Encarta Election Guide & Presidential Info

Middle School, High School, Secondary, Social Studies, Language Arts, Resources Encarta offers an online 2008 Election Guide, which features information on the current and past elections. Articles about mudslinging, differences between Republicans and Democrats, the Electoral College, the 2008 candidates, voter registration, campaign finance, women in politics, etc. are available. At the site, students can learn about what are called the best speeches, such as Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address, Franklin Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address, and John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address. There's also a section filled with political quizzes like the Presidential Myths Quiz, Presidential U Quiz, U.S. Citizenship Quiz, First Ladies Quiz, and Presidential Trivia Quiz. You and your students will enjoy this site and the fun quizzes. Did you know that George Washington didn't shake hands with visitors? —But he did bow to them. Which of our Presidents died after eating cherries and milk?

Multicultural Literature from Zaner-Bloser

Zaner-Bloser is not just for handwriting and spelling; the company offers a core reading program, Voices Reading, designed to interest kids in what they are reading. The program offers "differentiated instruction, intervention, and practice" so that all student levels in a classroom may be addressed. English language learners and students having difficulty with reading skills are supported in Voices Reading. The following themes are covered at each level: Identity Awareness, Conflict Resolution, Social Awareness, Perspective Taking, Love & Friendship, and Freedom & Democracy. Read-aloud trade books including The Color of Us, Angel Child Dragon Child, Bully, Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear, Class President, and Bud Not Buddy are used along with audio CDs, skills practice books, leveled readers, and other resources. If you'd like to learn more about this reading program, request a program overview. If you do, you'll have the chance to win two free airline tickets to the 2009 International Reading Association conference of your choice.

Presidential Volunteer Service Awards

More and more students today are making their mark as concerned citizens by helping out in their communities and beyond. You'll find them working to clean up the environment, helping with charity fund-raising, participating in community building projects, serving on medical mission ships, and contributing their services to humane societies, camps, churches, schools, and other community organizations. One way to honor these outstanding young people is to present them with a Presidential Service Award. Volunteer service can be tracked on this government site, and inexpensive pins and certificates can be ordered to give your volunteers the recognition they deserve. The Presidential Service site includes information on the importance of engaging your students in volunteering and examples of how organizations, like schools, are turning kids into young people who are determined to help others.

Financial Literacy Lessons

Hot Chalk together with Horace Mann, VISA, and Dosomething.org offers financial literacy lessons and materials for elementary, middle school and high school students and their teachers. There are shopping and coin collection lessons for elementary students; budgeting fun and creating a budget for middle school students; and credit card responsibility, financial literacy online, and how to save and invest for high school students. Articles for educators provided by Horace Mann include expense deductions, true value of homeowners insurance, and why auto insurance rates increase. VISA offers state standardized preschool through college level financial lesson plans, and from Dosomething.org there's Karma Tycoon: A Free, Real-Time Financial Strategy Game. Considering the tough times we are facing today it's a good idea to prepare our students as best we can for their financial future.

Don't Forget Common Sense Media

Common Sense Media is a site that can help educators keep up with what's happening with media for kids. It's also a great site to recommend to parents of your students.  There they can get the scoop on the latest movies, books, DVDs, television shows, video games, and Web sites so that they can decide what is appropriate for their children. Some of the advice articles on the site include helping kids understand political advertisements, learning about addictive behaviors, helping parents understand social networking sites, learning about food marketing for kids, and providing parents with what they need to know about cell phones, video games, and MP3 devices. Signing up for the Common Sense Newsletter is easy. Just enter your email address and zip code.

Free Loan Media Program for Blind & Deaf Students

DCMP (Described and Captioned Media Program) offers over 5,000 free-loan described and captioned media titles through video streaming, CDs and DVDs. To sign up for the service, go to the site and register. You must confirm that you need these media to work with a student with vision or hearing loss.  The media are sent to your school or home or you can download. Some of the new titles include: Explorers of Hurricanes, Oceans and Space, Abraham Lincoln, Tales and Games for Kids, Opposing Slavery, and This is Emily Yeung: A Day in My Life. The collection has evolved through recommendations; if you know of a resource that should be available on the site, you should send in the information. DCMP also provides a Caption It Yourself resource.