Resource round-up: Classroom supplies

Great tips from the educators themselves on getting what you need for your classroom (from Edutopia)

ReadWriteThink's graphic organizers, online tools, and other freebies

Save the Words

Warning: If you are a wordie, you will become addicted to this website! You can help spread the word (pun intended), adopt a word, and buy a custom word t-shirt, all for the noble goal of saving words from dictionary extinction. FYI, it's worth checking out the site just to hear the near-obsolete words screaming for attention on the screen...

Resource round-up: Spotlight on the Southern Regional Education Board

The Southern Regional Education Board is a non-profit, nonpartisan, interstate organization of 16 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia) working to improve education in the region.

Representatives from each state include the governor and four gubernatorial appointees, which must include one state legislator and one educator. Here is a sampling of SREB's programs and goals:

• institutional diversity
• online learning and educational technology
• distance and adult learning
• higher learning (including programs providing in-state tuition for out-of-state degrees)
  
• free resources for teachers
• K-20 school improvement initiatives

The organization also takes legislative action and produces educational data and reports. In addition to their own information-packed website, SREB also runs The Teacher Center, a portal for helping educators meet their career goals.

Resource round-up: For elementary and middle school

Don't worry, we didn't forget about the younger kids. Here are a couple great sites for K-8 literacy:

The Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project is a large database of children's classics (all in the public domain) aimed at K-6 students. Browse by title, genre, author, unit study, or even a specific grade-level curriculum. Works can be printed and copied for personal and educational use and are often formatted both in large and small type to appeal to readers of all ages.

"Inspiring Middle School Literacy: Reading and Writing in Science and History" is a free resource from Teachers' Domain (a digital media and online professional development site) that provides classroom activities for enhancing struggling readers' literacy skills through engaging science or social studies topics. Teachers can choose the content area, activity format, or literacy strategy you want to focus on. For more help with your struggling middle-school readers, check out Middle School Literacy Centers and download free lessons here.

Resource round-up: Especially for high school

INeedAPencil.com is a free SAT prep website started by a high schooler in 2006. With questions, lessons, student tools, and features like a score projector, confidence calibrator, and mentor communication, the site easily sets itself apart from other pricey prep courses and tutoring sites.

HippoCampus.org offers multimedia lessons and course materials for high school and college subjects mainly in math, science, and social studies. This free site utilizes a lot of Flash applications, and a high-speed Internet connection is recommended.

CareerForward is a free online career-planning course that lets middle- and high-school students "assess their career interests, explore career options, and create an educational development plan."

Lessons from Literature raises student awareness of the serious issue of abuse by integrating lessons into core literature studies and the existing curriculum. Lesson plans aligned with NCTE's ELA standards, templates, a resource library, and professional development opportunities make it easy for teachers to start right away during the novel study of their choice.

As always, check out Maupin House's high-school resources here.

Resource round-up: Early literacy

Family literacy bags from Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets has six family literacy bags, each on different themes appropriate for the K-1 early reader and full of fun, family literacy activities. Best of all, they're free! Click here to read more about each bag and download the materials. Then just print, bag, and read!

Jumpstart's Read for the Record
Literacy Ambassador Cathy Puett Miller introduces Jumpstart's Read for the Record shared reading initiative in Huntsville, Alabama, with a beloved childhood favorite, Corduroy. Check out the video here.

Resource round-up: The good, the cheap, & the free--funding, discounts, & contests

The good: Schools will see stimulus funds in April
To read more about the Title I, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program funding available, check out the Department of Education's stimulus page or the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) page, including informational webinars.

The cheap: Save at Borders and Ann Taylor LOFT
From March 19-25, Borders is once again giving 25% off in-store to current and retired educators on just about anything as part of their Educator Appreciation Week. Just bring proof of your educator status and enjoy the savings. There is also a special reception on Friday, March 20 from 4-8 p.m. Contact your local Borders for details. Ann Taylor's LOFT Loves Teachers program offers discounts, tips, and forums for educators.

The free: Enter the NetGen Education Challenge
According to their website, "The aim of the NetGen Education Challenge is to bring educators, students, parents and professionals together in a global dialogue on learning. Feel free to explore the community, upload your video and connect through the forums." Upload a video explaining how you would change education by March 31, and you could win:

• a book bundle with personalized signed copies of Grown Up Digital and Wikinomics.
• $1,000 and a Private Don Tapscott Webinar to your School, Company or Organization.

Resource round-up: Education Recovery and Reinvestment

Learning Point Associates has a great site full of federal, state, and even district resources and current information regarding educational ARRA funding. For more updates, visit the following sites:

www.schooldata.com/mdr_economicstimulus.asp
www.recovery.org
www.ed.gov

Resource round-up: Reading and writing blogs

• The Unquiet Librarian. Thoughts on school library media and life as a high-school librarian.
• Two Writing Teachers. According to the mission page, "Two Writing Teachers is a place:
  

For teachers to be fueled with a passion for teaching, writing, and living.
For teachers to see the latest in research and ways to apply it in their classrooms.
For us to “practice what we preach” by sharing our own writing.
To bring writing teachers together to share ideas and stretch each other’s thinking.
To reflect on our teaching — celebrating when it goes well and working it out when it doesn’t."

• Carol Baldwin's Blog. A thoughtful blog from Maupin House author Carol Baldwin on writing, using technology in the classroom, and helping teachers teach both topics with ease. Carol also includes book reviews and other helpful tips.
  

Resource round-up: 21st-century learning

Technological literacy gains relevance daily. Here are a few tools to help you keep up with it all!

• Technology Counts 2009: Breaking Away From Tradition: E-Education Expands Opportunities for Raising Achievement. This free webinar hosted by edweek.org will examine online learning and its affect on student achievement. Register by clicking here.
  
• edWeb.net. Share notes and lessons, exchange files, and start collaborative groups with fellow teachers on this social networking site for educators.
• Measuring 21st-century Skills from eSchoolNews. Find the latest news on state tech-literacy standards and what the nation's first tech-literacy exam will look like.
• Digital Citizenship Education. Microsoft has developed a curriculum for teaching digital citizenship to students in grades 8-12. From plagiarism to intellectual property, the curriculum addresses major topics in several different subject areas, including civics, economics, language arts, technology, computer science, and fine arts--and is aligned with the American Association of School Librarians' (AASL) Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.

The rise in online instruction

According to Harvard Business School's Clayton Christensen and this article from eSchool News, half of all instruction will be online within the next 10 years! Maupin House would like to know your thoughts on this. Please contact us through our blog and tell us how you think this will affect schools, the quality of education, student learning, and accessibility.

A Blog Tour for Literacy

Share a Story - Shape a Future: A Blog Tour for Literacy. This blog event promoting literacy takes place March 9-13. Get the "tour" schedule and more info at The Reading Zone blog.

Resource round-up: Especially for ELL

• ESLgold.com is full of free lessons and resources for teachers of ESL and TOEFL/TOEIC, as well as adult English language learners. Materials are organized by skill--speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, business, pronunciation, TOEFL/TOEIC, and idioms--and you can select your language and skill level.
• VoiceThread is a great tool for English language learners who need more practice with speaking. According to VoiceThread's website, "A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or phone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam)." You can share VoiceThreads, embed them on websites, export them to MP3 players or DVDs--all without installing any software. Basic K-12 educator accounts are free, with paid upgrade options for more storage and features. One clever teacher uses VoiceThread with younger students who have trouble reading their own writing and are often stronger speakers than writers. You can see from her TeacherTube video how she used VoiceThread for helping students narrate stories, make reports, solve math story problems, and self-correct during reading.
• Check out Maupin House's "Especially for ELL" section, full of resources that work great with English language learners.
  

Resource round-up: Teachers Helping Teachers and virtual field trips

Looking to supplement your print materials with some free online resources? Check out Teachers Helping Teachers for lesson plans, suggested professional resources, and plenty of other tips on teaching and professional development.

Just because school budgets are tight doesn't mean you have to cut out field trips completely. Why not try a virtual field trip? Check out this Education Week article for some great, travel-free online field trips.

March is Small Press Month

According to SmallPressMonth.org:

Small Press Month is a nationwide celebration highlighting the valuable work produced by independent publishers. Held annually in March, Small Press Month raises awareness about the need for broader venues of literary expression. From March 1st-31st, independent, literary events will take place from coast-to-coast, showcasing some of the most diverse, exciting, and significant voices being published today.

As a small press, Maupin House would like to thank all of our loyal customers and encourage you to continue supporting independent presses and other valuable businesses.

Read Across America Day

Today is the twelfth annual Read Across America Day, which promotes literacy while celebrating the birthday of Dr. Seuss. The National Education Association (NEA), which sponsors the event, calls for every child to read in the company of a caring adult. For more on how you can celebrate reading today and everyday, visit the NEA's site.