching time should be lost to poor organization or planning. (www.washingtonpost.com)

Good Stuff!

www.multilingualbooks.com now offers a clickable world map (click on Foreign Radio Online) to make finding an international radio station easier. This would be a great connection for students studying different areas of the world, or a wonderful resource for language teachers.
NSF International has developed a website ( www.scrubclub ) that teaches children how to properly wash their hands...flu season is just around the corner.
www.teachersfirst.com is offering free access to 10,000 online learning websites. Resources can be searched for by grade level, subject, keyword, etc. The search engine for this site only provides educational resources.
I receive the magazine Learning & Leading with Technology if anyone is interested in borrowing a copy or two. I currently have the August and September/October editions.