Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Snow Day Material

When my parents were children, they walked to school uphill both ways in snow up to their eyeballs.  (At least, that is their story and they are sticking to it.)  Their ability to evoke the most dreariest of sorrow with all of their woeful tales used to eliminate my pleas of missing school.  However, our recent weather has topped even the most horrid of tales they were able to conjure.  School attendance has been sporadic at best since Christmas Break, and the loss of instruction has had dire affects on student progress. 

Parents have had to battle snow day craze with their children, and a site was developed to help parents guide their budding Einsteins to school related computer activity.

Feel free to use this site as needed.

Glenwood Snow Days

Mysterious Stories to Interest Young Readers

As a child, my interest level ranged from the odd to the frightening.  My tastes still prevail today, with my current author of choice being James Patterson.  I didn't care how fast Spot could run, and Jane could use a douse of cool to catch my attention.

There is a site of stories entitled "Weekly Mysteries" I recently ran across.  Some of the stories border on that of Poe, but often mirror the Whodoneit stories that I used to love.  With my favorite character being "Encyclopedia Brown", I sharpened my skills of prediction and powers of deduction trying to outwit the author... or at least my fellow classmates reading the same story.



This site may provide more reading opportunities for your eclectic audience and provide another source of interest to your students. 

http://www.weeklymysteries.com

Free DVD's

Aha... my favorite word.  FREE.

John Stossel, commentator for 20/20 and a correspondent for Fox News, provides resources for teachers through his "Stossel in the Classroom" effort.  Each year, educators are allowed to choose two free DVD's that may cover a variety of topics. The videos are geared towards advanced Middle Schoolers, High Schoolers, and College students.

Click HERE for the website to sign up and start receiving your free DVD's today!

Each month, Stossel in the Classroom also provides a video stream about a topic of current interest.  Below the video are thought provoking questions that students may answer.  The video streams are geared towards ages 13 - 18 and can be found here.

Finally, an essay contest through Stossel in the Classroom will be ending soon so if you are interested in getting your students to participate please click HERE.  The topic of the essay is "What is Great About America."