You can see a FREE CONFERENCE. This is the CONFERENCE of the FUTURE

Here is what I noticed on the Internet today...


This is your virtual ticket to the Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit!

The Ditch That Textbook Digital Summit is a nine-day, FREE virtual event. It brings together some of the brightest minds in education to discuss technology, pedagogy, inquiry and more.

You’ll get one new inspiring, practical presentation each day. Take your own notes, or download a PDF “key takeaways sheet” from each video.

The summit runs from December 16 to December 24. During the winter holidays, schedules get a little hectic. But don’t worry! The videos will be available for another week, until December 31.

Our presenters include:

• Two Global Teacher Prize finalists
• A New York Times best-selling author
• State and national teachers of the year
• Creators of some of your favorite teaching resources online

Presentations topics include:

• Integrating technology in the classroom
• Creating engaging, exciting lessons/classes
• Infusing lessons with inquiry and student choice
• Connecting students to people and experiences worldwide (for free!)
• And much, much more!

The videos won’t be available forever! Like any conference, this digital event has a beginning and an end. Once the summit comes to an end, the videos will disappear!

Go ahead, ask for the free ebook

GetMattsStuff.com

Cooperative Video Games are helpful to develop skills

Here's an interesting article from USA TODAY

What may be surprising is that kids who play video games scored 23% higher in creative tests involving tasks such as drawing pictures and writing stories, according to MichiganState University.

THEY CAN ALSO DEVELOP SOCIAL SKILLS of cooperation.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2012/12/01/video-games-can-be-good-for-kids/1736649/


TwoPlayerGames.org includes Fire Boy and Water Girl (who need to cooperate to get through the maze)

REMINDERS about Internet URBAN LEGENDS and how to check accuracy

Here are two useful sites

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/microsoft.asp   and  

http://www.spamprimer.com/send-this-to-everyone-you-know-no/

You can learn about the problem with these urban legends at these two links.

• 
  

  ESTO TOMÓ DOS PAGINAS DEL MARTES LOS EEUU HOY - ES PARA REALPLEEEEEEASE LEÍDO que estaba en las noticias! Esto es real. Tenga la seguridad de que AOL e Intel seguirán con sus promesas por temor a enfrentarse a una demanda colectiva multimillonaria similar a la presentada por PepsiCo contra General Electric hace no mucho tiempo. Por favor, no tome esto por una carta basura. Bill Gates compartiendo su fortuna. Si ignoras esto, te arrepentirás más tarde. Microsoft y AOL ahora son las mayores compañías de Internet y en un esfuerzo por asegurarse de que Internet Explorer sigue siendo el programa más utilizado, Microsoft y AOL están ejecutando una prueba beta de correo electrónico. Cuando envía este mensaje a sus amigos, Microsoft puede Y lo rastreará (si es un usuario de Microsoft Windows)? Por un período de tiempo de dos semanas. Para cada persona a la que envíe este correo electrónico, Microsoft le pagará $ 245.00. Por cada persona que usted envió a que lo reenvíe, Microsoft le pagará $ 243.00 y! Por cada tercera persona que lo reciba, se le pagará $ 241.00. Dentro de dos semanas, Microsoft se pondrá en contacto con usted para su dirección y luego le enviará un cheque.RegardsCharles S Bailey Gerente General Operaciones de campo 1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 o 904-1085 o RNX 292-1085I pensé que esto era una estafa yo, Pero dos semanas después de recibir este correo electrónico y el envío de ella en. Microsoft me contactó para mi dirección y dentro de días, recibo un cheque por $ 24, 800.00. Debe responder antes de que finalice la prueba beta. Si alguien puede permitirse esto, las puertas de Bill es el hombre. Es todo gasto de marketing para él. Por favor, envíe esto a tantas personas como sea posible.

Sent from Messenger

What if your phone is off? What if your phone runs out of power? You can find it with these KEY FINDERS

There are a lot of good phone finders on Amazon.  I tried to get you one but it was too hard to choose — they will actually ring your phone even if it’s on silent. They connect to a “loop” that you attach to keys or put into wallet, etc.

Then there are these apps:http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-apps-to-find-your-phone-565016/

Here’a a sample from Amazon.  There are more at Amazon.

1. 

   CUBE Key Finder, Phone Finder, Highest Quality Item Finder on the Planet - 1 Pack

   3.4 out of 5 stars 525

   $25.00  Prime
2. 

   Tile Mate - Key Finder. Phone Finder. Anything Finder - 1-pack

   4 out of 5 stars 421

   $24.99  Prime

Some EYE CELLS reset our daily clock AND help with SHORT TERM MEMORY

TURN ON BRIGHT LIGHTS to help SHORT TERM MEMORY... neuroscientists have discovered light-sensitive eye cells ‘intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells’ (ipRGCs). They absorb light in order to properly set our circadian clock.

In the decade since then, many studies have suggested that ipRGCs do even more than clock-setting. The latest of these reports, out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that these cells — and the light-sensitive protein they contain, melanopsin — are involved in short-term memory.

from a freelance writer

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/03/13/how-light-wakes-up-the-brain/

Therapy Shoppe has the COOL ATOM MOLECULE for kids and adults to play with.

Interesting items.  One of the most helpful wire "things to manipulate" is a cool model of an atom.

You can find it here at https://www.therapyshoppe.com/category/1138-new-products-brand-new-innovative-therapy-sensory-products


The COOL WIRE ATOM can be found HERE

How to persuade your child to listen to a story (a reminder from your school's librarian): 20 minutes of reading to your child (DAILY)

Reminder From Your School’s Library and Media Center

Guidelines to have Maximum Benefit for your brain from reading

Reading is a way to grow our brains.  If we read the same book every day, if we re-read the same pages that we read yesterday, we are not building new memories.  Let’s find new articles every day.

1. NEW INFORMATION

The purpose of reading is to expose our brains to new information.

We recommend 20 minutes of independent reading.  We also suggest that you can spend some of the time reading the same book.  

2.  VARIETY

Please also add articles from the internet or magazines or newspapers so you get a variety of reading in the 20 minutes.  For example, you can read pages from a novel or short story for 15 minutes.  Then you can read a short article in the newspaper or online about yesterday’s events.  You might spend 5 minutes on reading other items.

3. READING ALOUD

Our school also recommends that an adult read to the child at least three minutes.   The minimum time for reading is 43 minutes per day, every day for fifth grade:   40 minutes of reading to yourself and 3 minutes of listening to another reader.

4.  READING EVERY DAY.

We ask you to read daily.  This includes Friday, Saturday and Sunday.   PARENTS can set an example by taking 20 minutes to read on their own.

5.  AFTER READING

Please remember that reading is improved when we talk about the new information.  We can remember more when we teach and talk to other people about the things we read about.

After you read for 40 minutes, remember to take two minutes to talk with someone about the pages you read.   Your parents might ask, “What did you read about?” and you can give three details that you remember from the story or article.  Then you can give the main idea and explain if the article is trying to inform or entertain or persuade or give instructions about how to do something.  

Thank you for following these rules and guidelines about reading.   We can all grow our brains by reading to each other and by reading independently (by ourselves).   Both kinds of reading help the brain get more information and practice organizing new information. We also connect older information to new information and sometimes we update the information that we carry inside us.

Here is an interesting quote:  “Reading aloud provides children with a model of confident and expert reading.  Many parents and teachers make reading aloud a vital part of their teaching practice.”

Yes, parents are teachers, too.

The goal is to love the story. That’s the point of reading, unless you’re reading for meaning. When my oldest daughter didn’t “take” to reading as I’d hoped, I let her listen to hours of audiobooks and read aloud to her multiple times a day. I wanted her to get hooked on the stories in the chapter books, without the frustration of reading them. Like her, all readers — and especially struggling readers — learn to love stories by hearing stories.   -- Melissa Taylor   readbrightly.com  

References    http://www.readbrightly.com/importance-of-reading-aloud-to-big-kids/  

http://parents.education.govt.nz/primary-school/learning-and-development-at-home/ideas-to-help-with-reading-writing-and-maths/#Year5

http://tinyurl.com/readtoyourchild   Recommend this link to your friends and neighbors