Ms. De Santis’ Blog

How does your distance from the equator impact the daily temperature and photoperiod?  How would your students like would to investigate this question by joining an international Internet based multidisciplinary project?  Register for The Sun Times here.  The free project is geared to students in grades 6-12 but all are welcome.  It runs from today until December 4.   My students participated in this project several times and benefited from working with real data with other classrooms.

Or a math or history course?

She would go to HippoCampus (hippopotamus translates to “river horse” in Greek).  Sponsored by the Monterey Institute for Technology,  HippoCampus  (which is correlated by textbook and topics) provides a variety of multimedia opportunities for math, science, and US History. 

Here are a few samples of what you will find as you explore this free site:

•    Roll you mouse over this image to get details about a Puritan church
•    Check out the inside of the atom
•     Take a turn at the water cycle

Special thanks to Ed Aguiles for sharing this resource.  While it is geared to the high school student, many of the resources would be successful at lower grade levels.

Want to be more computer savvy? Are you tired of needing a translator when your tech person speaks? Don’t have time for a 15 hour training class? Here is a truly effortless approach- 180 Technology Tips.  Every day you a new tip (tips cover a wide variety of hardware/software issues). 

I’ve been receiving them since September and can attest to their slogan- it really takes less than 5 minutes and it is painless.  This site will not prepare you to start running a helpdesk from your classroom, yet it does contain useful tips that may make your technical life a little easier.

This “how to” writing site is named after the wisdom of Mark Twain. Lighting Bug is full of techniques to start a story, writing tools, and educator resources.   There is even a guide to help students find out what type of writer they are!