2007 - 2008 April

LearnPort

“The Michigan LearnPort® web-based professional development delivery system was created in partnership with MVU and the Michigan Department of Education. School employees are provided up-to-date and flexible online professional development to help meet personal and district learning requirements. Michigan LearnPort provides high quality courses and content through a full set of web-based communication tools and offers full professional development record-keeping capabilities. Financial support for Michigan LearnPort is provided through ESEA Title II, Part (A) funds.”

What this all means is that you can take FREE online courses and receive FREE SB-CEU’s to keep your certification current. LearnPort does not offer graduate credit. However, if you have decided not to pursue graduate credit, this is a great alternative.

Ligon Outdoor Center

We have a great FREE opportunity for fieldtrips to the Ligon Outdoor Center. They have money to pay for the busses, so this becomes a great place to go!! Go to http://ligon.geneseeisd.org/programs.asp to see a description of all of their programs. Ligon is also providing GenNet opportunities, too. See the ITV Guide for these. This is another awesome resource for us.

Thinkfinity http://www.thinkfinity.org/

MarcoPolo is now Thinkfinity and is now supported by the Verizon Foundation. Thinkfinity delivers FREE, top quality online resources for educators. There are thousands of lesson plans, educational games and activities. Their goal is to strengthen problem-solving, creativity and critical thinking skills. This site also offers professional development opportunities.

Great Websites

http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/tutorials/cell_cycle/cells3.html This is a tutorial on mitosis.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx ZoomIt is a free download. This software lets you zoom into any part of the screen which is a great feature when you are using the web on the data projector. I have it on my computer, if you want to see how it works.

http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/tutorials/meiosis/main.html Here is a meiosis tutorial.

http://www.visiblebody.com Visible Body lets you zoom to any part of the body and body systems.

http://www.skype.com/ Skype is a little piece of software that lets you talk over the internet to anyone, anywhere in the world for free. This is a free download. “You can make calls from your computer — free to other people on Skype and cheap to landlines and cell phones around the world.” This is great for home.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/poole/office_tutorials/index.shtml This site offers Microsoft Office 2007 tutorials for teachers on Microsoft software.

Careers:

http://cfwd.mivu.org CareerForward is a free web-based course that provides the opportunity to explore careers. This course can be used to complete the 20 hours online course experience that is required for high school graduation. CareerForward is provided by the MDE, Michigan Virtual University, and Microsoft.

http://www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/job.html A Day in the Life of...

This site lets students see what people do during a typical day at their jobs.

http://www.careeronestop.org/ExploreCareers/ExploreCareers.aspx Career One Stop

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ “Occupational Outlook Handbook.” US Dept. of Labor

http://www.acinet.org/ America’s Career InfoNet

Search Engines – Special Features

You can search for PowerPoint presentations to use with your students. Go to http://www.google.com , and then Advanced Search. Under Advanced Search, choose File Type. In File Type, choose Microsoft PowerPoint. You can search for any topic and the results will only be a list of PowerPoint presentations. This is a great resource.

A great search engine for students is http://www.askforkids.com

If you want to search for links and information on other schools’ websites, go to http://www.altavista.com . In the search bar, type URL:k12 and then the topic you are searching. The list of links on that topic will all be from k12 websites.

Ball State University Electronic Field Trips

The live Ball State field trips are over for this year. However, we can continue to use these archived programs and activities. Here is a list of the programs with user names and passwords. The website is http://www.bsu.edu/eft.

Flying Objects on the National Mall (Science and Math)

The user name national and the password is mall.

Whale Story: A South Seas Adventure (Migration)

The user name is annual and the password is migration.

The Nine Who Made a Difference (Civil Rights)

The user name is school and the password is racism.

Talk from the Tetons (Ecosystems)

The user name is animal and the password is homes.

Going, Going, Faster: The Science of Speed!

The user name is speed and the password is physics.

Listening to Our Ancestors

The user name is pacific and the password is coast.

Freedom in America: Some Assembly Required

The user name is liberty and the password is bell.

Eruption! An Island Rising from the Sea

The user name is lava and the password is flow.

Desert Diamonds behind Barbed Wire

The user name is barbed and the password is wire.

These are free programs, games and activities for us to use. Please check them out. The fees are paid with a Best Buy Grant.

Have a Great Spring!!!