According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, schools must move beyond a focus on basic competency in core subjects to promoting understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects. One of these themes is health literacy, which involves obtaining, interpreting and understanding basic health information and services, and using such information and services in ways that are health enhancing.

The sites linked below offer opportunities for integrating health literacy into your students’ daily activities. 

Visitors to the Web site can also enter the Healthy Playground Makeover Sweepstakes awarding more than $100,000 in prizes. The sweepstakes ends on December 1, 2010.

No Weigh!
Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight isn’t just about a “diet” or “program.” It’s part of an ongoing lifestyle that students can adopt now and stay with for years to come. A healthy lifestyle involves many choices—among them, choosing a balanced diet or eating plan. So how can students choose a healthful eating plan? Check out the Healthy Weight site sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Weighty Matters
The National Eating Disorders Association’s Parent and Educators Toolkits have information on a variety of issues surrounding eating disorders that are invaluable for parents and educators. Download the toolkits in book-form free of charge. The information and resources are accessible in English and Spanish.

NEDA’s Coach & Athletic Trainer Toolkit is a new resource for staff who work in gyms, school settings, outside athletic groups, dance studios and others who would like to know how to support athletes who may be affected by eating disorders. The toolkit includes frequently asked questions and common myths about eating disorders, strategies for assisting athletes and much more. Click on the Coach & Athletic Trainer Toolkit icon to download this resource for free.

DEstreaming, of course!   September is National Sewing Month.  Although a skill and hobby that has come and gone for some, as a Family & Consumer Science teacher, I’ve seen a growing  upward trend in the number of students who want to know how to sew. In a cultural diverse district such as I teach in, there are many children who not only know how to sew by the time they reach middle school, but who are interested in future careers where sewing  and design are a necessary skill.

The resources on DEstreaming help my students understand  the importance of sewing in our countries early history, how the sewing machine was  and important invention of the industrial revolution and careers that use the machine and skills that revolve around sewing and textiles. From events and articles , to videos, images and even a sound file; DEstreaming has sewing covered.

 And what about protecting that new kindle or iPad? Click here to see a video and get directions  on  how to create a  cover  for those new tech tools.

Thanks to RJ Stangherlin, PA Leadership Council and DEN Star Educator, you can read a summary of the Discovery webinar held last night featuring Dr. Larry Rosen.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/2dxn2sq .

An archived recording of the webinar will be available soon on the DEN National Blog.

Dear Educators:

We are happy to present you with the opportunity to participate in two free programs, each designed to help make reading or math more fun with incentives,
care of Power to Learn and the NY Knicks and Rangers!

The 2010-2011 Knicks Read to Achieve @powertolearn.com Program,
for 3rd and 4th grade students, rewards your students’ reading efforts with Knicks and Power to Learn prizes like pens, folders and more.

For more information and to apply for participation, please visit www.powertolearn.com/reading_lounge/knicks_read_to_achieve/index.shtml.
The 2010-2011 NY Rangers Math MVPs @powertolearn.com Program,
for 5th and 6th grade students, provides 3 curriculum units that explore math concepts through hockey.  Incentive items include rulers, folders and more.

For more information about this program and to apply for participation, please visit www.powertolearn.com/rangers_math_MVP%27s/math_program/index.shtml.

Deadlines to apply and be considered for participation are as follows:

Knicks Read to Achieve @powertolearn.com:  October 1, 2010.
Two program orientations will be held at Madison Square Garden; Wednesday, October 13th and Tuesday, October 19th; those who attend the orientations will receive 2 tickets to that evening’s Knicks pre-season game!

NY Rangers Math MVPs:  September 30, 2010.
Classes that apply and are chosen to participate before September 16, 2010 will be eligible to attend one of 2 orientations which will be held at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, September 23 and Wednesday, September 29; those who attend the orientations will receive 2 tickets to that evening’s Rangers pre-season home game. Classes that apply and are chosen after the MSG orientations can participate in a phone orientation before the start of the program on October 19.

For further details about this year’s programs, you may choose the “Learn More” option at the above links.

Thank you and we hope to see yours among the classes participating in the coming school year!

Cordially,

Power to Learn

Discovery provides teachers, students and parents and the entire school community with all kinds of tools for a successful school year. From clip art  and homework help, to eating healthy and being safe; Discovery’s  Classroom Resources and Homework help make going back to school fun! Check out these free resources at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/index.html.

”Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com”
Cross posted from NY LC Blog

What do you think?  Visit this site to review the plan.  Lot’s of comments here as well.

Excerpt from the executive summary – “Just as technology is at the core of virtually every aspect of our daily lives and work, we must leverage it to provide engaging and powerful learning experiences, content, and resources and assessments that measure student achievement in more complete, authentic, and meaningful ways. Technology-based learning and assessment systems will be pivotal in improving student learning and generating data that can be used to continuously improve the education system at all levels. Technology will help us execute collaborative teaching strategies combined with professional learning that better prepare and enhance educators’ competencies and expertise over the course of their careers. To shorten our learning curve, we can learn from other kinds of enterprises that have used technology to improve outcomes while increasing productivity”

    From the exploration of weather tools to Clifford story book activities, Scholastic’s website of interactive white board acitivies has many lessons for your to use with your SMART board. Click here to visit  and get started with these fun activities!

 Website – http://teacher.scholastic.com/whiteboards/learninggames.htm

21st Century Theme – Global Awareness

Connecting Across Borders
The Teach Connect project is a global effort to pair teachers who have collaborative project ideas. Any member can create a group focused on a specific kind of interaction or can follow projects launched by teachers from a particular geographic area. See whether any of the proposed projects align with your curriculum, or create your own project and invite other educators to join in.

Bringing the World into Your Classroom
iEARN—the International Education and Resource Network—is currently the largest nonprofit organization pairing students and teachers across continents. It is built around a Collaboration Center that includes dozens of ongoing projects and offers professional development for teachers new to digital collaboration.

Communicating and Collaborating Globally
As described on its Web site, ePals is a “global community of collaborative learners, teachers and academic experts in 200 countries and territories.” It provides students, particularly those in elementary and middle school classrooms, safe connections to classes around the world.

Vital NY Teachers Domain  is a repository of public television resources. The resources include videos, audio, images, Flash interactives, documents, lesson plans and more.  The resources are aligned to the NY State Learning Standards and Core Curriculum.  You can organize the content within ”My Folders” and “My Groups”  and easily share with colleagues.

Click Here to register for some great resources from WMHT.

Art is such an important part of a child’s overall learning experience. I can’t imagine not having learned about color theory, design elements, perspective, or art appreciation. 

Here are the top 10 sites for creating digital art compiled by David Kapuler.

The photo is an example from the Live Brush website. Try some  of the sites and HAVE SOME FUN!

1.  Art Pad  – A great painting site that records a picture while it’s created to create a time lapse effect.
2.  Slimber – An excellent site for drawing & painting with some beautiful examples.
3.  Bomomo - A fun site where users can create unique pictures with different templates (ie, Pixie).
4.  Doink - A great site for creating animated art with a Web 2.0 flare.
5.  Odosketch - A wonderful site for creating beautiful sketches with colored pencils.
6.  Sketchpad - Create excellent paintings and drawings with this cool site. Many styles, effects and gradients for users to choose.
7.  Sumo Paint  – One of the most popular digital art creators on the web, very similar to Photoshop.
8.  Live Brush  – A wonderful free application that lets users create some beautiful designs. Includes a gallery of examples to view, too.
9.  Crayola Digi-Color  A very user friendly site for kids.
10.  Voice Draw – A unique site that lets users create art with their voice/sound.