General/Multi-Topic

• DENapalooza Stops in Pittsburgh
  • The Discovery Education Network is offering a free professional development on Saturday, September 21, 2013 from 9-4 at Montour High School.  Session include topics such as digital storytelling, project-based learning and personal learning networks.  The tour will visit other cities as well.

Language Arts

• The July Sharp-Schu Book Club Meeting
  • Here’s Mr. Schu’s (@MrSchuReads) blog post about the #ScharpSchu Book club chat featuring Lisa Yee (@LisaYee1) and Dan Santat (@dsantat).  There are many resources about the authors and their books linked in the post.
• Virtual Debates
  • Students from different school debating each other virtually through Google docs and hangouts.  What an exciting and authentic way to teach debate!
• Read Alouds
  • The Nerdy Book Club published two recent posts for beginning of the year read alouds. The first was  Read Alouds by Katherine Sokolowski and the second is Top Ten Middle Grade Read Alouds That Will Have Kids Rolling on the Floor Laughing by Cathy Potter. If you are looking for some a good read aloud check out some of these titles (or ask your librarian!)

Science/Health

• My Garbology
  • Garbology is an interactive website designed to teach what we do with our waste.  Plenty of resources for teachers and students.
• Nutrition and Healthy Bodies Pinterest Board
  • Great infographics and resources to encourage kids to eat healthy.

Social Studies

• A Short Explanation of the European Union
  • I know that many of our 6th grade teachers do projects on the Countries of the World. This blog post contains two short videos, one explaining the European Union and one explaining the United Kingdom.  I’m always confused by these countries, and now I know that’s with good reason.

• Daily Flag Status
  • I noticed that some of the American flags in the area were at half staff yesterday but had no idea why.  Then I found this website.
• Half Staff American Flag Notifications
  • The site also shows the status of the flag.  You can subscribe to email updates and even embed a widget.

Art

• 25 hilarious street art and mural works about books, libraries and reading
  • I want one! Just browse… You’ll love them!

Information Literacy/Technology

• The Teacher’s Guide to Social Media
  • Good advice on using social media both professionally and personally.
• Library Lesson: Table Top Twitter
  • Teaching Twitter without using Twitter.  This is a great idea for teaching students to be “responsible online citizens”  without actually having to get on Twitter.

Sources of my sources: Mr Schu (@mrschureads), Tom Murray (@thomascmurray), Edutopia (@edutopia), Gwyneth Jones (@GwynethJones), Nancy Hniedziejko (@NancyTeaches)