Learning.com has some content under the Marketplace button that you might be interested in. Remember that the Texas Instructional Materials Exchange (TIME) is available as the Marketplace when you log in to Learning.com.

1. MIT Blossoms content—these are free videos in the areas of math, science, engineering, physics, biology, chemistry.  These videos are geared toward High School with some MS content.
2. Smithsonian content—K-12, all subjects—visual arts, science, arts, history.  There are 1900 items.
3. Waterford—there are some free (for a limited time through June) early literacy content items.

If you have any questions or need a demo of the Marketplace, please let me know. This content will become available under the Curriculum button in your Learning.com account after it is activated and can then be assigned to your students.

Motivational Posters...Create Your Own

I thought I'd share one of my "oldie but goodie" web tools....The Motivational Poster generator on Big Huge Labs. Motivational Posters can inspire your students to think. I don't mean because they see one that you created and they ponder about what it says. I mean make them think and create their own. Have a student take a picture using the digital camera and import it into the Motivational Poster generator on Big Huge Labs. Then have them create an inspirational quote to accompany the picture. If you don't have access to using digital cameras with your students, use Creative Commons to find copyright friendly images. This inspirational poster was created using a picture that I took at the Highlands Institute near San Francisco, CA during the summer of 2009.

Photo Effects...This is Great!

Photography is a passion for me and I love to revisit "old" pictures that I have taken and find ways to make them "new." Mess My Photo allows me to do just that. From the site...

MessMyPhoto is an Art Editor. Select any of your favorite photos from your computer or Facebook and apply artistic effects. We've got a lot of them. MessMyPhoto is easy and fun to play with. MessMyPhoto is FREE. NO Registration required. NO Downloads required. At the core of MessMyPhoto, are Artelligent Non Photorealistic Image Processing routines which convert you memories into artistic master pieces. MessMyPhoto Art Editor is easy to use and provides basic photo editing features like Rotate, Zoom, Invert Colors, Undo Effects. All of these above exclusive Art Effects.

 I took this picture at the Houston Zoo. 

 Same picture with "nationalize" feature.

There are many artistic features that may be applied to change your photo. Once created you can save it or share it. Check it out. Really a neat web tool and it's free!

Water Planet Challenge

Are you a teacher who cares about our water planet and wants to inspire and encourage your students to do the same? The Water Planet Challenge will give you the information and materials you need to help your middle and high school students TAKE ACTION to protect and restore our planet's natural resources while teaching to key standards.


Learn step by step how to take action and get involved by visiting Water Planet Challenge. The site includes teacher resources and suggestions for the classroom.

Enriching Mathematics

As a former Enrichment/GT Specialist and a mom of 2 kids that really like math, I am always looking for ways to challenge students and spark their curiosity towards math. Today I stumbled across one such resource. Nrich Mathematics is a site that is republished every month and includes free mathematics enrichment resources for students of all ages, including discussion forums and a mathematics thesaurus. The NRICH Project started in 1996 and is based in both the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Education and the Centre for Mathematical Sciences. Their website lists their mission as "The project aims to establish a permanent national centre for curriculum enrichment to provide mathematical learning support for very able children of all ages. The learning and enjoyment of mathematics are promoted through an Internet Newsletter and the participation of university students as peer teachers providing an electronic answering service. The centre offers support and advice to teachers, and resources for mathematics clubs."

Each month they post a newsletter on their site that contains mathematical challenges and information. For example, this month (January 2012) the focus is on math and sports. The theme relates to the Olympics and a collection of resources which show that math can be found in many different aspects of sporting events. What a great way to connect students to math...using sports. As students learn about math in sports, they are challenged to solve problems and asked to submit their answers. The site publishes student work on a regular basis to help make the connection that math is fun. Check out their site and share it with your students.

Need a New Tool for Learning?

We are off to a great start in 2012. Schools are back in session after the winter break and students are excited to learn. Maybe not always excited to learn, but shouldn't they be? As educators, we know that grabbing the attention of our students can be a challenge at times. Technology helps us with this challenge. If you are in need of some fresh new ideas for tools to use for teaching and learning, you should check out this Slideshare on the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2011 created by the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2011

View more presentations from Jane Hart

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A Glogster EDU One Minute Message

As the new year begins, I am thinking over some of my favorite web tools that inspired me to create...

It seemed like a good time to revisit this glog I created to share the power of Glogster EDU.

My one minute message about Glogster is included in the Glog I created above. Images used in the message came from either www.flickr.com or were images that I created (digital camera, via PowerPoint or via www.bighugelabs.com/motivator). The images of Glogster came directly from edu.glogster.com.

This post was originally shared in Jan. 2010.

DEN Sci Con Event

Join the DEN SCIcon event on January 28, 2012 at 9 am (EST).

DEN SCIcon is an online conference (with a twist) focused on providing participants with some of the most effective strategies for transforming their science classes through the meaningful and effective integration of digital media content.

Watch the Discovery Blog site for local events or register to join in virtually. Visit http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/den-events/ and look for the DEN SCIcon event for more details.

You don't want to miss this great day of learning!