California DEN

"A Year On Earth"

Sunday, Dec. 3

5pm ET

Discovery Kids Channel

Three teenagers…five continents…one mission: to take the pulse of the planet and report back to their generation.  Are they up to the task?

A Year on Earth chronicles the adventures of three American teens: Jamie Fiel, 18, Arsen Ewing, 17, and Tyler Robinson, 16, who have little in common except for a shared concern that time is running out for endangered species and ecosystems in decline. Nominated by their respective science teachers, the teens join Earthwatch research projects around the globe to discover how ordinary people can get involved. They study the most pressing environmental issues of our time, working alongside leading researchers who explore the ecological effects of global warming, the decline of coral reefs, the impact of deforestation, and more.

The three teens in the show chronicle their experiences through video and blogs as they visit:

Bahamas
Costa Rica
Brazil
Sri Lanka
Kenya
Thailand
Malaysia
Australia

If you are interested in involving your class in this environmental adventure, we’re looking for 8 classrooms to help us create a global map of the Year on Earth project.  Using unitedstreaming resources, Google Earth, and other research tools in your classroom, each classroom selected for this project will create a full “Country Study” of one of the countries featured on the show.   Each country study may include:

Google Earth Pin
Research information that includes the following facts:
·        Demographics

·        Primary Industry

·        Cultural review including links, major events,

·        Historical timeline of at least 5 major events in the countries history

Any other creative ideas that your class deems important

If you are interested in having your class participate, please send an email with the subject line of “Year on Earth” to betsy_whalen@discovery.com

Beginning Wednesday, October 4, 2006, the Discovery Educator Network will be launching a semi-monthly DEN Podcast hosted by Brad Fountain, Regional Manager Discovery Educator Network.  The podcast can be subscribed to via iTunes or can be downloaded from the DEN National Blog.  The initial podcast will focus on utilizing Character Education to enhance your school and will feature an interview with Dr. Merle Schwartz, Director of Education and Research for the Character Education Partnership.  This podcast will link directly to the Character Education Webinar that will be presented on Thursday, October 5^th at 4PM. The second podcast will air on October 18, 2006 and will focus on utilizing the Professional Development section of unitedstreaming for enhancing classroom instruction and will feature Lisa O’Brien, Professional Development Content Developer at Discovery Education.  At the end of each podcast there will be a question posed that can be answered by utilizing unitedstreaming, the DEN website, or possibly other Discovery Education products.  Each entry must be emailed to the host and all correct entries will be entered into a drawing for a special Discovery Education Prize.  So check out the NEW DEN PODCAST!!! 

Register now to participate in a webinar hosted by:
The Discovery Educator Network and
The Character Education Partnership

Connecting Service Learning to Meaningful Academics:

A Winning Combination

If you are looking for a way to “leave no child behind” while educating the whole child, consider service learning. This webinar will focus on how academic standards and learning can be enhanced with service learning techniques. The who, what, where, when, why, and how  will be explored with examples of implementation from real-life schools having won the Character Education Partnership’s National School of Character award.  Register now for this event - limited seats are available.

Date :  Thursday, October 5, 2006
Time:   4pm ET (3pmCT)

To register for the event:
1.  Go to:  discoveryed.webex.com
2.  On the left hand sidebar, under "Attend a Meeting", click on "Register"
3.  On the blue bar at the top of the page, click the right calendar arrow  over to "Thursday, October 5, 2006"
4.  Select " Connecting Service Learning to Meaningful Academics:  A Winning Combination" at 3pmCT and click Register   (NOTE:  the webex tool lists times in Central Time)
5.   Enter  your name and email, click "Register Now"
6.  Registration information and link for the webinar will be sent to your email in box.

I want your input on something…  First of all, how many of you are familiar with the Discovery show, "Dirty Jobs"?  What do you think of the host, Mike Rowe?   If you are a fan (yep, me too!) you might find it interesting to know that Mike lives RIGHT HERE in Northern California!!!  Given that Mike and I both work for Discovery, and we both live here in NorCal, don’t you think he should be a pal and come to one of our rockin’ DEN events?  I’d think he would enjoy a little Caribbean cooking at our upcoming "Jamaic-an-Take at the Culinary Institute of Monterey" at the end of August.  Some spice, some steel drums, some spicy-steel-Mike-Rowe-muscles…  sounds like a party to me!  Maybe if enough of us post a comment here Discovery will work some of its Jamaican mojo and make it happen!

Oh well, if he can’t join us, then we’ll just have to join him for a week of fun on the Discovery Channel.  Mike is this year’s host of Discovery’s Shark Week. We don’t mess around when it comes to our Shark Week!  Check out these pictures of the Discovery Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.       

Grab your SCUBA gear, a bucket of popcorn, and hit the couch because Discovery Channel’s SHARK WEEK returns for its 19th year on Sunday, July 30th at 9 PM (ET/PT.) We won’t need to do any channel surfing this week!

To celebrate the NEW unitedstreaming being released, the Discovery Educator Network is going to be hosting our very first 12 hour Streamathon! 

On Monday, June 5th, from 8:00am EST until 8:00pm EST we are going to be hosting a massive webinar that will be your opportunity to get the inside scoop on all the new features of unitedstreaming.  Every hour on the hour, we’ll spend 30 minutes reviewing all the changes that you’ll find in the new version.  Then, in the bottom half of the hour, you’ll have the opportunity to get an in depth look at one of the new areas of the site.  If you miss one, don’t worry.  Each presentation will be repeated three times throughout the day. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to get all of your questions answered.

You don’t need to pre-register for this webinar, just follow the link below and jump in anytime throughout the day!  Don’t forget to tell your friends and co-workers!

Webinar Info:

Teleconference: Call in tollfree phone number (US/Canada): 866-469-3239
Call in phone number (US/Canada): 650-429-3300

Click Join Now next to the listing on the calendar in the link below!

On Monday, June 5th, you can click here to join the Streamathon!

Schedule:
8:00-8:30am EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
8:30-9:00am EST Teacher Center
9:00-9:30am EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
9:30-10:00am EST unitedstreaming in Action / My Home Page
10:00-10:30am EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
10:30-11:00am EST My Content
11:00-11:30am EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
11:30-12:00pm EST Digital Media Integration
12:00-12:30pm EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
12:30-1:00pm EST Teacher Center
1:00-1:30pm EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
1:30-2:00pm EST unitedstreaming in Action  / My Home Page
2:00-2:30pm EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
2:30-3:00pm EST My Content
3:00-3:30pm EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
3:30-4:00pm EST Digital Media Integration
4:00-4:30pm EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
4:30-5:00pm EST Teacher Center
5:00-5:30pm EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
5:30-6:00pm EST unitedstreaming in Action  / My Home Page
6:00-6:30pm EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
6:30-7:00pm EST My Content
7:00-7:30pm EST Overview of NEW unitedstreaming
7:30-8:00pm EST Digital Media Integration

Besides an enhanced site design, the new unitedstreaming will include improved search functionality for more accurate results, faster.  A dynamic drill-down navigation menu will drive targeted search results. In addition, you will continue to have the ability to search by keyword, subject, grade or curriculum standard.

New Video Content

More than 1,000 new titles will be added over the course of the Summer and 2006, including: Foreign Language, Secondary Math, Science and Language Arts Current events videos.  High-quality videos from leading educational publishers will include: Discovery Channel, Channel 4, BBC, and Math Mastery.

New Media

The new unitedstreaming will appeal to different learning styles with our expansive audio library of sound effects, songs and animations, searchable by keyword.  Animated textbook diagrams will help add dimension and intrigue to key concepts.  A new library of primary images of shapes, colors and objects will appeal to elementary teachers. New images of historical events and cultural figures will also add value to the collection.

New Teacher Preferences

The new unitedstreaming will allow select content to be personalized to grade and subject.  Create a customized homepage to view weekly updates of new and most viewed videos.  Archive created assignments, quizzes and writing prompts in personal folders.

To learn more, go to http://www5.unitedstreaming.com/comingsoon/

As a Discovery Educator and leader in digital media, you are one of the first to learn about the new unitedstreaming.   Discovery Education unitedstreaming—the largest and most up-to-date library of video content and teacher resources—is getting even better. Coming early this summer, the new unitedstreaming will deliver new and enhanced features, as well as additional content titles and tools, through a redesigned, even easier-to-use website.

Why change it?

Because you asked and we listened. As educators become more savvy and innovative in using multimedia in their lessons, unitedstreaming continues to grow and support your efforts. We did extensive research and incorporated feedback from focus groups, surveys, school visits, usability testing and more, to ensure the new unitedstreaming is exactly what you need.

How will it affect me?

The new unitedstreaming will put the power of classroom multimedia in your hands by giving you more tools and more control. It will be customized to you and your preferences, saving you even more time and making you more effective. Additionally, the ever-expanding content library will ensure you can get the most relevant and up-to-date content to support all of your lessons and initiatives.

Stay tuned for more details on the new unitedstreaming.