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Health teachers will love this site for kids. If you have a rainy day and have access to some computers, this would be a great place for activities. As we emphasize health, we should seek out engaging content in this area. This site is free. Love it. "The multi-award winning program is focused on teaching the basics of cardiovascular health, including anatomy, nutrition, and exercise, by offering comprehensive curriculum materials to teachers and a site just for elementary school children to explore. The curriculum was developed as part of our mission to educate the public in a collaborative effort with medical professionals and certified teachers.  Project Heart is completely free to use and free of advertisements. It is also fully translated into Spanish. 

Very interesting app if you're using Edmodo and have ipads. Here's what it will do as per the company who contacted me: "It's a versatile mapping tool for creating timelines, and an assessment platform for Edmodo users.     myHistro Extended in a nutshell.  - What makes it better than other apps out there? Its comprehensive digital archive with stories created by historians. An unique way of generating tests. Hassle free and easy grading system and evaluation of students' answers." MAny teachers are using Edmodo and Timelines are important prewriting and graphic organizing tools. I'm very fascinated to see how this works and will see if there is someone out there using it so we can link to it from my blog.  - Who's it for? Teachers. First and foremost History, Social Studies and Geography teachers. And for everyone else, who are looking for innovative ways teaching their subjects through dynamic storytelling.   - What is the coolest feature? Generating tests with a few clicks. Removing the location, time, description or/and the title from all the public stories, and forming it into tests. 

Testing students over material that is NOT in the curriculum is not fair. I think that states should have a way to mark things not covered and just take the hits across the board for not having it in their curriculum instead of causing children to suffer through feeling ignorant. Common Core may be great, however, if it isn't in the curriculum it is unfair and shouldn't be done. What can we do? Do we cause children to stress out unfairly because adults can't get their act together or it takes time to change the curriculum? I don't know the answers, but the thought of a child looking at a test and knowing that some things didn't happen in the classroom and the impact of "feeling dumb" that will happen just turns my stomach, literally.  From the NEw York Times. " And they are likely to cover at least some material that has yet to make its way into the curriculum. The new tests, given to third through eighth graders, are intended to align with Common Core standards, a set of unified academic guidelines adopted by almost every state and goaded by grant money offered by the Obama administration. They set more rigorous classroom goals for American students, with a focus on critical thinking skills, abstract reasoning in math and reading comprehension."

Texas is going to cut down testing. This is a wise move for many reasons. Some states are cutting out teachers and the same time increasing spending on test taking. Such decisions harm learning no matter what test you take. ""Testing companies are in the business of making a profit, but let's not confuse their mission - their mission is to create as many tests as they can and then grade them at as little cost as possible," the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, Dan Patrick, Republican of Houston, said Tuesday at a hearing on a comprehensive education bill that would reduce the number of high-stakes tests students must pass to graduate."

This is one of the most comprehensive image editing sites I've seen. There are lots of effects to select and you can even make photo collages. It's easy to use and great for all sorts of projects. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Photos+%26+Images

Very Comprehensive site full of useful tutorials on all things Google Docs. 

"In this course, author and educator Chris Mattia demonstrates how to use the Apple iBooks Author application to create and publish your own iBook, without extensive design or publishing experience." Very Comprehensive. You can follow the course step by step or you can use the table of contents to skip to the specific skill you want.  There are video screen casts for everything. 

Positive school climates contribute to academic achievement and can improve outcomes for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, according to a new study published today in Review of Educational Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. In a comprehensive analysis of research published since 2000, U.S. and Israeli researchers found substantial evidence that schools with positive climates can narrow achievement gaps among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds and between students with stronger and weaker academic abilities...

This free online course was developed in response to the emerging importance of children and youth in international development policy. The course will give the learner a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of development from the early years right through to adolescence. The course will deal with questions such as: What makes young people tick? What shapes and influences a child's development? How can the adults who work with children support them more effectively? After completion of the course, learners will be familiar with the major theories on the development of children. This course will be of great interest to professionals already in health, care or development professions, to learners who are planning a career that centres on youth, and will also be beneficial to parents, carers, and learners who are interested in studying issues related to children and adolescents.

Article about effects of speech-to-text on reading comprehension (population is middle schoolers) but it is interesting.

A table of reading comprehension strategies - geared to an students higher then elementary, but some of the ideas could be geared down.

comprehensive list of tools to use in classroom

A comprehensive history site with entries from all over the world and most big events since the big bang. Some content is not suitable for young children. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/History

Ensure your French pronunciation is 'parfait' with this comprehensive French language learning site that has embedded audio files to listen to. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Languages%2C+Culture+%26+International+Projects

"ewordify.com is powerful, free, online reading comprehension and vocabulary development software. It helps people understand difficult English faster, helps them learn words in new ways, and helps teachers create high-interest learning materials from any English text passage. See the yellow box at the top of the page? Just paste in a difficult English sentence, paragraph, or more, or enter a web page URL and click the button. You'll instantly see an easier version, for fast understanding now. No dictionary needed! Plus, the easier version is specially highlighted to help build vocabulary."

Music makes students smarter - proof from the UK which has spurred them to add a comprehensive music program back into their schools.