Monday, September 26, 2011

BANNED BOOKS WEEK - September 24 - October 1, 2011

 







From ALA:

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Book Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom--the freedom to access informationand express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular--provides the foundation for Banned Book Week.  BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to rad and access them.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings.  Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.  Imagine how many more books might be challenged--and possibly banned or restricted--if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Book Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.

For more information, visit http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/ or http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm?gclid=CP3ztcn3uqsCFQXe4AodEHU2hw.


Friday, September 23, 2011

It is about playing!!!!




Do you know what is special about Saturday, September 24th?  It is Nickelodeon's "WORLDWIDE DAY OF PLAY"!!!!  Let's Move in School will be part of this day and yes, I know, the real action with Nickelodeon will be in Washington, DC ---- but ----- that does not mean we can't play right here!.   So, lets PLAY!

Check out Let's Move in Schools for activities and check out NASPE's Teacher Toolbox for activities every month for elementary, middle, and high schools plus employee wellness and family fun activities!

We want to see lots of playing going on out there!

Monday, September 12, 2011

TwHistory

Okay, I know that those who know me have heard me say at least a hundred times, I will not "do" Twitter!  But ----- that does not mean that I will not let everyone else know about a FREE tool for those who do Twitter!!!  It really is all about the FREE!  Now, on to the tool ----

TwHistory is a new FREE tool (okay, actually it really started around 2009 ---- I just saw it mentioned in ASCD Smartbrief in August) that encourages students and teachers to use Twitter as a part of their study of history.  Students and teachers can sign up for free and created their own historical "reenactments".  Choose an historical event, create Twitter accounts for the characters, research primary source documents and think about the times, dates and durations of events to create hundreds of Tweets as they might have been sent out had Twitter existed before the 21st century!  Projects are submitted to the engineers at TwHistory, projects specify a start date for their event, and then it unfolds, over a day, week, month or more.

Check out Get Answers:  Frequently Asked Questions at http://blog.twhistory.org/faq/ for more information!  What a way to make history sooooo "21st century" and it is FREE!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Smithsonian Museum Day Ticket, September 24th

Free admission at participating venues with a Smithsonian Museum day ticket!  Saturday, September 24th is the day!!!!!

In the spirit of Smithsonian Museums, who offer free admission every day, Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian Magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket for FREE

TWENTY-THREE museums in CONNECTICUT are participating in this event. Tickets must be ordered in advance and mailed to you.  Remember Saturday, September 24th is the only day and you need an OFFICIAL "Museum Day" ticket to get into the participating museums!   SO, GET GOING AND ORDER YOUR TICKETS!!!!  Tickets are good for one person and a guest so make sure you order enough for the whole family!

Oh, so you need to know how to order ------  for more information, view a list of participating museums and learn more about the day, go to http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/
 
You know how we like this "free" stuff ----- enjoy the museums!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Check out these sites for sharing curriculum materials!

Vanessa Vega, a Edutopia research analyst ---- and if you have not yet checked out Edutopia -- http://www.edutopia.org/ -- make sure you do ---- suggests several websites where educators can collaborate and share curriculum resources.  Check out Curriki.org and Digital Is (website affiliated with the National Writing Project) are sites that allow teachers to network and share materials with peers, while other sites like The Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science, & Reading and the Ohio Social Studies Resource Center offer free resources that are aligned with state and national curriculum standards.

Yes, and you guessed it if your follow our blog ---- free resources to check out! 

Happy back to school!