do you hear what I hear?

This brief posting deals with audio files posted on Newfound websites. The first link is to the Riverday podcast, an audio file of media collected during and after Fourth Grade Riverday last fall. The purpose for posting this podcast is twofold: kids can listen to it throughout the year and be reminded of concepts introduced and parents and stakeholders can listen as well to get the flavor of the day and to help them understand the power of learning outside the classroom.

The second links come courtesy of BES's kindergarten class. Listen to their song, "Thankful," and a little poem for Christmas. Both sound files were recorded in the classroom at morning meeting. Both were posted on the classroom webpage so parents could listen and sing/recite with their children at home.

Is this a form of technology that you might be able to use? We'll be doing more podcasts and other recordings in the future. It's a great way to get the word out about the good work we do here at Newfound - and to do it in the voices of our students.

six traits

Conversations at grade level meetings this year indicate a growing interest in Six Traits Writing. Now our Reading Specialists are presenting us with information at our December early release session - thanks for your work, ladies! Here's a bit of what's online about Six Traits.

Six Traits of Writing from a public school in Minnesota. Includes definitions, example papers, and links for teachers, many from NWREL (the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory).

6-Traits Writing from Wiredinstructor has many of the same resources as other Six Traits sites, but it also including links to an online discussion group and graduate courses.

There are some dead links off this site - but what's there is informative. Six Trait Writing for Teachers, Parents, and Students

Using Picture Books to Teach Narrative and Six Trait Writing is a bibliography of picture books that can serve as models for several of the trais of writing. Also has a link at the bottom of the page to a webpage called Make Six Trait Writing Fun.

Here's a 6 Traits site for adult writers - with lots and lots of good examples you could use with kids.WritingFix and the 6 + 1 Traits This site is sort of hard to describe - there are interactive sections throughout (called Mini-Writer's Workshops) with instructions for the writer/student to help in the development of specific parts of the pieces. I really like Word games with Serendipity - and I bet kids would too! Hey, no wonder this site is so good! It's sponsored in part by The National Writing Project! Be sure to check this one out - it's really special!

But wait! There's more! Here's the same National Writing Project people as above - with a website just for kids! WritingFix for Kids says it's for kindergarten through third grades and has a lot of the same interactive features as their other site. "Come and choose a game to play/From our list of games today./If you have some paper near/We think you'll write while you are here." How cute is that!

Okay, so this site isn't about Six Traits - but it's about writing! Besides, you know how when you learn something new you want to share it with people? So go visit Poetic Sense: Sound & Imagery. The author talks about improving writing with specific types of words - words that sound good together, words that provoke an image. My favorite - zeugma, a "rare but beautiful type of comparison!"

Here's a bulletin board for folks using 6 Traits or those who have questions about it. By the looks of its postings, Teacher.net 6 Traits Chatboard seems to be pretty comprehensive. It also looks to be active - the last post was yesterday!

Here's a Six Traits Checklist for kids to use in judging their writing...borrowed from Cooper Elementary in California.

Another site from a school - Six Traits of Good Writing comes from elementary schools in Wyoming and is a good quick reference.

Of course, this is just a sampling of what's online. If you find any other good places, post them in the comment section so we can all use them!

christa mcauliffe conference

This week I attended the 2005 Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference. This yearly event is sponsored by NHSTE (New Hampshire Society for Technolgy Education). This conference is by no means for “tech people” - it’s for all educators.

Tuesday’s keynote speech was given by Marc Prensky, a leading authority on the educational merits of online interactive games. He has labeled our kids “digital natives” since they’ve grown up with technology. That makes us “digital immigrants” – people who have moved from the “Old World” into this new world our kids can navigate so well. Prensky talked about how many of the skills and strategies that kids learn in order to succeed in gaming are many of the same skills we want them to learn in school. He talked about engagement being more important than content learning because engagement is what leads to motivation and helps kids continue to learn. Prensky believes that most of the 21st century learning that our kids will need to know to be successful in the future is not happening in our schools as much as it’s happening after school – when kids are interacting with technology. He showed us clips from some of the games, where players build characters, interact with other players’ characters, and work individually and as cohorts to complete tasks. Lots of opportunities for problem-solving and decision-making. Amazing stuff.

Kathy Schrock presented on the value of using primary source materials with students. Primary sources are actual records (letters, photos, artifacts) that have survived from the past. She has an extensive list of primary source material (secondary, too) on her website here. I loved this quote she used from Thomas Jefferson in 1871: “A morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable.”

Annette Lamb was here today. She’s an entertaining speaker with a wealth of online information. Her presentation was about using testing results to support the transformation of learning environments. She listed a dozen reoccurring problems kids have across grades and subject areas:
- Identifying main ideas
- Identifying relationships and making connections
- Sequencing events
- Identifying details
- Distinguishing fact from opinion
- Identifying cause and effect
- Comparing and contrasting viewpoints
- Defending a position
- Identifying the problem and solution
- Making predictions
- Making inferences
- Drawing conclusions
And she talked about how using technology (webquests, virtual field trips, online tools) with kids can address all those areas and more and gave us an extensive list of online resources. You can find many of them on her website, Eduscapes.

By the way, she showed us a wonderful model of professional development, where teachers worked in the summer to build technology infused lessons, then established a tech camp for kids so they could try them out and tweak them before the school year began. They even had kids make suggestions for improvement and take photos or draw pictures to supplement the presentation of the lessons.

Finally, an amazing piece of technology that’s new to me. It’s called a “Playaway” and it’s a single audiobook loaded on an mp3 player. It comes with earbuds and runs on AA batteries. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Chronicles of Narnia are the only children’s literature on Playaways and, in total there are only about thirty other titles available. But, hey, it’s only been out for a few months! And just when I joined audible.com… Playaways are a huge technological innovation. Think about it – it’s the first time any electronic media has been sold complete with the player!

More to come. David Thornburg is speaking Thursday and I still have many notes to go through!

searching with kids

With many classes doing research online, I wanted to take this opportunity to pass along a few hints about helping kids find what they need on the World Wide Web.

The safest place for kids to begin is with search engines for kids: Yahooligans, AJ for Kids, Kids Click, etc. There’s a list of kid-friendly search engines and directories at Websites for References & Research. Feel free to add this site to your Favorites on your classroom computer for future use!

There are things kids can do to make their searches more specific. As they’re planning their search have them think carefully about keywords and search terms that are tied to the information they need. Enclose phrases in quotes (e.g.“American Crocodile”). And be sure they’ve spelled correctly – not all search engines will allow for errors.

Then there are times when kid-friendly search engines just won’t produce the information kids need. In that case, you have two courses of action:
• You can do the searching for your kids beforehand– find the websites appropriate for them to use and add those to favorites or drag the URLs to the student desktop. If you have many URLs and would like me to make you a webpage, email me and we can make those arrangements.
• Use an “adult” search engine – like Google, Alta Vista, Yahoo, etc. Most of these sites have “Safe Search” options, usually found under Advanced Search right on the search engine’s opening page. Please be sure that this option is checked to help filter out adult content or links.

For your own information, here's the Basics of Search page from the Google website. Also, here are a few more links that deal with searching:
• How to Search the Internet – a tutorial page with links to help you with search techniques.
• And from Mrs. Plankey, Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need, a great site that helps adults to decide what sort of an online reference they need to use to obtain specific information.

Finally, please know that I am available to help you and your students with online research. Just email me.

conference time

In a few days it will be November, the final days of first term - and time for conferences. Some of you will be hosting traditional parent conferences, others will be doing student-led ones, still others a combination of the two. Whichever your preference (and you know which mine is!), here are some resources that may inspire or at least assist you.

This article from Education World, Student-Led Conferences Hold Kids Accountable, addresses student led conferences at a middle school level. But there's also information in it that would pertain to any grade level.

Here's an article about student-led conferences from Scholastic titled Let Your Students Take the Lead. In five sections, this article describes SLCs at a K-7 school in Vancouver. The part about Stephen dressing up is so true - kids are so proud of themselves when they conference with their families.

Peppered throughout Caity's Conference are scenarios depicting SLCs in this Oregon school district. Good ideas for conferences are intermingled with comments from parents and teachers. Note the date of the article - 1996. Student-Led Conferences have been around for a long time!

This writer shares some tools and techniques that she's employed holding student-led conferences at a private school in Colorado. I love the graphic she uses to depict the child's goal - and I especiallylike the fact that she has the child set a character goal as well as academic ones. What a great idea! When Students Lead Conferences: A Home and School Partnership - written specifically for teachers new to the concept!

Now, several links about communicating effectively with parents. Communicating with Parents and Families reminds us of the communication and interpersonal skills that make for an effective parent conference and features words of wisdom from veteran teachers. 27 Tips for Parent Communication is just that: an annotated list of good practices to employ when collaborating or conferencing with parents. And from the Vermont NEA, 15 Ideas for Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences - a simple list of good practices.

Thankfully, it doesn't happen often, but it's happened to all of us - a problem with a parent. Getting Along with Grown-ups, taken from a new Jossey-Bass book, Teacher Talk, describes several typical parent issues and gives you some strategies for dealing with them. Here's hoping you won't need to use them.

Finally, an anecdote. When asked what the best thing was about participating in a student-led conference, one of my former second graders told me it was having her mom, her dad and her teacher all at the same table all talking about the same thing - her! I was astounded that that aspect never occurred to me. But think of it: there you all are - the most important adults in a kid's life and you're having a conversation about the child. What kid wouldn't just love that?

new learning

Today I attended a NHSTE workshop where David Warlick, an ed tech consultant and blogger/podcaster from North Carolina, spoke about new literacies and new mediums for engaging our students in authentic tasks involving online communication. He talked about student bloggers writing for real-world audiences and about kids studying areas that interest them, then becoming experts on topics and podcasting their information for a world-wide audience. He talked about "Web2.0," where our students (us, too!) will have opportunites to publish and add to the growing amount of digital information available to the world. I have David's book, Raw Materials for the Mind. If you want to borrow it, just ask. Here's a link to his website, The Landmark Project, where you can read more and find links to his blog, My 2¢ Worth, or his podcast, Connect Learning. Great stuff from a truly inspiring person.

T.H.E. Journal is a print magazine that deals with technology use in schools. 20 Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have is a great resource that not only lists skills that teachers should have but also points them to online tutorials for assistance in acquiring those skills if need be. Thanks to Dr. Cornish at PSU for this link.

Last, this article that I heard about today: it's about this phenomonon called The Flynn Effect. The Wired Magazine article outlines the findings of American philosophy professor James Flynn, who collected data to show how IQ scores have been on the rise since the late 40s. Flynn theorizes that all the problem-solving that goes along with learning and using new technologies may have something to do with this increase in IQ scores. Think about that next time you see one of your kids with a Game Boy.

worries & fears

Tonight I had a long, cathartic talk with a good friend. We talked about Hurricane Katrina, the ongoing media coverage, and the governmental response. Our talk took a natural turn to surging gas and oil prices and uncertainties about the upcoming winter. We reasoned that similar discussions must be taking place in homes all over the country. Tonight, my friend was dealing with stress by cooking. I'm dealing with mine by writing.

In times like this, I worry more about kids. Many of us remember how September 11th and last January's tsunami, so far from New Hampshire yet as close as our TV screens, impacted our kids here. Now we have another disaster and in our own country again, a natural one this time - no terrorists to blame. Hurricane is part of our kids' vocabularies - seeing the televised aftermath of one has got to be worrisome. Add to that adults' growing preoccupations with oil and gasoline prices and, if New Hampshire kids aren't worried now, chances are they could be very soon. To that end, I post the following resources that may aid us adults in aiding our kids.

From the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) comes this article, Helping Young Children After a Disaster. It talks about how witnessing troubling events, even indirectly, can affect children and reminds us that kids can be very perceptive to adult fears and anxieties. It also offers strategies to help adults support kids and help them feel safe.

This next article is by Joanne Cantor, a leading expert on how media, particularly TV and movies, can adversely affect kids. Tsunami Coverage and Young Children's Fears was obviously written earlier this year but the information is applicable to the current situation. You can see by her style of writing how passionate Dr. Cantor is about her work - I heard her speak last year in Anaheim and she was very convincing.

The NYU Child Study Center has just posted Talking to Kids About World Natural Disasters. The article reminds us that certain children may be more sensitive than others to anxiety, worry, and stress. It has good information that you might want to pass on to parents in your newsletters home.

One more - Helping Children Handle Disaster-Related Anxiety tells us that children have few life experiences to help them put disasters into perspective. This site looks at preschool and grade school children as well as adolescents, outlining behaviors that can occur and suggesting ways to help reassure each age group.

We all know that much of a child's fear comes from imagined scenarios. Even so, imagined fear is still fear to a child and a child who feels afraid, is afraid. Here's hoping everyone's fears subside - and soon.

happy new year

I wonder how many of us educators think about a "year" as being from September to June rather than January to December! And here we are, at the start of a new year. I hope your summers were both relaxing and glorious.

Here's a great place to begin your new year. The folks from Responsive Classroom have a huge amount of information for new teachers as well as for us veterans. And it's not just for primary teachers - read the guided discovery article about the fifth graders and their dictionaries! I especially like that they archive all their newsletters here at http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/newsletter/index.htm. For other great features, follow their links to their home page and to the Article Library.

Okay, I'm not crazy about the web design of this next site but I'm including the link here because the site is about Harry K. Wong and his beliefs. Wong is the co-author of The First Days of School and, although it's not all applicable for elementary teachers, there's some good reminders for us here as we start a new year. The Summary of Major Concepts Covered by Harry K. Wong can be found at http://www.glavac.com/harrywong.htm

I can't find the right URL for this next suggestion - I'll repost if I find it. In the meantime, to get this free mailing from The Master Teacher, you'll need to follow these directions: click on the link at http://www.masterteacher.com/freeresource/. Scroll down to the bottom right section of the page and look for "Weekly Tips." Sign up for emailed hints and strategies about teaching, inclusion, and discipline. Good stuff from a great group.

Lastly, words of inspiration for the new school year. One of my favorite pieces, The Art of Living at http://www.wuji.com/Classics/artofliving.htm carries a good message for all of us - educators or not.

Best wishes for a wonderful new year.

food for thought

Yes, here's another summer posting - the one I promised. If you're thinking I haven't taken a break this vacation, think again. I'm beginning this post at the picnic table on Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport, where I'm having a glorious time!

This post is pretty heavy duty...no links to practical sites you can use in the classroom, no activities for the kiddos. The links here deal mainly with student learning for a future world and how education is changing to accommodate that. Somewhere this summer, I read that our work is becoming less about teaching and more about learning. Read on.

Remember that link from July for the NECC webcasts? Here it is again (http://www.kidzonline.org/necc/agenda.html) with a suggestion that you take the time to watch The Natives Are Restless with Deneen Frazier. This woman is an actress and a teacher who presented a wonderfully entertaining and informative NECC session showing where kids are today with regard to technology. If you only watch one webcast, make it this one. Guaranteed, it will change the way you look at student use of technology.

In recent months more and more ed tech bloggers have appeared on the scene. Here's one of the first - a guy I've been reading since January. The blog is called Teach42 and it's written by Steve Dembo from Chicago, I believe. Steve's been an elementary teacher and a tech coordinator, and this year will be teaching kindergarten! He's up on all things technological and updates his blog regularly. There are lots of good links off this site. And he even does a podcast if you want to listen while you're setting up your room. Teach42 is at http://www.teach42.com/. Click regularly for a good read - or subscribe if you have a news aggregator.

This summer I've been reading Empowering Students with Technology by Alan November, an educational technologist and consultant who founded an outfit called November Learning. He's a global thinker with innovative, thought-provoking ideas about student learning in a technological age. Apple is hosting a webcast of one of this presentations, "Fearless Learners, Courageous Teachers" at http://ali.apple.com/presentation/novemberpreso.html. Alan talks the viewer through one of his recent presentations, complete with a slide show and links to sites online. Great food for thought at a time when our roles as teachers are changing so dramatically.

Finally, a plug for a book - sort of. Thomas Friedman, a journalist, author, and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, has written a new book called The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century. References to this book have come up this summer at several ed tech conferences and have appeared in quite a few blogs. Apparently there is a subtle message for us educators woven through Friedman's book about globalization in the 21st century. The copy I bought from an Amazon reseller is taking its sweet time getting here so I haven't actually read the book yet and thus can't endorse it. But I can point you toward the 2005 "Think Global" series featured on MPR, where Thomas Friedman himself speaks about the core thesis of his book. You can watch the speech using Windows Media Player or listen to it with Real Audio. It's at http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/features/2005/05/collaboration/. Just listening to this speech has sure made me rethink how I teach.

I'd be interested to read your comments about any of these links. Enjoy the rest of your summer - and have a great start of school.

from the porch

Okay, so I wasn't going to do a summer posting, was going to take some time off from this blogging...but there are good things happening out there that I need to write about. So I started writing this on vacation in northern Maine! And look! Blogger now supports images - so here's where I was!

First off, check this out: it's the Bristol Elementary Podcast we did the last week of school. I worked with some 3rd & 4th graders (who, by the way, were really good sports, as were their teachers!) who read nonfiction articles about summer safety, then worked up a 1-2 minute "talk" about the content. I recorded this talk, combined all the recordings into one, had our announcer David (what a guy!) do intros to each segment, and let the kids involved choose the accompanying music. It's up on the BES site at http://www.newfound.k12.nh.us/bes/besp_cast06-20.mp3. It can also be downloaded through the iTunes Music Store but I'm still working out the details of how people can subscribe to it to automatically get the new podcasts we'll (ahem) be doing next year.

And what's a podcast, you say? It's the same as a broadcast, only it's online as an audio file. You can listen to a podcast on the web through your computer - or you can download it, much as you'd download music, and listen to it on your mp3 player, or save it to your hard drive for later listening, or play it over and over again on your computer...get the idea?? Now, think about podcasts in the same light as your weekly newsletters or your school webpage. Can you see that podcasting could be another way to practice effective communication skills? could be an exciting new way to give kids an authentic, global audience? another way to get information about the school out to the public? Give this some thought - it's my hope to be podcasting in each building next year. I've been toying with formats - so stay tuned.

Every year, ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education, hosts a big educational technology conference called NECC (National Educational Computing Conference). This year's conference was in Philadelphia and has just recently concluded. NECC has posted webcasts of some of the sessions online at http://www.kidzonline.org/necc/agenda.html. To view them, you need Windows Media Player 7 or higher for Mac or Windows, a free download if you don't already have it on your computer. Registration's free - just name, organization, email, and country. So check out those webcasts to see what's up and coming with educational technology.

Finally, Teacherline, a service of PBS, offers professional development courses online. They have a TON of offerings in Reading/Language Arts, Math, Science, Technology and more! The price is affordable and there are even options for graduate credit. And yes, our computers can handle it! It looks like most of the fall classes run from the end of October until the beginning of December. The course catalog is available at http://teacherline.pbs.org/teacherline - take a look!

More later - in August, probably! There's just so much to share! Hope you're having a wonderful summer!

fun & games - for the end of the year!

It's summer - and vacation!! We've all worked hard this year - now's the time for a little online playing!

Google image search is a great way to locate pictures. You enter a search term, then Google searches the internet for pictures that match your criteria. Guess the Google is the process in reverse: the game gives you a set of pictures, then you must guess the Google search term that produced those photos. The site bills itself as being addictive - and it is! Click on http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/ to see!

This one's just plain freaky - a little like the toy I bought last Christmas. Think of an object (animal, vegetable, or mineral), then start to play 20 Questions - with the online program asking the questions. You won't believe how accurate it can be at guessing what you're thinking. Twenty Questions - try to stump it at http://www.20q.net/

Lots of games here - card games, board games, word games, games with online players and without. Yahoo! Games at http://games.yahoo.com/. Go play.

Even if you're not a chess player, check this one out. It's an online version of chess called Thinking Machine 4 but, as the computer plays against you, the program's artificial intelligence sketches out possible moves on the chessboard, contemplating the best one to make. How do they DO that? It's eerie - but fascinating! Chess at http://turbulence.org/spotlight/thinking/.

Geocaching begins online but ends on the trail! Visit this site to learn about modern-day treasure hunts where you follow online directions to get to a cache that someone has hidden in the wild. Find a treasure-filled cache, take a trinket, leave another one, and sign the log book to show you've been there. Then put the cache back in place for the next adventurer to find. There are SO many caches in the Newfound area - and most are in beautiful locations. Search by zip code to find directions to them. Fun for the whole family! Geocaching at http://www.geocaching.com/.

When you're done playing, don't forget that Atomic Learning has a website devoted to tutorials so you can learn new programs and skills at your own pace at your own time. http://www.atomiclearning.com

Happy Summer!!!!

NASA & NASD

NASA's Kids' Science News Network (a.k.a. "KSNN") is a standards-based program that uses the Web, animation, and video to introduce science, technology, engineering, math, and NASA concepts. It's divided into primary and intermediate grade levels and addresses topics like weather, magnetism, money, etc. There's much more so check it out. Registration required - but it's free at http://ksnn.larc.nasa.gov/home.html!

Check out Mrs. Gordon's 5th grade website. Her kids read online about the Freedom Trail before they went on their trip to Boston and took pictures of historical places when they got there. Back in the classroom, pairs of students constructed simple webpages incorporating their photos. An "imagemap" of the Freedom Trail was made from a drawn and scanned map and kids learned how to create links right on it that led to their pages. Take a look at the link below! http://www.newfound.k12.nh.us/bes/freedomtrail.htm

baseball

Play Ball! is part of America's Story from the Library of Congress. Read stories about America's favorite pasttime, how it began, and about its history. Check the reading list for titles of books about baseball. It's at http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jp/bball

Baseball Fact or Fiction is a lesson that's all ready for you to do! Get the kids to the computers, print off the fact or fiction worksheet, and let them research to find the answers to fifteen baseball-related statements. "Through the mid-1800s, players still fielded the ball barehanded" - fact or fiction? Have your kids find out at http://www.education-world.com/a_tsl/archives/00-2/lesson0003.shtml

Math Baseball is a tried and true math game from the folks at FunBrain. One or two students may play, choosing from games involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or combination of all four. Levels range from "easy" to "super brain" and there's even an option to have equations presented in algebraic form. Play ball at http://www.funbrain.com/math/.

Another math game for practicing addition or multiplication is Batter's Up Baseball at http://www.prongo.com/math/. Singles, doubles and homeruns indicate levels of difficulty as your player tries to beat the "Visitors" team before the clock runs out. Uses Flash - so it looks that much better to kids!

And in case you want more, check out Learning from Baseball at http://www.teachersfirst.com/baseball.htm. Lots more reading, science, and games - all about baseball!

math + numeracy

Isn't it funny how kids are fascinated by money? The State quarters certainly proved that! And did you know there's a new American Bison nickel ? That and many other interesting coin facts are presented on this site from from the US Mint called h.i.p. Pocket Change - "hip" being an acronym for "history in your pocket." There are games and cartoons and downloadable books, all to give your students information on the production of coins, their history, and an introduction to coins from other countries. Check it out at http://www.usmint.gov/kids/flashIndex.cfm. Great nonfiction reading for your kids.

The people who built this next website had an nifty idea. This site from Australia features online newspaper articles that deal with mathematical concepts - like number, data collection, probability, chance. Students read the article, then answer questions posed by the teacher. Truthfully, the site is meant for much older students - but the concept could be adapted to any grade level. Could you do this with an article from The Citizen? the Concord Monitor? the Union Leader? Take a look at this site and see what you think. Numeracy in the News is at http://ink.news.com.au/mercury/mathguys/mercindx.htm

Webmath says it's "devoted to making the world of math a little less complicated." Fill in the forms and the webpages will show students step-by-step calculations and money counting. The site explains ratios and fractions and deals with the metric system, geometry, and time. There's lots for us grown-up, too. I don't know which was scarier - my age in weeks or my estimated retirement savings! Give Webmath a click - http://www.webmath.com/.

This last one isn't anything you can use in class - although you might be able to use it on a field trip! Roadsign Math challenges travelers to find mathematical properties in the signs we see by the side of the road. Couldn't elementary age kids do this to some extent? Roadsign Math at http://www.roadsignmath.com/. ps: This site reminds me of Deirdre's fascination with adding up the digits on license plates!

And as long as we're talking math, here's a reminder about the Virtual Manipulatives website from a few posts back. It's still hands-down one of the best math sites I've seen.

assessment and reporting

Ahh, progress report time. Here are a few sites for you as you think about assessment - and a few you may want to pass along to the parents you conference with this month.

From low tech to high tech, this short article outlines ways we can use technology to support assessment and facilitate reporting to parents. Techno Tools for Assessment, a quick read at
http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/childdev/
techno_tools.htm

This October 2004 report by the Family Research Project at Harvard outlines the benefits of homework - to parents and to teachers. Parental Involvement in Homework: A Review of Current Research and Its Implications for Teachers, After School Program Staff, and Parent Leaders at http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine/resources/
research/homework.html

How Can Something as Simple as Reading to a Child Be So Effective? A good article by Jim Trelease, the Read Aloud Handbook guy. You can access it at
http://www.readingrockets.org/article.php?ID=546 - and maybe even send it home.

Aim High! Here's Bloom's Taxonomy- at your fingertips. Click on http://nerds.unl.edu/pages/preser/sec/articles/blooms.html. Enough said.

february days

February may be the shortest month but it's full of special days - the subject of this post.

I'm not sure where this falls in our elementary curriculum - but this is a really good reference for Black History Month. From the History Channel, it covers the history of the celebration, has video clips, the text of famous speeches, biographies of African-American icons, and much more. Go to http://www.historychannel.com/blackhistory/for this site about Black History Month.

You know those little candy hearts with the cute sayings on them? This site tells a little about their history and how they're made. It outlines the criteria for how the new sayings are chosen each year. Did you know every year there's a new category of sayings? Interesting nonfiction for your kids to read at The Valentine's Day History of Candy Hearts found at http://www.factmonster.com/spot/candyhearts1.html

Speaking of hearts, check out this one: The Heart: An Online Exploration is from the Franklin Institute Science Museum and makes for good nonfiction reading about real heart facts for Valentine's Day. Includes a pretty informative history of heart science. Lub-dub, lub- dub, click here - http://sln.fi.edu/biosci/heart.html.

There are lots of resources online about US Presidents and for President's Day. This site is actually a list of links to many of the other sites online. Visit Presidents of the United States at this KidsKonnect site at http://www.kidskonnect.com/Presidents/PresidentsHome.html.

Finally, here's a poem for Presidents' Day - with a monetary twist! Written in an upbeat manner specifically for kids, A Quarter and A Penny will give your students a brief account of the high points of Washington and Lincoln's tenure as President. Click on http://gilchriststudios.com/nlpf/archive/view.asp?presidents for the poem.

reading, writing, & 'rithmetic

From the people at Reading Rockets, a group funded by the U.S. Department of Education, comes this webpage called 103 Things To Do Before/During/After Reading. From improv to writing epilogues, this list has imaginative and fun ways for your students to show their understanding where reading is concerned. I especially like "Rosencrantz and Gildenstern" and "Write Out." Bookmark the entire list at http://www.readingrockets.org/article.php?ID=445.

Writing seems to be a big focus of grade level meetings with all of us reading different books on the subject. Access this site for lists of picture books that can serve as models for elements of writing like good beginnings, focus, voice, sentence fluency, and others. Using Picture Books to Teach Narrative and Six Trait Writing at http://geocities.com/oberry1790/narrativebibliography.htm

Just when you think the Web cannot become any more amazing, along comes a site like this. The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives offers educators online versions of the math manipulatives we have in our classrooms. There are graphs, base ten blocks, geoboards, pattern beads, puzzles - and that's just in one of the sections! Math concepts include number and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis and probability. The site's divided into PreK-2, 3-5, and beyond. This blurb doesn't do the site justice - be certain to visit! Virtual Manuipulatives can be viewed and utilized at http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/vlibrary.html

locally produced

There are a few things that have lately been put online by or for Newfound teachers. Since this blog is supposed to be a site for inspiration, they are this post's offerings...

Heads up fifth grade teachers! Here's a page of links for the study of the American Revolution. Joyce and I are working with her class as each child conducts research on a personality from the time period and writes a report. The students are then going to dress themselves as the person and talk about his or her life and contribution to the war while being videotaped. Links for the American Revolution is at http://www.newfound.k12.nh.us/bes/rev_war.htm. I can add to it if you post additional sites in the comments section below.

Christmas week I did a quick but meaningful literacy project teaming with BHVS's Melissa and NHCS's Stefanie. We presented the classes with Powerpoint slides of the lines of a Christmas poem, then the children interpreted the piece through class discussion. On their own, each child illustrated a line of the poem. Illustrations were then scanned (or photographed!) and inserted into each slide. Saved as a webpage, it was ready to go online and out to the public as a global holiday message from the children. The hardest part of this project was connecting with the author to get the okay to publish her copyrighted work (thank you, Ms. Watson!). View the projects while they're still online. A Christmas Wish Upon a Star: the NHCS version here and the BHVS one here. Thanks to both ladies and their classes for such thoughtful work!