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1st Quarter -- Spring 2006
What's Happening!
Ready To Learn
 CYBERCHASE kicks off a month of science activities with:
SUPER CYBERCHASE SCIENCE
AT THE NY HALL OF SCIENCE--Participants enjoyed fun CYBERCHASE activities learned how math could beused to unlock and explore science ideas. Cyber-celebrities Digit and Harry will also made a special appearance!
This month-long exploration of math-science connections links 20 encore episodes of the award-winning math mystery cartoon to new and integrated online resources. Kids will discover how our world is shaped by math and science through the following four weeks of themed programming: How Things Work, Measuring Up, Making Predictions and Puzzling Patterns.
Additionally, on the website, visit "Pick a Project" for cool ideas for science projects and a new CYBERCHASE The Quest online game. While you are there, help protect the animals of EcoHaven from Hacker's dastardly schemes and see the all-new CYBERCHASE Math in Science & Engineering Activity Guide!Check it out on the CYBERCHASE website, pbskidsgo.org/cyberchase.
Get Up and Go! Teletubbies National Day of Exercise Initiative will be celebrating its sixth great year on May 17, 2006. As usual UNC-TV's Ready To Learn staff will be planning Get Up and Go! events in North Carolina. Watch the website for more information on this year's celebration.
In addition to the great physical activities, the sponsor RAGDOLL welcomes online partner, kinderstart.com to help support the importance of physical movement for children and promote the Sixth Annual Get Up and Go!
The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) is pleased to announce it will host a live Spaceflight Downlink with the International Space Station on February 15, 2006 from 9:15 a.m to 10:15 a.m. North Carolina students will interview International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, a Red Springs, North Carolina native, and Flight Engineer, Valery Tokarev of Russia.
Cmdr. McArthur and the Expedition-12 crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on September 30, 2005 aboard a Soyuz TMA spacecraft and docked with the space station on October 3, 2005. McArthur will live and work aboard the International Space Station on a six-month tour of duty. He has also flown aboard STS-58, STS-71, STS-92, and the Mir Space Station.
The February 15th event will link students from six Robeson County high schools, staff, students and guests in the NCSSM community in a videoconference to see the astronauts live on NASA TV. Students in Durham will talk to the astronauts who will have audio capabilities to respond to the questions.
NASA TV's website will provide a live video stream of the astronauts' conversation with the students from 9:37 to 9:55 AM at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
For a video stream of the hour-long event originating at NCSSM from 9:15-10:15 AM, live on February 15th, and archived there for later viewing, go to http://www.dlt.ncssm.edu/distance_learning/Presentations/nasa.htm
For more information, contact Carole Stern, stern@ncssm.edu or Myra Halpin, halpin@ncssm.edu
TeacherLine
Thank you to 53 school districts providing professional development credit for TeacherLine courses in North Carolina! Thank you to the 50 plus North Carolina teachers who have taken TeacherLine courses in the past three months!
TeacherLine Promotes Online Learning Communities
Learning Communities (LC) are groups of learners who have similar interests, a desire to learn, and are willing to share ideas and opinions. For a sense of community to develop, members must have mutual commitment to the group's goals and engagement in the process. Once this is established, members grow through interaction with other members. A key concept underlying the LC model is that members learn best from each other. TeacherLine's Online learning communities offer participating teachers a unique and valuable experience in professional development. With a timeless structure that can fit any teacher's schedule and the leadership of a trained facilitator, the learning community (LC) becomes a classroom on demand able to meet the needs of every participant.
Tech Team Gems
Tech Team GEMSis a new professional development opportunity for North Carolina middle school teachers (grades 5-8). This grant application is available through March 31, 2006. The Tech Team program (www.knowitall.org/techteam) will provide teacher-training courses through TeacherLine, online professional development courses staffed by scholars in state-of-the-art teaching practices. These courses are directed towards working teachers and offer a powerful tool for change in the professional lives of educators. Additionally, administrators will host several symposia and on-site training opportunities for teachers to develop appropriate versions of Tech Team programs in their area. The program will culminate with a summer camp to address issues of program implementation and provide a forum where participating teachers can showcase their projects.
For instructions on how to apply, click here.
Northampton County Schools
Provides TeacherLine Professional Development
Congratulations to Northampton County Schools for securing professional development funds to finance at least twenty (20) teachers in that district to take TeacherLine courses. Teachers in Northampton County Schools contact Rhonda Moses or visit your district website at http://www.northampton.k12.nc.us/ for more information.
Way to go Northampton County Schools!
Adult Learning
Workplace Safety and Health Literacy Summits
In addition to conducting "Ready To Earn" workshops in Pre-GED, GED, ESL and college credit courses, UNC-TV Adult Learning has been active in holding Workplace Safety and Health Literacy Summits. Funded by a grant from the National Center for Outreach, the summits were held in High Point, January 10, and in Greenville, January 20.
Partners included the NC Department of Labor, the Triad YWCA, the Triad Hospice, Guilford County Social Services, the Randolph County Latino Coalition and East Carolina University. Twenty-four (24) community leaders attended the High Point summit, and eighty-seven (87) attended the Greenville summit. The purpose was to develop at community dialogue on matters of safety and health, with input from workers and management in a variety of occupations and health/safety agencies.
Education Forum
Our website will provide details of the upcoming April broadcast of Education Forum.
Parents, Teachers and Students
Please check out these valuable online resources...
Impact of Technology
Visit the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) website to view lesson plans, activities and materials for teachers, parents and students, and learn how technology is impacting education across North Carolina and the United Stateshttp://www.edtechimpact.org/
Learning Essentials
Check out Microsoft's Education Products Group new Web site to support its Learning Essentials for Microsoft Office, a free educational resource for teachers and students. The site includes everything from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint templates; tutorials; and a new content development kit, which lets publishers and educators create their own content for Learning Essentials in order to further personalize the tools students receive. http://www.microsoft.com/learningessentials
Free Sight Word Activity Online
Sierra Vista Software has added a series of free Sight Words exercises to its Quiz-Tree.com Web site. The new animated online exercises have been designed to help children master sight words, which are some of the most frequently used words in the English language (comprising about 50-70 percent of general, non-technical reading material). The exercises have been divided into several groups according to target grades: Pre-Primer, Primer, First Grade, Second Grade, and Third Grade. http://www.quiz-tree.com/Sight-Words_main.html
SMARTer Kids Foundation Seeking North American Teachers for 2006-2007 Connections Program
The SMARTer Kids Foundation of Canada is now accepting applications for its 2006-2007 Connections program, a fully funded collaborative learning program for sixth-grade classes from across North America. Eight selected teachers will have their classrooms outfitted with leading-edge education technology, and will be trained to use the technology so they can undertake collaborative projects with other participating teachers and classes. Applications must be received by March 31, 2006. http://www.smarterkids.org/aboutus/press/press61.asp
Check out the 2006 Children's Book Award at these educational partner websites that post information and/or activities and lesson ideas for the nominated books:
- http://www.bookhive.org/NCCBA
- http://www.ncslma.org/
- http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/
- http://www.learnnc.org/newlnc/linkowk.nsf/doc
- http://www.ncwiseowl.org
For further information, contact Jackie Pierson at 336-945-9637(h)/ 727-2373 (w) or e-mail JackieP@triad.rr.com
Spring In North Carolina
It's Spring ! by Linda Glaser
A child observes the arrival of spring and its effects on plants and animals. Includes suggestions for nature study projects. Age: toddler, preschool, kindergarten, elementary
Spring is Here by Lois Lenski
Could there be a more cheerful time of year than spring? Winter is over, birds are singing, flowers are in bloom . . . and it's time to play outside! Lois Lenski's rhyming, pocketsize picture book-published in 1945, and out of print for decades-is back in full, glorious color. Age: toddler, preschool, kindergarten, elementary
The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
The Seasons of Arnolds Apple Tree is an excellent book with illustrations that capture the changes in an apple tree throughout the seasons. I read this book with my kindergartners every September and they enjoy it very much. This is a wonderful picture book for kids and a great resource for teachers when teaching about apples, plant life and the four seasons. Age: toddler, preschool, kindergarten, elementary
The Spring Equinox by Ellen Jackson
Wonderful book about spring. It goes through celebrations of spring from different cultures and different times. Also, it explains where some of our current traditions and holidays may come from. Near the end of the book is "A Spring Story." This is a three-page adaptation of a very old myth 'goddess of dawn and spring time.' Age: toddler, preschool, kindergarten, elementary
How to Read a North Carolina Beach: Bubble Holes, Barking Sands, and Rippled Runnels by Orrin H Pilkey, Tracy Monegan Rice, William J Neal (Science) 2004
Selected Climbs in North Carolina by Yon Lambert (Sports & Recreation) 2002
North Carolina Slave Narratives: The Lives of Moses Roper, Lunsford Lane, Moses Grandy, and.edited by William L Andrews, David Davis, Tampathia Evans, Ian Finseth, Andrea Williams (Biography & Autobiography) 2003
String Bands in the North Carolina Piedmont by Bob Carlin
February is SUPER CYBERCHASE SCIENCE Month!
January 30- February 24th
CYBERCHASE kicks off a month of science activities with:
SUPER CYBERCHASE SCIENCE AT THE NY HALL OF SCIENCE
Participants will enjoy fun CYBERCHASE activities to show kids how math can be used to unlock and explore science ideas. Cyber-celebrities Digit and Harry will also make a special appearance!
This month-long exploration of math-science connections links 20 encore episodes of the award-winning math mystery cartoon to new and integrated online resources. Kids will discover how our world is shaped by math and science through the following four weeks of themed programming: How Things Work, Measuring Up, Making Predictions and Puzzling Patterns.
Additionally, on the website, visit "Pick a Project" for cool ideas for science projects and a new CYBERCHASE The Quest online game. While you are there, help protect the animals of EcoHaven from Hacker's dastardly schemes and see the all new CYBERCHASE Math in Science & Engineering Activity Guide!Check it out on the CYBERCHASE website, pbskidsgo.org/cyberchase.
Programming Calendar:
- Jan 30th - Feb 3rd - Super CYBERCHASE Science Programming Theme Week #1:
- HOW THINGS WORK. Featuring the following episodes:
- Penguin Tears (PBS # 403)
- Clock Like an Egyptian (PBS # 109)
- A Crinkle in Time (PBS # 408)
- Model Behavior (PBS # 122)
- A Tikiville Turkey Day (PBS # 410)
- 6th - 10th - Super CYBERCHASE Science Programming Theme Week #2:
- MEASURING UP. Featuring the following episodes:
- Cool It (PBS # 114)
- A Broom of One's Own (PBS # 409)
- Fortress of Attitude (PBS # 123)
- Measure for Measure (PBS # 405)
- All the Right Angles (PBS # 205)
- 13th - 17th - Super CYBERCHASE Science Programming Theme Week #3:
- MAKING PREDICTIONS. Featuring the following episodes:
- The Grapes of Plath (PBS # 306)
- Hugs & Witches (PBS # 201)
- Raising the Bar (PBS # 210)
- A Change of Art (PBS # 406)
- Return to Sensible Flats (PBS # 117)
- 20th - 24th - Super CYBERCHASE Science Programming Theme Week #4:
- PUZZLING PATTERNS. Featuring the following episodes:
- Double Trouble (PBS # 209)
- EcoHaven CSE (PBS # 301)
- The Secrets of Symmetria (PBS # 110)
- Out of Sync (PBS # 126)
- Past Perfect Prediction (PBS # 404)
On Monday, February 27, 2006, Operation Breakthrough Headstart will visit UNC-TV for a tour and Literacy Party. Dr. Gail Hayes will provide the students with a Locket and Pocket Socket learning experience. Listed below are details, an agenda and contact information for anyone who needs it.
Date: Monday, February 27, 2006
Time: February 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Location: UNC-TV's Boardroom
Facilitator: Kamona Herring, Outreach Coordinator
Literacy Party and Tour: Dr. Gail Hayes with Locket and Pocket Socket
Theme: Black History
Participants: 20 students, 2 teachers (Lillian Byrd and Brenda Gray)
Organization: Operation Breakthrough Headstart Center at the Y
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