New Web Site Offers Help with Science Fair Projects

Scotch Brand and Discovery Education have partnered to launch a Web site dedicated to helping students, parents, educators, and coordinators prepare science fair projects and, in fact, entire science fairs.

Scotch Science Fair Central, located at www.scotchsciencefair.com, is divided into three sections: Getting Started, Projects, and Presentations. The site provides a number of tools for the various participants, including a database of project ideas and how to locate available resources; a worksheet for students to plan projects, take inventory of resources, and follow a project from conception to implementation; a presentation guide featuring display guidelines and insight on what judges look for; and a comprehensive checklist for science fair coordinators to make sure their fairs run smoothly.

Discounted Educational Software Available

Through a new initiative called Technical Learning Solutions (TLS), we are able to offer schools educational software at an average discount of 40%.

You can order software through this program by visiting the FAMIS portal or www.shopdoe.com.

To order through FAMIS, click on “Contracted,” then “E-Catalog,” then “TLS – Educational Software.”

To order through shopdoe.com, enter your e-mail address, choose “Computer Software” from the drop-down menu, click on “TLS – Educational Software,” place the software you want to order in your cart, and e-mail the card to the person who places orders for your school.

For additional information, visit http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/DCP/BuyingTools/TLS, call (718) 935-3205, or e-mail software@schools.nyc.gov.

Gifts, Gifts and More Gifts!

The House and the Senate recently vied for the right to bestow a greater sum on the education community which is particularly good news as schools devise ways to tighten their collective belts in the wake of the current economic downturn.

Following are some ongoing federal grants and a few private donors that could bring joy to your hearts and keep you busy as bees as a result of a monetary Valentine's kiss!

• National Science Foundation promotes the progress of science and advances scientific knowledge in K-12 institutions.
• Twenty-First Century Grant funding is used to simulate before- and after-school programs.
• Title 1 funding are monies directed at helping high-poverty schools.
• Carl Perkins Funding are funds that lean heavily toward vocational skills.
• Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant is focused on ensuring a technologically literate student from grade school through high school.

The Fund for Public Schools Awards Library REACH Grants to Bronx Schools

The Fund for Public Schools has awarded Library REACH (Revitalizing Education for Adolescents and Children) grants to four Bronx schools. Schools applied for the grants last fall, and may request up to $10,000 each for library improvement projects. In the past, these projects have ranged from new computers and SMART Boards to updated book collections and comfortable couches and rug areas for students.

Library REACH grants are awarded annually, and are supported by Shop for Public Schools, a week-long partnership between New York City's public schools and the retail community. This year's Library REACH grants were also supported by Lexmark, Polo Ralph Lauren, and other corporate and foundation partners. To date, the Fund for Public Schools has awarded over 200 REACH grants, improving school libraries that serve over 150,000 students.

We congratulate the following recipients of this year's Library REACH grants:

• (07X005) PS 5 Port Morris Elementary School
  
• (08X100) PS 100 Isaac Clason Elementary School
  
• (08X560) Bronx Academy High School
• (10X439) Bronx High School for Law and Justice
  

Classroom Learning 2.0

Visit Classroom Learning 2.0 for a free professional-development tutorial on Web 2.0 tools.

Students Who Serve: A call to schools. Enter now.

The folks at SMART Technologies like to encourage you to get students excited about giving back to the community. So they're reaching out to teachers across the nation, inviting you to participate in the Students Who Serve Promotion. You could win a classroom technology package worth over US$12,000.

To enter, send them a lesson activity, created with SMART Notebook software, that teaches students the value of community service. You could focus on any related topic - how about the role of volunteerism in American history? Or what about a profile of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Then show them how your students took action. They're looking for lessons that get students up and moving. So part two of your entry involves telling them about the fruits of your labor. Show them how your students learned from the lesson and tell us what action they took. They'd really like to hear about the people they helped.

To learn more, visit http://smarttech.com/studentswhoserve/index.html

McGraw-Hill: Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education

The 2009 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education will be awarded to three individuals who have addressed innovation and education, focusing on the whole child, in one of three broad categories: professional development and teacher education (in school, only); pre-K-, elementary- and secondary-level education programs (in and out of school); and policy maker.

Maximum award: $25,000.

Eligibility: policy makers, leaders in higher education, and school-based
personnel.

Deadline: March 20, 2009. Click here for more information.

Bridgestone Firestone: Safety Scholars Video Contest

The Bridgestone Firestone 2009 Safety Scholars Video Contest will award college scholarships for the most compelling and effective videos that drive home life-saving messages on auto and tire safety, and includes a chance for young filmmakers to have their auto safety videos broadcast as a public service commercial.

Maximum Award: $5,000 scholarship; new set of Bridgestone tires.

Eligibility: high school students.

Deadline: entries accepted May 27-June 17, 2009. Click here for more information.

Last Year's Doodle4Google Contest

Doodle 4 Google is BACK!

Welcome to Doodle 4 Google, a competition where the folkes at Google invite K-12 students to play around with their homepage logo and see what new designs they come up with. This year they're inviting U.S. kids to join in the doodling fun, around the intriguing theme "What I Wish for the World."

These are exciting times and both our country and the world are on the brink of significant change. At Google they believe in thinking big, and dreaming big, and they can't think of anything more important than encouraging students to do the same.

Registration closes at 11:59:59 PM Pacific time on March 17, 2009 and entries are due by 11:59:59 PM Pacific time on March 31, 2009. Teachers, you'll find everything you need to get started on the Registration page. Only teachers or school employees should register. Parents or students who are interested should contact their teacher to register them.

Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation Grants

The Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation is committed to improving communities and impacting lives through unique philanthropic programs that help children and families, animals and the environment. If your school is seeking support on behalf of these causes, apply for a grant, especially since they review grants for these causes on a rolling basis. Their grants range between $1,000 and $10,000 with the average grant being $2,500. To apply for a grant from the Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation, click here for the online application.

"Teachopolis" helps educators spot high-tech cheating

Technology may make it easier for students to cheat and harder for educators to catch them, as students share tips on YouTube, such as advising others how to hide cheat sheets on soda-bottle labels and other high-tech methods. A Web site created by a community-college leader, Teachopolis.org, is compiling such methods in an effort to educate teachers and help change attitudes that promote cheating.

ISTE Outstanding Teacher & Leader Awards

These awards recognize and honor one leader and one teacher who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and leadership in implementing technology to improve education.
The nomination process opens December 19, 2008 and closes March 20, 2009. Winners are announced in April and ISTE showcases the Outstanding Leader and Teacher Award recipients at its National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) held in June or July each year. ISTE publicize recipients’ achievement to more than 200 media outlets world wide.

To nominate an educator, visit www.iste.org

Discovery Education and 3M "Young Scientist Challenge"

Do you have what it takes to be America's Top Young Scientist? Discovery Education and 3M are looking for a few great students to inspire us with their enthusiasm for science, so show us what you've got! Create a short (1-2 min.) video about one of this year's scientific topics and YOU could win a trip to New York City to compete in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge finals. The winner will receive $50,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds ($25,000 cash value), and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist."

For more information, visit www.youngscientistchallenge.com/

Vitural Field Trips by Kids

"Meet Me @ the Corner" assists students with creating and editing their podcast for free. This is a great tool for PK-2 students. Learn more.

National Environmental Education Week

Register today for National Environmental Education Week (EE Week), April 12—18, 2009. EE Week promotes understanding and protection of the natural world by actively engaging K—12 students and educators of all subjects in an inspired week of environmental learning and service before Earth Day. This year's EE Week theme is "Be Water Wise!" Partners receive certificates of participation for themselves and their students, and those who register before January 30 will receive a free copy of National Geographic Explorer magazine.

Teaching Teens about Digital Harassment

The campaign and its Web site, ThatsNotCool.com, encourages teens to set their own boundaries on digital harrassment which includes excessite text-messaging, chat messages and offensive socialnetwork posts. The site offers an area where teenagers can seek advice, like how to stop a boyfriend from nonstop text-messaging or other forms of digital harassment. For more direct advice, the site tells teenagers to call or conduct a live chat with trained volunteers.

For more information, visit www.thatsnotcool.com/

What's new? Introducing SMART Sync 2009

SynchronEyes software has a new name and a variety of new and improved features, including the following:

• New student collaboration tools
• New administration tools
• Refined user interface
• Improved Internet blocking rules
• Redesigned student chat menu
• New flexible pricing

Click here to find out about all the features of SMART Sync 2009.

Digital Resources for "Black History Month"

During African-American History Month, explore the informative and inspiring materials provided by the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Department of Education . You’ll find links on influential African-American artists, inventors, civil rights figures, entrepreneurs, and others.

For additional resources on African-American history and culture, check out USA.gov’s Culture and Ethnic Groups page, where you can research genealogy, learn about plans for a new national museum, and more.

Explore, Search and Discover with Google Earth 5.0

Browsers on Google Earth can now dive into the digital ocean to take undersea trips to deep trenches, scout out prime surfing spots and explore coral reefs.


Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured places, and share with others.

See for yourself, visit http://earth.google.com/

Free Online Training Sessions by SMART Technologies

Learn how to use a variety of SMART products by attending free weekly online training sessions that teach you how to set up, maintain and troubleshoot your SMART products. These 30- to 60-minute sessions require only a telephone and an Internet connection. They are available in English, German, Spanish, French and Portuguese, for both Windows® and Macintosh operating systems.

Click here for the schedule and registration.

Motorola Foundation Calls for Innovation Generation Grants Applications

Motorola has opened its call for applications for the 2009 Innovation Generation Grants, the technology company's signature giving program. Innovation Generation Grants support programs that inspire and cultivate the next generation of inventors and innovators by making science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) accessible and relatable to students at any age. In 2009, the Motorola Foundation will provide $5 million in Innovation Generation Grants to organizations that engage U.S. Pre-K through 12 students, especially girls and underrepresented minorities, and teachers in STEM programming.

For more information, click here.

Check out this Online Leadership Game for students!

Help your students build leadership, teamwork and decision-making skills with the new interactive online leadership game, TeamTreks: Glacier Bay!

The adventure begins when a player is dropped off near Glacier Bay, Alaska for a kayaking trip with three TeamTreks characters, supplies, and a map. The goal is to lead the team back to the TeamTreks cabin before one of the characters gives up and calls in a rescue Designed for grades 4-7, it also develops map-reading, navigation, and geographic literacy; science inquiry, history and wildlife, navigation, and mathematics skills. Individual student licenses are just $10 per year! Included with each license is a complimentary teacher account with access to the TeamTreks Toolkit.

VISIT www.teamtreks.com to try out the game online.

The World Math Day Video Challenge!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Are you looking for the ultimate class project? Now your students can show off their creative abilities and talents online in the World Math Day Video Challenge! The contest is open to all classrooms in the United States, grades 3-8.

How the Contest Works

1. Record a two-to three-minute video of your students preparing for World Math Day. Be creative. Tell your story with a song,cheer, rap, or narrative.

2. Register for free at www.teachertube.com (only registered teachers can upload videos).

3. Upload your video to www.teachertube.com/worldmathday where it will be voted on by fellow teachers, students,and parents.

Learn more

World Math Day Video Challenge

IBM's "Power Up" Adds a New Hydroelectric Mission

We love to share innovative educational technology tools that are designed to help students learn. Gaming is one of those technologies that many once believed would sap our attention spans and remove us from the very outside world that now needs rescue. Last week we shared with you that Tabula Digita has released a 2.0 version of its DimensionM Multiplayer. This week, PowerUp adds a new hydroelectric mission to its free online science game.

We first introduced you to PowerUp last year. PowerUp, part of IBM's TryScience initiative, is perhaps the most sophisticated of these new video games. The game charges players with saving the imaginary planet Helios from ecological destruction by carrying out missions to supply solar, wind, and water power before severe storms wreak havoc. Students learn engineering and science principles by building solar towers or searching junkyards for parts to repair wind turbines.

One reason for PowerUp's success is that it draws on concepts that today's children already know and challenges them to build on that knowledge.

For more information, visit: www.powerupthegame.org/

WE NEED ECO-HEROES TO HELP SAVE THE PLANET!

Now through March 15, 2009, middle school students can "go green" and team up for the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge , the first and only national K-12 sustainability education initiative aligned to education standards.

Prizes for students and teachers include Regional and National Recognition, Cash and an Appearance on Discovery's Planet Green Television Network.

The Challenge is entirely web-based and provides a robust collection of resources for students and teachers from interactive labs to lesson plans , custom developed by the same curriculum team that brings you our award-winning services Discovery Education streaming and Discovery Education Science.

Come check it out at wecanchange.com and you can even take a quiz to measure your own environmental IQ!

Inspiration Software Launches 2009 Webcast Series

Inspiration Software, Inc., has kicked off 2009 with the launch of a new series of popular free webcasts designed to help teachers use visual learning instructional techniques to improve student achievement across the curriculum. As a result of educators' high level of interest in 2008's visual learning webcasts, they will offer two workshops per month during the 2009 school year.

Join them for their next event:

Webcast: Using Visual Learning Techniques to Improve Academic Performance with Inspiration
Date: Thursday, January 29th, 2009
Time: 12:00-12:45 p.m. Pacific Time, 3:00-3:45 p.m. Eastern Time

Register for this event today!