Education World Lesson Planning Newsletter -- Volume 10, Issue 29

Dear Education Leaders, Welcome! This free weekly Lesson Planning newsletter features summaries of lesson plans recently published on Education World®, the largest free, independent resource on the Web for educators. If you enjoy this newsletter, please feel free to forward it to others. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you may sign up at http://www.educationworld.com/maillist.shtml. To unsubscribe, see instructions at the bottom of this newsletter. Education World remains a free resource thanks to the support of our advertisers -- so please click on ads of interest and visit our advertisers' sites. Thank you. ============================================================================ This week's newsletter is sponsored by Online Degree Directory. What do curriculum developers, education consultants and course developers have in common? Their skills are attainable 100% online. Explore their latest theories and practices – with an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction, Higher Education Affairs, Special Education or Leadership. Be all you can be – and help your students and faculty become all they can be. And discover more available programs with FREE Information from Online Universities - Online Degree Directory. http://www.educationworld.com/OnlineDegree2.shtml   =========================================================================== Volume 10, Issue 30 July 23, 2008 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics: Gold Medal Activities Citius, Altius, Fortius. Those are the Latin words for the Olympic motto, which, translated into modern terms, means "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." The best athletes from around the world will exemplify that creed as they compete in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. As the Games get underway, Education World offers you ten gold-medal lessons about the Summer Olympics. Included: Activities that involve students in creating time lines and graphs, writing biographies of famous Olympians, and much more. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson201.shtml Science Experiments Straight from the Web The Web is brimming with great science lesson ideas. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson177.shtml Kids Can W.R.I.T.E. (Write, Revise, Inform, Think, and Edit): Activities for Every Grade In July of 1965, Snoopy's first line as an author was, "It was a dark and stormy night." We can't all have his wonderful way with words -- written at least -- but we can work on it. How do you help your students overcome their fear of the blank page? How can you make writing an exercise in personal expression, not drudgery? One key to better writing is better writing assignments -- and the Internet has them. Let's tour a few of the finest writing activities that the Web has to offer. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson126.shtml More Timely Lesson Themes A World of Geography Lessons Volcanoes More Write Stuff Web Literacy: An Important Skill http://www.educationworld.com/soc_sci/geography/index.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson189.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson255.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson230.shtml   Lesson Plan of the Day Click the link above to see dozens of recent Lesson Plans of the Day, including the lessons below that were posted last week. Just four lessons last week, due to the Independence Day (U.S.) holiday. Spelling Takes a Hit - An "active" spelling active-ity! (Grades K-5) Pres. Jefferson's Cipher - Crack the Lewis & Clark code. (3-12) Tear-Me-Apart Blues - Activity illustrates how words can hurt. (PK–8) Kudos by Kiddos - Students award medals for children's books. (3-12) Earth at Night - Identify 10 cities on an "Earth at Night" map. (3-12) http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/dailylp.shtml   News for Kids See our archive of 100 news stories -- "ripped from the headlines" -- written with your students in mind. Each comes with a complete Teacher's Guide. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/newsforyou.shtml Learning Game of the Week Quiet and cooperative "Unanimouse" spelling review game. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/learninggame/learninggame006.shtml Friday Fun With cameras in hand, math word problems come to life. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/friday/friday034.shtml From the Math Machine Star Gazing is a fun Web site for teaching angle measurement. (Grades 2-6) http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/mathmachine/mathmachine010.shtml Tech Lesson of the Week Dangerous Animal Facts Students identify three facts about a dangerous animal, then record those facts on a printable graphic organizer. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techlp/techlp043.shtml Vicki Cobb's Show-Biz Science This cola taste test may surprise you. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/showbiz_science/showbiz_science020.shtml Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks Math Games With Joanne and Jane This week: "Slide Over" teaches subtracting 3-digit numbers. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/boxcars/boxcars029.shtml Writing Bug I have never been so angry as the time... http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/writing_bug/writingbug089.shtml Backpacktivity Family Collage Students explore the adjectives that describe their families. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/homework/pdfs/backpacktivity_016.pdf Reader's Theater A Field Trip to Remember When Allie and Scott accidentally take a wrong turn on a class field trip, they find themselves in a mysterious gallery where they learn some fascinating facts about presidents' pets. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/reading/ReadersTheater/ReadersTheater016.shtml Go Figure Car Shopping Which car should Melanie buy? Figure out how far each car has been driven. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/math/go_figure/go_figure008.shtml Math Mnemonics TThe Numerator Is Above the Denominator http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mnemonics/mnemonics013.shtml Hunt the Fact Monster Students learn Internet searching skills as they search the Fact Monster. Primary Hunts Ele-Middle Hunts http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/factmonster.shtml Every-Day Edits Primary Edits Edit info about animals from A to Z. Ele-Middle Edits New editing activities month by month. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/animalsAtoZ.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/edit.shtml 5-Minute Fillers Forty volumes of activities -- for turning transition times into into meaningful moments. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/fillers.shtml Best Books for Teaching About… Each week, Education World presents our Editors' Choices for the best books for teaching about popular classroom themes. Check out our choices and add your own recommendations to the Readers' Voices section of this week's themed booklists: Best Books for Teaching About... Friendship Whales http://www.educationworld.com/a_bestbooks/archives/students.shtml FROM OUR PRINTABLES LIBRARY Readers Theater Scripts Ready-to-read scripts provide hours of classroom fun. Teacher's Guide included. (Grades 3-6) http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/reading/index.shtml#theater Coloring Calendars Use these calendar templates to build student skills and for many other purposes. (Grades Pre-K-12) http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/calendar.shtml Work Sheets from Teacher Created Materials More than 250 work sheets organized by subject and grade level. http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/worksheets/TCM/index.shtml Where in the World Is Mrs. Waffenschmidt? Can you figure out where she is this week based on the clues she provides? (Grades 3-8) http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/waffenschmidt.shtml Just for This Month! See our July Month of Fun, July Word Search, and July Coloring Calendar. PLUS: Create-your-own work sheet templates.   Emma McDonald: The New Teacher Advisor Managing Student Talking It used to be that when students were in the classroom, silence reigned. That changed with the onset of collaborative learning and hands-on learning activities. So, how do you manage the talking in your classroom now without stifling creativity and learning? http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/mcdonald/mcdonald021.shtml Dr. Fred Jones: Tools for Teaching The Body Language of Commitment When kids go to school, they already have a Ph.D. in parent management, and all of those skills will transfer to the teacher. They will know what you are going to do before you do it, because you will tell them -- with your body language. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/jones/jones010.shtml Dr. Ken Shore: Classroom Problem Solver Cyberbullying Cyberbullying is a new and growing form of bullying that has emerged with the advent of technology. And it's a problem that schools must deal with. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/shore/shore078.shtml Cathy Puett Miller: The Reading Coach Conferencing With Young Writers: Time, Content, and Purpose Conferencing with young or inexperienced writers can be challenging. For them to become writers, it must become personal. How can we help students discover that writer within through our conferencing time with them? http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/miller/miller022.shtml Brenda Dyck's Blog The Year of the Laptop Be wary of our tendency to ascribe magical powers to the technological gizmos of our generation. Tools are just tools unless they are harnessed to effective teaching. Poor teaching with technology attached is still poor teaching. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/dyck/dyck009.shtml Larry Bell's Somebody Needs You! Simulated Test Days Are Key You never want to surprise at-promise kids when they have to take a standardized test. By planning simulated test days, you work out the kinks and kids know what to expect. When the actual test day comes around, they can relax and focus on the job at hand. http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/columnists/bell/bell004.shtml The Principal Poet Mr. Ivan, Education World's Principal Poet, presents this week's poem, "The BIG Test." When teacher said, "There'll be a test" My stomach did a flip. "The test will be tomorrow." My mind began to slip… http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/columnists/ivan/ivan028.shtml Cooking with Joy Two Quick Takes On Cake Cakes don't have to be saved for birthday parties or other milestone occasions. Nor do they have to be elaborate or expensive to bring their special touch to a meal. Joy Rotondi provides recipes for two quick, comfort-food cakes. http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/columnists/joy/joy008.shtml Wendy Petti's "Math Cats Math Chat" Even Teachers Make Mistakes Last year, when a student caught me in a careless math mistake, I laughed it off and said, "This is the first math mistake I've ever made!" From that point on, students took it as a friendly challenge to catch the math teacher making another math mistake. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/mathchat/mathchat011.shtml Featured Article Planning for Your First Day of School Online resources for a variety of back-to-school planning needs, including welcome letters, bulletin board ideas, and back-to-school activities. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr360.shtml Teacher Feature Family Game Night Marcia Baldanza's students game their way to greater understanding. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/teacher_feature/teacher_feature020.shtml Partners for Student Success Folders Help Families Join and Remain in the "Fold" Parents stay informed and in touch through folders from school. http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/partners/partners024.shtml School Issues Do Good Manners Contribute to Academic Success? Etiquette expert Linda Williams discusses what etiquette is, what educators can do to help students learn proper etiquette and good manners, and how practicing good manners can help children be successful in life. http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/chat/chat134.shtml Strategy of the Week Parent Involvement Research shows that children are more likely to succeed academically, and less likely to engage in violent behavior, if their families are involved in their education. In many schools, teachers are working hard to bridge the gap between school and home. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/strategy/strategy005.shtml Tips Library Classroom Management: Homework Help Behavior Management: Be Prepared Motivating Kids: Contests Count Book Report Makeover: Character Traits Homework Tips: Teams Best Idea: Closure Testing Tips: The Long and Short of It http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/management_tips/management_tips016.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/behaviortips/behaviortips016.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/motivation/motivation016.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/bookreport/bookreport016.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/homeworktips/homeworktips016.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/bestidea/bestidea016.shtml http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/testing/testing016.shtml   ========================================================================== Sign Up for Our FREE Newsletters Did you know that Education World has ten free newsletters for educators? You're sure to find one or two just right for you! It's easy to sign up (and just as easy to unsubscribe if you don't find valuable ideas each week). Click here for a list of newsletters. http://www.educationworld.com/maillist.shtml#profdev ==========================================================================   During June and July, Education World is reposting some of the best of our A+ reviews from the past school year. Our "summer break" offers a perfect opportunity to take a second look. We will return with all new reviews of essential sites for educators in early August. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation A Smithsonian site celebrating human ingenuity. http://www.educationworld.com/awards/2007/r1107-16.shtml Planning Kid2Kid Videoconference Projects Simple but effective: A booklet, from a Michigan district, on videoconferencing ideas. http://www.educationworld.com/awards/2007/r1107-12.shtml America at a Crossroads Great PBS site for some current current-events discussions. http://www.educationworld.com/awards/2007/r1107-09.shtml   This Week's Survey Question Should school officials have the right to regulate content on a teacher's personal Web page? http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/survey/survey131.shtml Last Week's Survey Results Do you think your students treat you with appropriate respect? http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/survey/survey145.shtml   Each week, Education World spotlights books of interest to educators. This week, read a brief summary of two more of our "top 50 books for educators." The Teacher's Calendar Chase's famous Calendar of Events -- that huge book journalists use to help them develop filler material for their newspapers by doing funny little stories on National Hog Calling Day -- has many spin-offs, and one is this extraordinarily useful annual calendar for teachers. If you simply used this calendar to assign a brief research report every day of the school year, which would give each student in a class of 30 six assignments during a 180 day school year, would make this book well worth its price. Enjoy! Click to learn more or to purchase this book. Rookie Teaching for Dummies Of course, we don't read the Dummies books because we really are dummies -- real dummies don't read at all! We read them for their irreverent and yet practical advice, and this example is no different. From the introduction, where the author stresses that he's not going to give you tear-jerking stories, education theory, or salsa recipes, through to the top-ten lists that conclude Dummies titles, this book is fun and also functional. Click to learn more or to purchase this book. Click the icon to the right to see more books and many other products that are available in the Education World MarketPlace. ========================================================================== The Best of LEARNING GAMES If you enjoy Education World's weekly LEARNING GAMES feature, you'll love this book! Education World and the National Education Association (NEA) have joined forces to create a handy, pocket-size booklet of more than 30 of our most popular learning games. PLUS an extra bonus -- ten more games for classroom fun! These classroom games span the grades and the major subject areas -- and inject a healthy dose of fun into the serious business of teaching and learning. Looking to fill the end of a hectic day with something fun and educational? Looking for a great reward for students that will make valuable use of free time? Looking to reinforce basic skills with a fun activity? These games will fill the bill! Included in this 80-page booklet you'll find these games and more: Math Facts Race (Math, grades K-8) You Can Count on Spelling (Math and Language Arts, grades K-12) Find It... Fast! (All Subjects, grades K-12) Concentration Review Game (All Subjects, grades K-12) The Dictionary Game (Language Arts, grades 3-8) Play Ball: A Major League Review Game (All Subjects, grades K-12) Friendly Feud (All Subjects, grades K-12) Plus 35 more games! The Best of LEARNING GAMES is part of the Teacher Treasure Series, an NEA Professional Library Publication. http://store.nea.org/NEABookstore/control/productdetails?item_id=0696800 ========================================================================== Education World now incorporates www.SchoolNotes.com ~ "everybody on the same page!" The leading school-to-home communications platform, with FREE pages for teachers and automatic notification of parents and students when new homework is posted! For a modest $24.95 PER YEAR, upgrade to Personal Edition, "Super SchoolNotes," with thousands of resources linked to your state's standards. Click here for more information. ========================================================================== MORE FEATURES OF INTEREST! Reader's Theater More than two dozen scripts, perfect for the classroom. Best Books for Teaching About… Booklists for 30 popular teaching themes. Sign Up for Our Newsletters Ten free newsletters full of practical ideas. Special Education Center Tools for the special education community. TGIF Kick back and start your weekend off on a light note. Education World Techtorials Our tutorials take the terror out of technology. The Template Library A wide variety of templates to meet educators' needs. Wire Side Chats Each week, Education World chats with an expert in the field. Printables Library You're sure to find great resources here. Hundreds of printables! Meet Our Columnists Meet our team of columnists from many corners of the "education world." Teaching Themes for Early Childhood Sue LaBella offers teaching ideas for popular EC themes. Stress Relief Kit Take a deep breath. Then take a look here for great reading. Classroom Management 101 Real teachers share what they are doing to manage real classrooms. News for Kids News of our world written with kids in mind. Teacher's Guide included. ========================================================================== SIGN UP FOR OUR OTHER NEWSLETTERS We hope you enjoy receiving this Education World e-newsletter. Did you know that Education World offers eight other FREE weekly newsletters? Have you signed up to receive the... Education World EDUCATION NEWS HEADLINES NEWSLETTER? In this newsletter you will find brief summaries and links to about ten education news articles published in the previous week. Some articles highlight education issues of national and international importance; others share interesting local stories about schools and their students. Would you like to see a sample of the Education News Headlines Newsletter? 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If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you may sign up for it -- and any of the other Education World newsletters -- at http://www.educationworld.com/maillist.shtml. ========================================================================== Education World® http://www.educationworld.com/ newsletter-lessons@educationworld.com Education World 1062 Barnes Road Suite 205 Wallingford, CT 06492 ==========================================================================