Volume 5, No. 5
30 September, 2005
[To view this newsletter on line:
http://www.emck.net/eline/05_09_30.htm]
|
"Why did I receive this?"
This newsletter is sent to all attendees of
the Kentucky Summer Teacher Academies (and other educators) as a free service of
 |
|
 The E-Line welcomes... the attendees
of the following Kentucky Summer Academies:
- A2: Achieving Algebra Proficiency for
Exceptional Students (GRREC)
- Reading, Writing and Technology Across the
Curriculum (Jackson County)
- Algebraic Thinking in the Middle Grades (WKU)
- Arts Academies (Kentucky Center for the Arts)
- Be Active, Be Fit for Life (EKU)
- Challenging the Limits: A Special Reading Academy (UK)
- Civic Literacy 101 (Carnegie Center)
- A Comparative, Field-Based, Experiential,
Cooperative and Collaborative Approach to Learning about the
Environment in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland (Murray State)
- Effective Middle School Leadership (Jefferson
County)
- (ARSI)
- Elementary Mathematics Teacher Academy (OVEC)
- Elementary Science Teacher Academy: Changes in the
Earth and Sky (U of L)
- Exploring Energy Transformations Through Inquiry (UK)
- Exploring Mammals (ARSI)
- Geometry for Elementary Teachers: Teaching Hands-On (ARSI)
- High School Literacy Collaboration: Closing the
Achievement Gap (Jefferson County)
- Infusing Science, Literacy, and Technology into
Math (Logan County)
- Living Well Through Nutrition and Regular Physical
Activity (NKU)
- Making Sense of Fractions; Making Sense of
Genetics: From Mendel to Molecules; Making Sense of Numbers and
Measurement (ARSI)
- Math and Science: Together at Last (Logan County)
- Mathematics and Science Connections to Forest
Ecosystems (Campbellsville University)
- Physical Science: Motion & Forces (UK)
- Tap into Fitness (Jefferson County)
- TEC-i: Teachers Engaging, Connecting, Inquiring (GRREC)
- What Lies Beneath: The Waters of Our World (Newport
Aquarium)
|
Who/What is The E-Line?
Welcome, KDE Summer Academy attendees! We hope some information might help
you new members
get to know us a
bit (and help old members get reacquainted). Our list enrollment is now over 2,200
Kentucky teachers!
The E-Line is a newsletter of Internet resources
- lesson plans, information sites, grants, and other instructional support
resources. The format generally alternates between a general list by subject (this one is an example), and themed editions focusing on one subject, resource, or
idea. Technology and grant resources are often included, where appropriate.
- Who produces The E-Line?
It's produced by Jeffrey
L. Jones, a 17-year
veteran of the classroom, and a certified technology resource teacher
in Fayette County Public Schools, Lexington,
KY. It is a free service to Kentucky educators from the
non-profit
Educational Media and Consulting of Kentucky.
- What is the relationship between
The E-Line and the Kentucky Department
of Education? We began in 2002 as The
Help Desk, a part of
The Partnership for Kentucky Schools'
support of KDE's middle school math and science Summer Academies.
Since then, there have been many changes. Funding from The Partnership ended in
May, 2004, and the newsletter continued as The
E-Line, under the EMCK
banner.
The Office of Academic and Professional Development (OAPD) continues to
supply teacher email addresses each fall from the summer Academy
roles, for inclusion in The E-Line's
mailing lists (thanks to Leslee Hellmann of OAPD). There is no
other formal relationship.
- How do the editors select the newsletter's content? The old
fashioned way - by research! We get a few recommendations
from teachers, but most resources are gleaned from discussion forums such as
EDTECH and
LM_NET, newsletters such as
MiddleWeb's Of
Particular Interest and
Edutopia, links provided by other websites, and open Internet
searches. To be included, a web resource must be free and reasonably devoid of
advertising, and be useful to teachers.
- Do I have to receive this newsletter? Of course not!
If you decide you don't want to receive it, just "Reply" and so indicate.
For more information, visit The E-Line's
Information Page.
|
|
Online Resources |
 The
E-Line Archives
http://www.emck.net/eline/ In this location we'll
include sites with access to general lesson plan resources and
materials. For this edition, with so many new recipients, we thought
it'd be good to mention that every one of our newsletters has been
preserved, in its original format, online. We try to regularly sweep
through and check the links, and remove the dead ones. However,
educators are, if nothing else, a tenacious bunch - the eight sites
reviewed in our very first edition, on
May 10, 2002, are
all still hot! Be sure to look at our
by-date listings for
a stroll through our history. For better search and listing capabilities,
including grade/subject, see our search
page. |
| Content Area
Resources |
| The
Arts (SS and Writing too!) |
 The
Reel School's Kentucky PSA 2006
http://www.reelschool.net/
 Just a reminder....the
Kentucky PSA 2006 Video Contest is underway! Deadline for
submission of videos is December 1st, so get those projects started!
The Reel School welcomes partner i-SAFE to the contest for this
year, as well as KDE's Office of the
School Technology Leadership
Program.
|
| Mathematics
|
 NUMB3RS
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/ti/
Capitalizing on the popular CBS TV show, TI has collaborated with the
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the show's
researchers, to provide meaningful content and activities tied to each
NUMB3RS
episode. The registration and basic materials (including a poster) are
free, and the activity worksheets are posted as downloads on the site
(the first two episode activities are there now). |
| Reading |
 The
Reading Lady
http://www.readinglady.com/
This site seems to be dormant, so don't look for changes soon (the last
press release was a web update a year ago). However, there is quite a
collection of downloadable documents under its "downloadables" menu item
- rubrics, lesson plans, printable worksheets - on a variety of
subjects, but mostly elementary school reading. The downloads have been
gleaned from a number of sites, and are generally offered in both PDF
and Microsoft Word format. |
| Science |
 Cells
Alive
http://www.cellsalive.com/
There is a library of flash animations and real cell
video footage on this site, for use directly in your classroom, plus
interactive content. The site also provides information on how images
and videos are produced and enhanced. The product of Jim Sullivan and
Quill Graphics, the site is a come-on for the for-sale CD or purchased
downloads, so some of the content is listed but not available for free.
But there is still a lot there that is! |
| Social
Studies |
 The
Center for Civic Education
http://www.civiced.org
The Center is non-profit, based in California and Washington D.C.,
and dedicated to the principals of civic education. It underwrites
several initiatives, does consulting, and provides professional
development experiences on-site. There are some free resources
available from their "For Teachers" link, and others under
curricular materials. Of most interest to us are the U.S. Department
of Education and Pew Charitable Trust-funded
National Standards for
Civics and Government, developed for three grade clusters.
|
|
Writing |
Let's Write a Newspaper Story!
http://www.jhuapl.edu/education/elementary/newspapercourse/
This excellent, fully and freely available for
download site has all the materials you'll need to do an
elementary-level unit on writing a newspaper story. It's offered by
the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory! (If we had
to guess, I'd say someone there has a child in elementary school!) |
|
|
Software Resources |
 Storyboard
Pro
http://www.atomiclearning.com/storyboardpro
This clever piece of free software from
Atomic Learning (see our
general review in our
July 23, 2003 edition) helps any storyteller organize and arrange
his/her intended video project into a useful and systematic format. It
allows for entry of a variety of potential content (live video, still
pictures, music, etc.), allows for logical grouping, provides for notes
on shot angles and other production details, and provides full printing
ability in useful formats for production fieldwork or presentation
display. It is free for download in two Mac OS's and Windows.
[Suggested by Kim Overstreet] |
|
Grant Resources |
 Future
Ready
http://www.futureready.org/ Dell, in
partnership with Microsoft and Intel, offer this cluster of three
"contests," the prizes for which are computer hardware. One is actually a sweepstakes,
with a prize of a mobile multimedia lab, retail value: $75,000. Another is a "vote total"
contest - the school with the most people accessing and voting on the
site wins (small mobile lab, retail value: $10,000). The largest (retail value: $250,000) is closer to a
grant, with a required essay on a school's vision of IT in education. [suggested by Elaine
Harrison] |
|
|
