Thursday, January 9, 2014

Ron McCallum's Appreciation for Technology

This is such an inspiring story. I had to share it with you. Reminds me how fortunate I am.






23 Wonderful Sites to Teach Children About the Chinese New Year

Friday, January 31, 2014 marks the beginning of the Year of the Horse for the Chinese New Year. According to the site China Highlights, those born under this Chinese zodiac sign "are extremely animated, active and energetic. Horses love to be in a crowd, and they can usually be seen in such occasions as concerts, theaters, meetings, sporting occasions, and parties."  When I was in elementary school in New York City, our class made a trip to Chinatown to watch the Chinese New Year celebration. Complete with firecrackers and a large dragon,  the parade marched up and down the streets. It was exciting, and at times a little scary for this then second grader. 
NOTE: This list can also be found under Holiday Resources from September to June

China Coloring Pages- color or black and white printables

Chinese Dragons- lesson plan from Kinderart


Chinese Lion Paper Bag Puppet

Chinese New Year- activities, lessons, clip art


Chinese New Year- lesson plans, activities, printables


Chinese New Year: 2014


Chinese New Year Activities and Crafts for Preschool and Kindergarten


Chinese New Year Coloring Pages- from DLTK


Chinese New Year Crafts for Children- Pinterest board

Chinese New Year Games and Activities- from Apples4theTeacher

Chinese New Year Recipes- from Food Network

Chinese New Year Recipes For Kids- from Nick jr.

Chinese New Year Symbols- printables

Chinese New Year Teacher Resources
- from TeacherVision


Chinese New Year Traditions and Symbols- History.com has lots of stuff here, including articles and videos

Chinese New Year's Celebration- coloring sheet for primary grades

Chinese Zodiac Coloring Pages- for ages 3-8

Crafts and Activities For Chinese New Year- from Enchanted Learning

Lions, Dragons and Nian: Animals of the Chinese New Year- EDSITEment lesson plan

Origami Dragon Puppet

The Teacher's Guide to Chinese New Year

Vocabulary, Games, Worksheets and Online Exercises- for ESL students


WatchKnowLearn Videos- filtered by age level

24 Resources to Celebrate the Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Although January 15th is Martin Luther King's actual birth date, we will be celebrating Martin Luther King Day on Monday, January 20th this year. The late civil rights leader and clergyman was assassinated 45 years ago in Memphis, Tennessee. His convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, died 30 years later in a Nashville prison.
NOTE: This list is included in my Holiday Resources From September to June.


Bio.com- biography of Dr. King

A Box of Crayons- lesson plan for primary grades, based on the book, The Crayon Box That Talked

Education World Resources

Exploring the Power of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Words Through Diamante Poetry- grades 9-12; from ReadWriteThink




I Have a Dream Speech Analysis Lesson Plan- from Flocabulary

Infoplease- covers biography, facts, timeline and activities

The King Center- "Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, The King Center is the official, living memorial dedicated to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

King Papers Project- primary and secondary documents pertaining to Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Lasting Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.- interview with his daughter 


Library of Congress Resources


The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr- from FactMonster (younger kids)


Lesson Plans, Worksheets, Activities- from Lesson Planet


Martin Luther King Online- biography, speeches, (text) quotes, videos and pictures

Martin Luther King Quotes


Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Power of Non-Violence- for older students; from EDSITEment


Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute

NAACP- King's biography

NAACP Honors Dr. King's Legacy- includes links to speeches

Nobel Peace Prize: Martin Luther King, Jr

Printables and Worksheets- from Enchanted Learning; for younger students

Videos About MLK- History.com

Visit the MLK National Memorial in 3D- Google Maps

Worksheets and Activities- from ABCTeach

Simple Design Can Catch the Attention of Your Students and Teachers

I am a creative sort; I admit it. I love design. Perhaps it's the songwriter/photographer in me, but I always make an effort to make my signs and forms pop. We all know know that people do not usually read signs, but when you make an effort to use simple, eye-catching designs, you have a better chance that your audience will notice. To illustrate this, I've done a few before and after for three different signs in my media center.



This is a simple sign to show students the URL of the media center's webpage.



I added a thick red stripe, our school mascot and a few sentences.  Notice that the fonts are easy to read. No need for fancy lettering.



There is a lot wrong with the sign to the left. First of all, the font comic sans was used. (See my posting "comic sans criminal") The text is not totally centered, and clip art from Microsoft was used. (Microsoft has photo images which are not too bad)











This is the sign I made, using one black and white photo and a second color. Eye-catching, wouldn't you say?





Another simple sign with basic clip art. Ordinary, right? Let's see what adding a photo and little bold text can do to change the sign:










I took the photo and enlarged it to cover the width of the paper and added some bold text with a drop shadow.

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