Article

15 Great Finds for the Holiday Season

Test your vocab know-how, listen to the call of the wild,
and show off your students’ penmanship skills.

Language Arts

1 | Make Grammar Fun

Winner of the 2012 Citi Innovation Challenge at Education Nation, No Red Ink offers personalized, adaptive grammar and writing practice that is generated according to each student’s interests. When Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez show up on your tests, grammar is anything but boring!

2 | Become a Word Wonk

The editors of Instructor are hooked on vocabulary.com, a website devoted to helping students learn more words. As students respond to more than 40,000 vocab questions, the program adapts to help them master unfamiliar terms.

3 | Get Kids Published

What better way to motivate student writers than by helping them become published authors? When you use Studentreasure’s program to publish student writing school-wide in November or December, you’ll be eligible for a share of $10,000 in grants.

Teaching Resources

4 | Creative Ideas for the Classroom

Crayola’s Champion Creatively Alive Children is a professional development program that uses arts-infused, hands-on learning to help children reach their full potential. Access all the materials you need to lead workshops for parents or colleagues.

5 | Free Books for Active Kids

Build Our Kids’ Success (BOKS) is a before-school program that combines physical activity and nutrition talks to give kids a body/brain boost. Make yours a BOKS school by December 31 and get five free Scholastic books.

6 | Lessons That Really Stick

Has there ever been a more useful product for teachers than the sticky note? From identifying parts of speech to graphing class data, stickies can do it all! Browse a great collection of teacher-submitted Post-it ideas and activities for every subject and grade.

7 | Digital Library for Kids With Print Disabilities

Do you have students who are blind, or ones with low vision or a severe reading disability, like dyslexia? If so, sign up for Bookshare and gain access to more than 165,000 e-books, textbooks, novels, children’s literature, and teacher-recommended reading in digital-text, digital-braille, and audio-accessible formats. Students can also access the materials at home when their parents register for the site.

Science and Technology

8 | Earn a $5,500 Tech Award

Have an innovative lesson idea incorporating data-collection technology using a computer, graphing calculator, or other handheld device in the science classroom? Submit it to the Vernier/NSTA Technology Awards. Teachers can apply for one of seven $5,500 awards (in cash and prizes). Deadline: November 30

9 | Name That (Bird) Song

Have you ever heard the call of the indigo-banded kingfisher? Or the pileated woodpecker? Now you can! Browse the video and audio recording collection of bird calls at Cornell’s Macaulay Library and inspire the aspiring orinthologists in your class.

Sweepstakes and Contests

10 | Prizes for Penmanship

In our digital world, penmanship can seem like a dying art. Zaner-Bloser wants to change that. It invites students in grades 1–8 to show off their handwriting skills. Students can enter for a chance to win prizes totaling more than $100,000. Deadline: January 23

11 | 39 Clues Writing Contest

Jump-start your students’ creative writing with The 39 Clues. Kids can enter their pieces for a chance to win a 14-day trip to Europe from People to People Ambassador Programs. This creative writing contest is open to students in grades 5–8. Deadline: December 3

12 | The Magic of Great Teachers

Do you incorporate Magic Tree House books into your curriculum? Share your stories of how the books meet curriculum objectives and you could be the next Magic Tree House Educator of the Year. Prizes include more than $1,300 worth of books, a $500 gift card for classroom supplies, and a trip to New York City to meet Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce. Deadline: January 13

13 | One Sharp Sweepstakes

Who couldn’t use more supplies in the classroom? Enter the Sharp Minds Sweepstakes for a chance to win one of three prize packs filled with an assortment of Stanley Bostitch school supplies and a $25 iTunes gift card! The grand prize is a $2,500 prize pack. Deadline: February 28

14 | Recycle Trash, Earn Cash!

Do you have old, unused electronics cluttering your school’s storage closet? Register for FundingFactory’s free Fundraising-thru-Recycling program. Your school can earn rewards for recycling used inkjet and toner printer cartridges and approved small electronics. You can also enter for a chance to win $5,000 for your school’s environmental efforts in the Go Green Sweepstakes. Deadline: March 1

Social Studies

15 | Mysteries of the Maya

Take your students on an exciting archaeological adventure with free lessons for grades 5–9 about the ancient Maya civilization. You can also try a demo of the fun new Mayan Mysteries educational online game from Dig-It!