Internet4Classrooms Newsletter: February 2011

Hello! Thanks so much for using Internet4Classrooms with your students and children. Our mission is to help you find the best educational online resources available to meet your individual needs. Our monthly newsletter focuses on sharing information, tips, and ideas on everything related to schooling inside the classroom and at home. Each month we'll be featuring resources and information on a variety of topics. We are constantly upating information on our site, and urge you to visit often!

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What's Happening This Month?

There is a lot going on in February. It's Black History Month, Dental Healthy Month, and American Heart Month. Celebrate Elmo's birthday, the Chinese New Year, and National Weatherperson's Day. Of course we have Valentine's Day and Presidents Day activities galore!

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

I4C has Black History Month resources on everything from Harriet Tubman to Amistad to the history of the Professional National Negro Baseball League.

Test your Famous African American knowledge with this online Black History quiz. Each day of February has a factual clue and you have to guess who it's talking about. Click on the date to see who the answer is. Discover Famous African American Mathematicians.

We also have resources on the Underground Railroad, Martin Luther King, African Flags, the Dred Scott Case, a Harlem exhibit, and the role of music in Black History. Explore Amistad. There are slave narratives. Find timelines of African American History. We have a link to the library of congress exhibition on the African American Odyssey, including resources on slavery, civil rights, Booker T. Washington, the Reconstruction, World Wars I and II, and much much more.

CHILDREN'S DENTAL HEALTH MONTH

Celebrate dental month while teaching students computer skills and how to use a mouse . Number 13 is an online mouse skills game where students have to brush the smiley face's teeth to make a bright white smile.

Click on Number 2 for an interactive online book from Crawford the Cat where students can choose to read it themselves or have the computer read out loud. It discusses how to brush your teeth and how to floss. Click on Number 3 for a Crawford the Cat video that teaches children why it's so important to take care of their teeth.

Use dental month as an opportunity to find health and the body lesson plans and activities. Numbers 5, 6, and 11 offer tooth charts that you can print out and color, as well as a link to the Colgate site. Learn how the body works - especially your teeth, cavities, braces, and more with these fun facts and activities.

AMERICAN HEART MONTH

Teach students about the human heart and the importance of taking care of their bodies with our health resources section for grades K - 12. Included are links to everything from the human body and the heart to the dangers of smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, obesity, adolescence and more. There are physical education resources as well. For the upper levels I4C has anatomy videos of the heart in our Biology section, specifically numbers 39-42. Find a map of the heart, the circulatory system, and how it all works together.

GROUNDHOG DAY (Feb 2nd)

What is Groundhog Day? Have you ever wondered what a groundhog sounds like? Turn your phrase into Groundhog speak! Track groundhogs from all over the world and see what their predictions are for Spring. Ask the Groundhog a question and see what he predicts for you. Play fun Groundhog Day games and create post cards.

CHINESE NEW YEAR (Rabbit - Feb 3rd)

This year is the Year of the Rabbit and I4C has a ton of Chinese resources. Learn about Chinese cultures and customs. Number 5 offers a lesson plan on Chinese calligraphy. Find resources on the Chinese calendar, Chinese New Year crafts and projects, including how to make paper lanterns. There's even a recipe for baking fortune cookies.

Take advantage of our Chinese Language page with great links on learning Chinese, including sound clips where you can hear Chinese words and phrases. Click on Number 6 to find out your Chinese Name. Click on Number 9 to learn how to count in Chinese, including audio.

ELMO'S BIRTHDAY (Feb 3rd)

Use Elmo to get your students motivated. Number 18's "Keyboard-O-Rama is an Elmo computer game that offers keyboard practice and alphabet practice. We have a Just for Fun page with Arts and Crafts. Scroll down to the bottom for Sesame Street printables and coloring pages.

NATIONAL WEATHERPERSON'S DAY (Feb 5th)

Internet4Classrooms has a whole section on Weather in Elementary Science. Find an interactive weather maker. Learn about cloud forecasting, storms, and air masses. Allow your students to become weathermen. There are also online quizzes about Weather.

CHARLES DICKENS' BIRTHDAY (Feb 7th)

Using Understanding By Design, find a lesson plan on Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities for Middle and High School levels in Number 8. This UbD lesson plan discusses the evolution of a hero, and how the past influences the present.

VALENTINE'S DAY (Feb 14th)

The time for hearts, candy, and craft galore is here again! Browse through our Valentine's Day page for Valentine's Day lesson plans, Valentine's Day projects, Valentine's recipes, and you guessed it - MUCH much more.

PRESIDENTS DAY (Feb 21st) - PLUS LINCOLN's BIRTHDAY and GEORGE WASHINGTON's BIRTHDAY

For Grades 3-5 there is a Presidents Day Web Quest game where students can travel back in time with a scavenger hunt and interactive resources. Visit online Presidential Libraries. There are handwriting sheets and printables themed for Presidents Day. Find free President Clip Art with their profiles and faces.

Feb. 12th is Abraham Lincoln's Birthday. Feb. 22nd is George Washington's Birthday. We have resources on both included in our Presidents Day section.

Focus On: Teacher Resources

Internet4Classrooms offers a wide variety of informative online resources, tips, tools, and tutorials regarding your classroom needs. There is always something you can utilize with your students. Each month we'll feature a few links to useful topics.

February honors Black History Month. As we mentioned in the section above, I4C has a large page of resources dedicated to Black History month and African American History. Take our online Black History Quiz. Discover 500 Famous African American Mathematicians. Click on the many links to timelines, historical exhibits, and Black History teacher resources.

Assessment Testing is almost here: Get Assessment Test Help and Practice Tests, organized by grade from Kindergarten through High School. There are Skill Builders for interactive practice and current standards resources by grade. Sign up for our Free ACT and SAT test preparation and start taking online vocabulary quizzes. Don't let our students get behind. Take advantage of the online test help and practice tests.

Why wait to cram in 5000 college-entrance-exam vocabulary words in one school year? Middle school students can start studying vocabulary words now. Here's how: I4C has an enrichment program specifically designed to expand vocabulary skills. Each student can take their own vocabulary tests online. We have testing for every level through high school. Have your students sign up and log in during designated class times or at home. Teachers and parents can track their scores using emailed reports. Give middle schoolers the opportunity to improve their word knowledge early. It's also great for gifted educational use.

Elapsed Time Resources: Here is a list of interactive sites on Elapsed Time, where teachers can find links to elapsed time quizzes, train times, problems showing the differences between times, and discovering how many hours and minutes have passed. Use this online clock in Number 3 to analyze time increments. Number 12 offers an online quiz with elapsed time word problems and multiple choice answers. Scroll to the lower half of the page for printable work sheets on elapsed time.

Understanding by Design: We've broken down Understanding by Design into 4 categories: Classroom planning, instructional theory , meta-link sites, and sample lesson plans. Find Understanding by Design templates, rubrics, and explanations of each stage . There is information on the 6 facets of understanding content and the essentials of learning. Click the Understanding by Design lesson plans for Elementary and Middle/High School levels.

Remember: One of our most clicked resources is the teacher tools page. You can access everything teachers need for the school year, including forms, planning, bulletin boards, and worksheets.

Another popular section is our Grade Level Help. Click here for Pre-K - 8th grade level help and here for 7th - 12th grade resources. Find Skill Builders interactive sites for Language Arts and Math.

Don't Forget: Free Online Practice for ACT Tests and SAT Tests. I4C now offers free SAT and ACT vocabulary quizzes. Become a free member and log in as much as you'd like. Students can take practice tests on 5000 vocabulary words. Log in to monitor your students' scores - including seeing which vocabulary words they missed. Interactive quizzes allow the test taker to retake and study as much as they want.

Focus On: Parent Resources

In addition to our teachers, parents can take advantage of our online resources as well.

Math help at home. Find math lessons and worksheets. Get advice and strategies for teaching math to your kids. There are quite a few math game ideas. And tons of information, math interactives, and tip on how to teach multiplication at home. This site focuses particularly on preschool levels, and how to start implementing math techniques early on.

Why wait to cram in 5000 college-entrance-exam vocabulary words in one school year? Middle school students can start studying vocabulary words now. I4C has an enrichment program specifically designed to expand vocabulary skills. Each student can take their own vocabulary tests online. We have testing for every level through high school. Have your students sign up and log in at home. You can track their scores with emailed reports. Give your children the opportunity to improve their word knowledge early.

Search for subject help. Winter break is over and it's time to start focusing on the second half of the school year. If your child is having trouble or would like extra practice in Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and/or History, visit our Tools and Resources page. Here you will find online resources by subject and topic for grades K - 12th.

Celebrate the Chinese New Year. Have fun with our Chinese Language page. Learn about Chinese Writing. Get your own Chinese name. Learn how to correctly pronounce words and sentences in Chinese. Your children will have fun exploring a new language.

Find ACT Tests and SAT Tests to get your children ready for the ACT and SATs! I4C now offers free SAT and ACT vocabulary quizzes. Become a free member and log in as much as you'd like. Students can take practice tests on 5000 vocabulary words. As a parent, you can log in to monitor your children's scores - including seeing which words they missed. Interactive quizzes allow the test taker to retake and study as much as they want.

As always, if you don't see something of interest highlighted this month, we have the Parent Zone which is full of resources. You can find homework help, special needs resources, language tools, reading help, educational games and activities sorted by grade.

Technology Tips

Online Word Tutorials for 2000, 2003. 2007, and 2010 - Great information and online tutorials for Word, including going beyond the basics, shortcut keys, how to's, plus tips and tricks. Also included are tutorials in Spanish.

TIPS:
(#1) Did you know, you can access spellcheck in Word just by right clicking? Typically when a word is misspelled or unrecognizable, Word will underline it with a red squiggly line. Simply right click on that word, and it will give you options for autocorrecting, ignoring, changing, and looking up the correct spelling. Find more useful tips on our Word Shortcuts page.

(#2) Did you know, you CAN right click on a Mac?

On any Mac computer

Hold down the CTRL key and click your mouse where you want to view your right-clicking options. You will get a context dialogue box to make your choice.

Using only a MAC laptop and its trackpad

There is such a thing as a double-tap-right-click. You must set up this option first. Go to the Keyboard & Mouse preference panel. Select "Trackpad Gestures" under the Trackpad section. Then select "Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click" and you are ready. Tap the trackpad with two fingers (your index and middle finger at the same time) will execute a right click.

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Internet4classrooms.com is a free educational portal for teachers, parents, homeschoolers and students. Visitors come from around the world to find Internet resources for their educational needs. One can find resources ranging from lesson plans to worksheets, individual grade level resources to templates, and even interactive learning games. We were very honored when one teacher called the site a "Walmart for Teachers". If you cannot find what you need for instruction on any topic, please feel free to email us and we will help you find resources to fit your needs.

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Susan Brooks

Bill Byles

Internet4classrooms.com