Here are the sites:
WebElements
Dynamic Periodic Table
ChemicalElements.com
It’s Elemental

Treble – Beginner
Treble – Advanced

Bass – Beginner
Bass – Advanced

I especially like the frantic music in the background and the countdown timer. Nice find, Mr. Durham.

That being said, here are some sites that you might be able to find clips to use:

Khan Academy – Even though YouTube’s blocked, Khan Academy videos are still viewable. These are amazing videos that demonstrate in simple language pretty complex math and science concepts.

5min.com – http://www.5min.com/Category/Knowledge has 5-minute videos (thus the name) that explain concepts in a quick but thorough manner. I easily found a video about the Homestead Act and then discovered a video from the Khan Academy about why (not just how) borrowing works in subtraction problems.

MovieWeb – Do you want to show 30 seconds worth of a film instead of the whole thing? Try http://www.movieweb.com/.

and then you have the classics TeacherTube and SchoolTube if you want to share videos (and find ones shared by other educators…I prefer SchoolTube over TeacherTube because it loads faster).

Hopefully that helps!

At our junior high, some of the teachers read the novel Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen with their students. In it, one of the major forces is a giant white bear.

So, how likely is it for a spirit bear to be born?

National Geographic has a great article about the Kermodism genetics that causes the white fur. The really cool part is the Punnett square visualizing how the recessive trait is passed on.

This is an excellent opportunity for science and English teachers to team up for a cross-curricular lesson.

You can download it here.

Ms. Foley and Ms. Kulkarni have their students demonstrate Newtonian physics through building rollercoasters. Not only must the coaster work with a dropped marble, it must be cost efficient. Each piece, including the tape, has a fictional dollar value that they must defend to a board of investors. This is another great example of our staff challenging students in rigor and relevance.

They programmed the whole thing in two weeks. That’s what reminded me of Verb Volley, a game I created one Fall Break to help my students review parts of speech.

Here’s my game:

The Concord Review, though, publishes the top research papers from around the world as a showcase for colleges/future employers to look at. If you want to submit your essay, here are the guidelines. I will say this, though: there is a fee associated with submissions and the essays all deal with history.

I think the site is great to show off examples of well-written student work and definitely being published here would make for a nice addition to your college application.

Part of what I enjoy about reading great books are the discussions that I have with other readers.

Ms. Hofmann is doing a pretty cool experiment with AR reading. She paired up students based on an interest survey and I pulled all of my books that I have two copies of. Tomorrow I’ll booktalk a few and we’ll let students choose from there. The goal is to get good books into the hands of students and to have a little bit more interactivity with their reading.

The other fun bit is that for the library to have two copies of the book, it has to be a good book. I’m excited to see how it turns out. If you look at the above photo, that’s just a small sampling of the awesomeness.