December 2010 Picks

Integrate letter writing skills into your classroom by celebrating Write to a Friend Month. Find poetry resources in honor of Emily Dickinson's birthday. December events also focus on the foundations of our country. Take advantage of our social studies standards resources to learn about Rosa Parks Day, Bill of Rights, and Pearl Harbor Day. Inventions like the thermometer, bowling ball, and first crossword puzzle. We can't forget that winter is here! Find everything you need for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.

Go to our blog. This month we're talking about 10 educational web sites for teachers. They are free and really useful, covering a variety of subjects and topics.

Check out both teacher resources and parent resources. We've got reading resources on comprehension, main idea, and sequencing. Keep warm inside with these virtual field trips. Enjoy national cocoa month with Charlie and the Chocolate factory lesson plans and chocolate projects. Research internet safety for children. Finally, check out technology tips for collaboration tools and classroom trivia. Here's an Excel tip: If you right click on the lower left-hand navigational arrows, it gives you a comprehensive list of all active tabbed worksheets. Go here for more Excel tutorials. To suggest a topic for January 2011, be sure to email us.

WHAT'S HAPPENING THIS MONTH?

Here are just a few of the December events that you can integrate into your classroom lesson plans. Check our our newsletter for more!

1. Practice writing friendly letters in December for Write to a Friend Month.
2. An overview of poetry, genres, and rhythm, as well as tips for analyzing poetry to celebrate Emily Dickinson's Birthday.
3. Bill of Rights - Find comprehensive resources and lesson plans.
4. Rosa Parks Day - Rosa Parks history, facts, and standards on the civil rights movement.
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Lesson Plans. Celebrate National Cocoa Month with these chocolate games and projects.
6. Invention of the Crossword Puzzle - Make your own crossword puzzles online with all of these crossword puzzle generators. Play tons of different themed puzzles.
7. Christmas - Anything and everything Christmas.
8. Hanukkah - Recipes, facts, activities and more.
9. Kwanzaa - Anything and everything Kwanzaa from the meaning, to symbols, traditions, and activities.
   
   

TEACHER RESOURCES

1. Social Studies Standards - A comprehensive standards list by grade on social studies, geography, history, and economics through 8th grade.
2. Reading Practice Tools - Author purpose, reading activities, comprehension quizzes, context clues, main ideas, compare and contrast, and more.
3. Grade Level Help - Find current standards resourcing for Language Arts, Social Studies, and Mathematics, all listed by grade. Skill Builders for Language Art and Math.
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Chocolate lesson plans and activities, especially for December's National Cocoa Month.
5. Virtual Field Trips - Stay warm inside with virtual trips to museums, countries, and factories of all kinds - too many to list!
6. Teacher Tools - A comprehensive list of teacher resources for everything from lesson plans, instructionals, and worksheets to reading help, project help and more.
   
   

PARENT RESOURCES

1. Reading List - Keep your children reading at home with this suggest list of books by grade level.
2. Chocolate Web Games - Celebrate National Cocoa month guessing the name of the candy bar by looking at the picture.
3. Internet Safety - Remind students how to use the internet safely and effectively.
4. Safe Search Engines - Safe search engines for children that parents can trust.
5. Online Christmas Games and Hanukkah games for the holiday season.
6. Parent Zone - A comprehensive list of everything school related, including homework help, reading help, all subject areas, and educational games.
   
   

TECHNOLOGY TIPS

1. Excel Tutorials - Find online help and tips. Did you know you can right-click the navigation arrows at the bottom of the page for 1 list of all your tabbed worksheets?
2. Collaboration tools - Learn about interactive chats, document and photo sharing, round-robin story-telling, and other collaboration tools.
3. Interesting Classroom Trivia - Get your daily trivia, words of the day, facts about famous people, puzzles and more.

We also have other basic instruction in Microsoft Office, including Word 2007, Excel 2007, Powerpoint 2007.

OTHER AREAS OF INTEREST

1. Resources for Educators - In this section you can find classroom resources for Exceptional Children, Smartboards, Character Education, Web 2.0 Resources and other topics.
2. Resources for Parents - Parents can find resources
   on assisting their children with homework, time management, Internet Safety, subject area resources, grade level resources and more.