CS Unplugged

The June 2011 PRISM newsletter has a lot of good material (as usual). As a former Computer Science major, I found one of the resources particularly interesting. CS Unplugged is a free website dedicated to teaching Computer Science topics WITHOUT A COMPUTER! It does so via various puzzles, games, and other activities.

There are many printable activities and a teacher's guide available on the site. They also offer a whole host of videos to help you integrate the activities into your classroom. The activities are aimed at Elementary school children, but I think they're great for any age kid (including me)!

Bring Your Shovel and Pail to the Universe Sandbox

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to manipulate the planets and other celestial bodies?

Check out the Universe Sandbox and find out!

Budding astronomers will love this cool interactive program. Their website describes is best:

Ultimate Power
Spawn massive stars, launch asteroids, and manipulate gravity with just a few clicks.

Fun & Interactive
Explore our universe through unlimited experimentation.

Easy to Use
Intuitive, game inspired controls make creation and destruction effortless.

Real Physics
Uses Newton's law of gravity to simulate the motions of the planets, moons, and stars.

Create Your Own Game Show With SuperTeacherTools.com

http://www.superteachertools.com/ has several neat tools on its site. The most popular is a flash based Jeopardy game show creator. How about creating an ISTEP/ECA review session? Use that new projector and act like a TV show host!

Free Stuff for Science Teachers

I didn't have to think up a creative title for this one, huh? Who doesn't like free stuff?

Visit this site: http://scienceinquirer.wikispaces.com/freestuff to get, uh... free science stuff!

While we're talking science, you might want to check out this site too: http://www.k5geosource.org/ .
This is from their site description: "If you are involved in elementary science education in any way, this Web site is for you. The site has a rich store of content, activities, services and links for you to explore."

Get The New Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 For Free

Microsoft Education has released it's latest version of Microsoft Mathematics for free.
Among other things, it offers a nice graphing calculator and visualization tools.

More Kid-Friendly Videos - ZuiTube

ZuiTube is a great site that provides a collection of videos that have been parent and teacher approved. It looks to be aimed at younger kids. Thanks Allie for the link!

Create a YouTube Account for Classroom Use.

View this quick video to learn how to create a YouTube teacher account and post your first video on your Google Site.



If you want your students to be able to view the new video, make use of the LightSpeed Educational Video Library. Be sure to submit your new video. See the LightSpeed Wiki for details.

*NOTE* If you are asked to link your JGSC e-mail account to your new teacher YouTube account, do it. It makes signing in easier. :-)