Internet4Classrooms Newsletter: May 2012

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!

Keep in Touch!

If you need help, please email us. We answer questions about almost any subject matter/grade level. We feel that this is a very important part of Internet4Classrooms. Internet4Classrooms is maintained and built for educators, parents, and students and this site is yours. Comments and suggestions are appreciated and welcomed. Don't be afraid to email and ask!

Follow us on Twitter (internet4classr). Stay up to date with offerings and new sources/links for great educational and technology information for you, your students, and children.

App Of The Month

**NEW!**

Every month we are going to feature a different, and hopefully FREE, iPad/iPod/iPhone educational application. In addition to our ever-changing apps page. Stay tuned!

Make your own spelling tests using My Spelling Test Free. Manually enter in vocabulary words of the week and record pronunciations. You can create weekly or daily tests, and keep score. Compatible with iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad. Must be iOS 3.1.3 or later.

Things To Celebrate This Month

May brings Teacher and Nurse Appreciation, Memorial Day, Space, Asian/Pacific American Heritage, Cinco de Mayo, Physical Fitness and more. We encourage you to take some time to click through our site. You never know what wonderful resources you can find to enrich your classroom experience. Let's get started!

Physical Fitness Month

May means summer's almost here and if you haven't already, it's time to get fit! Check out our health section, dedicated to nutrition, physical education, and other health resources for the classroom.

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month

Did you know that May was chosen for Asian Pacific Heritage month in honor of 1) the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants on 5/7/1843 and 2) the completion of the transcontinental railroad on 5/10/1969? Meet notable Asian Pacific Americans, explore Asian Immigration, and learn about different authors. Find Asian Pacific Heritage Month Lesson Plans, historic facts, visual aids, and more at Scholastic.

Space Day - 5/4

Do you know what you would weigh in space? What about your age on another planet? Ever wonder what it's like to be a martian? Find out - explore our Space page in Elementary Science. Create a model of the Solar System and learn about Planets. Discover Moon Phases. Explain Gravity, Force, and Motion after clicking these resources.

Cinco de Mayo - 5/5

A common misconception is that Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico's independence. Not so! Learn more about Cinco de Mayo, get craft and recipe ideas, and lots of information.

Teacher Appreciation Week - 5/7 - 5/11

National Teacher Day (5/8)

National School Nurse Day (5/9)

From bringing flowers to hosting a breakfast, there are many ways to recognize two of the most important fields in our children's lives. Honor Teacher Appreciation and School Nurse Day. Hooray for teachers and nurses!

Mother's Day - 5/13

Print out a Mother's Day book for early readers and have K-1 students complete the descriptions of their moms. Celebrate Mother's Day with this list of creative activities, recipes, and crafts.

Memorial Day - 5/28

Remember the fallen. Find Memorial Day quizzes, historic facts, and class/home projects to honor our troops.

** We Want Your Input! **

I4C already has Free Vocabulary Quizzes and Free Math Quizzes in our ACT/SAT Test Preparation Guide.

We're looking for new ideas for quizzes and informational resources that you'd feel are useful to you and your students. Please email us and let us know what you could use to make your teaching experience better.

Write to: susan.brooks@internet4classrooms.com

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.

We've redesigned our site map! If you ever need help finding a specific topic, click on our site map (link located in the upper right bar) and you can find almost anything you need, organized by letter.

Do you have students and families using English as a second language? Find listening/vocabulary exercises, flashcards, worksheets, and other online interactive ESL lessons and resources. We also have a page dedicated to Spanish speakers learning English that contains vocabulary exercises and online quizzes involving words, emotions, people, and numbers.

Cure end of the year ruts with these fun project ideas. We have a huge list of topics and data sources, from biographies and inventors, to subject area and grade.

Do you know how to write grants? Are you curious as to how grants work? Visit our Grants page for K-12 teachers and learn how to write grants, how to apply, and the different grant opportunities that exist.

When was the last time you visited our Lesson Plans page? Get planning templates, subjects, rubrics, technology, exceptional children and more.

Don't forget about our Assessment Assistance section to get everyone ready for TCAP: Find practice tests and online tests by grade and subject. Here are printable released Assessment Tests to practice with as well.

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I4C OVERVIEW

Whether you are a newcomer or an old pro, it's easy to get "lost" in everything I4C has to offer. We have subject help by grade level on almost all school topics. Don't forget to click and explore when you are looking for teacher resources. Here are a few main topics to get you started.

Early Childhood

Elementary Math

Elementary Language Arts

Elementary Science

Elementary Social Studies

Middle/High School Language Arts

Middle/High School Math

Middle/High School Science

Middle/High School Social Studies/History

Middle/High School Foreign Languages

SkillBuilders provide online interactives per subject and grade.

Tech Tutorials provide online support as well as printables.

Assessment Assistance offers online and printable tests.

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Don't Forget: Free Online Practice for ACT Test and SAT Test Resources . I4C now offers free SAT and ACT vocabulary and math quizzes . Become a free member and log in as much as you'd like. Students can take practice tests on 5000 vocabulary words.Take daily practice math quizzes on over 1000 questions. Log in to monitor your students' scores - including seeing which vocabulary words or math questions they missed. Interactive quizzes allow the test taker to retake and study as much as they want.

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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.

Focus On: Parent Resources

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

Make a card, cook a delicious meal, create a homemade craft - all great ideas for the Mother's Day celebrations in your life.

Getting a day off from school for Memorial Day is not the only thing important about this holiday. Let's take the time to remind ourselves what Memorial Day is about with this list of quizzes, crafts, and online information about the meaning of this important day.

Did you know Mt. St. Helen's is relatively young compared to other volcanoes? On May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helen's erupted and created the largest landslide on Earth in recorded history. Track seismic activity in your area. Browse I4C's earthquake and volcano links to learn all about seismic activity, the aftereffects, and the causes of such amazing earth events.

Don't forget our Apps page. We are always looking for free, educational games and apps our kids can use at home to practice their school skills.

Take advantage of our English as a Second Language tools (ESL). Learn English with our Spanish to English help, and find Spanish Websites for parents.

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Find ACT Test and SAT Test Resources to get your children ready for the ACT and SATs ! I4C now offers free SAT and ACT vocabulary and math quizzes. Become a free member and log in as much as you'd like. Students can take practice tests on 5000 vocabulary words and practice tests in math with over 1000 questions. As a parent, you can log in to monitor your children's scores - including seeing which words or math problems 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

Tech Tip #1: Hide Your App! Hide the window you're currently working in when someone comes up to your desk. For Mac, click Command+H. For PC, click ALT+space bar+N. Your window will be hidden until you open it again from your task bar. Click CTRL+ F4 to completely close a window quickly. Other shortcuts.

Tech Tip #2: Don't Forget to Restrict! Before you hand over the iPod, iPad, or iPhone to the kids, make sure you go to the General settings area and set your Restrictions - especially turning off app purchases, deleting apps, and even youtube.

Tech Tip #3: Free Thank You Notes: Teacher and Nurse Appreciation can bring lots of goodies. Here are some printable thank you note options to recognize those that took the time to give thanks.

We Need Your Help

Please click here to fill out a short survey that will help us ensure that the advertising on our site is appropriate for our audience.

Many thanks!

This Month's Blog

This month's blog: Glogging for Frogs! We have a guest blogger named Tracy Hanson from K12 Next Generation, LLC. It's not a blog! It's an interactive GLOG celebrating National Frog Month. Check it out!

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.

Sincerely,

Susan Brooks

Bill Byles

Internet4classrooms.com