Fun With Language Arts

The Children's University of Manchester in the United Kingdom hosts a very nice language arts site for students and parents. On the site, you'll find an introduction to words, a world language map, jigsaw puzzles, and fun with nouns, adjectives, pairs, and much more. There's even a timeline of the English language. —And, if you don’t know what an EPONYM is, you should head to this very nice site, which also includes fun with history, science, and art and design.

The Amazing 2013 Vultures Rock Competition

The Halloween Vultures Rock Poetry Competition is open once more for entries. This competition focuses on the plight of vultures, whose numbers are dropping around the world mainly because people know so little about them and why they need to be protected.  To honor the job that vultures do in cleaning up our world, children, ages 8-12, are invited to submit original poems that describe how they think vulture’s rock. Poems, which do not have to rhyme, are to be submitted to the Vultures Rock website by October 18^th, 2013. Winners will receive iPod Shuffles.

The competition is an excellent way to help students learn about the importance of vultures in our world and celebrate the fall season. Be sure to check the rules for entry on the site.

Incredible Bionic Man Challenge

Encourage your students to create a bionic body part for The Incredible Bionic Man Challenge.  According to the rules, students must be 13 or over, in Grades 9-12, and residents of a Cablevision service area in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or Pennsylvania.

Winners will receive a trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. and $5000 for college. The contest begins on October 1^st and ends November 7^th.  Additional information is available on the Smithsonian Channel site. You’ll find guidelines to get your students started, help for teachers, contest rules, and FAQ. You and your students can also watch a preview of the Smithsonian Channel’s Incredible Bionic Man, which will premiere on October 20^th at 9 p.m.

Hispanic Heritage Essay Competition

Students in Middle and High School in the CableVision region of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut may enter the 2013 Hispanic Heritage Essay Competition. By writing an essay of 500 words or less, students have the chance to win a $2,500 scholarship, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a Kindle Fire. Students must submit original essay on the topic, “Name a Latino, past or present, with whom you would choose to spend a day and explain why.”  Submissions are due by November 1, 2013 and must be submitted online. Rules and entry forms are available on the site.

Colonial Dames Washington Seminar Essay Competition

The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in cooperation with the Washington Workshops Foundation offer a seven-day (June 21-27, 2014) seminar to high school essay winners. To enter, students must write an original essay on the topic, “To what degree can it be said that the decisions of John Marshall’s Supreme Court laid the essential groundwork for establishing a strong federal government?”

Highlights of the experience include interaction with guest speakers from the three branches of government, visits to Washington D.C. landmarks, housing at Marymount University, exposure to career opportunities, and much more.  Online submissions are due by November 28, 2013, and written submissions by December 1, 2013.

Coursera Has 80 New Courses

The best teachers are always learning, be it on their own or through credit courses. One of the most convenient ways to learn what you want when you want at the right price (free) is through Coursera. Maybe you or your students want to jump into songwriting, explore digital signal processing, take on quantum physics, learn about comic books, or discover if plants have senses. You’ll find courses on these topics and more in the new Coursera catalog.  Check it out because you won’t believe how much is there for you and your students—cryptography, nanotechnology, Common Core, Surviving Your Rookie Year of Teaching, genetics, critical thinking, bioelectricity, Latin American Culture, Malicious Software, English Composition . . .

Invent to Learn

The book Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary Stager, helps you bring the excitement of exploration and invention into your classroom. If you want to create an exciting classroom environment in which students learn by doing, this book gives you the inspiration, as one reviewer said, to trust children by giving them the opportunity to explore, create, and experience both success and failure.  The book is available on Amazon in paperback ($28.84) and Kindle editions ($9.99).

Miss Humblebee’s Academy

Miss Humblebee’s Academy for Pre-Kindergartners, Preschoolers, and Kindergartners offers a safe online learning environment free from pop-ups, advertisements, and links. Designed for young children, the Academy features hundreds of lessons, mobile access, and progress reports. Using the program, students study topics in core subjects such as math, science, social studies, language, art, music, and literacy with Miss Humblebee and her four “amazing” friends”.

Family and educator memberships are available as a free one-week trial.  Songs and albums are priced at $.99, $8.49, and $8.99. Classroom licenses ($299) are available as are monthly memberships ($7.95 first child; $5.00 for each additional child) for families. You can preview Miss Humblebee’s delight songs without signing up.

Blended Learning for Young Children

Vinci Learning features digital devices and programs for early childhood learning. The devices are 7” Android tablets specifically designed for our youngest learners. Apps for the tablets include Play and Learn studies in mathematics, science, and language arts & literacy. While playing with Vinci apps, student profiles are developed; learning activities are recommended based on the assessment. Information about the suggested activities is sent to teachers and parents, and teachers can adjust the program, as needed. This cloud-based analytical tool follows a blended learning approach that is structured to differentiate learning to fit individual needs.

HoverCam Mini 5 Pocket Scanner

The world’s smallest document camera is about the size of a pen and just a little larger than a regular-sized candy bar.  The HoverCam Mini Scanner ($249) needs no wires since it plugs directly into the USB port on a computer. It can be used for Web conferencing, document scanning, creating video, and much more. You’ll find it compatible with both Mac and Windows systems, and you can carry it around in your pocket. So, it’s handy for a classroom teacher and just about everyone.