From the Desk of Kay Ezzell Technology Resource Specialist at Resource Materials & Technology Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Resource
Materials & Technology Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing /FDLRS
207 North San Marco Avenue
St. Augustine, Florida 32084
1-800-356-6731
Bob Stern
Kay Ezzell
Shelley Popson Ardis
Carmelina
Hollingsworth
http://www.firn.edu/doe/commhome/pub-home.htm
The following are two handbooks developed by the Florida Department of Education.
They can be downloaded as pdf files from the above web site. Go down the list
to 'Diverse Classroom'.
Selecting Media for the Diverse
"This guide is designed to help teachers select the best instructional
materials available to support student learning." Media includes print-based
media, web-based media, software, and audio-visual media.
Designing Lessons for the Diverse Classroom Classroom
"The purpose of this handbook is to provide teachers with a tool to improve
instruction through effective lesson planning. It provides a process for lesson
planning that helps teachers align all instructional components leading students
to achieve district goals and sunshine State Standards."If you would prefer
a hard copy of the handbooks, contact:
Clearinghouse Information Center
Bureau of Instructional of Instructional Support and Community Services
Division of Public Schools and Community Education
Department of Education
Room 628, Turlington Building
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0400
Phone: 850-488-1879
FAX: 850-487-2679
Suncom: 278-1879
E-mail: cicbiscs@mail.doe.state.fl.us
Bruce Larkin, the published author of over two hundred early children’s
books including the extremely popular Larkin’s Little Readers Series,
would like to promote literacy and book ownership throughout the school year.
Bruce Larkin has generously agreed to donate sets of twenty-five free books
to every Kindergarten and First Grade classroom in the United States. Children
in that classroom can then be given a book that he or she can call their own. Book
ownership and books in the home are good indicators of future success in school. Bruce
Larkin believes all children and their siblings should enjoy the advantage of
having books in their homes.
The sets consist of at least three different titles to allow for a range of
reading levels. The titles available to the children in your classroom
will change four times per year so that each child can receive four different
titles during the school year. [There is a $12 charge for shipping and handling.]
Last week I told about the NASA Connect program. That information follows. I contacted them about whether their videos are captioned. Their answer: YES! So take advantage of this great program!
NASA CONNECT - http://connect.larc.nasa.gov/
NASA CONNECT is an annual series of FREE integrated mathematics, science, and technology instructional distance learning programs for students in grades 6-8. Each program has three components: (1) a 30-minute television broadcast, which can be viewed live or taped for later use; (2) an interactive web activity which provides educators an opportunity to use technology in the classroom setting; and (3) a lesson guide describing a hands-on activity. These three components are designed as an integrated instructional package. NASA CONNECT is FREE to educators. Registered educators will receive, via E-mail, the date of upcoming shows, a show summary, and a PDF version of the lesson guide.
Web English Teacher
- http://www.webenglishteacher.com/
Web English Teacher presents the best of K-12 English/Language Arts teaching
resources: lesson plans, WebQuests, videos, biography, e-texts, criticism,
jokes, puzzles, and classroom activities.
The Periodic
Table of Comic Books - http://www.uky.edu/Projects/Chemcomics/
The Periodic Table of Comic Books is a working periodic table that uses
comic book characters to draw students into learning about the elements. The
site is the work of two chemistry professors at the University of Kentucky.
Buddy 2: The Next Generation
of Teaching and Learning -
http://www.buddyproject.org/
The Buddy Project is Indiana-based, but teachers and administrators
everywhere will find plenty of ideas on how to create a link between
teachers, parents, school and home. Great resources here!
Lesson
Plans & Resources for Social Studies Teachers -
http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/index.html
Social studies, history, and humanities teachers will find lesson
plans, research materials, and well-organized strategies, online
activities, and current events.
Zoom School
- http://www.enchantedlearning.com/school/
Zoom School's online school has a lot of wonderful information, printouts,
and quizzes for geography / social studies, science / biology, and language
arts. Subjects include dinosaurs, rainforests, biomes, butterflies, oceans,
sharks, whales, astronomy, animals, birds, explorers, inventors, crafts,
rhymes, coloring pages, and even activities for pre-readers and early
readers.
Puzzlemaker - http://www.puzzlemaker.com/
Discovery School's Puzzlemaker generates word searches, crosswords and mazes
that use words you want to reinforce in your classroom. The result is a
professionally created and printed puzzle that can be duplicated for an
entire classroom. Puzzlemaker also offers a menu of additional puzzles to
create, including cryptograms, math squares, mazes, and hidden message word
searches.
Project Atmosphere
Australia Online - http://www.schools.ash.org.au/paa1/
Project Atmosphere Australia Online is a teacher-developed, online project
for school communities in Australia and around the world. It is based around
a collaborative Web site and six email discussion lists. The e-mail lists
support the communication of teachers, students, academics and
meteorologists from different parts of the world.
Abcteach.com - http://www.abcteach.com/
Sandy Kemsley's abcteach.com offers many theme related materials for
elementary school teachers and children. Teachers looking for Theme Units
will find what they need here as well as reading, writing, math, research,
book reports, coloring pages, and more.
TeacherFirst
Web Content Matrix - http://www.teachersfirst.com/matrix.htm
TeachersFirst lists links to sites and lessons for Elementary, Middle
School, and High School teachers and provides these lessons in subject areas
that include Art, Astronomy and Space, Biology, Chemistry, Current Events,
Drama and Theatre, Earth Science, Economics, Foreign Languages, Health,
Interdisciplinary, Library Resources, Literature and Reading, Mathematics,
Mind Stretchers, Music, Physical Education, Physics, General Science,
Special Education, U. S. History, U. S. Government, World Cultures and
Geography, and Writing.
Baseball -
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/
This PBS site is a rich examination of our national pastime and how the game
of baseball reflects the changes in America over the past 150 years. It
provides baseball resources and a set of well-developed teacher lesson plans
that enable teachers to provide investigate, authentic activities for
teachers. A timeline, a baseball quiz, and sections about baseball for
beginners and players round out the site.
Ozline - http://www.ozline.com/
Ozline.com is a site that provides useful strategies and software for
effectively integrating technology, particularly the World Wide Web into
instruction. Use this site as a resource for effective technology
integration, particularly if interested in designing and using WebQuests.
The WebQuests & More section of the site provides users with one location
to
find all the resources they need to implement WebQuests. Locate several
applicable and useful articles from the "Articles and Writings" section
of
the site. Use the 'Web-and-Flow Interactive section of the site that guides
you step-by-step in making your own web-based activities. This section is
free for 30 days. Then there is a $25 for a year subscription.
National
Geographic Education Guide -
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/education/
The National Geographic Education Guide is a wide-ranging resource for any
educator who teaches some aspect of social studies, geography or science.
The site has a well-designed search interface that enables teachers to
located resources by subject area, resource type or grade. The site contains
sections on maps and geography, online adventures, lesson plans, a teacher
community, and a teacher store.
Thinkport - http://www.thinkport.org/default.tp
Maryland Public Television and the Johns Hopkins University Center for
Technology in Education produce Thinkport. The site contains resources
targeted at classroom lessons, careers and professional development,
technology, and family and community. Thinkport offers lots of resources
targeted at using technology effectively. Be sure to explore the "Think
Classroom" section of the site that includes three online tools: "Student
Activity Builder," "Lesson Builder," and "Project Builder."
Be sure to look
at the articles such as "Managing the Digital Classroom" found in
the "Think
Career" portion of the site. Finish your trip to the site by carefully
exploring the tools and resources (too numerous to list here) of the "Think
Technology" site component.
Teacher's Domain -
http://www.teachersdomain.org/
Teacher's Domain is a multimedia library for K-12 life science teachers.
Resources present at the site include various documents, videos, interactive
resources, animations, images and audio files correlated with national
science education standards. Visitors can collect resources and create
folders to store them for easy access. [Note: The videos are captioned! Be
sure to click 'Captions ON'.]
The
Learning Page - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/index.html
The Learning Page is a portal for the collections of the American Memory
project from The Library of Congress. The collection represents over 7
million resources, which have been used to create lessons and activities.
Also present at the site are sections about "Collection Connections,"
a
"Community Center" and professional development. The site also offers
"The
Source" which is a newsletter about practical techniques for using American
Memory resources. Finish your trip to the site by exploring the transcripts
of the chats about interesting topics relating to social studies or
participating in one.
Ms. Platt's
7th Grade Language Arts Class - http://mlplatt.homestead.com/index.html
Maryann Platt teaches seventh grade English at Ashland Middle School in
Ashland, MA. Ms. Platt has created an interactive web site where her
students can check for homework assignments, take on-line quizzes, complete
WebQuests, and explore information beyond the classroom. Students use this
site for on-line tests and quizzes, which include units on the novels read
in class and weekly vocabulary tests. Platt also finds that the site is a
great way to communicate with parents and students outside the school day
through e-mailed questions about homework and projects. She notes, "This
site has saved me hours of correcting and explaining directions over and
over again!" Visiting teachers will want to spend some time reviewing the
literature-based activities for both 7th and 8th grade English courses.
Available units include Diary of Anne Frank, Twelfth Night, The Outsiders,
and more.
BrainConnection -
http://www.brainconnection.com/
Brain Connection is a comprehensive web site that provides useful
information about the brain and learning. The site is well organized and
provides numerous sections such as "Education Connection," "Brain
Teasers,""Library," and "Professional Development."
The site also provides a
set of useful animations, an outstanding graphics gallery, robust learning
resources, and an interesting set of brain facts.
Federal Resources for Educational
Excellence - http://www.ed.gov/free/
FREE is an acronym for the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Resources
for Educational Excellence. The site is comprised of 50 federal agencies
that supply free materials for educators. Resources at the site include
lesson plans, activities, data, primary sources information, photos, and
maps on a variety of subject areas.
Water Science
for Schools - http://wwwga.usgs.gov/edu/index.html
This site, produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), provides any
educator that teaches about water resources with a one-stop location for all
things water. Information ranging from water basics to a water picture
gallery to an activity center is found on the site. This site is part of the
USGS Learning Web, which can be accessed from this site from a link at the
bottom of the page.
Florida Symposium on Early Childhood Loss
October 2-4, 2003
World Golf Village, St. Augustine, FL
For information, contact Audrey Largent
or Gail Strassel
http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/outreach
1-800-356-6729
Florida Educators of the Hearing Impaired (FEHI)
November 7-8, 2003
Altamonte Hilton, Altamonte Springs (Orlando)
http://www.fsdb.k12.fl.us/rmc/fehi/index.html
Florida Educational Technology Conference 2004 (FETC):
Orlando - January 22-24, 2004 in the new section the Orange County
Convention Center. For more information, go to http://www.fetc.org/.
Page last modified
September 12, 2005
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