April 2003 Newsletter

 

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Classroom Technology for HOMESCHOOLING

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Issue 3
April 2003
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Dear Homeschooler,

Welcome to the third issue of the new Classroom Technology for HOMESCHOOLING Newsletter published monthly as a free service by Classroom Technology. You are receiving this message because you have subscribed to the Classroom Technology for HOMESCHOOLING newsletter. The previous issues of this newsletter can be found by clicking on the "free stuff" link on our Internet site.
If you enjoy this newsletter, please feel free to forward it to other homeschoolers.
If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you may sign up at:
http://www.classroomtech.com/subscribe.html

We will be sending you this newsletter around the twentieth of the month
proceeding the month all of the information is for. We hope that this will allow you
to insert some or all of the activities into your homeschool curriculum schedule.
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or ideas please contact us at:

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Important Dates for APRIL

(Some great sites for research and activities have been included with some of selected dates.)

April 1953 - Keep America Beautiful Month

The national organization for Keep America Beautiful can be found at:

http://www.kab.org/home.cfm

If you are looking for a downloadable, interactive features map of the US
it can be found at:

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/us_features.htm

Take a look at list of activities that students can do to keep America beautiful at:

http://www.classroomtech.com/news/keepbeautiful.doc

April - National Poetry Month

If you are looking for a lesson plan, resource material, and activities for National Poetry Month they can be found at:

http://www.classroomtech.com/news/poetry.doc

More information, terms, biographies, quizzes, and other tings about poetry can be found at:

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/pmonth1.html
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/poetry.html

April - National Zoo and Aquarium Month

A list of kid-friendly zoo and aquarium sites can be found at:

http://now2000.com/kids/zoos.shtml
http://www.zooweb.com/

You can make your own animal and find lesson plans at:

http://www.switcheroozoo.com/

April 1, 1587 - Harvey William - birthday

Harvey William's discovery of the circulation of blood in the human body was a major development in the science of medicine. Information and an activity can be found at:

http://www.classroomtech.com/news/blood.doc

If you are interested in the development and much more about the heart it can be found at:

http://sln.fi.edu/biosci/heart.html

April 2, 1805 - Hans Christian Anderson - birthday

April 2, 1513 - Florida discovered

Want to take a great interactive Geography quiz? It can be found at:

http://www.eduplace.com/geonet/

April 3, 1880 - Pony Express - postal service begins

April 4, 1818 - Flag Act

To learn about the changes in the flag of the United States and to create your own flags, the worksheets can be found at:

http://www.classroomtech.com/news/flagact.doc

Some good resources about flags of the United States can be found at:

http://www.usflag.org/toc.html
http://www.treefort.org/~rgrogan/web/flag.htm
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/flags/

April 5, 1856 - Booker T. Washington - birthday

April 5, 1896 - First modern Olympics

April 6, 1904 - North Pole discovered

Learn about the two Americans and four Inuit that finally reached the North Pole in 1908. The worksheet can be found at:

http://www.classroomtech.com/news/northpole.doc

April (2nd week) - National Week of the Ocean

Some easy to use ocean math and experiments can be found at:

http://www.classroomtech.com/news/oceans.doc

If you are looking for a downloadable, interactive features map of the world, it can be found at:

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/features.htm

Take a wonderful interactive adventure with pirates at:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/pirates/maina.html

Are you interested in an activity to build a two-dimensional contour map of a submerged area from a simulated survey using sounding techniques? It can be found at:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Metzger2.html

Or make a paper model illustrating the concept of sea-floor spreading and the development of symmetrical magnetic "stripes" on either side of a mid- ocean spreading center, can be found at:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fosrec/Metzger3.html

April 7 - No Housework Day

April 9, 1919 - John Eckert - birthday

There is a great site by the Getty Museum on wonderful devices including the computer that can be found at:

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/devices/flash/

In addition, you can get some excellent teaching materials for the wonderful devices at:

http://www.getty.edu/education/devices/

April 9, 1866 - Civil War ends

April 13, 1796 - First elephant seen in the United States

April 13, 1743 - Thomas Jefferson - birthday


Take a look at this wonderful interactive president time line. Wow!

http://www.sprocketworks.com/shockwave/load.asp?SprMovie=presidentgame

April 14, 1826 - First dictionary of American English is published

April 15, 1452 - Leonardo daVinci -birthday

Take some time to visit one of the best sites about Leonardo. There is also some wonderful material on how to use this site for education at:

http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeoHomePage.html

April 15 & 16 - Yo-yo days

April 18, 1775 - Ride of Paul Revere

April 18, 1906 - San Francisco earthquake

To become involved in a study of earthquakes and plate tectonics look at:

http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/musicalplates2/index.shtml

Some unique demonstrations of earthquakes and plate tectonics can be found at:

http://www.owu.edu/~mggrote/pp/geology/f_geology.html

April 19, 1866 - Humane Day

April 20 - Look Alike Day

April (3rd week) - Sky Awareness Week

A wonderful collection of space information and activities can be found at:

http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/capture/

April 20, 1853 - Underground Railroad for slaves established

April 21, 1838 - John Muir - birthday

April 23, 1701 - James Buchanan - birthday

Take a look at this wonderful interactive president time line. Wow!

http://www.sprocketworks.com/shockwave/load.asp?SprMovie=presidentgame

April 25, 1901 - First license plate

April 26, 1785 - John James Audubon - birthday

April 27, 1900 - Walter Lantz - birthday

To find out more about this great cartoonist, information and more can be found at:

http://lantz.toonzone.net/

To try your own hand at animation go to:

http://www.classroomtech.com/news/walterlantz.doc

April 27 - Tell A Story Day

This lesson plan on story writing was designed for the classroom, but with minor modification it will work well for homeschooling. I have included it because it is frequently requested. It can be found at:

http://www.classroomtech.com/news/storywriting.doc

April 27, 1791 - Samuel Morse - birthday

Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail developed the first telegraph at the Vail Factory. To learn more about how they conquered the technical challenges that started the Communications Revolution and other information can be found at.

http://www.speedwell.org/

The Inventive Thinking Curriculum Thinking Project from the Untied States Patent and Trademark Office is a great resource to help you incorporate creative and critical thinking into your student's curriculum. This printable document has many activities and ideas to incorporate for any age level student. The document can be found at:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ahrpa/opa/projxl/invthink/invthink.htm

If you are looking for a unit and a set of resources for exploring inventors and inventions it can be found at:

http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/inventor/

April 28, 1788 - Maryland admitted to the US

April 28, 1758 - James Monroe - birthday

Take a look at this wonderful interactive president time line. Wow!

http://www.sprocketworks.com/shockwave/load.asp?SprMovie=presidentgame

April (4th week) - Reading is Fun Week

April 30, 1812 - Louisiana admitted to the US

April 30, 1534 - Discovery of the St. Lawrence River


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Our New Products

We are pleased to announce the first titles in our new series of workbooks.
These new workbooks were designed to encourage your student to explore their own world, past and present. Each workbook has over 45 pages, and each has been designed to fit into the third to eighth grade curriculum.

The first titles in this new series are in social studies and language arts.

SOCIAL STUDIES

The new presidents series includes three titles, which provide information and activities for all presidents form George Washington to Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan to Warren G. Harding, and from Calvin Coolidge to our current
president George W. Bush.

The new states series of workbooks includes four titles. This new series includes workbooks on the Western States, Midwest States, Southern States, and Eastern States, and each title provides information and activities for all the states covered.

In addition, the first title in our Interesting People series is Interesting People in
the World. It provides resource information and activities about 20 or more people who have made a difference. Look for additional titles soon about Interesting Women, Interesting People in Science, and Interesting People in the Arts.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Reading and Writing for Comprehension for Intermediate Students is the first workbook in a series of titles that stress the skills of reading and writing by
looking at events, places, and activities that have impact on your student.

Our two workbooks for Beginning Sounds, English and Spanish, were designed
for beginning reading students, or below grade level students who need to learn beginning sounds and vocabulary.

If you are interested in our products, a demo disk and all of our products, including these new workbooks, can be found at:

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Homeschooling News

 

Blacks turn to home-schooling

An increasing number of black families nationwide are choosing to home-school their children as they become fed up with what they call the country's "inadequate" public school system.

Blacks now make up nearly 5 percent of the estimated 1.7 million children who
were home-schooled last year, according to estimates by the National Home Educators Research Institute in Oregon, a non-profit organization devoted to research on home-based education.

Learn more at:

 

Store becomes resource for home-schooled kids

When Carolyn Forte discovered home schooling in the mid-1970s, it was an
idea that was just getting started.

Now Carolyn, 56, and her husband Martin Forte, 54, operate Excellence in Education, a book store and an independent study program for parents who
teach their children at home. Home schooling has become an increasingly
popular alternative to public schools, according to the couple.

Learn more at:


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Classroom Technology for HOMESCHOOLING


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