Shine in Dance & Math, Triumph Over Tragedy, Promote Diversity & More

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Respond and Win!

As a recipient of The Big Deal Book of Technology enewsletter, you are invited to tell Big Deal Media how you use this publication and how you participate in the purchase of technology products and services. (The survey will take about five minutes to complete.) Surveys submitted IN FULL by August 20, 2014, will be entered in a random drawing to win a $50 American Express gift card. Big Deal Media is giving away one $50 card for every 100 completed surveys.

Deadline: August 20, 2014

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Showcase Students' Creativity Through an Age-Old Craft

Youth of America are invited to apply to the first-ever McSweeney’s Student Short Story Contest, guest-judged by a well-known, soon-to-be-named author. Contestants must be students (undergraduate or graduate) in the United States, and stories must be under 7,500 words. Along with their short story, contestants should submit a brief cover letter that mentions the school they attend, their grade and what they are studying. The winner of the contest will receive $500, and his or her story will be published in McSweeney’s 51, in August 2015. A few stories will be selected as honorable mentions, and the titles of those stories, as well as the names of their authors, will also be printed in McSweeney’s 51. To cover the cost and time of McSweeney’s small staff and guest judge, an entrance fee of $55 is requested—but with the entrance fee, contestants will also get a full year’s subscription to McSweeney’s Quarterly. They will automatically be subscribed to the Quarterly when they complete their submission.

Deadline: August 31, 2014, for story submissions

Click Here for More Information About Short Story Contest

Click Here to Enter Short Story Contest

Click Here for More Information About McSweeney’s Quarterly

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Give Children the Experience of Dance

The Dizzy Feet Foundation (DFF) makes grants to community organizations and other tax-exempt entities in the United States, which provide dance education programs to children in low-income areas and disadvantaged communities. Through its grant recipients, DFF seeks to give children the experience of dance, to educate them about the many styles of dance and to expose them to the lifelong benefits of dance. DFF aims to support programs in all styles of dance as well as programs that offer diversity through delivery to those who would not otherwise have the opportunity (for example, programs for differently abled and foster children).

Deadline: September 4, 2014, for applications

Click Here for More Information

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Share Memories Exploring a National Park

The National Park Foundation (NPF) is inviting visitors to any of America’s 400 national parks to submit an essay that relates a personal experience they had at any of the national parks, along with a photo or video taken at the park. Share your national park moments and memories of exploring American history, celebrating cultures, finding a fossil, taking a class trip or other educational experience and you could win a trip for four to Yosemite National Park and other great prizes. Your entry must reflect one of these eight themes: Fun with Family & Friends, Celebrations & Achievements, Inspirational Moments, Action & Adventure, Hidden Gems & Surprises, Making a Difference, Throwback and Learning & Discovery. On September 9, NPF will announce 10 finalists in each of the eight categories, and visitors to the site can vote on their favorites. Each category winner will receive a park prize pack detailed in the Category Winners section of the contest website. Plus, those who vote will automatically be entered for a chance to win an adventure trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton.

Deadlines: Entries received by 11:59:59 p.m. (EDT) on September 5, 2014; voting to take place between September 9 and September 26.

Click Here for Complete List of National Parks

Click Here to Enter Contest

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Supplement Your Stretched Budget

GetEdFunding is a free and fresh website sponsored by CDW•G to help educators and institutions find the funds they need in order to supplement their already stretched budgets. GetEdFunding hosts a collection of more than 2,600 (and growing) 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. GetEdFunding offers customized searches by six criteria, including 43 areas of focus, eight content areas and any of the 21st century themes and skills that support your curriculum. After registering on the site, you can save the grant opportunities of greatest interest and then return to them at any time. This rich resource of funding opportunities is expanded, updated and monitored daily.

Click Here to Visit Website

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Create an Encouraging Learning Environment

School products and teaching supplies from Quill.com allow teachers to create an engaging, encouraging learning environment with colorful books, art supplies, stickers and more. Categories range from math and science to social studies and language arts, permitting teachers to find the most appropriate materials for all their education needs. Quill’s Education Resource Center offers “The 5 R’s of Implementing the Common Core State Standards,” “Classroom Decorating Ideas that Won’t Break the Bank,” “Lessons Learned for Saving on Discount Teacher Supplies,” “Teacher Grants, Contests & Awards”—and more.

Click Here to Visit Website

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Share Back-to-School Tips

Who says that going back to school can’t be a blast? Check out how Facing History and Ourselves educators from around the globe bring a bit of fun into the first few days of class. Whether your school has already started, or you’re getting ready to head back to the classroom, these tips and strategies will get your students ready to learn.

Click Here for Back-to-School Tips

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Make Learning the Standards Fun

To make the transition to the Common Core State Standards easier on teachers and students, Learning Upgrade offers Math and English courses covering every Common Core standard for grades 1–8. All the courses are designed from the ground up to address the Common Core standards and the new computer-based tests. Each course covers every standard for one grade level with 60 interactive lessons. Teachers can quickly integrate the lessons into their classes using a simple one-page alignment. They can also track students’ progress on each standard with a graphical student monitor. To further ease the transition to the Common Core, Learning Upgrade is offering 20 complimentary student licenses to US schools with 300 or more students. Teachers can enroll students into any of the Math Upgrade and English Upgrade courses, which feature songs, video and games to bring students up to proficiency. One teacher license is included for whole-class interactive musical lessons.

Click Here for More Information

Click Here to Sign Up for Free School License

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Experience History from the Inside Out

A interactive desktop computer game and website designed to impart decision making and critical thinking skills in the study of American history, Past/Present takes place in a New England mill town in 1906. Students take on the role of either an immigrant female worker or a native-born male manager. Both characters must deal with labor strife as well as earn money to support their families. Covering industrialization, immigration, the Progressive era and organized labor, the game promotes historical reasoning, fosters cooperative learning and intellectual teamwork, and teaches the use and interpretation of primary sources, all while being fun to play. Past/Present is a production of The Center for New American Media.

Click Here to Access Free Game

Plus: A free downloadable teachers’ packet includes information on how to set up the classroom for ideal play and provides detailed teaching strategies for incorporating Past/Present into instructional plans. Free downloadable student materials include more than a dozen readings, assignments, worksheets and background essays that tie in with the game.

Click Here to Download Teachers’ Packet

Click Here to Download Student Materials

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Venture into the World of Visual Art

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, offers resources for using the visual arts to teach concepts of social studies, science, language arts and math curricula. Designed for middle school students but adaptable for elementary and high school, the printable lessons and Flash interactives on the museum’s Integrating the Arts website are ideal for visual arts teachers who want to integrate the arts into other disciplines or for non-arts teachers who want to venture into the world of art. The lessons range from examining daily life in Ancient Egypt to studying the historical, social and cultural themes conveyed in Renaissance art. Each lesson plan calls on students to create some sort of artwork. Activities can be assigned as homework or in-class assignments.

Click Here to Access Free Interactives

Click Here to Access Free Lesson Plans

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Promote Diversity in the Sciences

On August 19, 2014, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. (ET), the Amazing Resources for Educators Community on edWeb.net will be hosting Transform Your Science Classroom: How one animated character can inspire a new generation of scientists, a free webinar presented by the creator of Mosa Mack: Science Detective, a web-based library of inquiry-based, character-driven animated mysteries paired with differentiated supplemental activities. The webinar will focus on challenges in the science classroom as well as ways in which Mosa Mack Science addresses those challenges by exposing students to problem solving while modeling scientific processing skills. The presenter will demonstrate how Mosa Mack Science enhances participation, interest and achievement in science through its female protagonist, whose passion for problem solving drives each story. Mosa Mack’s inquiry-based approach targets the development of critical thinking skills for all students, focusing particularly on girls and minorities with historically low participation in STEM fields.

Click Here to Register for Free Webinar

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Enrich Learning with Digital Photo Stories

Storytelling is an ancient tradition that has evolved over many centuries. With digital tools, teachers and students now have the means to create stories and nonfiction narratives that will last beyond the spoken or written word and be published and shared with worldwide audiences. On August 20, 2014, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (ET), the Amazing Resources for Educators Community on edWeb.net will be hosting Create, Connect, Communicate: Digital-Age Learners, a free webinar sponsored by Shutterfly. In this webinar, the presenter will explore writing through the lens of Shutterfly Photo Story, a free digital tool that supports student writers through the stages of the writing process. The presenter will provide strategies, utilizing the Shutterfly Photo Story iPad app, to help digital-age students create stories or nonfiction accounts to communicate their ideas and connect with others in ever-expanding circles.

Click Here to Register for Free Webinar

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Provide a Window into Your Classroom

The Teachers College Reading & Writing Project (TCRWP) at Columbia University presents a series of video clips highlighting the work of teachers in their classrooms. This fall teachers all over the world have volunteered to record video clips of their classroom environments and share their ideas, decisions and solutions related to establishing learning communities that support students’ continued growth. The same teachers will provide clips at different points across the year in order to show the evolution of their classrooms in response to their students’ needs and participation in units of study in literacy. The initiative aims to provide a window into classrooms with strong literacy practices and create an online forum for studying together from afar. Through these clips, teachers will be able to study, learn and reflect on the evolution of their own classroom environments in order to support and encourage their students’ literacy development.

Click Here to Access Videos from Around the World

Plus: TCRWP shares videos from their classrooms, both in schools and at Teachers College, to connect on social media and to teach from a distance via webinars. Pathways to the Common Core: Videos from Inside Classrooms features almost 40 clips of Common Core–aligned teaching and learning. TCRWP captured these scenes of classroom teaching in an effort to help educators imagine methods of teaching that can support students in moving toward the ambitious standards set by the Common Core. In addition, teachers can connect with TCRWP on social media and engage in conversation and share resources. Twitter chats are held every Wednesday night from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. (ET): #TCRWP.

Click Here to Access Free Common Core Videos

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Get Insight into the New Teacher Experience

In the TeachingChannel’s New Teacher Survival Guide videos, you’ll get to follow beginning teachers as they experience their first years of teaching. With the help of mentors, these teachers focus on eight essential first-year skills: Planning, Classroom Management, Differentiation, Mentoring, Technology, Parent–Teacher Conferences, The Formal Observation and ADHD in the Classroom. Not only do these videos give insight into the new teacher experience; they also act as a testament to the power of mentoring. Through their collaboration with mentors and coaches, these new teachers are supported while they grow their practices.

Click Here to Access Video Playlist

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Level the Playing Field for Girls in STEM

Founded in 1881, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) provides STEM education to more than 11,000 girls each year at the branch, state and national levels. AAUW’s national STEM camps and conferences target middle school girls because middle school is a critical time for girls to maintain their interest in STEM and begin taking courses that will lead to future STEM opportunities. AAUW is currently accepting applications for locations for its 2015 Tech Trek summer camp program. AAUW will select sites in three new states to host a camp in 2015, for a total of 10 national camps, in addition to the 10 camps hosted by AAUW of California. The deadline to apply for the 2015 Tech Trek program is September 1, 2014.

Click Here to Visit Website

Click Here to Apply for 2015 Summer Camp Program

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Dance Hip-Hop Variables

SHINE for Girls is a free eight-week dance and math enrichment program led by MIT student mentors. SHINE—which stands for Supporting, Harnessing, Inspiring, Nurturing and Empowering—and its unique kinesthetic learning structure are intended to positively transform the lives of young women by cultivating a passion for mathematics through dance. The SHINE curriculum covers algebra, fractions, percentages and planar geometry as well as dance. In one class, girls learn about variables in algebra equations by creating their own choreography equations: twirls equate to xs and hip-hops are ys. MIT mentors jump in with adjustments to the equations, and the girls dance the new choreography. Because they danced it out, they begin to understand what a variable is and how it can be combined. SHINE also adapts traditional games to reinforce math concepts. For example, in another class, MIT mentors give the spots on a Twister board numerical values. Girls that draw a 0.5 must find the equivalent percentage or fraction on the board. Each week’s program includes dance lessons and time for girls to learn and practice new math problems. SHINE is expanding across the country. To start a branch in your area or get involved, visit the SHINE for Girls website.

Click Here to Visit Website

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Learn with Ladybugs

Across North America the composition of ladybug species is changing. Over the past 20 years, native ladybugs that were once very common have become extremely rare. During this same time, ladybugs from other parts of the world have greatly increased both their numbers and their range. The Lost Ladybug Project is one of the largest “citizen science” efforts in the world. A Cornell University researcher started it 14 years ago because he had noticed that native ladybugs in New York seemed to have become scarce. Now the project relies on thousands of amateurs to feed it photos of ladybugs and information about where they were found, and its mission has come to include educating youth about how science works as they participate in the project. The project’s website is accessible in English and Spanish.

Click Here to Visit Website

Click Here to Participate in Lost Ladybug Project

Plus: The Lost Ladybug Project has developed a wide variety of educational materials to share. On the project’s website, you’ll find basic biology and identification information, lesson plans with original and unique games, printable PDFS for distribution and outreach, and even a Lost Ladybug song. The Lost Ladybug Project also has a new mobile app that will help make participation in the project even easier. The app is free and available for both iOS and Android devices.

Click Here to Access Free Educational Materials

Click Here to Access Free App

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Explore Resilience in the Face of Tragedy

Come September, the country will remember those who lost their lives during the terrorist attack on 9/11. Students can be part of this remembrance and America’s legacy of Triumph Over Tragedy by taking a virtual tour of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Google Street View lets students explore the 9/11 Memorial within the context of the surrounding landscape of lower Manhattan. Google Maps creates a virtual tour of the World Trade Center site and shows panoramic images of the north and south pools of the Memorial.

Click Here to Tour the 9/11 Memorial and Museum

Plus: Teachers can expand on the theme of Triumph Over Tragedy through online exploration of some of history’s other tragic events. Here are some virtual fieldtrips that share the theme of Triumph Over Tragedy. Use them to teach about how groups of people can be torn apart, but will never be broken:

• The National WWII Museum offers interactive virtual tours that are video-conferenced and broadcast live into classrooms across the country. The tours, guided by the museum educator, let students analyze maps, photographs, posters, speeches and other artifacts from a conflict that had far-reaching global impact.
• At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, students follow a young child, Daniel, and his family through their experiences during the Holocaust. This virtual tour is presented in a way that young children can understand.
• Following the Trail of Tears, students learn the story of the forced relocation of thousands of Native Americans during the presidency of Andrew Jackson.
• And from their classroom, students explore the history and impact of slavery and more as they visit sites of the Underground Railroad located in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Click Here to Tour the National WWII Museum

Click Here to Tour the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Click Here to Follow the Trail of Tears

Click Here to Travel the Underground Railroad

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See and Hear American History Through Song

The Library of Congress’s Songs of America website lets students explore American history as documented in the work of some of America’s greatest composers, poets, scholars and performers. From popular and traditional songs to poetic art songs and sacred music, the relationship of song to historical events from the nation’s founding to the present is highlighted through more than 80,000 online items. Students can listen to the changes in the “Star Spangled Banner” as played by different bands in different eras. They can look at the ways in which sheet-music cover art documents historical themes, and they can read essays discussing the histories of musical styles. In addition, students can watch videos pairing sound recording with period illustrations, observe performances of artists interpreting and commenting on American song and view sheet music, manuscripts and historic copyright submissions online. The site also includes biographies, essays and curated content, interactive maps, a timeline and other teaching resources offering context and expert analysis to the source material.

Click Here to Visit Website

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Trace the Concept of Freedom in America

Preserving American Freedom is a digital history exhibit that explores the complicated history of American freedom through 50 documents in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP). The exhibit is organized in three sections: The Contested History of American Freedom, Liberty in Early America and Revolution and Founding Freedoms. Detailed transcriptions and annotations of the 50 documents, spanning from 1655 to 1978, are presented alongside digital facsimiles of the originals and contextualized by historical essays, biographies, graphic materials and tools for educators. To guide teachers through this odyssey of historical inquiry, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania provides free downloadable lesson plans and assignments for teachers to use within the framework of their school standards or curricula.

Click Here to Visit Website

Click Here to Access Free Downloadable Lesson Plans

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