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Ideas on how to create excellent lessons and learning envirnoments

"The free and easy way to award badges to students for all learning experiences."

"Search Education Online Improve your Google search skills with our Power Searching and Advanced Power Searching online courses. Learn tips and tricks to become a fast and effective fact-finder with Power Searching with Google. Deepen your understanding of solving complex research problems using advanced Google search techniques with Advanced Power Searching with Google. Join a growing global community of Power Searchers."

Bugs and Numbers makes a bug's life for kids, as they explore math concepts such as matching, counting, sorting, sequencing, addition, subtraction, fractions, money, measurements, and telling time from the perspective of some realistic-looking critters. In three sections of six games each, bugs explore places like a diner, a junkyard, or a circus, and encounter skills in fitting backdrops. For fractions, ants deliver boxes of pizza to a picnic, and kids choose which fraction is represented in each box. Kids learn to count money in an arcade by dropping the correct amount into the machines. They earn bugs by completing each game and can zoom in to watch their bugs in action.

IXL has a whopping 2,000 math-practice modules that meet nearly all the Common Core math standards. You'll find Pre-K games covering the fundamentals through high school lessons and learning activities on geometry, how to graph equations, or the Pythagorean theorem, for example.

StoryJumper lets kids create and publish their own illustrated stories. Whether kids are beginning writers or seasoned pros, StoryJumper provides an outlet for them to use their imaginations as well as learn some real writing strategy if they're ready for it.

In Codecademy, older kids and teens write computer code. They set their own pace through lessons on every major modern programming language, including PHP, Javascript, Python, Ruby, HTML, and CSS.

"The mission of the Library of Congress is to make its resources available and useful to Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations. The goal of the Library's National Digital Library Program is to offer broad public access to a wide range of historical and cultural documents as a contribution to education and lifelong learning. The Library of Congress presents these documents as part of the record of the past. These primary historical documents reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library of Congress does not endorse the views expressed in these collections, which may contain materials offensive to some readers."

By building on National Geographic's reputation for breathtaking photography and in-depth reportage about the world's cultures and exotic wildlife, this kids' site provides an overwhelming amount of high-quality visual learning tools. Profiles of animals and countries include videos, photos, maps, sounds, and brief fact sheets.

The Design Squad Nation website complements the PBS Kids television show "Design Squad," in which teenagers compete to create the most novel solutions to engineering challenges. The competitive aspect of activities, along with video demonstration of the brainstorming and prototyping that go into design, make the website a great learning tool for kids.

(iOS iPad) The Daily Newspaper Just for Kids! ***Best App for Teaching and Learning 2013 by AASL*** ***Featured by Apple in the Education section *** ***One of The Best News Sources for Kids - Common Sense Media*** *** kidSAFE® certified *** "Once in a while, an app comes along that makes me breathe a sigh of 'well, finally.' Such is the case with News-O-Matic, an ingenious app that condenses the daily news of the world and delivers it in perfectly kid-digestible form." - Cool Mom Tech

"NGAkids Art Zone interactives offer an entertaining and informative introduction to art and art history. Featuring a variety of art-making tools that encourage exploration and creativity, these activities are suitable for all ages. Simply select a thumbnail image at the left or click one of the colorful banners above to learn more about each program."

"The Digital Library is a critical component of the Smarter Balanced system of assessments and will include a variety of resources to improve teaching and learning."

"Welcome to the California Google Apps K-12 User Group! This group is open to all K-12 schools within the state of California who use or are considering using Google Apps. Our goal is to connect K12 Google Apps users within California to learn and share from each other through community discussion forums, events and webinars."

21st Century ideas to help facilitate good teaching and learning.

I'm a huge fan of Naperville Reads.  The collaboration between Anderson's Booksellers, District 203 & 204, and the Naperville Public Library has brought some amazing authors to our community.  The chance to listen and learn from these talented individuals has proved inspirational for our students, teachers, and parents.

This site, "dedicated to the idea that information will be the raw material that drives the 21st century, and that today's students should be learning to build with information," offers free Web tools for integrating the Internet into the curriculum in a meaningful way. The tools include a rubric maker, citation machine, permission template, and digital index card, as well as Web site and WebQuest creators.

We often read that there are 4 C's in a true 21st century education: critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation. The iPad is a success at engaging individual students in critical thinking and creativity, but how about collaboration? After all, tablets are consumer products, designed to be used by one person at a time, not by teams of students. It's up to teachers and instructional technologists to figure out how best to deploy them in the classroom in a way that supports project-based learning and fosters teamwork. We asked several teachers involved in iPad initiatives which apps they've had the most success with on the collaboration front. Here is what they told us.

iPads are a great tool to encourage continual sharing and collaboration in the classroom, says education technology consultant Sam Gliksman. Gliksman runs iPads for Education, a Ning network that has drawn several thousand educators and other people interested in exploring the use of iPads in schools. He has captured much of what he's gleaned from working with schools and teachers on their iPad programs in a new book, iPad in Education for Dummies. Recently, he shared with THE Journal his best advice on what to do before a rollout and how to help an iPad classroom run as smoothly as possible to let teachers focus on the learning, not the technology.

"Free resources to teach, learn and make with Raspberry Pi"