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News for kids including quizzes

News articles and opinion pieces available at different levels of text complexity.

I've used this site for years. It is a great source for non-fiction articles and Newsela is offering free access till the end of this school year

"Crickets are small programmable devices that can make things spin, light up, and play music. You can plug lights, motors, and sensors into a Cricket, then write computer programs to tell them how to react and behave. With Crickets, you can create musical sculptures, interactive jewelry, dancing creatures, and other artistic inventions -- and learn important math, science, and engineering ideas in the process. Crickets are based on more than a decade of NSF-funded educational research. Lifelong Kindergarten researchers collaborated with the LEGO company to create the first "programmable bricks," squeezing computational power into LEGO bricks. This research led to the LEGO MindStorms robotics kits, now used by millions of people around the world. While LEGO MindStorms is designed especially for making robots, Crickets are designed especially for making artistic creations. Crickets were refined in collaboration with the Playful Invention and Exploration (PIE) museum network, and are now sold as a product through the Playful Invention Company (PICO)."

This isn't just about online learning! How many of these roles do you fulfill as a teacher, "facilitator," or admin? How successful have professional development efforts been in getting teachers to try out new roles? How successful have they been in getting kids to try out some of these roles? What other roles are there for students?

Article comparing the lack of knowledge about the role of the educator at the moment with the blame put on 'bad teachers'.

A place with teachers can display student artwork for the world to see. Becomes there own online gallery. Secure by parents approving comments. Can order copies of your child's artwork via gift shop and your school will received 15% back. Goal is for students to be able to come back here someday to see their own artwork.

A great website for students and teachers to showcase artwork and create online portfolios, and it's free!

With Artsonia, teachers can build a gallery of their students' art projects. The website lets family and friends log on to see the children's art. Friends and relatives can comment on students' work, which is posted with their first name and an ID number. They can also sign up to get alerts when their students' new masterpieces are uploaded. Anyone can purchase coffee mugs, key chains, and other items featuring the artwork. Items are often given as a holiday, Mother's Day, or Father's Day gift. Schools earn 15 percent when parents purchase custom keepsakes with their child's artwork. 

Create word searches and word jumble puzzles with your class spelling words with this easy to use site. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English

I may have my Spanish students use this for their weekly vocab quiz. Thanks!

Site claims clip art will motivate students and make boring assignments fun. Is that all it takes or are our 21st century students way beyond clip art in what they find engaging?

Article with links to free student friendly clip art

Nice examples of easy to make science toys. Hat tip to @Skipz

Apps for children with special needs.

"It's been known for years that the oldest children in class perform better in school than their youngest classmates. But according to a new study co-authored by University of Toronto Scarborough economist Elizabeth Dhuey, that gap can persist, with older children more likely to attend post-secondary school and graduate from an elite university."