Tap Social Media, Dig the Environment, Do Science, Get Moving and More

September 16, 2013

IN THIS ISSUE

Grants, Competitions and Other “Winning” Opportunities

Resource Roundup

Online Education Plus

On-the-Go Learning

STEM Gems

"Worth-the-Surf" Websites

In Partnership With:


Grants, Competitions and Other “Winning” Opportunities

Pin Your Innovations

Raytheon Company is helping teachers kick off the school year with a new “Pin It to Win It” sweepstakes on Pinterest. The contest encourages knowledge sharing and promotes science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Twenty-five winners will be randomly selected to receive a MathMovesU bag loaded with classroom supplies, including calculators, rulers, protractors and compasses. The contest is part of Raytheon’s MathMovesU initiative, which aims to inspire student interest in STEM subjects and support teachers by providing easy access to STEM education resources. According to Pinterest, more than 500,000 education-related ideas are pinned on boards each day. To participate in the “Pin It to Win It” sweepstakes, teachers must create a back-to-school Pinterest board and then repin and share creative STEM education content, including inventive experiments, lesson tips and other engaging ideas, to the MathMovesU “Back-to-School” Pinterest board.

Deadline: September 27, 2013, noon (ET)

Click Here to Visit Back-to-School Pinterest Board

Plus: Throughout the year, Raytheon provides teachers with additional resources that highlight key concepts in math and science, including STEM classroom guides, practice quizzes, worksheets and games. In addition, MathMovesU shares a variety of STEM-related content—such as daily math challenge problems, fun math and science questions, and news articles—on social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Raytheon’s Math Mysteries animated video series invites students to tackle puzzling math problems and share their answers.

Click Here to Visit MathMovesU Website

Create a Sustainable Future

The Green Education Foundation (GEF) and Gardener’s Supply Company have teamed up for the Green Thumb Challenge, a funding opportunity for established youth garden projects nationwide. The organizations are calling on K–12 schools and youth groups to submit chronicles of their garden projects in a race to win a $1,000 prize. The award is designed to support the continued sustainability of an exceptional youth garden program that has demonstrated success and has impacted the lives of youth and their communities.

Deadline: September 30, 2013

Click Here for More Information About Challenge Grant

Click Here for More Information About Challenge

Plus: Take advantage of free activities and standards-based lessons linking the classroom to the garden.

Click Here to Access Free Resources

Enter The Big Deal Book of Technology Take-It-With-You Contest!

The Big Deal Book of Technology is a small book with BIG staying power! Our readers say that they keep their books close by as the go-to resource for the best curated mix of grant opportunities, newest apps, interactive web destinations and more. Now here’s another way to put this go-everywhere book to good use:

“Like” Big Deal Media on Facebook and then enter the Take-It-With-You Contest by posting a photo of you, with a copy of The Big Deal Book of Technology in hand, on our timeline. (Provide a brief description of the locale and, of course, your name!) If you don’t have a hard copy of the publication, you can download a copy (or just the cover) from http://www.bigdealbook.com.

Each month through October 31, 2013, we’ll give away one $50 gift card to Starbucks, Amazon or Barnes & Noble, to the photo capturing the most “likes” during the month posted. (Feel free to send a different photo each month.) We’ll announce each month’s winner on our Facebook page.

Click Here to Enter Take-It-With-You Contest

Interact and Network Globally

Young people aged 14–18 across the world can take part in the t-MBA Project World Contest in which they could win up to $5,000 and the opportunity to visit Istanbul, Turkey, for a global summit in April 2014. They’ll also have the chance to work with leading global figures from world-class institutions, including Harvard, Apple and Encyclopedia Britannica. The 2013–2014 contest has five main categories: Environmental Projects (Local, Global, Energy); Social Entrepreneurship (Health, Education, Business); Cultural Exchange (Art & Design, Woman Rights); Innovation (Technology, Industrial Design, Fashion); and Free Flow. Candidates can choose the most appropriate topic for their projects. Entries will be judged along five criteria: attractiveness of the project; competence quality; effectiveness of the service and/or solution; implementation; sustainability.

Deadline: November 30, 2013, for project submissions

Click Here for More Information

Make Personal Discoveries Through Historical Figures

Samsung Techwin America’s Electronic Imaging Division has announced its Fall 2013 SUPERHERO Video Competition, encouraging students to discover themselves while learning about historical characters. Any student who attends an elementary, middle or high school in the United States or a federal territory is eligible to enter a digital video of one to three minutes in length in which they portray a historical character. Students will be judged on presentation performance, character and content accuracy, and content quality. One student winner will be selected to receive $500. In addition, the winning student’s class will be given a SAMCAM 760 document camera valued at $499.

Deadline: November 30, 2013, for video submissions

Click Here for More Information

Supplement Your Stretched Budget

GetEdFunding is CDW-G’s new website to help educators and institutions find the funds they need to supplement already stretched budgets. GetEdFunding is a free and fresh resource, which hosts a collection of more than 1,700 grants and other funding opportunities culled from federal, state, regional and community sources and available to public and private, preK–12 educators, schools and districts, higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations that work with them. The site offers customized searches by six criteria, including 41 areas of focus, eight content areas and any of the 21st century themes and skills that support your curriculum. Once you are registered on the site, you can save the grants of greatest interest and then return to read about them at any time.

Click Here to Visit Website

Sponsored By:

Resource Roundup

Put the Pedal to the Metal

One of the biggest questions math educators face when teaching higher-level high school content is, “How do I make this relevant? How do I make this matter to students?” Race 2 Achieve is a project-based math curriculum that is not only aligned to Common Core standards, but also focused on the interests of students. It’s possible to prepare students for assessment while giving their learning both context and meaning. Through NASCAR engineering and Hendrick Motorsports, students not only learn key concepts; they also learn how to apply those concepts in a real-world scenario through the development of their own model racecars.

Click Here to Visit Website

Hip Hop to It

The Partnership for a Healthier America, Let’s Move! and Hip Hop Public Health have come together to create the Songs for a Healthier America album—set for release on September 30—to help get students moving during the school day and ultimately help curb childhood obesity. The album—a collaboration among musicians, physicians, public health researchers, entertainment professionals, health advocates and school-aged children—and its accompanying curriculum toolkit are designed to inspire and educate children to eat healthfully and exercise regularly as part of the collective fight against childhood obesity. Students can enjoy some of the songs and behind-the-scenes footage on the Hip Hop Public Heath website.

Click Here to Access Songs

Click Here to Access Behind-the-Scenes Footage

Follow Clues to Secret Locations

Mission MapQuest is a free map-based online tool for creating virtual treasure hunts. The concept is simple: you create a series of clues that your students need to follow in order to identify places around the world. You can add as few or as many clues to your MapQuest as you like. When you’re ready to have students try your Quest, just give them the web address of the challenge or have them scan the QR code assigned to the Quest.

Click Here to Access Online Tool

Investigate History Questions

Developed by the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG), the Reading Like a Historian curriculum engages students in historical inquiry. Each lesson revolves around a central historical question and features sets of primary documents designed for groups of students with diverse reading skills and abilities. The curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues. They learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence. The 76 document-based lessons in the United States history curriculum and the initial 15 document-based lessons of the world curriculum can be taught in succession but are also designed to stand alone and supplement what teachers are already doing in their classrooms. The lessons are freely accessible from the SHEG website.

Click Here to Access Full US and World History Curriculum

Click Here to Download List of US History Lessons

Click Here to Download List of World History Lessons

Help Parents Understand CCSS

The Parents’ Guide to Student Success (in English and Spanish) was developed by the National PTA in response to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts and mathematics that more than 45 states have adopted. The National PTA created the guides for kindergarten through grade 8 and two for grades 9–12 (one for English language arts/literacy and one for mathematics). The guides include key items that students should be learning in English language arts and mathematics in each grade, once the standards are fully implemented. It also includes activities that parents can do at home to support their child’s learning; methods for helping parents build stronger relationships with their child’s teacher; and tips for planning for college and career (high school only).

Click Here to Access Free Guides in English

Click Here to Access Free Guides in Spanish

Strengthen Thinking Through Art and Music

Developed by Harvard Project Zero, in collaboration with the Traverse City, Michigan, Area Public Schools (TCAPS), Artful Thinking helps K–12 teachers regularly use works of visual art and music in their curriculum in ways that strengthen student thinking and learning. The program has two broad goals: (1) to help teachers create rich connections between works of art and curricular topics; and (2) to help teachers use art as a force for developing students’ thinking dispositions. The Artful Thinking “palette” is comprised of six thinking dispositions that emphasize intellectual behaviors, such as asking provocative questions, making careful observations, exploring multiple viewpoints and reasoning with evidence. The Artful Thinking website offers a collection of classroom resources, such as thinking routines, classroom connections, art resources, suggestions for setting up study groups and assessment. Also find links to related websites and related readings.

Click Here to Access Free Thinking Resources


Online Education Plus

Put the "x" in STEM

To help teachers and students prepare for the growing global need for employees with STEM skills, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is hosting the 2013 Global STEMx Education Conference (STEMxCon), the world’s first massively open online conference for STEMx educators, in collaboration with partner HP and more than 20 other organizations. Participants will meet educators from around the world and learn how to enhance student engagement and interest in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and more. The event will take place online, 24 hours a day for three days, September 19–21, 2013. Registration is free.

Click Here to Visit Website

Boost Your Tech Skills

Modern Lessons is a free online learning platform designed for teachers and students looking to bolster their existing technology skills (or to get started with technology altogether). Many “basics” classes are offered—such as how to start a Twitter account for your classroom. A section also focuses on resources teachers will find useful, such as a guide to using Google in Education and courses on integrating iPads into your classroom.

Click Here to Visit Website


On-the-Go Learning

Converse with Characters

There’s a moment in every episode of Dora the Explorer when the character on screen asks children watching at home to answer a question, followed by a silent pause. The child is supposed to respond, of course, but the adults know that the TV isn’t really listening. However, what if Dora were able to hear the child’s answer and respond? That’s the idea behind The Winston Show, the first iPad app from ToyTalk, a startup founded by tech whizzes from Pixar Animation Studios. The show’s wisecracking host, Winston, and his tangerine-shaped sidekick, Ellington, ask questions of their young viewers, listen to their answers, respond intelligently and get smarter as more children play along. The app transports its guests to a TV studio lot with five separate sound stages—six hours of activities in all. There’s the “Win With Winston” quiz show, which asks players about everything from nocturnal animals to world hunger. Another called “You vs.” pits the player against any number of guests, including Marie Antoinette and a blue whale. And there’s a clever spin on Masterpiece Theatre (and Franklin D. Roosevelt) called “Fireside Chat With Winston.” The story begins when a child presses the pulsating microphone onscreen and answers a question posed by the host. So far, more than 3,000 lines have been recorded. The ToyTalk team expects to add fresh material to the app every week. The app is available in the iTunes App Store at no cost.

Click Here to Visit iTunes App Store

Combine Music, Movement and Imagination

Whether they’re accomplished prima ballerinas, hip-hop street stars or just beginning dancers, students can build their own routine and see it performed onstage with QuaverMusic’s QDancer app for the iPad and iPhone. With easy drag-and-drop commands, students can build a routine for their ballerina with nearly 30 stationary and traveling dance moves, including arabesque, glissade, pas de bourée and many more. They can create custom combos for their hip-hop dancer with more than 30 authentic hip-hop moves—from the Dougie to B-boy, Six Step to Gainer and many Back Tucks in between. Then they can watch their routine performed onstage with the lights and set of their design. The app is available in the iTunes App Store for $1.99.

Click Here to Visit iTunes App Store

Bring Stories to Life

Available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch with identical functionality, The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross is a 3-D animated interactive storytelling app featuring film-caliber, sophisticated 3-D animated illustrations and text, original music, professional voiceover in English and Spanish, and evocative filmic sound effects. The story, inspired by the age-old tale of a man who becomes rich through a dream, describes the journey of a poor pedlar woman, who guided by the shifting line between the real and the unreal, discovers a surprising and wonderful treasure. The app, the first in Moving Tales’ Classic World Tales series, is a state-of-the-art digital “mash-up” of methods from the worlds of ebook publishing, graphic novels, film and interactive media. The Pedlar Lady also features randomly selected alternate views, sound effects and extras so that no two viewings are alike. It offers sophisticated and dynamic typography, poetic language and a Spanish option that allows viewers to listen to and see the story in Spanish and English—and even alternate between the two as the story is being experienced. The app is available in the iTunes App Store for $4.99.

Click Here to Visit iTunes App Store for iPad App

Click Here to Visit iTunes App Store for iPhone App

Sponsored By:

STEM Gems

Learn in the Cloud

Rourke Educational Media provides many options for e-content, both in the classroom and in libraries. Rourke’s e-Learning content features standards-based educational e-Books that can be used by many students and teachers simultaneously. Rourke’s e-content is leveled to obtain the proper Guided Reading Level (GRL) and correlated to meet Common Core State Standards as well as individual state and national standards. The company’s technology programs are cloud based giving access from web-connected devices at home or school. There are no renewal or subscription fees. Teacher’s notes and teacher’s guides are also available.

Click Here to Visit Website

Get Students Excited to "Do" Science

The GLOBE Program is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education initiative. GLOBE brings together students, teachers and scientists through the GLOBE Schools Network in support of student learning and research. Following an inquiry-based research approach, GLOBE students pose questions and make initial observations about the environment. They design investigations and take environmental measurements at or near their schools using GLOBE measurement protocols and appropriate, calibrated measurement equipment, and they report their observations to the GLOBE database via the Internet. Students use tools on the GLOBE website to create maps and graphs from their own data and from those of GLOBE schools around the world. Then they analyze their data and other datasets, and as all scientists do at the end of their research, present and publish the results of their analyses. To participate in this cross-cultural exchange of information and understanding of how Earth works, teachers must register and complete GLOBE program training, a free service that can be accessed on the program’s website. In addition to professional development opportunities, GLOBE teachers can explore a wealth of materials and lesson plans. To join GLOBE, educators should visit the GLOBE website; or to get a preview of what the program offers, they can go to GLOBE’s Pinterest profile, which features a curation of innovative ideas for the classroom.

Click Here to Visit GLOBE Website

Click Here to Visit GLOBE Pinterest Profile

Wade into the Wetlands

Into the Outdoors is a new site that presents STEM-focused science intended to inspire students to think critically about nature, the environment and their role as future stewards of Planet Earth. The site is divided into six main topic areas: Life Science, Farm Science, Social Science, Physical Science, Environmental Science and Natural Resource Science. Each primary topic area includes a list of subtopics. For example, the subtopics under Natural Resource Science are Biological Carrying Capacity, Forest Ecology, Sturgeon Conservation, Sustainable Forestry and Technology in Conservation. Click on any subtopic to find videos, a lesson guide with correlations to the Common Core State Standards and links to additional resources.

Click Here to Visit Website

Bring Hands-On Learning to Your Area

When students are learning through authentic projects, they often need to connect with experts from the world outside the classroom. National Lab Network (NLN) is a nationwide initiative that connects K–12 teachers with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals to bring hands-on learning experiences to students in all 50 states. When a teacher posts a project request on NLN, the organization’s e-matching platform connects them with STEM professionals who are interested in the project.

Click Here to Visit Website

Click Here to View Active Projects


"Worth-the-Surf" Websites

Tweet to Connect

It isn’t too early to start planning for the National Day on Writing (October 20, 2013), sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). For this year’s theme—write2connect—NCTE joins The New York Times Learning Network, the National Writing Project, National Novel Writing Month and Mozilla HIVE to encourage students and teachers to talk about the ways they use writing to connect—between subject areas, with other people, with organizations and opportunities and more. On Monday, October 21, teachers and students will tweet out the way they use writing to make connections and post their thoughts to Twitter using the hashtag #write2connect and, if space allows, #dayonwriting.

Click Here to Visit Website

Grow Lifelong Readers

ReaderKidZ is a group of children’s book authors who have come together to establish a resource for teachers, parents and librarians who work with readers in kindergarten through grade 5. On a regularly updated basis, ReaderKidZ provides new and exciting downloadable tools that you can use in promoting books to these up-and-coming readers. On the site, you’ll find downloadable materials in Author-In-Residence, with a new author every few weeks; titles from around the globe in Beyond Boundaries; book recommendations in the Book Room; downloadable teacher resources and more in the Tool Box; and links to interesting articles and more in Librarian’s Corner and New and Noteworthy.

Click Here to Visit Website

Inspire Social Change Through the Power of Story

The Harry Potter Alliance is a coalition of “fandom” leaders and members who feel passionate about the power of story to inspire and affect social change. Just as Harry and his friends fought the Dark Arts in J. K. Rowling’s fictional universe, the members of the alliance strive to destroy real-world “horcruxes,” such as inequality, illiteracy and human rights violations. The alliance’s strategies include utilizing elements of students’ favorite fictional universes as metaphors for making sense of complex, contemporary issues; inspiring its members to take action in their local communities and all across the planet, using the power of their creativity, intelligence and compassion to change the world; creating a worldwide network of enthusiastic fan activists who are connected via the Internet and social media as well as local, community-based chapters; harnessing the media cycle to bring attention and action to issues of equality, human rights and literacy; and bringing a diverse range of inspiration and imagination to the front lines of social change by forging partnerships among multiple fan communities.

Click Here to Visit Website

Click Here to Find a Local Chapter

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