Volume 3, No. 1                                 8 August, 2003 [To view this newsletter on line: http://www.emck.net/eline/03_08_08.htm.]

"Why did I receive this?" This newsletter is sent to all past attendees of the Summer Teacher Academies, as a free service of the  Partnership for  Kentucky Schools.

Welcome to Volume 3 of The Partnership Help Desk! We're sporting a new face! Although we will still focus primarily on the needs of middle school teachers, many of our resources will be useful to other teachers as well.

Welcome, attendees of this summer's Academies! No, this isn't spam! For more information about who and what The Partnership Help Desk is, see our information page. 

It's almost time!

This issue departs from our usual format, as we help you prepare for your new school year. We've included first-day get-to-know-your-class exercises, and other things that might help you and your students get comfortable with each other. Have a great year!

General Resources	LessonPlanz http://lessonplanz.com/ Some of the contents of this issue were sampled from LessonPlanz's large collection of resource links. There are a few materials hosted on the site, but most resources there are links to other sites, with a self-rating system for evaluation. The site is the product of kindergarten teacher Amanda Post, and hence it's slanted a bit towards elementary school stuff. Ms. Post also maintains AtoZ Teacher Stuff (it appeared in The Help Desk Vol. 2, #1), which charges for some of its teacher supplies and resources. The site is further funded through pop-under ads, so you'll have to click on some x's!
Icebreakers	Education World's Icebreakers http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson317.shtml There's no shortage here! Education World (a frequent featured resource of The Partnership Help Desk) has no less than 9 volumes of icebreaker activities! Most are for elementary classes, but there are several aimed at higher grades. Check out the following: Slice the Survey Pie (Vol. 9- linked above) - a cross-curricular exercise from  Florida secondary school social studies teacher Nicole Honour Birthday Timeline (Vol. 8) - students get to move on this one, from Wisconsin middle school teacher Michael M. Yell Animal Groups (Vol. 5) - this one will be wild! From  North Carolina middle school teacher Donna Morgan
Getting to know your students (and their parents)	Janet's First Day for Middle School http://www.cbv.ns.ca/sstudies/activities/1rstday/9.html This idea is a good one - although the write-up could have been better! It will get students to open up about themselves. It could be made even more powerful if used in conjunction with a biographical exercise (see The Help Desk Vol. 2, #1 for examples). Supplied by Nova Scotia social studies teacher Kevin Kearney on his school district Web space.
	AskERIC ideas http://askeric.org/ [editor's note: access to the ERIC database is now maintained by the Information Institute of Syracuse at http://www.eduref.org/] AskERIC is the public web presence of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), the database of educational research publications. Amongst the other services it provides, there is a database of lesson plans. Here are a couple with a "get to know your students" theme. Truth and Lies Game - students record one truth and two lies about themselves, and the class tries to separate one from the others! [editor's note: updated 7/7/04] Cultural Awareness/Sharing Traditions - here's one aimed specifically at revealing differences in family traditions and other multicultural interests. [editor's note: updated 7/7/04]
	75 Ideas to Build Parent Involvement and Support http://www.parent-institute.com/educator/resources/75ideas/75-ideas.php Here's a simple list of things you can do to improve parental involvement, interest, and support. The Parent Institute is a service of NIS, Incorporated, which sells many of its services to teachers and parents, but provides a lot of things free on its website. Some samples from the list: Hold your first parent meeting at a fast-food restaurant Use videotape to show busy parents their children in action Send home tape recorded messages in parents' own language Conduct school surveys to reveal family attitudes about your school. Encourage "Sunshine Calls," "Thinking of You" Calls. Understand the fact that teachers are more reluctant to contact parents than parents are to contact teachers. Work to overcome the problem.
Supporting the classroom	Middle Matters OnLine - Teaming http://www.middlemattersonline.org/index4.html Middle Matters is the new online e-zine of the National Middle School Association. Volume 2 focuses on the middle school team - the characteristics and activities of a successful team.
	Discipline - a conversation on the MiddleWeb LISTSERV http://www.middleweb.com/MWLISTCONT/MSLdiscipline.html This is an unusual resource - a conversation on the MiddleWeb's email discussion list about classroom discipline! MiddleWeb manager John Norton, along with list editor Brenda Dyck, have provided this log of their LISTSERV, embedded in which are a wide range of suggestions and advice from teachers to teachers! MiddleWeb also provides this list of discipline and classroom management resources.