Big Deal Newsletter 9/15/11

Clorox’s Power a Bright Future grants
are intended to provide necessary resources to help support school
programs that enrich students’ lives. Anyone at least 18 years old
at time of entry can nominate an accredited K–12 public or private
school program by relating how the $50,000 would benefit the students
in that school. Visit the site to see how the program works and to
view the most recent nominees.

 Deadlines:
September 27, 2011 for nominations; voting begins on October 24,
2011, and the five winners will be announced in January 2012 Click Here for More Information

Improve Students’ Math and Science Learning – Do
you have an idea for improving math or science instruction in your
classroom? What do you need to make learning math and science fun for
your students? What instructional items or project materials are on
your wish list? Elementary school teachers are invited to apply for a

Toshiba America Foundation grant
by describing a set of math or science lessons or a hands-on project
they would like to introduce in their own classrooms. Any K–5
teacher in a public or private (not-for-profit) school is eligible
for a grant up to $1,000 for project materials only. Visit the site
to see examples of successful projects.
Deadline: October 1, 2011
Click Here for More Information

Support Children with Learning ChallengesMonarch
Teaching Technologies
(MTT) is accepting proposals for their Second
Annual Visual Learning 2011 TechGrant
program. Eight school districts will be granted access for up to 25
teachers to VizZle,
MTT’s Web-based authoring tool that offers interactive, visually
supported curriculum for children with autism and other learning
challenges. Each
TechGrant includes customized professional development resources and
ongoing technical support. The total retail value of the TechGrant
awards is more than $160,000.
Deadline:
Applications must be emailed to techgrant@monarchtt.com by October 5,
2011
Click Here for More Information

Close Achievement GapsThe
NEA Foundation’s
Student
Achievement Grants
provide $5,000 to improve the academic achievement of students by
engaging them in critical
thinking and problem
solving activities
that deepen knowledge of
standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve
students’
“habits of
inquiry, self-directed learning and critical reflection.”
Deadline: October 15, 2011
Click Here for More Information

Plus:
The foundation’s Learning
& Leadership Grants
provide opportunities for teachers, education support professionals
and higher education faculty and staff to engage in high-quality
professional
development and lead
their colleagues in professional growth. The grant amount is $2,000
for individuals and $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study.
Deadline: October 15, 2011
Click Here for More Information

Picture an Ever-Changing EnvironmentThe
American Geological
Institute (AGI) is
sponsoring a photography
contest to celebrate
Earth Science Week
(October
9–15, 2011). The
photography theme for this year is A
World of Change in My Community.
Entries must be composed of original, authentic, unpublished material
and must be the sole property of the entrant, not previously
submitted to any other contest. The photography contest is open to
interested persons of any age, who are residents of the United States
or members of an AGI International Affiliate. The winner will receive
a prize of $300 USD, a copy of AGI’s Faces
of Earth DVD, and his
or her photograph will be used on the Earth Science Week Web site.
Deadline: October 14, 2011
Click Here for More Information

Plus:
AGI is sponsoring a visual
arts contest to
celebrate Earth
Science Week 2011.
The visual arts theme for this year is Picturing
Our Ever-Changing Earth.
What Earth changes do your students know about? What do they think
causes those changes? Invite them to use artwork to show ways in
which Earth’s air, water, land and living things change over time.
The visual arts contest is open to any interested person in grades
K–5, who is a resident of the United States. The projects will be
judged by a panel of geoscientists on creativity and relevance to and
incorporation of the topic. The selected entry will win $300 and a
copy of AGI’s Faces
of Earth DVD. The
winner’s and finalists’ names and entries will be posted to the
Earth Science Week Web site.
Deadline: October 14, 2011
Click Here for More Information

Help Students Get Financial Support for College

iPivoted.org
is a new Web site (similar to DonorsChoose.org) that helps low-income
students find donations to cover college expenses. Students using the
site post a short profile and specify a budget for their education
expenses, ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.
Potential contributors browse students’ listings, choose a student
and donate. The profiles stay up for as long as six months. When
students reach their financial goal, they get the funding minus 15
percent to offset iPivoted’s administrative costs. If pledges fall
short of the goal, donors get their money back.

Deadline: N/A
Click Here for More Information

Become More Search SavvyIn
this blog post, Google’s “search anthropologist,” Daniel
Russell, offers 12
tips for teaching
students how to use Google efficiently to conduct research and judge
the quality of the information they find. Among his suggestions,
Russell encourages students to keep queries simple and use search
terms and phrases they think an author might use. He also suggests
students verify sources and use multiple sources to help confirm the
veracity of content.
Click Here to Read Search Tips

Capture the History of Mount RushmoreThe
National Park
Service’s
(NPS) Mount
Rushmore National Memorial
is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The purpose of the
memorial is to communicate the founding, expansion, preservation and
unification of the United States with colossal statues of George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
The NPS provides a free,
downloadable Mount
Rushmore student guide
that includes information about the idea for the sculpture, the
people involved, the presidents, an informative timeline, animals and
plants, and park facts.
Click Here to View or Download Free Guide

Encourage Boys to ReadMe
Read? No Way! is
a practical guide to improving boys’ literacy skills. This free,
downloadable guide was prepared by the Ontario
Ministry of Educationin Canada as part of an initiative to support student success in
literacy; in particular, it focuses on boys’ literacy. The guide is
intended to stimulate discussion of this important issue among
educators and to provide practical and effective strategies that
teachers can put to use in the classroom, both immediately and over
the longer term. The guide presents information, tips and ideas
organized into distinct categories as well as a wide variety of
sources that you can refer to for more in-depth exploration of
particular concepts or topics.Click Here to Download Free Literacy Guide

Explore Choices in Sustaining a Safe School EnvironmentBullying:
A Case Study in Ostracism
explores issues of bullying and ostracism by looking at a particular
incident that occurred at a middle school, primarily involving a
group of girls. What started as a small event quickly turned into a
serious situation. Explore the Case Study online with your students
by reading a description of the incident; reading/listening to the
voices of the girls and one of their teachers; participating in
online discussions about the incident and viewing video clips of
experts discussing the issues. The Case Study is a project of Facing
History and Ourselves,
a nonprofit organization that helps classrooms and communities
worldwide link the past to moral choices today.Click Here to Access Free Case Study

Enhance Your Teaching of Classic and Contemporary LiteratureFor
40 years, PBS
MASTERPIECE has
been known for high-quality adaptations of classics, mysteries and
contemporary literature. More than 30 Teacher’s
Guides can help you
enhance the use of MASTERPIECE films in your classroom. Two guides
are presently featured on the Web site: Film
in the Classroomoffers ideas and activities for teaching film in today’s digital
environment. Drawing on a treasure trove of 25 outstanding
MASTERPIECE films, the guide will help you use film not just as an
adjunct to literature, but also as a tool that can improve students’
understanding of media literacy as well as literary elements. A
Tale of Two Cities,
one of the most frequently taught Dickens novels, explores issues
also associated with other works of Charles Dickens: poverty,
oppression, cruelty, social disruption, justice, personal redemption
and class struggle. The site also includes general Learning
Links to support
teaching MASTERPIECE films in the classroom, and Book
& Film Club Guides,
with discussion questions, activities and resources, plus general
tips on creating and running a MASTERPIECE Book & Film Club.Click Here to Access Free Teacher’s Guides

Spark the Spirit of InnovationThe
Henry Ford Museum
showcases the people and ideas that have fired our imaginations and
changed our lives. The museum’s Web site features a number of
digital resources: DigiKits,
seven unit plans using digitized artifacts from the museum’s online
collections; ExhibitBuilder,
a place where students and teachers can create online exhibits using
the museum’s digitized collections; and Innovation
101, a curriculum
encouraging innovation through interview clips with today’s hottest
innovators.
Click
Here to Access Free DigiKits
Click
Here to Create Online Exhibit
Click Here to Access Free Curriculum

Celebrate Constitution DayThe
National
Constitution Center’s
Interactive
Constitution lets
students search the U.S. Constitution for relevant passages and
explanations that relate to more than 300 topics, from civil rights
to school prayer, including Supreme Court decisions. Students can
also download a print version of the U.S. Constitution.Click Here to Visit Web Site

Plus:
C-SPAN’s
Constitutional Clips
section combines the text of the U.S.
Constitution with
C-SPAN video
to provide a learning experience for both teachers and students. You
must become a member of C-SPAN
Classroom to access
this online resource.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Join a Virtual Read-Out
Since
the inception of Banned
Books Week (BBW) in
1982, libraries and bookstores throughout the country have staged
local read-outs as part of their activities. This year, for the first
time, readers from around the world will be able to participate
virtually in Banned Books Week, September
24–October 1.
During this year’s celebration, readers will be able to proclaim
the virtues of their favorite banned books by posting videos of
themselves reading excerpts to a dedicated YouTube channel. The
National Council of
Teachers of English (NCTE)
and the American
Library Association
(ALA) are among the official sponsors of Banned Books Week.
Click
Here to Visit Web Site

Click Here to Access BBW YouTube Channel

Bring Your Lessons to the iPadTechSmith
has released a free
iPad app
called ScreenChomp
that lets you create screencasts with audio narration on the go. You
draw freehand on the iPad’s touch screen—the app offers 12
colored pens to choose from—and as you doodle, your voice gets
recorded in sync with the drawing. The recorded video can be
downloaded as an MPEG-4 file from the screencast.com Web site, which
you can then upload to YouTube or any other video sharing Web site.
Click Here to Access Free ScreenChomp App

Plus:
ShowMeApp
is another freewhiteboard app
for the iPad
that offers similar recording functionality, but you cannot download
the recorded screencasts.
Click Here to Access Free ShowMeApp

Pin Your History to the WorldThe
HistoryPin
Web site had its official launch earlier this summer, but August
brought about the release of its free
appforiPhone
and Android.
The site and app let you view the history of a particular location by
taking historical photos and pinning them to Google Maps. You can
also contribute your own photos—both present-day and family
heritage photos—to the site.
Click
Here to Visit Web Site

Click Here to Access Free App

Teach Online SafetySign
up for a free
Learning.com
account and get a complete Online
Safety curriculum for
your whole class. With your freeaccount, you’ll gain access to standards-aligned, peer-reviewed
content—one place for teacher resources from industry-leading
publishers (such as LEGO Education and NASA), open education
resources (such as Curriki and PhET) and materials from teachers for
teachers. Sign up for your free
account before September
30, 2011 and receive
EasyTech Online Safety
for free.Click Here to Sign Up for Free Curriculum

Spark Students’ CuriosityDiscovery
Education and Intel
Corporation have
launched CURIOSITY in
the Classroom, an
interactive,
science-based educational curriculum
that brings science concepts to life by examining such topics as
artificial intelligence, communications, computers, nanotechnology
and robotics. The site provides in-class
and at-home
resources
to encourage conversation among educators, students and families. The
resources include free
lesson plansand videos
aligned to national education standards for students in grades 6–12;
career videos
and quizzes
to spark students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and
math; a webinar series
exploring some of life’s most captivating questions; and family
discussion guidesthat correspond to the questions examined in the CURIOSITY series.Click Here to Visit Web Site

Plus:
Check out “Catch Me
Being Curious,” a
national sweepstakesthat will award one family a vacation of exploration and discovery.
One grand-prize winner will receive a family vacation to experience
Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, or sightsee in Washington, D.C.,
the Grand Canyon National Park or Yellowstone National Park. Twenty
second-place winners will receive a Discovery Education prize pack.
Deadline: Enter daily through November 15, 2011
Click Her to Enter Sweepstakes

Investigate the Impact of Weather on the WorldNOAA
Research is the
research arm of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
NOAA scientists study weather and air quality, climate, and ocean and
coastal resources. This site is a joint effort of NOAA Research and
the College of
Education at the
University of South Alabama
(USA). The goal of the site is to provide middle school science
students and teachers with research and investigation experiences
using online resources. The site is organized around six research
topics: In the El Niñosection, students find out how El Niño forms and what its effects on
the weather of the world are. In Storms,
students investigate hurricanes, tornadoes and lightning by tracking
their courses and measuring their strength. The Atmosphere
section involves students in investigating the origins and effects of
global warming and the effects solar events have on Earth. In the
Fisheries
section, students manage various fish species after learning about
the impact of overfishing and the environment on commercial fishing.
The Great Lakes
section involves students in interpreting maps of winds, waves and
temperature. In the Oceans
section, students take real measurements, such as temperature and
wave height, and graph the changes. They also find out about ocean
currents. A Teachersection (indicated by an apple icon) provides free,
downloadable
resources for each topic. The resources include lesson objectives,
interdisciplinary uses, NSTA and AAS standards and teacher
preparation materials.Click Here to Visit Web Site

Stimulate Students’ Creativity

Design
is everywhere. We are surrounded by it but often don’t think about
why things are the way they are. Discover
Design is an
interactive Web site sponsored by the Design
Museum in London.
The site is intended to help teachers stimulate critical and creative
thinking related to design. Students can start discovering design by
clicking on the icons What Do You See? What Is It Made Of? What Does
It Do? and What Is Its Impact?
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Plus:
Discover the A–Z of design words in this online Design
Dictionary.
Click Here to Access Online Design Dictionary

Examine a Lesson of HistoryOne
of the most recognized dates in modern U.S. history is December 7,
1941: the attack on Pearl Harbor. A far lesser known date is February
14, 1942, which, for some, had equally big consequences. On that day,
President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. That order
led to the detention of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans in
internment camps around the country, for years. One of those camps
was in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. At that time, it was surrounded by
barbed wire. Today it’s a new museum that tells the story of the
thousands of Japanese Americans imprisoned during World War II.
Visitors to the Heart
Mount Museum’s Web
Site will find information about the events surrounding this period
in our nation’s history. The sections include Coming to America,
Before the War, Forced Removal and Life in the Camp. The site also
includes a reading list and list of documentaries (under the
Education tab).Click Here to Visit Web Site

Explore Moments in the History of Public EducationSchool:
The Story of American Public Education
chronicles the development of our nation’s public education system
from the late 1770s to the 21st century. On this PBSsite, you can delve into the public school of yesterday, meet some of
the women and men who have shaped our experience of school, explore
the evolving classroom—from bells and blackboards to technology and
testing—and explore moments in education history through a
collection of images and essays that portray the common school, vast
changes in student population, women as teachers, immigration,
discrimination, desegregation, teaching life skills, bilingual
education and more.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Browse

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