Support Learning Through Gardening
The National Gardening Association (NGA) and Home Depot Youth Garden Grant Program are awarding funds for children-centered plans that emphasize youth learning and working in an outdoor garden. Areas considered for support include educational environmental or social programs; leadership; community support; sustainability; innovation; and need. Applicants must plan to garden in 2006 with at least 15 children between the ages of 3 and 18. The award includes educational materials from NGA and a gift card (amount to be determined) from Home Depot. Starting with the 2006–2007 grant cycle, all grant winners are required to complete a year-end impact report.
Deadline: November 1, 2006
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Plus: To stay informed of NGA’s grant and award program announcements and deadlines, sign up for Kids Garden News—a free monthly e-newsletter featuring thematic articles and activities, links to educational resources and announcements of upcoming grants.
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Connect Mathematics to Other Subject Areas
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Connecting Mathematics to Other Subject Areas Grants will be awarded to create senior high classroom materials or lessons connecting mathematics to other fields. To be eligible for the $3,000 award, the applicant must be a current member of NCTM and currently teach mathematics in grades 9–12 at least 50 percent of the school day.
Deadline: November 3, 2006
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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!

Heighten Awareness of e-Books
The Electronically Published Internet Connection (EPIC) has opened its 2007 international writing competition. The annual New Voices contest promotes literacy by encouraging reading and writing among middle school and high school students while heightening public awareness of e-books. The EPIC New Voices contest is open to students attending public, private or home schools in grades 7 through 12 or equivalent levels in the student’s district. Categories include Short Story (fiction), Poetry and Essay (nonfiction). Guidelines and entry forms are available on the EPIC Web site.
Deadline: November 1, 2006
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This past summer, we conducted a survey of newsletter recipients to look at educator use of traditional and innovative digital media. More than 860 readers responded.

For completing the survey, respondents were included in a random drawing to win Apple iPods. Kudos to the seven educators in six states who won an iPod! Winners are from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia.

Click here to find out how your colleagues across the country responded to the survey.

Hook Students with Hip-Hop Music
Flocabulary uses the educational power and social appeal of hip-hop music to foster literacy and promote academic success in the classroom and beyond. Five hundred of the most popular SAT words are defined in the lyrics of 12 catchy hip-hop songs available on CD. A book with lyrics, definitions and exercises accompany the songs. This groundbreaking technique of using hip-hop music makes words stick in students’ heads. Try it free or buy the CD/book package. This winter, Flocabulary’s narrative hip-hop songs will bring the voices and stories of history—from Columbus to the Civil Rights era—to life. A 14-track CD features some of New York City’s most talented emcees.
Click Here to Sample the Music

Bring a World of Primary Sources into the Classroom
A new Web site from the University of California (UC), Calisphere offers educators, students and the public free access to more than 150,000 images, documents and other primary source materials from the libraries and museums of the UC campuses and cultural heritage organizations across California. Primary sources at Calisphere include photographs, documents, newspapers, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising and other cultural artifacts, which reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history. The materials are organized into historical eras, from the Gold Rush to the 1970s.
Click Here to Access Free Resources

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 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. Many of the offerings will help you meet the needs of students with disabilities and English language learners.

Explore History Online
The Gilder Lehman Institute of American History presents History Now, a quarterly online journal for history teachers and students, offering essays by some of the most eminent scholars in the field. Accompanying the scholarly essays are imaginative and accessible lesson plans and supporting materials, including an interactive feature. In June the interactive feature was an online jukebox, featuring six songs from the civil rights movement, along with lyrics and photos. The interactive feature of the September issue is a nineteenth-century photographic tour of the American West. The next issue will explore technology in the nineteenth century.
Click Here to Access Free Resources

Help Preschoolers Get Ready to Read
Later this year, the National Early Literacy Panel plans to recommend wider use of diagnostic literacy tests in preschool so teachers can provide individualized instruction to youngsters with weaknesses even before the children start to read. The group will also recommend placement of at-risk children with similar needs in small groups, instruction that focuses on certain skills and training for parents to reinforce classroom work. One source of free early literacy resources is The National Center for Learning Disabilities. Its Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool is available online, free of charge, in both English and Spanish. Also find free downloadable resources for the Get Ready to Read! Skill-Building Activities.
Click Here to Access Free Resources

Celebrate Teen Read Week
Teen Read Week^TM is administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association (ALA). For nearly 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting reading, listening and viewing for teens. Teen Read Week^TM 2006 will be held October 15–21. The theme, Get Active @ your library^®, encourages teens to use the resources at their library to help them lead an active life.
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Plus: To go along with the “Get Active” theme of Teen Read Week, ALA’s Washington Office is challenging teens to create a theme and design a logo for the 2007 National Library Legislative Day. The teen with the winning logo wins a trip to Washington D.C. for two.
Click Here for Contest Details

Promote Bullying Awareness Prevention Week
Sponsored by the PACER Center and cosponsored by the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, National Education Association and National PTA, National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week is October 22–28. PACER Center encourages you to help promote this important week in the following ways: (1) Promote the Web site linked below as a bullying prevention resource for elementary-age children, including those with disabilities; (2) Download and share a colorful poster promoting National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week; (3) Read “Bullying Fast Facts”; and (4) Let the public hear the message, “Bullying is never okay. What can you do to stop it?”
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Discussing “The State of U.S. Education”
Listen to U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings discuss her achievements to date and her reform agenda for the future on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation. In “The State of U.S. Education,” Spellings notes that testing has been part of the educational landscape since Socrates and credits NCLB with providing “profound data” that will help school staff and policymakers better manage public education.
Click Here to Access Audio

Kept Abreast of EdTech News
On October 3, eSchool News and eSchool News Online launched eSN TechWatch, a free, 20-minute daily newsmagazine that covers developments in educational technology in streaming video format.
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Bring the News to Students’ Desktops
CNN Student News, CNN’s cost- and commercial-free educational program for middle and high schools uses the vast array of resources of CNN Worldwide to create news and information content for the classroom. The show is streamed for the Web.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Plus: CNN Student News has expanded the availability of its daily 10-minute broadcast on Headline News through a video podcast. Find the full video podcast at the site linked below and on the network’s dedicated space on iTunes.
Click Here to Access Podcast

Find and Share Successful Literacy Teaching
Google Inc. has unveiled The Literacy Project, a Web site that pulls together Google’s books, video and mapping, and blogging services to help teachers and educational organizations share reading resources. Google has asked literacy groups around the world to upload video segments explaining and demonstrating their successful teaching programs. Among the first few hundred to be posted is a same-language subtitle project from India that uses Bollywood films to teach reading. In addition, a nonprofit group in New York called 826NYC is helping a group of six- to nine-year-olds make a video tutorial for Google, while a group of older students is filming a claymation short. The service also uses Google’s mapping technology to help literacy organizations find one another, and provides links to reading resources.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Encourage Would-Be Architects
“When building a house, you must consider two things,” said architect Frank Lloyd Wright, “the needs of people and the particulars of place.” Students in grades 7–12 ponder those factors and much more through Architect Studio 3D, a free and interactive site, where young architects-to-be can design buildings, integrate client preferences, consider environmental restrictions and learn from the ideas of one of the world’s most influential architects. Once their designs are complete, students can submit them to an online gallery for review, where participants from across the country rate their peers’ work.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Gauge the Value of Your EdTech Investment
District-level technology chiefs can now calculate the potential costs and benefits of EdTech purchases in measurable terms, thanks to a new Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) Value of Investment tool. Eventually the group’s Web site will include resources that allow educators to perform project risk analysis and estimate savings and revenues.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Test Your Knowledge of Eighth-Grade Content
Can you find Germany on a map? Calculate the area of a triangle? Choose proper English usage? Recall the plot of Romeo and Juliet? Describe the process of cell division? Remember the name of Earth’s original supercontinent? See if you’re as smart as an eighth grader. Take this eight-question online test to find out. No cheating!
Click Here to Take Test