"Why do schools roll out new programs or courses in small "pilot" groups? I would point at two reasons: the decision makers either (a) want to test the programs out first before deciding if the program is viable, sustainable, and worthwhile, or (b) they need key people to lead the way in the first year which will make full-scale adoption over time quicker and longer-lasting."
VocabularySpellingCity has a new summer word study program that allows children to sharpen academic skills as they play. These simple assignments are a daily workout for the brain, building literacy skills such as vocabulary, spelling, and writing.
Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.
Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.
Scratch is available free of charge.
TenMarks is the best math practice and learning program for grades 3-High School and as of today, it's FREE for teachers to use - in class or for their students to use at home.
The TenMarks approach gives students a variety of problems on each topic, and ability to use hints if they need a little nudge, and immediate video lessons for them to refresh and learn the topic - on the spot. The end result - students refresh what they know and learn what they don't.
Teachers choose their own curriculum (mapped to state standards), assign work to students, have it automatically graded immediately, review individual and class performance, and most importantly, take immediate action. TenMarks is super effective and real easy to use - it was designed with the help of math teachers across the country. What's more - it's FREE for the entire class!
"Few people would argue that Microsoft Word is a versatile program. The problem is that the software may not be the best tool for converting your Word documents to HTML. This is true if you need watch files sizes as it adds code that increases page size. It may also include information you don't expect. If you need to get your Word content to the web, we've got some tips and alternatives." ( Productivity Portfolio)
Here are more than 20 video tutorials to get you going with four of the most popular open source programs out there: Gimp, Linux, Open Office, and Nvu.