General/Multi-Topic

Genius Hour

Genius hour is a block of time set aside to allow students to autonomously work on projects for which they have  passion.  Wouldn’t it be nice if this could be worked into our schedule somewhere?

Sashimi Tabernacle Choir

WARNING: NO REAL EDUCATIONAL VALUE HERE! (unless you count making a creative idea into reality.)  I was looking for information on Makerspaces and I came across this (in the middle of a TEDtalk if you can image.) Honestly… it is creative and it makes me smile so I thought I’d share…

Language Arts

The Ultimate Backseat Bookshelf

Need to recommend a great read, but stuck for a title? Check out this post of the 100 must-reads for 9-14 year olds.  How many have you read?

Picture Books as an Art Form

From the Eric Carle Museum. Provides a framework for using picture books, not just for entertainment, but to promote discussion.

Social Studies

Back  in the Day: Lessons form Colonial Classrooms

An Education World article with many resources for teaching about colonial classrooms.  Inculdes suggestions for hands-on activities and resources.

iCivics.org

Great lessons and interactive games related to civics.  The lessons contain everything you need for lessons on citizenship, branches of government, the constitution, and others.  Check out the teacher page or just play a game!  If you register, the points you earn from playing games can go toward making an impact on the world.

TeachingHistory.org

This site, published by the National History Education Clearinghouse, was featured in a blog post on Free Technology for Teachers about “Why Hoistorical Thinking Matters” Features teaching materials, history content and best practices.

Science/Health

79 Animal Adventures in Honor of Shark Week

Blog post by Common Sense Media.  Includes apps, movies games, and more.

Information Literacy/Technology

SoundBible

Free sound effects with licensing information clearly marked for each file.

August AASL Hotlinks

I receive these monthly via email with my membership in AASL, but many of the articles are applicable to all educators. Includes a lot of information on curriculum, assessment, STEM etc.

Wikipedia as an authentic Learning Space

Professional development opportunity provided by EasyBib. Hurry!  The meeting is tomorrow August 7, at 3:00 EDT.

PicMonkey Collage

This blog post from Free Technology for Teachers discusses creative ways to use this new tool effectively.  PicMonkey is free and no login is required.

Sources of my sources: Susan L. Panter (@SLPanter), Joyce Valenza (@Joycevalenza), Robin Bryce (@busybryces), Emily Gover (@Emily_EasyBib)

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)

General/Multi-Topic

• The Teaching Channel.
  • A professional development website featuring videos on a variety of topics. Browse all videos or filter by grade level, curricular area or topic.
• Library Centers
  • Although this blog posts specifically addresses libraries, I thought some of the ideas would be useful to our classroom teachers and others.
• The Bully Project
  • This is the companion website to the movie Bully.  The creators hope to spark a grassroots effort to take a stand for the silent.  Sign up to pledge to take a stand against bullying.  Educator resources available. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but even the trailer is powerful.
• Wonderopolis
  • A website that peaks your natural curiosity to lead the way to discovery and understanding.  Includes a “Wonder of the Day” page.

Language Arts

• Daily Writing Tips
  • This is a blog which does exactly what it says, delivers a daily tip about grammar, vocabulary, etc.  You can get a free 10 day trial for the daily exercise (some of which are pretty tricky by the way) but you will need to pay to access the exercises after the trial is over.
• Children’s Book a Day Almanac
  • Anita Silvey’s daily book reviews.  She also includes a side-bar with other events for the day.  EHUE will have the print version in the library next year.
• The Watson’s Go to Birmingham Movie
  • Airing Sept. 20th, at 8:00pm on the Hallmark Channel.  Watch the preview here.

Science

• A Rare Spectacular Total Eclipse of the Sun
  • Short Ted_Ed talk explaining the science behind the total eclipse of the sun.  I get a little choked up every time I hear about this.  Read Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass and then mark your calendar, for August 21, 2017.
• Exploring the Universe
  • While you’re at it, check out some of these books about the universe.  Book reivews from School Library Journal.

Information Literacy/Tech

• Celly
  • This website allows school communities to conduct private conversations through text or their website.  No cell numbers are collected.  As always, I’m a bit skeptical, and I’m not quite sure if we’re there yet, but Celly does seem promising.
• Guest Speakers on Skype
  • Ideas and lessons for bringing the experts into your classroom.
• How Coffeechug Uses Evernote
  • This blog post is the first in a series about using Evernote.  Evernote is a website (and app) that allows you to collects ideas and information, view you data across devices and share with others. This post specifically deals with using Evernote to create learning portfolios.
• Twitter Tips and Tricks
  • If you’re a twitter newbie this presentation by James Allen and Christi Unker can help ease your fears.  I’m hoping to be able to offer some Twitter PD for EHUE during upcoming school year.
• The Complete Guide to Twitter Lingo
  • If you’re going to start tweeting you might as well be up on the lingo, right?

I found many of these resources by reading posts from the following: Diane Ravitch’s Blog, @coolcatteacher, Ted_Ed, Free Technology For Teachers, School Library Journal, The View From Here, John Schu (@mrschureads), Joyce Valenza (@joycevalenza)