There's a New Kid in Town (for Kids and Teachers, Too!)

You'll want to visit and bookmark SchoolRooms, a new learning portal for K-12 students, teachers, and parents. Designed by teachers and librarians, SchoolRooms features:

• 71 virtual rooms of content for elementary, middle, and high school levels (Check out the full listing of virtual rooms here)
• Nearly 2,000 unique page views for students to visit 23,000+ links to high-quality Web sites
• More than 5 million Web pages crawled and indexed for Best of Web

The information provided is curriculum-oriented and based on state standards in Florida and other states. There are videos, photographs, and audio recordings, too. SchoolRooms says: "Exploration, discovery, and learning don't have to be boring." They are setting out to prove it!

I've added to the "More Links for You" section of this blog in the column on the right. Check it out!

VIrtual Cupcakes for Cancer Re$earch

There are a lot of fun sites on the Internet, and many that can raise awareness and cash for good causes. For example, Electrolux (yep, the vacuum cleaner and appliance people) has a special site where you can build a cupcake and send it to a friend.

You choose the flavor, decorate it, and add a personal message. Then email it to anyone who deserves a little treat, or save it to your desktop to brighten your day.

When you send a virtual cupcake to a friend or loved one this February, Electrolux will donate a $1 to The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (with a minimum of $25,000 and a maximum of $30,000) as part of its $500,000 commitment to help fight ovarian cancer.

Calorie-free, too! I made this one just for you!

WebQuests

Several of you have asked about WebQuests. In short, a WebQuest is a classroom-based lesson in which most or all of the information that students explore and evaluate comes from the World Wide Web. It was developed by Dr. Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University. The WebQuest has six parts and is designed to help students learn, think, problem solve, become more cooperative and collaborative through the activity.

You can find a short tutorial here.

There are thousands of already developed WebQuests available on the web for you to use. Or you can create your own once you've learned how to do it! You might find this valuable for another course!

Need a Topic for Your Scavenger Hunt?

February has several holidays, you know...there's President's Day, Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day and of course you know it is Black History Month. One of the online groups I follow faithfully has a member who publishes a list of "special events" for each month. One of them might make a good topic for your group project, the scavenger hunt. Others are just interesting. Some are just silly, but it just goes to show that there is something to celebrate every day!

February 2009 is...

AMD/Low Vision Awareness Month
American Heart Month
Bake for Family Fun
Festival of Camellias
International Boost Your Self Esteem Month
International Expect Success Month
Library Lovers' Month
Marfan Syndrome Awareness Month
National African American History Month (also Black History Month)
National Bird Feeding Month
National Cherry Month
National Children's Dental Health Month
National Laugh-Friendly Month
National Parent Leadership Month
National Pet Dental Health Month
National Senior Independence Month
National Time Mangagement Month
Prevent-a-Litter Month
Relationship Wellness Month
Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month
Sweet Potato Month
Unchain a Dog Month
Wise Health Consumer Month
Worldwide Renaissance of the Hearth Month
Youth Leadership Month

Children's Authors & Illustrators Week (2/1-2/7)
International Coaching Week (2/1-2/7)
National Patient Recognition Week (2/1-2/7)
Publicity For Profit Week (2/1-2/7)
Solo Diners Out Week (2/1-2/7)
Women's Heart Week (2/1-2/7)
International Networking Week (2/1-2/7)
Candlemas (2/2)
Bonza Bottler Day (2/2)
Ground Hog Day (2/2)
Imbolc (Imbolg, Lupercalia, Feast of Pan, Feast of Torches, Feast of
Waxing Light, Bright's Day, and Oimelc) (2/2)
Halfway Point of Winter (2/3)
Japan: Setsubin (Bean-Throwing Festival) (2/3)
National Girls and Women in Sports Day (2/4)
Paczki Day (2/5)

Solar Eclipse (2/9)
Japan: Founding Day--660 B.C. (2/11)
Lincoln's Birthday (2/12)
Valentine's Day (2/14)

National Engineers Week (2/15-2/21)
President's Day (2/16)
Brazil: Carnival (2/17)
National PTA Founder's Day (2/17)

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (2/22-2/28)
National Pancake Week (2/22-2/28)
Read Me Week (2/23-2/27)
Washington's Birthday (2/22)
Bun Day in Iceland (2/23)
International Pancake Day (2/24)
Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans (2/24)
Spay Day USA (2/24)
Ash Wednesday (Lent Begins) (2/25)
National Polar Bear Day (2/27)