Doing-Informing-Making-Educating = DIME
The purpose of this blog is just what is stated above. My goal is to provide you with "things" that can enhance instruction, motivate students and provide you with useful tools.
Welcome Back! The 2011-2012 school year is off and running. An exciting yet very busy time for any and all of us involved. I've got lots of information to share with you this year, so I hope that you will continue to follow my blog. So here we go the first post for this school year is.... (drum roll, please)......
Remembering 9/11 this is a link to a blog maintained by World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh. They have complied a nice list of resources that can be used in your classroom to help teach about 9/11. With this year marking the 10th anniversary you may find these resources helpful. In fact, on a side note, it just hit me the other day that those students who are now Seniors in high school were just in first grade back in 2001!
In honor of it being the end of the year, I thought I'd post something inpsirational for you. Check out "You Have Made A Difference" by Brian Asselin & Eric Disero.
Although it's the end of the school year, I thought this might be of interest for you for next year. PETCO is offering aCarefresh Lesson in a Box to teachers. The best part is it is FREE! The kit includes lesson plans, money-saving coupons for students and teachers, student lesson pads and a DVD among some other things. If you have a classroom pet or are thinking of getting one this would be a good way to introduce it. There is a limit of one box per teacher, per year.
I've been obsessed lately with finding good tools that can be easily incorporated into the classroom. Specifically into the Social Studies classroom and I'm excited to share this resource. It recently just came out, but it's awesome! Well in my opinion anyways, probably that history geek coming out again :-) Anyways, here it is. The National Jukebox from the Library of Congress is a collection of historical recordings that is available FREE of charge. You can check out featured artists, playlists and genres. Currently the Jukebox only includes recordings from 1901-1925 but they are working on adding more regularly. You can also create your own playlist. What better way to expose students to time period music. Check out some good ol' Ragtime featuring Duke Ellington or some classicGeorge Gershwin. Bring the sounds of the classic record into your classroom.
Spring Break is just hours away. So I thought what better way to prepare you for break then to provide you with a sun safety quiz. If you are headed south, which much of the North Country is,take the time to test your sun knowledge on this short ten question quiz. It looks like those of us staying behind will at least be getting a little warm weather next week. So enjoy your break and have fun in the sun!
Some of you have been asking for the link to watch the live webcam of the pair of bald eagles that are tending their nest. Here's the link, directly from Ustream to go and watch. So far two of the chicks have hatched and the third one is expected to hatch very soon. The eagles are in Decorah, Iowa, at a fish hatchery, about 80 feet up in a tree. This live webcam is part of the Raptor Resource Project.
Last night the President of the United States delivered the annual State of the Union Address. If you missed it, you can find it on YouTube and the entire Address is available. Also on the White House website, you can find the text of President Obama's speech.
I encourage you to take a look and either view or review the remarks from our President concerning the State of the Union. Compared to State of the Union Address' of the past, I found last nights Address to be uplifting and motivational. Maybe it's because much of what was addressed concerns me more than it ever has before.
