Provide Support for Disadvantaged Youth
The Staples Foundation for Learning Grants provide funding to programs that support or provide job skills and/or education for all people, with a special emphasis on disadvantaged youth. The amount of the award varies.
Deadline: April 6, 2007
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Develop Environmental Curricula
The Melinda Gray Ardia Environmental Foundation gives grants of $1,000 to support curricula that empower and encourage students to become involved in solving environmental and social problems as informed decision makers through the emphasis and application of basic ecological principles. K–12 educators are eligible for support to develop environmental curricula that integrate field activities and classroom teaching and that incorporate basic ecological principles and problem solving.
Deadline: April 9, 2007
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Make Use of Cable Resources
The Time Warner Cable National Teacher Awards provide cash to outstanding teachers who develop creative learning projects that involve cable resources, such as programming or Internet technology, and focus on curriculum development in areas such as cross-curricular studies, classroom-to-community activities, study-related materials, audiovisual productions or multimedia applications. Eligible individuals must teach at a state-accredited K–12 public or private U.S. school located within a Time Warner Cable service area. Award recipients will receive $2,000 cash, $3,000 for school technology advancement and a trip to Washington, D.C. to attend an awards banquet and meet with Congressional leaders.
Deadline: April 13, 2007
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Join the growing list of teachers enjoying the eBookDestination Rewards Program. On the first day of each month, a digital coupon (representing 5 percent of your total purchases in the previous month) will be added to your shopping cart. You’ll then be notified via email of the presence (and amount) of this coupon.

There’s no application to complete, no points to collect, no cards to carry, no codes to enter and (most important) no fees to pay. Quite simply, you are repaid for your loyalty with a 5 percent credit toward future purchases. It’s as easy as that!

Browse the eBookstore now! You’ll receive an automatic discount on some 3,000 ebook titles, many of which are bundled with downloadable audio MP3 files, from major educational publishers. Plus, there’s always a selection of the most popular titles on sale!

Demonstrate Innovative Use of Educational Technology
T.H.E. Journal and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) have announced the fourth annual Sylvia Charp award program in honor of Dr. Charp’s groundbreaking contributions and extended service to the education technology community. T.H.E. Journal and ISTE will identify and recognize a school district that has shown effectiveness and innovation in the application of technology. The winning district will receive $2,000 to go toward registration, travel and housing for two representatives to attend the 2007 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Atlanta, Georgia, where the district will be honored. The district will also be recognized in both T.H.E. Journal and Learning and Leading with Technology.
Deadline: March 31, 2007 for nominations
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Recognize Aspiring Young Poets
The Sarah Mook Memorial Poetry Contest acknowledges, encourages and rewards the efforts of student poets. Sarah Gail Mook was a student in the third grade at Buckingham Friends School in Lahaska, Pennsylvania, when she died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm on December 14, 1995. Sarah started writing poems in kindergarten. The goal of this outreach is that Sarah’s gift will continue to inspire young poets. This year’s winning poets will receive $100 for first prize, $50 for second prize and $25 for third prize in each of four categories: kindergarten–grade 2, grades 3–5, grades 6–8 and grades 9–12.
Deadline: March 31, 2007
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Inspire Young Creative Writers
The University of Massachusetts Amherst has announced the second annual Juniper Institute for Young Writers, an extraordinary week of creative writing workshops, seminars, craft sessions and readings for high school writers. The institute offers participants intensive workshops and seminars especially for young writers, complemented by unparalleled exposure to world-renowned authors. English teachers, high school principals and guidance counselors are invited to nominate up to two outstanding students for scholarships.
Deadline: General applications are accepted on a rolling basis; scholarship applications must be postmarked by April 9, 2007
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Encourage Young Playwrights with Disabilities
The VSA arts Playwright Discovery Program invites middle and high school students to examine how disability affects their lives and the lives of others. Playwrights may write about their own experiences or the experiences of another person or a fictional character. Young playwrights with or without disabilities are encouraged to apply. The selected script will be professionally staged and produced at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The award recipient will receive up to $2,000 and a trip to Washington, D.C. to view the winning script as it is performed onstage.
Deadline: April 13, 2007
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Transform Lives Through Music
Sponsored by Music in Motion, the Butterfly Awards honor the memory of the 15,000 children imprisoned in the Ghetto/Concentration Camp Terezin, whose spirits were kept alive by music, art and poetry. Three awards—The Journey of Butterfly, The Journey of Butterfly: The Legacy and I Never Saw Another Butterfly—will be given to exceptional music projects that help to transform the lives of children or adults who are in special need. To apply for an award, send information about your project or organization, explaining the background, goals and the effect of your musical endeavor on those involved. The awards include Music in Motion gift certificates from $100 to $1,000 and The Metamorphosis of Music poster.
Deadline: April 15, 2007
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Create a Winning Web Site
Sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation, ThinkQuest is an international competition in which students and teachers are challenged to create the best educational Web sites. The sites are hosted in the ThinkQuest Library, a rich resource used by millions worldwide. Teams compete in three age divisions: 9–12, 13–15 and 16–19, determined by the age of the oldest student. The top ten teams of each division will receive laptops and $1,000 for their schools. The top three teams will also travel to ThinkQuest Live, a four-day conference.
Deadline: April 16, 2007 for entry submissions
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Create Online Quizzes
ProProfs.com has launched ProProfs Quiz School, a free learning tool that enables educators to utilize the power of the Internet to create online quizzes and practice tests for their students. The site also provides a sizable free quiz library, where teachers can browse through the categories or simply search to find quizzes of interest. Teachers can also share quizzes with their colleagues or post quizzes on their class Web page.
Click Here for Free Quiz Tool

Develop Media Literacy Skills
Project SMARTArt is an online “how-to” program for teaching media literacy skills to K–5 students. The site offers educators resources at no charge, including professional development guides, sample lesson plans and integrated classroom activities, covering a range of K–5 subject areas. Project SMARTArt was created to integrate two principal tenets of media literacy—critical analysis and self-expression—into traditional curricula.
Click Here to Access Free Resources

Hook Students on Algebra
“Learn Math, or Die Trying” is hardly what you’d expect to hear in a traditional, textbook-based math class, but when algebra students tackle Dimenxian, a sleek 3-D video game, that slogan fits well: Players race to dismantle a “bio-digital” virus that threatens to infect and destroy the globe—a dire end that may or may not happen, depending on the players math skills. Users complete the action-packed, graphically engaging game by locating coordinates on the x and y axes, identifying quadrants, graphing linear equations and more. Site-license and per-student fees vary.
Click Here to View Free Game Trailer and Download Free Demo

Match Activities to Student Interests
Renzulli Learning Systems, a program developed at the University of Connecticut, surveys student interests online and then generates a list of thousands of possible projects for them to complete. While access to the learning system requires a site license, you can take a brief online tour free of charge. See sample questions about interests, abilities, expression styles and learning styles under Renzulli Profiler^TM. Click on the puzzle piece labeled My Profile to see a sample profile and then click the button My Enrichment Activities to view some sample activities that have been matched to the student’s talents and interests. Also view sample Open-Ended Questions in the student’s Notebook.
Click Here to Access Free Demo

Get free unlimited online access to all the print content in The Big Deal Book for Educators of Struggling Students, Middle School Through High School, The Big Deal Book for Teachers of English Language Learners and The Big Deal Book of Technology for K–12 Educators. Explore the many opportunities to fund your special programs, access timely reports and articles, locate free and inexpensive resources and identify engaging interactive Web sites.

Strengthen American Competitiveness for the 21st Century
Speaking before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called on federal lawmakers to help strengthen U.S. high schools by creating a Center for State Education Data, bolstering math and science education and introducing more challenging standards. Gates also called for making the curriculum more relevant to today’s increasingly technologically sophisticated students. The Senate committee’s hearing, Strengthening American Competitiveness for the 21st Century, was held on March 7, 2007.
Click Here to Download Gate's Testimony
Click Here to Watch the Hearing

Take Advantage of the Education Expense Deduction
The U.S. Congress has reinstated the Education Expense Deduction, but the legislation was made into law in late December, long after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) printed this year’s official tax forms. To claim the $250 deduction for out-of-pocket classroom expenses, educators will need to follow special instructions issued by the IRS—or to file their returns electronically. Along with the deduction for educators’ out-of-pocket classroom expenses, lawmakers extended tax deductions for higher education tuition and fees, and for state and local sales tax deductions.
Click Here to Learn How to Claim These Deductions

Evaluating Academic Effectiveness—State by State
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently released Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Effectiveness, a report that grew out of the Chamber’s concern that “U.S. schools are not equipping our children with the skills and knowledge they—and the nation—so badly need.” To gain a better understanding, the Chamber of Commerce launched an effort to dig deeper into the nation’s educational effectiveness, focusing on the state-by-state picture in order to capture existing variations in educational outcomes and delivery. Take a look at the interactive display on the site linked below. By looking at the map, you can see where each state is graded on a performance measure, such as “Academic Performance.”
Click Here to Access State-by-State Display

Plus: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Center for American Progress have issued a Joint Platform for Education Reform that highlights a focused set of structural changes that they believe can significantly improve education in America. The platform focuses on four core goals—better teaching, more innovation, better data and better management.
Click Here to Download Joint Platform

Honor Women’s Contributions
March is Women’s History Month in the United States. This year’s theme, Generations of Women Moving History Forward, offers opportunities to study the myriad contributions women have made in a variety of disciplines, from science to medicine to literature. The Smithsonian Education Web site has a number of online teaching resources, including portraits of women reformists, activists, athletes, scientists, artists and entertainers that date from colonial times to the modern day.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Incorporate Media and Technology into the Learning Environment
On March 1, PBS unveiled one of its most comprehensive Web undertakings in years, with the debut of PBS Teachers, PBS’s portal for preK–12 educators. In production for more than a year, PBS Teachers is the front door for all educational resources and services PBS offers, providing information on effective ways to use media and technology in a school or home learning environment.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Address the Dropout Problem
Launched by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, Learning to Finish^TM seeks to address the dropout problem in communities ready to meet this challenge as a communitywide concern. The Pew Partnership has developed the first dropout wiki, an open forum where parents, educators, policymakers and students can find out how to lower the dropout rate in the United States. The site has already organized and posted content related to case studies, the latest research and best practices. New users can register for free and begin posting relevant material at any time.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Plus: The Pew Partnership has published a dropout discussion guide titled Learning to Finish: The School Dropout Crisis, which describes the five elements that should serve as the core of any communitywide dropout effort.