This Friday, why not take your class on a trip around the world? On of my fellow “20 to Watch” recipients is Jenny Buccos.  In 2003, Jenny founded ProjectExplorer.org a nonprofit organization that produces free, online videos from many different countries. She is an amazing woman who wants students to learn about other cultures and experience the world from their classrooms and homes.  Here is a video of explaining  more about Project Explorer:

from ProjectExplorer.org on Vimeo.

I love Jenny’s passion and dedication to educating  our youth about their global community.  Using the site, your students can get a “virtual passport” and learn about life outside of Westfield.  The site not only contains great videos, but provides photos and lesson plans free of charge.

Check out the content and resources provided on Mexico:

Happy tech trails Blue Devils!

iCivics.org

This is a great website to help you teach civics to your students.

In 2009, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor founded iCivics to reverse Americans’ declining civic knowledge and participation.  Today iCivics is made up of  a national leadership team of state supreme court justices, secretaries of state, and educational leaders and a network of committed volunteers. Together, they are committed to passing along the legacy of democracy to the next generation.

In just two years, iCivics has produced 19 educational video games as well as vibrant teaching materials that have been used in classrooms.  Today the site offers the nation’s most comprehensive, standards-aligned civics curriculum that is available freely on the Web.  They are also focusing on teaching children how to write effectively.

This site has a wealth of resources, is well organized, and contains activities for all ages.

Here is Justice O’Connor talking about it on today’s “Morning Joe”.  Skip ahead to 2:40 to see her comments and a great overview of the site.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Happy tech trails Blue Devils!

Tap Quiz Maps

From iTunes:

Play TapQuiz™ Maps for an easy and quick way to master geography. Learn the countries of the world through a fun and engaging game! Just tap the answer to each question on the map. Keep track of your progress through the statistics page so that you will always know where you can improve. See how much you can learn in just 10 minutes!

Regions included:
• North America
• U.S. States
• Canadian Provinces
• Latin America
• Mexico and Central America
• South America
• Europe
• Asia
• Africa
• Middle East
• Australia and Oceania

Many of you fifth grade teachers are currently reading Number the Stars as a read aloud.  This book by Lois Lowry traces the journey of the fictional characters Annemarie and Ellen as they try to escape the Nazi occupation of Denmark.  Many of you also tell the true story of Anne Frank and her family’s attempt to avoid the same fate.  There is a great web site that allows you and your students to take a virtual field trip through the secret annex.  The site is interactive and three-dimensional.  It also provides links to lesson plans and other resources that will help you implement the Holocaust and Genocide curriculum.

World Atlas by National Geographic

From iTunes:

National Geographic has taken its award-winning World Atlas and updated it completely for 2013 with a new look, improved functionality, and brand new features.

ALL MAPS UPDATED
• All state-of-the-art National Geographic maps are in HD, giving you the best viewing experience possible.
• New infographics enhance each country’s Flags and Facts section.
• Better measurement tools give you even more accuracy.

NEW FEATURES
• Store your pins in the cloud and share them across devices. Plan a trip on your iPad, then use your customized map on your iPhone.
• Add and customize collections of map pins
• Get up-to-the-minute weather
• Check the latest currency conversion rates, or use the currency calculator to convert from one currency to another
• See latitude and longitude indications directly, with a tap of your finger.

ABOUT THE WORLD ATLAS
The National Geographic World Atlas brings you the highest resolution images available, delivering the stunning detail, accuracy, and beauty National Geographic is known for.

Here are a few Livebinders I have found with some great resources for your interactive white boards.  If you click on the tabs, you will be directed to the site and you can bookmark the ones you like for future use in your classrooms.

Learn about the solar system in a hands-on way! This interactive science book features over 40 pages of fact filled content as well as numerous videos and interactive simulations.

Learn about:
• The Milky Way galaxy
• The Sun
• The planets and their moons
• The dwarf planets
• Planetary day and night cycles
• Planetary seasons
• Gravity
• Planetary magnetic fields
• Space exploration

Experience:
• The size differences between the Sun, planets, and moons
• How much a person would weigh on the Sun, the other planets, and the Moon
• How the seasons change as the Earth orbits the Sun
• How fast the planets orbit the Sun
• The solar system distances to scale

TouchWorld is a fun way to explore and challenge your knowledge of countries around the world, by exploring and taking quizzes on world geography.

TouchWorld includes a unique dynamic interactive map, and allows both kids and adults a challenging and engaging way of increasing their knowledge of world geography.

Features include 9 quizzes:
-Explore mode – touch on a country and get its info
-Continents quiz
-Country quizzes – for 200+ world countries
-Countries within the 6 continents
-Capitols of the world

Also explore the world using Apple Maps and Wikipedia.

Players earn a certificate of achievement for successfully completing a quiz.

The passport tracks which countries you have visited within a quiz.

Info built into app & which does not require a network connection include: Capitol, Largest city, land area, natural resources, environmental issues, lowest & highest elevation, population, ethnic groups, religions, languages, urbanization, life expectancy, and median age.

★★★★★ Tiny Countries is free today! Get it before it goes paid! ★★★★★

Help Tiny in this epic adventure to save the world using his awesome skills in geography!  Dr. Evil and his henchmen have an evil plan to realign the world by moving the continents and forming a rooster-shaped world. General McIntyre enlists Tiny due to his expertise in geography to help catch these henchmen after they uncover a series of cryptic clues identifying their locations.  Play as Tiny’s character and save the world by using your knowledge of geography to unravel clues. Here is what Sarah Emerling, a mom, a special education teacher, and a technology coach (The iLesson Lady) has to say about Tiny Countries: “This app is a new approach to the standard geography app, and one of the best geography games I’ve used. The different questions and facts are well rounded and provide a nice overview of the countries featured. My students really enjoyed jumping from continent to continent!”

Tiny Countries is an epic adventure that includes :
– 15 missions over 6 continents.
– 75 countries to be mastered.
– An animated interface to learn about countries, their capitals and famous monuments.

Tiny Countries is a first-of-its-kind game that combines learning of geography with an epic adventure to create “Permanent Learning” in its users.
– Failing easily and epically allows learning by repetition.
– An animated interface creates an easy-to-recall association between countries, their capitals and their neighbors.

Tiny Countries is the most fun way to learn geography!

Video:

All of the best K-5 online, interactive, educational games and simulations in one place!

These activities work great with your SMART board or interactive whiteboard for whole group or small group instruction or use in the computer lab or at home for individual learning.

Links to MANY interactive tools in all subject areas.  These sites would greatly enhance your curriculum and a great way to incorporate technology into your lessons.

Happy tech trails Blue Devils!

For those of you looking for more election resources, Brainpop will be holding a webinar in two weeks on this topic. Remember, registration is free and the chance to collaborate with other educators is priceless.

Wednesday, October 17th at 4:00 PM ET- On the Ballot: Election-Themed Games from iCivics

With election season upon us, we’ve got just what you need to teach your students about the path to becoming president. Our friends at iCivics join us for a look at the fabulous teacher resources and interactive games they offer, including those available on GameUp. See how pairing their “Win the White House” and “Executive Command” with BrainPOP’s resources gives you the perfect tools for engaging students as they learn about the election process.