February 2000 Newsletter.

Chinese New Year February 5
Waitangi Day (NZ) February 6
Lincoln's Birthday February 12
Valentine's Day February 14
Presidents' Day February 21
Washington's Birthday February 22

To all my friends and fellow teachers on the East Coast of the United States
(South Carolina right up to New England), I trust you are all safe and keeping
warm in light of the recent snowstorms.

Here in Southern Canada, cold temperatures for the past 3 weeks (often below
0 oF/-20 oC) has left snow on the ground for the first time in years.  I've been able
to make an ice rink in my backyard which has lasted for more than  2 weeks
now.  My kids are hoping that it will last longer.  With my grade 5 students, I've
decided for the first time in my teaching career to take on winter!  We've played
broomball, football and soccer in the cold and on our snow covered fields for
the past 3 weeks.  It's been a lot of fun.  I've told them that as long as the snow
is on the ground, we'll be having Phys. Ed outside.

I will be hosting a teachers chat this month at: http://www.teachers.net chat
The chat is primarily for Canadian teachers, but you're all invited to come out and
chat in real time on Friday February 11, 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.
The first ever Busy Educator's Newsletter Reader Survey has been posted on the
websiteat http://www.thebusyeducator.com/ Thank you to all who answered the questions.
Please come by and read the results or add your own.

To subscribe to The Busy Educator's Newsletter please go to:
http://www.thebusyeducator.com/
To unsubscribe please e-mail me at: marjan@glavac.com with unsubscribe in the
subject line.
Marjan Glavac editor
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In This Issue:
*WEBSITE UPDATES
*TIM'S TEACHER TIP
*EMBARK.COM
*BUILD-A-PRAIRIE
*DRAMAWEST
*WAR & CONFLICT-PAST: PRESENT: FUTURE
*TURTLE TRACKS
*BE A SPACECRAFT ENGINEER
*PARAMOUNT ELEMENTARY
*THE LIVERPOOL CENTRAL SCHOOL K-6 CURRICULUM AND STANDARDS
SITE
*BUSY EDUCATOR'S AWARD
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WEBSITE UPDATES
http://www.thebusyeducator.com/
A TOLL FREE ORDER number and a new FAX number have been added to
the website.

Check out the The Busy Educator's Newsletter survey.  Some surprising results!  The many comments were very interesting and useful.  Thank you!
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TIM'S TEACHER TIP
Tim Bedley
http://www.eleMENTOR.com
Modeling appropriate behavior is very crucial for training students.  Here's a great way to model appropriate behavior.  Quietly meet with one student who is meeting your expectations (i.e. a student who is working diligently on an assignment without being distracted or talking to neighbors.)  Tell the student to continue with the appropriate behavior even after you begin addressing the class.  At that point, get the other students' attention and point out the behavior of your model student.  Explain the exact movements the student is demonstrating that indicates appropriate behavior. Next, challenge the rest of the class to copy the model student.  Praise those who
follow through.
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EMBARK.COM
http://www.embark.com
Here's an online guide where students and educators alike can learn about and connect with educational and career opportunities.  The website has information on nearly 6,000 accredited higher education institutions, profiles on over 1,000 careers and majors, comprehensive financial aid data, and online applications.
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BUILD-A-PRAIRIE
http://www.umn.edu/bellmuse/mnideals/prairie
Can you turn a barren plain into a healthy prairie? Take the Build-a-Prairie challenge! Choose the best plants and animals to bring to your prairie restoration site--and be sure to avoid dangerous exotic species! Then watch the prairie come to life in exciting animations! This Web adventure is part of Bell LIVE!'s 1999 "On the Prairie" distance
learning program.
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DRAMAWEST
http://members.networx.net.au/~kimbo/Dramawest/
This website is the online face of the Association of Drama Educators of
Western Australia.  It provides resources that will be useful to teachers and students of Theatre Arts, Drama, Speech and other performing arts.  Services include a chatroom, links directory, newsletter, lesson plans, and an email list and are open to visitors globally.
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WAR & CONFLICT-PAST: PRESENT: FUTURE
http://library.advanced.org/25909/html/about.html
"War & Conflict - Past: Present: Future" was created by three high school
students during a six month time period for participation in the 1999
International ThinkQuest Competition.  Two of these students live in the US,
while the third team member lives in Singapore.  Collaboration was done
entirely through the email, where each of us were capable of learning about
each other's unique beliefs and culture.

War & Conflict is a highly educational resource containing:
• In-depth information on 10 major wars and conflicts, including: the
Punic wars, Napoleonic wars, French revolution, American Revolution, American
Civil war, WWI, WWII, Cold war, Vietnam war,  and Middle Eastern conflicts.
• A huge media archive with images, audio and video on each of the 10
major wars that are covered.

• A theatre section with: interactive quizzes and many war-related downloads.
• An education section for teachers on how our website can be used.
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TURTLE TRACKS
http://www.turtletrack.org/
This Native American Youth Newsletter is a free, online newsletter
celebrating and honoring Native American cultures.  Bi-monthly issues feature
American Indian history, heros, current events, stories, activities, and
weblinks. Our website includes a website research library, interactive area,
access to current and archived TURTLE TRACKS issues, and much more!
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BE A SPACECRAFT ENGINEER
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/education/jason/index2.html
 NASA needs your help! Can you design a spacecraft to protect the
 International Space Station from orbital junk? First learn how NASA
 engineers designed the STARDUST comet-sampling spacecraft, then design
  your own spacecraft for this new mission. (For fourth grade to adult)
Be a Spacecraft Engineer was originally developed for the JASON Project's
subscription program (http://www.jasonproject.org), but it is now on
NASA's website and freely accessible to all. So enjoy!
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CosmicQuest
http://www.childrensmuseum.org/cosmicquest
CosmicQuest features:
-Living in Space: Design a Space Station. Can you match wits with NASA
engineers and design a human habitat as good as the new International
Space Station? Starting with a basic aluminum module, choose the best components to make it safe for astronauts.  Focus on the basics at first, then try to
improve your space station so astronauts can really work and live there
for a long time!

-Field Guide to the Universe. Learn about the planets, great astronomers
of history and today, and the robot spacecraft that have discovered so much
about the universe in this online field guide.
-In the Sky Tonight? What's that bright star up there? Is there a meteor
shower this month? Find out what's up each month here.
-SpaceWatch Webcasts. Streaming video programs about NASA spaceflight,
astronomy, and more.

-Expedition to the North Magnetic Pole. Follow a May 2000 expedition that
will search for the magnetic pole's current location.
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PARAMOUNT ELEMENTARY
http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/mainfold/schoopag/elementary/paramount/
This site serves as a link between Paramount Elementary School and the community. There are homework links, Author and illustrator links, MSPAP, PTA,  summer reading list information, ocean links, information about running a summer computer camp and a webquest on learning to use the internet. Subject area links can be found under grade level teachers sections, as well as music links from the music teacher's page. Also includes a link to the School Improvement and the MSPAP test results that are very important to all schools in MD. The IRL (Instructional Resource Library) for the BOE in Washington County.
From this main page the media specialists can find their curriculum (by grade level), author and illustrator links, links to professional organizations, award winning books, links of interest to media specialists, conference tips, quotes and sayings related to books, literature and reading, and tips for new media specialists.

http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/mainfold/supportse/reslib/index.html
Elementary Integrated English Language Arts for the BOE of Washington County.
This site provides internet connections for teachers sorted by grade level and
curriculum areas from the essential curriculum. Also includes Curriculum with
Lessons and ideas.

http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/mainfold/curric/elemela/index.html
Elementary Mathematics for the BOE of Washington County. This site provides
internet connections for teachers. Sites are arranged by grade level and curriculum areas.

Also includes the framework the teachers are expected to follow.
http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/mainfold/curric/elemela/index.html
Elementary Science for the BOE of Washington County. This site provides internet
connections for teachers. The sites are arranged by grade level and subjects from the
curriculum at each grade level. Also includes the scope and sequence.
http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/mainfold/curric/elemsci/index.html
Elementary Social Studies for the BOE of Washington County. This site provides
Internet connections for teachers. The sites are arranged by grade level and subject.

Also includes scope and sequence.
http://www.wcboe.k12.md.us/mainfold/curric/elemsoc/index.html
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THE LIVERPOOL CENTRAL SCHOOL K-6 CURRICULUM AND STANDARDS
SITE
http://www.liverpool.k12.ny.us/LCSD/standards/lstandards/intro.html
This site is an infrastructure built for the entire community.  Standards, curriculum, and objectives are all linked to the best resources on the web and can be
accessed by anyone interested in our curriculum or seeking what exactly needs to be taught and learned.  This site is still expanding but Social Studies and ELA are complete.

The standard-based curriculum structure will assist educators in seeing how we organized and built curriculum to our State's Standards for Learning (See Soc. St.). It will also expedite a teacher's shift from content teaching to conceptually oriented teaching and help them assess students using a standards-based performance objective.  Hundreds of internet links are provided in this site to the most specific level available; the objective that is to be mastered.
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BUSY EDUCATOR'S AWARD
If you have a web site or know of one that you feel merits the Busy Educator's
Award, please feel free to send me your suggestions.  The award is given out to
web sites that contain excellent content for busy educators.
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Send us those tips, insights or web sites that have helped you with your class and
students. We will share these in future updates. Please send to:
marjan@glavac.com
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Mr. Marjan Glavac author "The Busy Educator's Guide To The World Wide Web"
LONDON, Ontario Canada   ISBN 0-9683310-0-9 200 pages
speaker, teacher, author   marjan@glavac.com
FREE subscription to The Busy Educator's Newsletter http://www.thebusyeducator.com/
              "There are no boundaries for the journeys of the mind."
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