Teacher Talk

Student Competition

On Your Mark. Get Set. Doodle.

Doodle 4 Google is giving U.S. students in grades K-12 the opportunity to design a doodle (see samples here) for the Google homepage. Students will be asked to draw a doodle that best represents the theme "What if...?" We ask ourselves this question every day when we build our products, so we thought we would ask the same of the future doodlers.

Check out www.google.com/doodle4google for more details. All that's needed to get started is a teacher or principal to register the school. Registration closes on 3/28/08, and entries must be postmarked by 4/12/08.

Vogt, Mary R. The Artist. MorgueFile. 

Gymnastics for the Mind

Gymnastics for the mind, entertainment for the soul and training for the hands is how Oriland describes the art of origami. My much less elaborate description is "beautifully intricate and really, cool looking."

From an educational perspective:
Origami creates creates conditions of intensive interaction of the brain’s hemispheres and effectively allows development of motor skills of both hands, intellectual and creative abilities.

On a somewhat related note, no one sheet of paper can be folded in half more than seven times. Go ahead, try it.

Image: http://morguefile.com/forum/profile.php?username=sideshowmom

Child Safety

Over 3 Million Children are Safer

Thanks Yello Dyno!
When a child's life is at stake, this is what works.

The Yello Dyno Method™ is scientifically based on Nobel Prize-winning and internationally acclaimed research. Yello Dyno Methods™ activate children's "fight or flight" response. In fact, 80.8% of students demonstrate an increase in knowledge after one cycle of the Yello Dyno curriculum.

Generate proven results through the Yello Dyno curriculum and materials. Please visit the Yello Dyno web site to learn more about empowering the children in your arch/diocese's care take action. Safe & Sacred's children's curriculum partner, Yello Dyno, is an amazing influence in the lives of children ages 4 - 12.

"Unless children recognize deceptive behavior of Tricky People who mean them harm, it doesn't matter what safety rules they're taught."

- Jan Wagner, Founder of Yello Dyno

Safe environments provide a paramount foundation for learning. Children simply cannot learn, nor can teachers teach, if they do not feel safe.

Click here to learn about Professional Learning Board's
Partner in Safety

Safe Toys in One-Word

Hasbro

FREE Teacher Toolbar

FREE TOOLBAR

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Download this FREE Teacher Toolbar and keep the latest teaching and learning information at your fingertips. Updated automatically when you go to the Internet.

Click here to get the Teacher Toolbar today.

Got a suggestion for tools, web sites and other resources to be added?
Let the Toolbar Team know at toolbar@professionallearningboard.com.

Awesome for Autism

The previous post highlighted Google's 3D Warehouse, SketchUp Software and Project Spectrum. Here is another awesome tool and resource for enhancing teaching and learning and focusing on students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

The Wrist-o-Picwww.wrist-o-pic.com) is a way cool product invented by Gail, a veteran special education teacher in Minneapolis Public Schools. Gail spent years researching this product and has just officially launched the Wrist-o-Pic last month.

According to Wrist-o-Pic promotional materials, "Fill it with favorite images" and use as:

- Picture Schedules
- Behavior Reward Charts
- Organizers
- Memory Joggers
- Communication and
- Choice Boards
- Transition Indicator
  first this (picture), then that (picture)
- Mobile sticker chart
  (add a pic for good behavior at church, the store, etc.)
- Friendship bracelet
  display and trade mini-school pictures with friends
- Visual Cueing System
- Chore Board
- Task Organizer
- Goal Achievement Indicator
- Collectables Display
- Homwork Organizer
- Bible School Scripture Verse Memory Reminder>

While I am not an expert, at all, in Asperger or Autism, I do have a knack for finding (or as my husband claims, things just seem to 'find me') and am excited to share this information.

Locally, here in Minnesota, both Fraser Academy and a newly approved charter school in Robbinsdale, Lionsgate Academy (sponsored by Adler Graduate School, Lionsgate Academy and to serve grades 6-12.) serve students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Please tell your local education specialists in this field about it as well.

Google ANSWER Engine

Many folks know Google as a robust Search-engine.

Project Spectrum (http://www.google.com/educators/spectrum.html) is an example of how Google is also an elaborate Answer-engine.

Google's responsiveness and work with families to create career opportunities and enhancing communications for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is quite impressive. Check out Project Spectrum and try SketchUp (http://sketchup.google.com/), the FREE 3D design software for yourself.

Click here to see how easy it is to use, get  Google SketchUp Tutorials (http://sketchup.google.com/sptutorials.html) and even Download Lesson Plans (http://www.google.com/educators/learning_materials/Project_Spectrum_Manual.pdf)

Current Events in Education

There are few things more exciting than what I percieve to be outstanding use of technology in education. Andrew Pass' blog The Current Events in Education demonstrates such use.

Discussion Starters for both young and older children provide prompts that present often difficult subject matter in an enlightening manner and more elaborate vocabulary is called out for study.

Mr. Pass' has a gift for designing inquiries that draw thoughtfulness and debate while refraining from sharing his own opinions. Very commendable. We can learn a lot from his suggestions as well as from the manner in which he conducts himself. Thank you!

Get this widget!

Nuts for this Preschool Site

Pre-school age children are going nuts for this recently discovered site. The Little Animals Activity has a little bit of everything for nearly everyone's little one. Despite the cheezy graphics that make me believe even I can draw the simplicity of this site provides good, clean, learning fun.

Phonics & Rhyme
Preschoolers learn and practice letter sounds and rhymes with Digby Mole and these word games.

Music & Rhyme
A listening and watching activity garners attention and the rhyming story is just sweet with owl's that say "woof" and earthworms with claws.

Stories
The Storybear section features online books that include an option to toggle sound off/on. A nice feature is audio and written directions that tell users where to click.

Puzzles
I'm not sure if it's a lack of understanding due to age (the riddles and jokes just didn't work for me or my children) or perhaps language (British vs American English). Regardless, I'm not impressed with Puzzlesnuff and his stuff.

Math
The number games led by Count Hoot the Owl introduce addition and subtraction. While I'm not an early childhood expert by any means, as a parent I'm really impresed with the different levels eg. items to count as well as numerals to recognize.

Printable Activities
Mazes, recipes, dot-to-dots and crafts are all part of Micky Maker's activities.

Reading Resource: Spelling & Vocabulary PK-12+

Oops, almost forgot this great reading resource.
Dig around the site a little for Spanish, Hebrew and more language games and learning tools. Gracias y Toda Raba Jacob Richman!

Reading Resources

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Click Here for Preview
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ARTICLE: Read All About It  NEW!
Technology motivates students to read.
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When Kids Can't Read: A Guide for Teachers 6-12

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Students learn 90% more
with 72% retention.

http://www.vocabularycartoons.com
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Teacher's Top-Ten

A teacher's top-ten list of why Kimbo Educational products deserve serious consideration in teaching and learning strategies.

Nursery Rhymes are one of the best tools for helping children build phonological awareness (an ear for sound). Movement awakens and activates thinking. Between birth and three years of age, a child's brain is twice as active as an adult's. Toddlers are particularly receptive to developing both vocabulary and an ear for sound. Music decreases anxiety and reduces stress. Movement is a sensory experience that anchors thought. Exercise keeps us alert and enhances our memory. Nursery Rhymes teach the rhythm and patterns of language. Dancing enhances pattern recognition. Music and movement build a foundation for literacy. Vocabulary size and sound discrimination ability (rhyming words, alliteration, etc.) are the two best predictors of reading success.

Making Change

My neighbor claims that his preschool child is capable of making correct change from a five-dollar bill. Now, my area of is not this age group nor do I know where this math skill falls within an 'age-appropriateness' scale of standards. I do know, to me, this is impressive. I also know, that regardless of whether or not this is accurate (afterall, the father has five school age children), there are children who clearly achieve at remarkable levels.

So, if young Joe is "advanced" for his age in mathematics, or other academic areas, should he be "moved ahead" in grade level? And, what if he is '"on target" or even 'behind' with his language development? Would I think otherwise if Joe was in high school?

In my fifteen years of working with high school students, I have recollection of only a handful of students who have graduated early, heading to college studies at age 16 or 17. I don't know of any students who have been "held back." Of course there are the "super-seniors," those who have not met requirements for graduation, who continue in "alternative programs." Oh, and those who "drop-out" altogether.

Teaching and learning is clearly "different" today than years ago. Advances in science and technology result in increasingly greater and faster access to information that hastens the rate at which society is able to respond. Farewell to stories of a pony-express and waiting several weeks for word to travel cross-country.

SCRATCH This!

Okay, I must admit that I'm itching to play with SCRATCH, to create interactive animations, stories and games!

Local students at St. Paul Public School's Expo for Excellence Magnet School have been betatesting new software from MIT Media Lab, a programming language that lets kids create their own games, interactive arts and animations.

Kid's can program a dance, create a chase game and animate their name.

Plus, it's FREE and translates into many languages

If you think this is intriguing, there's more. . .

Find SCRATCH at MIT Media Lab web link at http://scratch.mit.edu.
Or DOWNLOAD SCRATCH now as a free download!

The Perfect Gift

20 Reasons Books are the Best Gifts!
by Ruth Smith, Director UBAH

 

20. Books don’t need to be assembled.
19. Books don’t need batteries.
18. Books never come in the wrong color or size.
17. Books don’t need to be serviced by a dealer.
16. Books won't need replacement parts.
15. Books are easier to gift wrap than footballs.
14. Books don’t bite, scratch, or kick.
13. Books don’t need watering or fertilizing.
12. Books don’t irritate your allergies.
11. Books don’t go out of style.
10. Books look good with any decor.
9.  Books don’t get aphids or attract ants.
8.  Books aren't noisy and won't annoy family, friends, and neighbors.
7.  Books don’t shrink, stretch, or fade.
6.  Books don’t need extension cords.
5.  Bookswon’t scratch the coffee table.
4.  Books don’t cause cavities or get stale.
3.  Books take you places without even leaving home.
2.  Books are gifts which can be opened again and again.
1.  Books, no matter how much you use them, are never empty.

Order before December 15th and receive before Christmas!

FREE Children's Books!

Earn FREE Usborne children's books. Here's how:

1. Host an online eShow
   • Complete this form.
   • Pick an end date.
2. Contact your friends, neighbors, colleagues, etc.
3. Have them visit this site, click on your eShow and purchase books.

The orders are totaled up for all the people that placed an order for your eShow and your allowance of free books is calculated based on this chart.

We can even schedule an online chat enabling your guests to learn about Usborne books' unique qualities, ask questions and get help while selecting the best books for their children.