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| Volume Three Issue Eight | June 2003 |
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Global Connections Inspiring Stories Featured Themes Teacher Discoveries Student Explorations The Lighter Side |
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Global Interactions Foster Talented Students
Welcome to June!
Another school year is rapidly coming to a close. We hope it has been a productive year for you and your students and that you enjoy your last weeks together in anticipation of the summer break.
So welcome aboard! Join us as we explore the World Wide Web to discover resources relevant to the month of June.
In addition to this newsletter, keep checking Vital Picks. We have been highlighting resources teachers will find useful for the classroom. We have also been highlighting accomplishments of teachers and urge you to nominate teachers for our Vital Award.
Don't forget to visit our resource links! Visitors may now search for resources based on the grade level and subject they teach. We've included the best we can find on the World Wide Web. We will continue to add more and welcome any sites you may wish to submit.
This month we also have a special gift awaiting you and your students in the Activity section of Teacher's Corner. Check it out, and if you have activities that you would like to share with other teachers, please send them along. We'll make sure to post them immediately and to give you credit.
Send your ideas to teachers_corner@vitalknowledge.com.
Global Connections
The spring and summer seasons seem to bring us closer to nature and the many gifts bestowed upon us by Mother Nature. Perhaps it is only fitting that we celebrate World Environment Day during the month of June. Take some time to visit the following sites where you can find resources for celebrating this special day with your students:
Visit the United Nations Environment Program where you can find resources for celebrating World Environment Day and see how it is celebrated around the world. Also, jump on the U.N. Cyber School Bus.
Global Ed has World Environment Day related case studies for use with students of all ages. They include Teacher's Notes and Student Activities.
Send ecard greeting to friends and other students around the world in celebration of World Environment Day through dgreetings.
Visit First School for activities and coloring for celebrating our environment.
Finally, check out the Environmental Bulletin Board at Teachnology.
Inspiring Stories
Some Large, Some Small
The young man was at the end of his rope. Seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees in prayer. "Lord, I can't go on," he said. "I have too heavy a cross to bear." The Lord replied, "My son, if you can't bear its weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then, open that other door and pick out any cross you wish." The man was filled with relief. "Thank you, Lord," he sighed, and he did as he was told.
Upon entering the other door, he saw many crosses; some so large the tops were not visible. Then, he spotted a tiny cross leaning against a far wall.
"I'd like that one, Lord," he whispered. And the Lord replied, "My son, that is the cross you just brought in."
When life's problems seem overwhelming, it helps to look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself far more fortunate than you imagined.
- Unknown
From: Inspirational Mail
Featured Themes
With summer holidays just around the corner, we suspect you will not be spending a lot of time surfing the net for resources to use in the classroom. Instead, therefore we decided to highlight some web sites you can visit on those rainy days when you are inside. The following are our suggestions of web sites you can visit to help plan your summer celebrations.
Warnings of the West Nile Virus continue to increase and it is expected that the virus will be found throughout North
Why not celebrate summer with the Beanie Kids? They have great tips for summer safety and fun.
We think you'll find some great ideas among these 60 great ways to celebrate summer!
Education World has great ideas and activities for celebrating summer at home or at school!
Kid's Domain has great resources for all times of years, but they have put these pages together particularly for summer!
Finally, Billy Bear has put together these summertime fun pages. Lots of great activities!
Teacher Discoveries
Many teachers take advantage of the summer months to continue developing their professional skills. Here are some sites you may choose to visit for professional development resources:
The North Central Regional Educational laboratory has put together a collection of sites with a wide variety of professional development resources.
The California Department of Education has identified sites they feel contain good resources for professional development.
The Eisenhower National Clearing House site contains great PD resources for science teachers. Math teachers may want to visit the Math Teacher Link.
Was this school year particularly stressful for you? The Los Angeles County Office of Education identifies resources for coping with stress as well as other PD topics.
Study Web contains a large collection of resources for teachers of all grade levels and
Education World has identified a "Summer Reading List" with lots of suggestions to keep you busy on those rainy days.
Finally, are you hard at work preparing your year-end report cards? Kathy Shrock has identified sites with comments for report cards that may be useful to you.
Student Explorations
It seems that the older we get the quicker time seems to pass. Most of us can remember the days of our youth, however, when it seemed that the summer months lasted forever. Indeed, school is usually the last thing young people think of during the summer and a time honored complaint of teachers is that students appear to forget much of what they learned over the last school year. Although young people may lack motivation for continued learning over the summer months there are activities they can partake in that will make the transition to the new school year earlier. Encourage your students to visit the following sites for tips on how they can have fun during their holidays and continue to learn.
Partnership for Learning suggests a wide variety of activities for summer learning. Although the information is presented to parents and educators, it is certainly relevant for students looking for ideas to continue academic pursuits during the months of July and August.
Parents of students with learning disabilities would certainly benefit from a visit to LD Online. Among the many quality resources they will find Summer Reading Tips for Parents.
Among their many articles on raising children, Disney Online's Family Fun offers Summer Education Tips for maintaining academic skills over the summer months.
Your students and their parents may be interested in this summer learning contract offered by Family Education.
Encourage your students to stay academically active over the summer months. Be sure to remember, however, the wonderful summers of our own youth and, above all, make summer a time of fun and excitement!
The Lighter Side
Teacher: How much is half of 8?
Pupil: Up and down or across?
Teacher: What do you mean?
Pupil: Well, up and down makes a 3 or across the middle leaves a 0!
Teacher: What kind of lighting did Noah use for the ark?
Pupil: Floodlights!
Teacher: Class, we will have only half a day of school this morning.
Class: Hooray!
Teacher: We will have the other half this afternoon!
From: All Kids Humor