From: David Shively [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 8:11 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: TeachersFirst Update - August 12, 2002
TeachersFirst Update - August 12, 2002 More Hangups We're delighted at the response to our bulletin board "hangups" quotations series. Several thousand of you downloaded quotes last week, so we've added another set - dealing with learning and education - this week. If you haven't yet visited, or if you'd like some of the newer quotes - you can check them out at: http://www.teachersfirst.com/hangups.html You'll also find a note there for users who might have had trouble getting these quotes to display properly. Read!! Reading is probably the single most important skill a child can learn. Finding books for "reluctant readers" can be a challenge, and TeachersFirst's Reading Lists page can help. We've created grade-level listings and short summaries for hundreds of books from preschool through high school, and we've put them on a searchable page that almost any student can use. Try our reading lists page to help find the books that will keep your students' noses buried! It's at: http://www.teachersandfamilies.com/open/read.html Professional Content Keeping your teaching fresh and interesting can sometimes be a challenge. TeachersFirst's Professional Matrix offers a wide range of teaching ideas and strategies to meet specific needs and challenges. You'll find information for new teachers, strategies for special education students, and articles on ways to make any classroom work more effectively. (Our new series on peer mediation is well worth a look.) If you've not sampled the Professional Matrix recently, stop by at http://www.teachersfirst.com/prof.htm Get Them Organized Good organizational skills are important for any student. Even third graders aren't too young to begin taking responsibility for their own assignments. "Backpack Basics" is our handout for parents that explains appropriate ways parents can encourage their students to be organized and use their time efficiently. This is useful information you can suggest to parents or, better yet, print out and send home. Backpack Basics is at: http://www.teachersandfamilies.com/open/backpack.html Featured Sites This week's features include a look at otters, a great science experiments collection, a feature on architects, and more. As always, you'll find the features at: http://www.teachersfirst.com/feature.htm That's all for this week. BUT - we neglected to send out a plain text copy of last week's update. If your copy of last week's update was blank, scroll down - we've included it in this week's mailing. David Shively, Senior Editor IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING E-MAIL ADDRESSES: TeachersFirst's mailing list has thousands of names. This makes manual list editing extremely difficult. We'll continue to do it when necessary, but we'd much prefer you follow the automated instructions below: TO SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter, please follow these instructions: Go to the page: http://www.teachersfirst.com/lsoftsignup.htm and complete the form there. You will receive a confirming e-mail for security purposes. When you respond to that message, your name will automatically be added to the TeachersFirst mailing list. TeachersFirst Update - August 5, 2002 August is here; we hope you're someplace cool! Bulletin Board Hang Ups! This is about the time most teachers start searching for something new and different to put on the bulletin boards this year. If you're tired of the same old things, check out TeachersFirst's new bulletin board Hang Ups. They're a thematic collection of quotes designed to inspire, instruct, and encourage students. Best of all, we've made them into colorful, printable 8.5" x 11" Acrobat files that you can print directly from your browser. The first two themes "Goal Lines" and "Writer's Blocks" are complete. We'll be adding more shortly. The Hang Ups are at http://www.teachersfirst.com/hangups.html Lesson Units - Colonial Forts If you've begun working on lesson units for the fall, remember some of the great supplementary materials you can find at TeachersFirst. If you're studying Colonial America, pay a visit to our colonial forts unit - a look at life in and around frontier forts. Students can learn how the early settlers lived, and even some of the things children did back then. The Frontier Forts unit is at: http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/forts/ The Inventor's Workshop Inventions are a great way to blend history, science, and biographies into a neat interdisciplinary unit. You can do this with many historical periods, but TeachersFirst's Inventor's Workshop is great way to use this strategy with the industrial revolution. There are biographies of English and American inventors, listings of invention resources, even a self-scoring, interactive inventor's quiz. You can visit the Inventor's Workshop at: http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/inventor/ Biomes of the World If climates and biomes are part of this year's curriculum, TeachersFirst's Biomes of the World unit offers a well-packaged introduction to each biome, along with a short webquest that lets students sample a collection of resources for each different environment. This unit is ideal for students who want to work independently, but need a guided project. The Biomes unit is at: http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/biomes/ That should do it for now. Enjoy these summer days; the pace will pick up soon! ******************************************* For digest instead of individual postings, send the message: set k12newsletters digest to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe, click and send (no body or subject: required) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] K12 Newsletters mailing list is a service of Classroom Connect - http://www.classroom.com Archives for K12 Newsletters can be found at: http://www.classroom.com/community/email/archives.jhtml?A0=K12NEWSLETTERS **********************************************************
