NetHappenings Newsletter
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NHN: NETHAPPENINGS NEWSLETTER #23
NEW THIS WEEK for NHN
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/NHnewsletter.html>
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Dear Readers,
Net Happenings Newsletter, launched by the Educational
CyberPlayGround, features both news and resources.
Karen Ellis* Founder of the Educational CyberPlayGround,
Guavaberry Books and the National Children's Folksong
Repository invites others to help sponsor NHN sent
to members of the NetHappenings Mailing List.
Written by Classroom Teacher Alan Haskvitz
1997 National Teacher's Hall of Fame
All USA Today First Team Teacher
Reader's Digest Hero in Education
Cherry International Award for Outstanding Teachers
1994 National Middle Level Teacher of the Year (NCSS)
[w] http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Ringleaders/al.html
Edited by Karen
Ellis Founder of ECP
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/AboutUs/
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IN THIS ISSUE
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IN THE NEWS
- Schools paying for crime tips
- California Drop-Out Rate Subject of Research
- New Food Pyramid released
- Council of the Great City Schools Reports Gains in Education
- Power Trips - 14 M Sponosr pays for Congress Perks
INTERESTING SITES
- Very Large Collection of Classroom Discipline Links
- Blogs in Education: The How and Why
- Did you know this is the Year of the Languages?
- Wondir Weaves Search Create Free and Open Answer Communities
SITES YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW EXISTED
- Astronomy for kids
- Make Your Own Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie
- Find Meeting Space Anywhere
- Absurd Math
- The Infinite Library
- Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day
- Grants.gov,federal grant-making agencies & apply
FACTOIDS
- Which States pay the least?
- Which States lost the most in salary buying power?
- Children's knowledge gap of folk songs threatens heritage.
- Email the killer app? It sure was ... it killed me.
WE ARE NOT ALONE
- India reporting problems
- Student absenteeism and disaffection with school pose widespread
challenges for teachers and policy makers worldwide.
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IN THE NEWS
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Schools paying for crime tips
Using revenue from its candy and soda sales, Model High School plans to pay up to $100 for information about
thefts and drug or gun possession on campus.
http://tinyurl.com/5y2bc
California Drop-Out Rate Subject of Research
Button button, whose got the correct data as this research tries to find out why so many minorities
don't
finish high school.
http://tinyurl.com/87n9h
New Food Pyramid released
More colorful, this site can easily be used by students and even has a place for them to calculate their own
needs.
http://www.mypyramid.gov
Council of the Great City Schools Reports Gains in Education
In 65 major urban districts in 38 states, the percentage of fourth- and eighth-graders scoring at or above
proficiency in math and reading is up substantially. In fourth-grade math, for example, 55.3 percent were
proficient in 2004, up from 44.1 percent in 2002. Overall, more than 95 percent of urban systems increased
their math scores in more than half the
grades tested, while almost 70 percent increased their math scores faster than their surrounding states. And
there is evidence that achievement gaps between white/wealthy students and poor/minority students are
narrowing in
these districts.
http://tinyurl.com/c7x85
Power Trips
Reforms in recent years have made many of
the lush perks once enjoyed by Congress disappear.
But not all, certainly not travel. That's the
conclusion of an investigation by Marketplace,
American RadioWorks, who cataloged every
privately sponsored trip taken by members of the
House or Senate since 2000. The result: Over
$14 million spent by corporations, universities,
and other outside interests, sending representatives
around the world, for sometimes questionable reasons.
http://tinyurl.com/9g7jd
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INTERESTING SITES
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Classroom Management and Discipline Tips and Links
Blogs in Education
A vast and valuable resource for teachers to help them understand and create their own blogs. Good
collection
of links.
http://awd.cl.uh.edu/blog
Did you know this is the Year of the Languages?
A whole lot of links to foreign language resources sponsored by, yep, the American Council on the Teaching
of
Foreign Languages.
http://www.yearoflanguages.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageid=3591
Wondir Weaves Search and Instant Messaging
to Create Free and Open Answer Communities
PR http://tinyurl.com/dejxz and Blog
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SITES YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW EXISTED
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Astronomy for kids
http://www.dustbunny.com/afk
Make Your Own Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie. Fun for the Whole FamilyDeflect Mind Control Rays
http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html
Find Meeting Space Anywhere
This site lists most every place that holds meetings. Just type in the city and state and the list comes
up.
http://www.eventective.com/search/searchs.aspx
Absurd Math
Taking word problems to a new level, Absurb Math is an episodic story game integrates pre-algebra level
math
into the game play. Only first four games are free.
http://www.learningwave.com/abmath
The Infinite Library
http://tinyurl.com/csehp
Fee and open access is exactly what public libraries, as storehouses of printed books and periodicals, have
traditionally provided. But the very fact that digital files are so much easier to share than physical
books
(which scares publishers just as MP3 file sharing scares record companies) could lead to limits on
redistribution that prevent libraries from giving patrons as much access to their digital collections as
they
would like. Google has brought us to a tipping point that could define how access to the worlds literature
may proceed, Kahle says.
Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day
Yom Hashoah - Thursday, May 5, 2005
http://www.jr.co.il/hotsites/j-holoc.htm
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is transitioning to
Grants.gov, a website that allows organizations & individuals
to find grants from all federal grant-making agencies & apply
for them electronically. To learn more about this transition,
the new policy & procedural requirements, & what these
changes mean for you, please see:
http://www.ed.gov/policy/fund/guid/gposbul/esubmitpolicysummary.html
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WE ARE NOT ALONE
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""We are bumbling along with this outmodeled system of elementary education, which is a real
shame."
http://eserver.org/courses/fall95/76-100g/papers/mekala
"Think 22nd Century Linguistic Rights"
What language should a nation officially call its own?
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Literacy/OfficialDialect.asp
Student absenteeism and disaffection with school pose widespread challenges for teachers and
policy makers worldwide.
According to a new OECD report drawing on data from 42 mostly developed nations, the United States is doing
well.
http://tinyurl.com/8uhva
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FACTOIDS
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Which States pay the least?
Lowest average teacher salary for 2002-03: South Dakota ($32,416), North Dakota ($33,869) and Mississippi
($34,555)
Which States lost the most in salary buying power?
The largest declines were Alaska (-16.6%), Connecticut (-10.3%), Kansas (-9.9%), New York (-7.7%),
Wisconsin (-6.7%) and Vermont (-6.7%)
Children's knowledge gap of folk songs threatens heritage
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/NCFR/opportunity.html
Children in the
United States arent singing the songs of their heritage, an omission that puts the nation in jeopardy of
losing a longstanding and rich part of its identity. States are ranked - Kids do not know their folksongs
anymore and they aren't being taught anymore.
Email the killer app? It sure was ... it killed me.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Internet/E-MAIL/Email.html
Everybody
wants to be a transmitter, nobody wants to listen - we're sick to death of it all.
There is too much out there and we're burned out.
Productivity at work was damaged and the effect on staff who could not resist trying to juggle new messages
with existing work was the equivalent, over a day, to the loss of a night's sleep.
Thanks for reading,
Al
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Ringleaders/al.html>
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