Great Video about Seizing Limitations

Links about talking with children about tragedies

Here are some links about talking with children about the recent shootings.  With a 1st, 2nd, and 4th grader at home, I would prefer to talk to them myself (and I have) about the shooting that took place on Friday.  However, there might be the occasional question or the topic might be brought up from some of your students.  If questions arise, you might want to check out these links on how to talk with children about tragedies and then tell the parents about what was discussed in a note home.

http://www.fci.org/new-site/par-tragic-events.html

http://www.sesameworkshop.org/assets/1192/src/HereForEachOther_vEng2012Modified.pdf

http://www.aft.org/yourwork/tools4teachers/together/schonfeld.cfm

http://www.dougy.org/news-events/news/the-senseless-shootings-how-to-talk-with-your-children/1466/

Sketchometry

Found a really interesting math site today called Sketchometry.  This website works in your Internet browser so you do not need to install anything to get it to work.  It will also work on iPads!  The site allows you to draw graphs, lines, polygons, and other trigonometry functions.  It is design is simplistic and easy to use.  I have enjoyed messing around with it!

Check it out at http://beta.sketchometry.com/

Some things I have found recently

Here are some websites I found as I was cleaning out my Google Reader.  Let me know what you think.


Create a character scrapbook
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/scrapbook/

Awesome tours of points of interest from around the world
http://www.airpano.com/

Website on Eli Whitney...you know... the cotton gin???
http://www.eliwhitney.org/new/museum/eli-whitney

Great site to learn about responsibility with money
https://yacenter.moneyisland.com/

Vocabulary site 
http://wordia.com/

The scale of the universe- pretty interesting
http://www.htwins.net/scale2/

Free online tutorials and classes
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/

Advertisements at the Super Bowl...Are they OK for kids?

The Super Bowl is this weekend and a lot of children will be watching...and that is great! What I don't like about it is that my children will also be watching the ads. Advertisements have become more risky each and every year. The companies try to one-up what they did the previous year. The article below from Common Sense Media gives suggestions on what to do when these ads come on in front of your children.

Sex, Beer, and the Super Bowl: Are Your Kids Watching? | Common Sense Media

I recently found some good websites through the different blogs that I follow.  I will add some of them to the Jefferson Edline page for easier access.  Since I really don't type up newsletters anymore, I thought I would send this out in an email after posting it on my blog.  Enjoy....

Typing for primary (K-2)

•  http://www.uptoten.com/kids/kidsgames-coordination-lettergame.html
• http://www.tvokids.com/play/bees_and_honey/bee2blueback.swf

Typing for intermediate (3-5)

• http://www.tvokids.com/games/keyboardclimber
• http://funschool.kaboose.com/gamesFiles/flash/kaboose/spidertyper/spidertyper.sw

Interesting math sites

• http://penflakes.com/flakepad/ - design things and talk about symmetry
• http://www.thinkingblocks.com/index.html

Science

• http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/

Reading

• http://www.wordtamer.co.uk/
• http://www.childrensbooksforever.com/

And just for fun

• http://www.drawastickman.com/

Technology Use in Schools

I am just now getting to the summer issue of THE Journal.  I found an interesting article about technology use in the classroom.  Some studies are showing that teachers and students are not using the resources that are available to them.  So...what is it like at your school?  Are teachers using the technology that they have in their classrooms?  Are they using it in meaningful and engaging ways?  Are students using technology in the classrooms?  All these questions are very relevant since we are putting tons and tons of money into purchasing new tools all the time.  Follow the link to read the article and let me know what you think.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/1105/journal_201106/index.php?startid=42