Find Federal Funding
Into one of the worst budget years in recent memory comes a new guide to finding federal funding for literacy programs. The Finance Project issued the 182-page guide entitled Learning to Read: Guide to Federal Funding for Grade-Level Reading Proficiency. The study walks districts, states, community groups and others through more than 100 sources of federal funding for reading programs aimed at children from birth through age 8. The report is part of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, which brought together approximately 70 funders to try to focus renewed attention on the importance of getting all children reading at grade level by the time they’re nine years old.
Click Here for More Information About Campaign
Click Here to Download Free Guide

Get Children’s Books for Rural Libraries
The Libri Foundation’s Books for Children Grants program donates new, quality, hardcover children’s books for small, rural, public libraries with an active children’s department. The average total operating budget of a Books for Children grant recipient must be less than $40,000.
Deadline: April 15, 2011
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Innovate Using Technology
The Education Division of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) is seeking applications for its Innovation Incubator Program. Developers of innovative K–12 and postsecondary educational products or services that support personalized learning will be reviewed, and a select group will be invited to participate in the annual Ed Tech Industry Summit in San Francisco, May 22–24, 2011. The program is open to applicants from academic and nonprofit institutions, pre-revenue and early-stage companies, and long-standing companies with newly developed technologies that enable student-centered, customized teaching and learning models.
Deadline: March 29, 2011
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Focus on Music Making
GRAMMY Camp, as it is named, pulls together high school students from across the United States for 10 days of intense music instruction, collaboration and performances. Depending on their interests, students follow one of several tracks. Those include rock-star-style paths for singing and songwriting or performance, but also others that are behind the scenes, such as audio engineering or electronic music production. The Camp is put on by the Grammy Foundation, which is affiliated with the Recording Academy, the organization that hosts the annual Grammy Awards. It’s backed up by university faculty, music notables and companies such as Avid, which provides access to industry-caliber gear and training experts. This year Grammy Camp will take place July 9–18 in Los Angeles. The foundation is also introducing a seven-day camp in New York, which will take place August 2–8.
Deadline: March 31, 2011 for applications
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Become an Advocate for Libraries
Teens can win up to $3,000 for their public or school library through a video contest launched by the American library Association (ALA). The contest encourages teens aged 13 to 18 to create original videos on the theme Why I Need My Library (now more than ever). To participate in the contest, teens need to submit one- to three-minute videos on YouTube. The videos can be live action, animation, machinima or a combination of techniques, and teens can work in groups of up to six. The contest’s Web site includes a list of tips and resources on making a video as well as the judging criteria.
Deadline: Upload videos to YouTube by midnight April 18, 2011
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Plus: Library Snapshot Day (April 2011) provides a way for libraries of all types across a state, region, system or community to show what happens in a single day in their libraries. How many books are checked out? How many people receive help finding a job? doing their taxes? doing their homework? This initiative provides an easy means to collect statistics, photos and stories that will enable library advocates to prove the value of their libraries to decision makers and increase public awareness. Visit the ALA Connect page for information sharing, tips, questions and ideas.
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Win a 21st Century Classroom
CDW-G and Discovery Education have opened the ninth annual Win a Wireless Lab Sweepstakes, which will provide a $50,000 21st-century classroom to three grand-prize winners. Each classroom includes 20 notebook or tablet computers, an interactive whiteboard, student response devices, projector, document camera and more. Educators and school employees at public and private schools can enter once per day. From the entry page, participants can Tweet about the contest to earn an additional entry. New this year, the sweepstakes will capitalize on Twitter and Facebook to notify followers of special prizes awarded on select days throughout the contest period. To find out about these promotions, educators should follow @WinWirelessLab on Twitter and become a fan of Win a Wireless Lab on Facebook.
Deadline: May 2, 2011
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Promote the Role of School Librarians
The Follett Software Company has issued its $100K Follett Challenge to find the best innovations in school libraries. Recognizing the strong link between library programs and student success, this contest advocates for the role librarians play as champions in school programs that drive student achievement. Six winning libraries will be rewarded with the cash equivalent of products and services from Follett. Five prizes, including a $35,000 first-place prize, will be awarded by a panel of judges. A sixth $10,000 prize will be awarded based on online voting for the best video. The application consists of a detailed program description, a written endorsement of support from the school’s administration and a three- to five-minute video as a creative representation of the program’s impact.
Deadlines: Entries due by June 1, 2011; voting begins June 23, 2011 and ends September 2, 2011
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Connect with Classes Around the World
The growing use of Skype by teachers and students has prompted the company to update and enhance its services. The new Skype in the Classroom allows educators to post their profiles, interests and other information as part of a directory of educators looking for opportunities to share resources, tips and classroom exchanges. The service could eventually help link teachers and classrooms with outside speakers, such as experts, authors and other professionals.
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Walk the World
National Geographic Giant Traveling Maps invite children in grades K–8 to explore geography in a very hands-on—or rather feet-on—way, and they are available for loan to your school. The maps’ brightly colored, smooth vinyl surfaces accurately illustrate and label the countries, bodies of water, mountains and cities. Students can take part in activities, including safaris, scavenger hunts and competitive games. Along the way, they will gain knowledge of country locations, capital cities, population centers and physical features, as well as learn important historical, wildlife and cultural characteristics. Accompanying each map is a set of activities as well as atlases, books, music, videos and game materials.
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Listen to “See”
The new documentary short Blindspot is an intimate portrait of two young blind New Yorkers who embrace the city of New York on a daily basis. Jamil (26) and Tamesha (24) are the focus of the film, and they have known each another since the fourth grade. Aided by Jamil’s guide dog, the two demonstrate what life is like in a city that often doesn’t “see” them. The producers call this film a “visual poem” and use it to prove the truth behind Stevie Wonder’s famous words that “just because a man lacks the use of his eyes, doesn’t mean he lacks vision.” View the film on Described and Captioned Media’s Web site. A comprehensive lesson guide provides many ideas for learning activities.
Click Here to View Film and Access Resources

Learn the Story Behind the Song
Songs from the past are like recordings from long ago. They give us a sense of what our parents, grandparents and extra-old ancestors feared, hoped for and celebrated. Every song has a story behind why it was written. The ones on this ARTSEDGE page touch on important moments in U.S. history. As your students read about the songs from the past, encourage them to keep these questions in mind: What songs being created today will tell their story to their children and grandchildren? And what story will their songs tell?
Click Here to Access Free Songs

Explore Turning Points in the Civil Rights Movement
Voices of Civil Rights documents the civil rights movement in the U.S. Nearly 50 photos, posters and descriptions depict important events and individuals: school integration in Little Rock (1957), the lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro (1960), the memorial service for Medgar Evers (1963), the March on Washington (1963), the Selma-to-Montgomery March (1965), the Voting Rights Act (1965) and others.
Click Here to Access Free Resources

Plus: From History.com, Save Our History: Voices of Civil Rights is a free, downloadable teacher’s guide to the thousands of stories from individuals who lived during the civil rights era from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Click Here to Access Free Teacher’s Guide

Get Animated
ACME Animation Online is an interactive community of persons learning and sharing their knowledge about animated filmmaking and related fields. It’s a place where students can take on animation challenges, display their personal projects, give and get feedback, and improve their knowledge and skill in this art form. On ACME, professional animators—representing every aspect of the art form—inspire and inform classroom programs and individuals alike. ACME is for anyone—beginner to advanced—who is interested in learning more, and for professionals to share their insights about the art form they love. For information about connecting your program to ACME Animation Online, contact [email protected]
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Dig into the Core of STEM
The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) is the nation’s online library for education and research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). It provides free math lessons and activities aligned with the Math Common Core Standards, as well as STEM-related blogs and other free teacher resources and lesson plan ideas. Targeted for K–12 teachers, higher-education professionals and librarians, NSDL also provides science literary maps and iTunes multimedia files.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Plus: NSDL has assembled a collection of math resources from its providers and partners to create the NSDL Math Common Core collection. The collection is growing fast—new resources are being added, and the collection is curated, via a three-tiered review process, to assure both the quality of its content and the close relationship between resources and standards. The NSDL Math Common Core collection is organized by grade level and domains, with each resource further detailing the standards addressed. Content includes lesson plans, computer applets, presentations and explanations of procedures, and similar interactives that give feedback on performance to learners and teacher.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Bring STEM to Life
LEGO Education and Learning.com offer teachers a way to ignite their students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by collaborating to deliver a LEGO Education Simple and Motorized Mechanisms curriculum module through Learning.com’s digital learning environment. Teachers can find the LEGO Education curriculum module that focuses on key physical science principles, assign it to students and then grade and track student progress—all online. Students work as young scientists, engineers and designers to explore scientific principles and apply them to hands-on problem-solving activities.
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Provide Individualized Math Practice
Designed for grades 1–6, Britannica SmartMath provides online math practice that adapts to each student’s ability. Unlike traditional math practice, SmartMath builds formative assessment into the learning process. Students who do well see more challenging questions, and students who struggle see progressively less difficult questions until they achieve success. With SmartMath, students spend more time on task because they are working at their own level and having fun, significantly improving their math skills and test scores. Try it out, for free, online.
Click Here for More Information
Click Here to Try Free Demo

Plus: Check out insideBritannica, a free monthly newsletter that includes tips to help librarians, teachers and students make use of the many educational resources in Britannica Online. Read previous editions of insideBritannica and learn more about this resource.
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Simulate a Tsunami
On the morning of December 26, 2004, many coastal residents of northwestern Sumatra were startled as water at the shore dramatically receded below the normal low-water mark, leaving fish flapping on the exposed beach. The people drawn closer to the coast by this remarkable sight surely didn't know how to explain the water's bizarre behavior. Yet even in the early hours of the tsunami disaster, scientists began to grasp what was happening. PBS NOVA’s Web site presents two interactives that will help students understand the tsunami that took place in 2004 as well as the recent tsunami that occurred in Japan and spread to the west coast of the United States. In Anatomy of a Tsunami, students can follow the tsunami from its birth at the seafloor to its devastating collision with coasts around the Indian Ocean. In Once and Future Tsunamis, students can explore key tsunamis dating from 3.5 billion years ago right through possible future events, and discover what experts have learned and continue to learn from studying them.
Click Here to Access Anatomy of a Tsunami Interactive
Click Here to Access Once and Future Tsunamis Interactive

Build Planet Earth
Reach the World’s GeoGames and world geography mapping rubric turn geography instruction into an interactive, assessment tool for the classroom. Using the tool, students construct an accurate rendition of Planet Earth’s major geographic features, along with a printable map. This digital-media teaching tool is based on studies by researchers at Teachers College, Columbia University. On the site, you can watch students playing GeoGames. Can your students best their times?
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Demonstrate Meaning Through Animation
Story Creator 2.0 focuses primarily on the creation of stories related to myths and legends. Students can select backgrounds and pictures from the gallery or upload their own images. They can record sounds and narration or select from a gallery of sound effects, add conversation bubbles and compose a short story of up to six chapters. The Myths and Legends section of the site includes animated stories accompanied by audio. Each myth or legend is accompanied by audio along with the story text, an explanation of the origin of the work and a glossary of words used in the story.
Click Here to Visit Web Site
Click Here to Access Myths and Legends

Plus: The Teachers tab at the top of the page provides access to a range of Teachers Resources created or recommended by teachers for use in lessons. These have been categorized into general resources (those that could be used with any of the myths and legends within the site) and resources specific to a particular myth or legend. There is also an opportunity for you to add your own resources to share with other teachers. A guide to using the Myths and Legends Web site is available in the General resources section.

Merge Technology and Reality
Last month, PBS Kids, part of the Public Broadcasting Service, began testing games that use “augmented reality,” or computer-generated content that is combined with images from the real world. Using augmented reality, a computer or smartphone can detect objects and provide information about them. Children can also move the real objects to make something happen in a computer game. Other games that bridge the gap between real and virtual ask children to document their activities by taking photos, making videos or recording their location using a GPS device, typically with the help of their parents. The PBS efforts are unusual in that they are focused on education and aimed at children as young as four or five. PBS rolled out a prototype game late last year with its Dinosaur Train series. Children can print out a picture of a dinosaur egg and manipulate it in front of a webcam to make the egg “hatch” onscreen. PBS is also testing augmented reality games that use mobile devices, including one targeted at preschoolers about a dinosaur dig where children find, sort and measure virtual bones. Another Dinosaur Train game that merges technology and reality lets children and their parents use GPS-enabled devices to find “geocaches”—boxes that are hidden at specific coordinates and contain dinosaur-themed material.
Click Here for More Information About Dinosaur Train
Click Here for Information About Geocaching Challenge

Bring Learning to Life
Pioneered by Logical Choice Technologies, Letters alive brings a kingdom of 26 “seemingly alive” digital 3-D animals (one for each letter of the alphabet) and 94 sight-word cards into classrooms with the goal of teaching children to read at the preK and K levels. The Letters alive creatures are intelligent: they have not only the capacity to respond to students’ actions, but also the astounding ability to answer their questions. When students encounter three-dimensional characters, such as Gerdy Giraffe, Henry Horse or Frankie Frog, and see them respond to their actions and questions, they can establish strong connections between the letters and the animals the letters represent, how the letters sound and how they are used. They can also learn the meanings of words and how they are used in sentences. When the Letters alive cards are arranged to ask “can the frog swim,” Frankie Frog actually begins swimming. When a student puts down the cards to read, “the giraffe is red,” Gerdy gets so embarrassed that she turns red. To accompany this augmented reality-based curriculum, Logical Choice provides a full school year of lesson plans aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The Letters alive curriculum will be available during the first quarter of 2011. The product consists of a set of 124 virtual 3-D cards, software, curriculum guide and recommended student activities. View a video of this augmented reality-based curriculum online.
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Have a Ball!
Make a hit when you use baseball to explore the instruments of the orchestra. Perfect Pitch explores the variety of musical instruments in orchestras from baroque to modern. Through the interactive on this ARTSEDGE page, students learn how instruments are made, create their own orchestral arrangements, find out about famous players and composers, and put instruments into their historical context. Guided listening is combined with questions about the history, construction and use of the instruments. A baseball metaphor and lots of options for exploration and play will keep students coming back to this one!
Click Here to Access Interactive

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