Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Wed, Sep 01, 2010
For a lot of famous people, spending time in the spotlight and traveling the world is something they do everyday. Another big part of their time is charitably spent giving back to the community and less fortunate.
Grammy Award-winning singer Shakira takes a lot of time out of her busy schedule to do work with the World Bank Group. Together, they have launched a $300 million initiative with goals of expanding developmental programs for young children in both Latin America and the Caribbean over the next two years. Shakira is involved with many foundations and charities that help provide meals, education and other support services to families and children in need.
Goals of this initiative include developing cost-effective policies and resources in the areas while mobilizing public support to improve opportunities for the children. Programs for early childhood include adequate nutrition, healthcare and stimulating environments for children from the time they are born until the time they are six years old. This is the most important time for the development of a child’s cognitive, social and other skills.
Because this time in a child’s life is so important to developing skills they will need in the future, this program is an effective and cost-effective way to improve health and academic outcomes for the future. For the nine million children under the age of 5 who suffer from malnutrition and the 22 million who don’t have access to basic care, they will greatly benefit from the efforts of this program. Since delays in development are harder to reverse later on in life, it is crucial that these children receive the care they deserve.
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Posted by Denis Soukhanov on Wed, Sep 01, 2010
Episode 24 - August 30, 2010
- Chefs working with schools in "Chefs Move to Schools" program
- Bringing organic and freshly grown fruits and vegetables
- Using student opinion and tastes to incorporate into menu
- Offering cooking classes and other healthy ideas for students to learn
- Center offers program for students with special needs
- Starts with brainstorming, games, creative exercises
- Students generate ideas for a production, and then perform for the community, showing their personal struggles and experiences.
- Your ICan is more important than your IQ
- Different theories of multiple intelligences
- Find strengths in each student
- Apply the 8 ways of knowing in your own classroom
- Toshiba America Foundation
- Digital Wish
- The Wells Fargo Foundation
So, What Do You Know?
- The fastest time for twisting a balloon into a dog shape is 6.5 seconds.
- There are 10 body parts that are three letters long.
Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Tue, Aug 31, 2010
As the new school year is approaching, many schools and students are making use of their new gadgets and smart phones. With so many new apps and features constantly coming out, it is important to stay up-to date with the most advanced apps so that you can make better use of your device! Fortunately, there are a ton of apps that can be used for educational purposes. Even better, there are a lot that are available for free! Here is a list of 5 great apps for your iPhone.
Open Culture – This app features a wide collection of educational and intellectual audio and visual collections. This is a great app to help those who need some guidance in time management, too. You can multitask, learning languages or listening to lectures and podcasts while you accomplish other tasks in your busy life!
myHomework – This free app is a helpful tool that helps you organize and stay on top of your homework assignments. You can color code different assignments and subjects to set reminders and organize pending assignments. Calendars allow you to view which assignments are due on that day or month. It is a simple way to stay organized and make sure your assignments are due on time.
Free Translator – For students learning foreign languages, this app may come in handy. It allows you to translate words into many different foreign languages. You can use it as an extra study guide in language classes or on your own to practice different words.
Quick Graph – For math fanatics, this high quality graphing calculator is sure to help out. This calculator has both 2D and 3D capabilities. It can display equations and inequalities, as well as coordinate systems. Sharing features allow you to send or save your results to the library.
Formulus Free - Formulas for Calculus – For many students taking math classes, the dozens of formulas can sometimes be overwhelming. This app has all the formulas commonly used in class, from algebra to geometry. It is a quick and easy way to remember and review the formulas needed for assignments and work.
Picture By: William Hook
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Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Mon, Aug 30, 2010
Here are some of the informational and educational articles that caught my attention this week. These articles discuss the need in better our children and the resources they use to better prepare themselves for the future. The articles highlight some of the things schools around the country are already doing in and preparing students for some of those changes.
Chefs help craft healthier school lunches with local food - Chef Geraci has changed school meals in Baltimore, where about 88% of children receive free or reduced-cost lunches. He serves only Maryland-grown fresh fruits and vegetables, buys healthful fare from food suppliers and offers meatless Mondays. He even started a 33-acre self-sustaining farm where produce goes to schools and is also sold to local restaurants to support the project. Many other chefs across the country are signing up for the government's Chefs Move to Schools initiative to encourage culinary experts to share their expertise with local schools.
Public Media's Impact on Young Readers - Children from low-income families usually have little access to books, magazines, or reading materials. If they do, it is usually much less high-quality materials. They are also given less opportunities to visit libraries, hear conversations and practice their literacy skills. All children should have the chance to practice these skills so that they do not fall behind upon entering school.
WiFi To Go: Middle Schoolers To Receive Mobile Hotspots - Many middle school students in Hawaii will receive mobile devices that allow them to carry WiFi hotspots with them wherever they go. This will act as a bridge for devices like laptops, tablets, and media players to connect to the Internet via standard WiFi. Teachers will have new ways to capture student work, and improve achievement with these new technologies.
Free Educational Resources | Interactive Whiteboard Games and Lessons by Learning Today
Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Thu, Aug 26, 2010
There are so many tools and resources that are available to the education world that let you and your students create tons of different applications. These sites are great for incorporating into class projects, lessons or just having fun with learning! These 4 sites will provide you with a quick variety of some of those great resources. Combining technology with learning is just another way of preparing students for the future while having fun.
Write.fm – This site offers an easy way to both create and share documents. This is a great way to share and have whole group discussions on pictures, articles and other documents. By creating your own URL you can also have students participate in class projects without using a single piece of paper.
Sharendipity – This tool that lets you create your own learning and educational game. With ready-made templates available if you don’t want to start from scratch. Because they are customizable, you can ensure your kids practice exactly the skills they have been working on. You can upload your own images to make your game more personal and familiar to the students. Easy sharing features allow you to send your url to others or embed the game to a class website!
Wordia Schools – This site “brings words to life through video." This is done with ease on the website. Teachers are able to create student accounts as well as share links on social media networks. Record your own video for a definition and share it with the world. Grouped by subject and academic year, it is easy to browse and find what you’re looking for. Student submissions will be available for viewing right alongside the Wordia expert videos!
Simple Diagrams – Creating diagrams has never been simpler! You can combine clip art, pictures, text and other drawings, along with shapes and ready made drawings. Easy drag and drop features also allow you to change the size of elements being used. With pencil drawing tools, you can also create new elements from scratch. Students can easily make charts and other graphs with this program.
Picture By: Juliana Coutinho
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Posted by Denis Soukhanov on Wed, Aug 25, 2010
e-Learning Today TV - View in iTunes
Episode 23 - August 20, 2010
- 80 foot mural on NYC public school wall
- Promoting unity and the idea of “one world”
- Combines famous painters, graffiti artists, creative companies, etc.
- Inspire students and locals in communities to use differences to make the world a better place
- Students who are advanced in technology must be taught by teachers who are, too
- Opposing viewpoints that books and traditional materials are still important and that technology is more important than anything.
- Teachers must be up-to-date with technology but a good balance and combination of traditional material is important, too.
- Free Sites
- Scholastic Teaching Resources and Student Activities
- NCTM Illuminations
- HotChalk’s™ Lesson Plans Page
- SqoolTech’s SqoolTools
- Teach-nology
- A to Z Teacher Stuff
- Teachers.net
- Pete’s Powerpoint Station
- Sites Worth Paying For
- EdHelper (Price: Basic $19.99/year, Everything $39.98/year)
- Lesson Planet (Price: Standard $39.95/year, School or District $29.95/year per teacher)
- Toshiba America Foundation
- Digital Wish
- The Wells Fargo Foundation
So, What Do You Know?
e-Learning Today TV - View in iTunes
Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Tue, Aug 24, 2010
Most public schools are a place for children from all around the country, or world, to come together as they learn and grow through education. New York, often referred to as a melting pot, has many public schools scattered throughout the city.
Brazilian artists Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, aka “Os Gemeos” have joined forces with famous graffiti artist, Futura 2000, to complete an 80-foot mural on the wall of one New York school. New York creative studio, AKANYC and street art website 12ozProphet received support from Nike and paint company MTN Colors.
The mural is on the west-facing wall of P.S. 11, William T. Harris Elementary School. The mural creation began on Friday, August 6 and was recently completed on August 13th.
The theme of the mural is a message of international unity. Os Gemeos often uses this giant yellow character in many of their pieces of art. Along with the character, known as ‘the giant’ flags from countries from all over the globe adorn the wall. These flags are painted in non-traditional colors. The artists say the idea behind this is that there is ‘one world, one voice, no borders, no separation…everything and everyone working together for a single cause that is a better world.”
AKANYC creative directors hope to make more murals like this one, so that people and students in the local communities can be enriched in a creative way. By combining styles so different from each other, this painting stands alone to show the community and the schools that we can all work together to make the world a better place.
Picture by: gsz
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Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Mon, Aug 23, 2010
Here are some of the informational and educational articles that caught my attention this week. A big common trend in these articles is the need for preparing students for the future with technology. The articles highlight some of the things we should be looking forward to and preparing for in our schools.
George Lucas Dedicates Majority of His Wealth to Improving Education - George Lucas has announced his commitment to donate at least half his wealth to improving education. He pledges about the importance of innovation and reform to our schools as the “key to the survival of the human race”; He created the George Lucas Educational Foundation to share educational innovations -- cooperative and project learning, mentorship, parental involvement, and technological advances.
10 Social Media Competencies for K-12 teachers - All teachers are learners so keeping up with social media helps them to stay ahead. These 10 social media competencies will help you help students use technology and social media to learn and explore.
Tech Comfy NOT Tech Savvy! - Although students are quick and efficient at using technology, they do not always rely on sources and credits. We need to make sure children have the information and skills set to accurately access and use information for learning.
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Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Fri, Aug 20, 2010
As Facebook advances in features and applications, a new aspect may have some teachers and students concerned for their privacy.
General Use
“Facebook Places” will allow users to share with others where they are, find where their friends are, and discover new places around you. By checking in to places and adding locations, you will be able to discover places that you would like, based on your interests. You can even “tag” your friends to a location where you may be together.
Privacy Settings
For teachers who think this may violate their privacy, you can opt out of sharing your location with other users. You can also limit check-in settings to “friends only”. Friends can tag you in places you may be together, but these tags can always be removed. The point of this feature is to do just that, share with your friends and not the whole world.
Teacher - Student Usage
For educators and teachers who may be friends with their students on Facebook, this new feature may not be the best idea. Thankfully the many privacy settings allow you to choose who, if anyone, can see your check-ins. You can also allow people to check you in to a place or not.
A feature that will help protect the privacy of children is that minors will only be able to see their friends. This is a benefit of the protection that so many younger users of Facebook will get. The feature is only available to use on smart phones, and right now the iPhone is the only supported device. Thankfully, the customizable privacy settings allow you to protect your account from sharing unwanted information with others.
Necessary Addition?
There are already many location based applications that do all of this – and more. I don’t see the real point in combining this with Facebook pages. For businesses and local events it may be a bright idea, but for educators and students it may add to the risk of sharing information with unwanted people.
Picture by: quintanomedia
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Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Thu, Aug 19, 2010
As the school year is rapidly approaching, teachers and staff may have already started with the process of preparing schools and classrooms with all the appropriate tools and resources. For many schools, in this tough economy, it may be difficult to provide students with many of the resources that can help them learn and grow in different ways.
Grants are a huge and helpful way for schools to earn money that they deserve to better the education of their students. What many teachers and staff don’t know is that each month there are grants they can apply for. With resumes, applications and personal stories from each school, it is easy to apply for these great opportunities.
Below you will find a list of the grants that you can still apply for the months of August and September. You can click on the links to read more about each one.
August – Ongoing
Toshiba America Foundation – This grant is accepted for grades 6-12. In order to contribute to science and math education Toshiba continually searches for teachers who are passionate about making science and mathematics more engaging for their students. Grants up to $5,000 are continually reviewed for innovative teachers that want to make a difference.
Digital Wish – These grants from this public charity are offered every month to help schools gain technology access across every subject area. Grants for hardware and software are available to the winning applicants who submit their own technology-based lessons plans. Creativity and quality of each lesson is carefully assessed to award deserving candidates and there are also ideas for lesson plans and fundraising.
The Wells Fargo Foundation – Organizations like schools and education programs that help strengthen our communities are supported by Wells Fargo. Many non-profit organizations and educational programs are encouraged to apply for the grants that will help strengthen their organization, which will help strengthen the community.
Picture By: Dwonderwall
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