Partnering

The George Lucas Educational Foundation supports what works in the classroom by showcasing students, teachers, schools and school districts that use innovative ideas such as Partnering.  Edutopia is a website that is supportive of a partnering/problem-based classroom. Click here to view.

Math Games and Online Tutorials for Students

Not being a real "math person" I found many sites that were more confusing than helpful when it came to Mathematical explanations or formula computations.  I did find one really super organized straight forward math site for every grade/age from 1st grade through College.  http://www.purplemath.com/  Since this site is written and kept by a Math Professor it is set up in a logical order with a sidebar menu and allows someone to browse through and/or a Search text box that allows you to type in search parameters.
They welcome discussion and offer suggestions to help make math an interesting and informative subject to teach and to learn.

Recent History The American Presidents

http://www.timeline.org/ offers some great general information on sequential events, you can even plug in your parameters such as American Presidents, 1945 to 2012 and research from there.

Another resource that is available are the online libraries of particular presidents; such as The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, located in California.   Google search the Presidential Libary by name of the President (since not every past President has a Library) There are many with virtural tours and free information and links for students.  Another particularly good site for information on recent American events is, of course, http://www.loc.gov/ The official site of the Library of Congress.

Keeping Pets in the Classroom

Keeping pets in the classroom has great advantages for keeping students engaged and adds a hands on feel for lessons.  Reccommedned pets for the classroom from a Pet Ethics point of view would be either reptiles or fish-mainly because these creatures lack the brain function that registers emotional attachment/anxiety.
Also, these animals are better suited to being left on their own over the weekend.  (Of course, no living thing should be left unattended for more than 2 or 3 days)
Keep tropical or fresh water fish in an aquarium with an oxygen pump to keep the water fresh and not in fish bowls so your pets stay healthier and so does your classroom.
Reptiles and small turtles may also be kept in terrariums.  Consult your local pet stores for school discounts on start up pet kits, tours of the pet store or to invite a Pet person to speak to your class when adopting your classroom pet.  Check out http://www.petsmart.com/ for setup info and discounts and http://www.petsintheclassroom.org/ for grant application to finance your pet project.

Vocabulary Games

We had a question regarding Vocabulary Games for Early Education that would work with Marzano's Six Step Vocabulary List.  When I did a little research this is what I discovered;  free sites that offers some games and suggestions  www.jc-schools.net/tutorials  and http://www.vocabulary.co.il/   Now both of these pages offer free games and information; the latter site from the UK offers foreign language games and ideas as well as English, but the sites themselves are a little busy with loads of information so navigate carefully.
Also, here in town, at Alpha Teaching Tools, 1114 E. Lohman, Las Cruces, New Mexico, does offer some hands on types of cirriculum based games as does the Resource Center at LCPS Administration in the Loretto Plaza.

TED talks link

http://www.ted.com/