Featured 3-5-2014: Teaching Kids News

Teaching Kids News produces daily, timely, relevant kid-friendly news articles for kids, classroom educators, and parents. A new article, based on what is actually happening in the world, is offered every day (except holidays).

 

Every story is in kid-friendly language and is appropriate for kids in grades 2-8. As well as accessible vocabulary, Teaching Kids News provides context for everything in each story, so students can understand what’s going on, and why.

 

In the Curriculum Connections, students are encouraged to think critically about the story and also about the way the story is presented. Does the story exhibit a bias? How might the story be written differently by another journalist?

 

Teaching Kids News strives to "teach balanced literacy in a meaningful way.” Teachers have a current events resource that can be used for shared, guided, and independent reading lessons. At the bottom of each article are Writing/Discussion Prompts, Grammar Features, and a Reading Prompt that will enable you to connect with your students and solve real-life issues.

 

 

The articles are intended to work well in a classroom setting, in small groups, or for individual students. Each article can be a nearly complete lesson plan.

 

 See a video introduction to Teaching Kids News

 

Teaching Kids News has a sister site, Getting Kids Reading, with tips, activities, games, websites, research information and ideas that will help you get your kids reading.

 

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Featured: 8-20-2013 MineralsEd

MineralsEd was created to assist teachers in developing educational materials to teach about minerals, mining, and Earth science in the classroom.

A partnership program between teachers and the minerals industry in British Columbia, MineralsEd's goals are to "foster a well-informed public through school education based on accurate and balanced minerals information, and to stimulate young peoples' interest in minerals industry careers."

MineralsEd offers teachers:

• A monthly email newsletter.
• A comprehensive and searchable Teacher Resources database.
• Instructional workshops for teachers' professional development.
• Classroom workshops, outreach programs, and more for your class.

MineralsEd is working towards developing the student section of the website into a more interactive and fun space to learn about Earth sciences, BC's mineral resources, the crucial role of minerals in everyday life, and the responsible use of these resources.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

A Guide To Critical Thinking Skills

This nice graphical guide to critical thinking skills has been created by a Canadian junior high school library technician named Enokson.

[Source: Enokson]

Catch of the Day - Minigroup - 7/11/2011

Calgary-based Minigroup is a completely private blogging platform that lets you share "the right stuff with the right people." Members can share messages, links, images, audio, video, documents, and more.

Minigroup is not visible to search engines. And, since every group is hidden from people who aren’t members, there will be no intrusions from strangers, friends-of-friends, and so on.

Use multiple custom Minigroup identities to share appropriate personal information with various groups from a single account. Show different sides of yourself to different groups.

Take a video tour of Minigroup

Minigroup is currently in public beta. Consequently, there may be occasional bugs. The developers promise a long list of features to come.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Catch of the Day - ArtsAlive.ca - 5/23/2011

ArtsAlive.ca is the educational website of Canada's National Arts Centre. Visitiors can learn about orchestral music, dance, English and French language theater, as well as explore archival collections.

The objectives of ArtsAlive.ca are to involve younger generations in information, multimedia resources, and activities relevant to the performing arts, and to provide free educational resources to students and teachers to help them in learning about the performing arts.

ArtsAlive.ca makes lots of tools available for teachers to bring the performing arts into the classroom.

Music

• Free teacher resource kits
• Play-along recorder music for students
• Interactive activities and games
• Access the life and times of great composers for projects and research
• The Instrument Lab lets you rotate 3D-images of instruments

Theater

• Learn about the professions of acting, directing, design, and production
• Watch interviews with theater professionals
• Explore contemporary theater around the world
• Research theater through history
• Find theater reading lists

Dance

• TheVirtual Dance Studio, an interactive choreography tool to create your own dance
• Over 180 biographies of world-renowned dancers and choreographers
• Advice from dance professionals on becoming an artist
• Dance video clips and artist interviews

ArtsAlive.ca is made possible through the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online program and thanks to financial investment by the Virtual Museum of Canada.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Catch of the Day - The Canadian Teacher - 2/4/2011

The Canadian Teacher is a website providing free tools, materials, guides, and a forum for Canadian teachers.

The Canadian Teacher content:

• Free stuff - directory of over 900 items
• Teachers' tools - seating plans, classroom forms, calendars and more
• Forum - interact with members on a variety of teaching topics
• Articles - articles that relate to real classroom issues, book and resource reviews
• Classifieds - post and browse ads for free

Teacher Downloads has a wide selection of ebooks and interactive PDF forms for use in your classroom. You will find interactive forms to create passes, calendars, binder spine labels, and more. You can submit and share your own forms, letters, and reproducible materials, too.

Among the items in the Teacher Tools category are assessment generators, seating plan tools, a lesson plan search tool, letter and list generators, and math worksheet creators.

You can subscribe to dozens of RSS feeds from The Canadian Teacher and stay connected and current. Browse the archives to find previously posted material.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Wanna Tutor?

MyTownTutors and TutorNation are two websites designed to bring students together with quality tutors.

MyTownTutors

MyTownTutors connects parents and students with qualified nearby teachers. It was started in Hanover, MA, by two high school teachers, Matt Plummer and Mark Molloy, and a former student, Alex Cook. MyTownTutors only lists current or retired teachers as tutors.

Students and parents can locate registered tutors in their area simply by entering their zip code.

MyTownTutors is a subscription based service. There is a $10(US) activation fee to get started, and a monthly fee ($5 or less) to stay actively listed on the site. MyTownTutors offers a billing service which allows parents to pay in advance for a tutoring session with a credit card. The cost of this service is 10% of the transaction.

 

TutorNation

TutorNation has been connecting learners with in-home and online tutors and teachers specializing in one-on-one tutoring in the US and Canada since 1999.

TutorNation enables students and parents to contact tutors directly, choosing the one that best meets their needs. TutorNation is easy to use and free, no registration required.

Tutors can register for email and live online tutoring as well as in-person tutoring. The annual registration fee for email/live on-line tutoring is $75(US), for in-person tutoring is $85, or combine both for $95.

You are regarded as an independent tutor. You interact with clients directly and set your own schedule and rates. TutorNation doesn't take any portion your earnings. The tutor keeps 100% of what is earned.

There are no limits on the number of subjects you can tutor or the number of referrals you receive through TutorNation.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Catch of the Day - Curriculum Services Canada - 11/30/2010

Curriculum Services Canada (CSC) is the Canadian agency for quality assurance in learning products and programs.

A not-for-profit organization, Curriculum Services Canada provides a variety of services such as the development, implementation, and evaluation of teaching and learning resources.

Curriculum Services Canada also delivers online professional learning opportunities using ...

• Webcasts
• Web conferences and meetings
• Onsite facilitation
• Online learning programs
• Interactive websites
• Social networks
• Project management

Curriculum Services Canada's affiliate and registered charity, The Curriculum Foundation supports a Grants for Teachers Program for the development of new teaching and/or learning resources for teachers.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Catch of the Day - Enhance Learning with Technology - 9/13/2010

Enhance Learning with Technology is a Canadian website loaded with links to classroom technology resources.

The links on this site are intended to help teachers …

• discover that technology can be a useful tool in the classroom
• develop the methodology for integrating computers into the learning environment
• locate professional development resources

There are a dozen main resource categories on the Enhance Learning with Technology site, including Changing Attitudes, Learning Strategies, Integrating Technology, Sample Lesson Plans, Thinking Skills, and Tutorials. Most of these groups are further divided into more specific sub-topics.

Use the navigation bar on the left to navigate Enhance Learning with Technology, or use the "Site Map" buttons located at the top left and bottom right corner of any page.

P. Theroux, a teacher in Alberta, Canada, maintains the Enhance Learning with Technology site.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

 

Catch of the Day - EcoKids - 12 Aug 09

Today's fresh catch is an award-winning environmental education resource for kids and teachers, EcoKids®.


Started 14 years ago, EcoKids® is a free, environmental education program that offers curriculum-linked materials and activities for Canadian elementary schools. Children are encouraged to form their own opinions, make decisions, get involved and understand the impact their actions have on the environment.

The center-piece of EcoKids® is an interactive web site for children, their families, and educators in Canada and around the world. It offers topical information about the environment through interactive, fun, educational games and activities.


For Kids there are ...

• Games and Activities on Wildlife, Climate change, Energy, Water, and more.
• Homework Help
• Have Your Say is a forum where kids get to speak their mind and share their opinions and comments about environmental issues with kids around the world.
• Contests
• and an environmental Blog for kids.

The Teacher’s Lounge offers a wide range of free environmental education resources ...

• A collection of new lesson plans tailored to the Ontario Elementary Science and Technology curriculum
• Corresponding printable handouts and assessment materials for each lesson
• A searchable interface of their available resources
• Literacy Corner—a resource list of environmental books with corresponding teaching tools
• English as a Second Language lessons and resources
• A Free Stuff section where you can get free items such as the EcoCalendar, stickers, tattoos, bookmarks and posters
• Profile pages for other EcoKids® schools that list their activities and accomplishments

Teachers must register and signin to access the Teacher's Lounge.