The Ultimate STEM Contest
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, the ultimate STEM contest for sixth- through twelfth-grade public schools, is celebrating 10 years of helping educators teach STEM while tackling local community issues and winning technology for their school. To celebrate, Samsung is giving away up to $3 million in prizes and selecting more winners than ever before. Take a few minutes and submit your application to participate today.
Deadline: October 23, 2019, for applications
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September 16, 2019
annies.com
Funding & Recognition
Grants to Create Sustainable Food Gardens
Annie’s Homegrown, Inc. offers
grants to schools and educational programs to build an
edible school garden (for example, growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains) in the United States. Two types of grants are available:
Getting Started grants for a new garden program and
Digging Deeper grants for already existing programs.
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Digital Learning • Learning Support
The Next Step in Developing Proficient Word Solvers and Independent Readers
Guided reading experts Jan Richardson and Michèle Dufrense provide teachers with clear, concise, and practical instructions and resources for planning and teaching developmentally appropriate phonics and word study lessons. Learn how students solve words, how to assess what students know and need to learn next, and what sequence, materials, and activities to use to help students excel. The Next Step Forward in Word Study and Phonics works with the familiar Next Step Forward lesson plan framework from Richardson’s bestselling Next Step Forward in Guided Reading. It uses a gradual release of responsibility approach that guides students to independent word-solving; introduces readers to six approaches to phonics and word study; and includes more than 250 ready-to-use word study lessons, leveled from preA–Z.
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newseumed.org
Digital Learning • Learning Support
Virtual Classes for Evaluating Media
NewseumED’s
virtual classes bring the museum to your students. The classes are offered
Monday through Friday,
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (ET). They are typically 30 to 50 minutes in length and can be adjusted to meet classroom schedules. Presently ten classes, along with training, are offered.
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efmathprogram.org
Professional Growth
Initiative Focusing on Executive-Function Skills to Boost Math Teaching
The
EF+Math Program is focusing on improving the way students learn math. The effort, funded by
NewSchools Venture Fund, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, aims to create strategies that develop students’
executive-function skills and boost
math outcomes.
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Funding & Recognition
Teachers, Frontrow Is Here to Help!
Access DonorsChoose.org and your community to get a Juno, the all-in-one classroom audio and lesson capture system, for your classroom. Frontrow is even covering the first 20 percent. Juno will amplify your voice, and your students’ voices too, through durable, wearable microphones. Juno also plays audio from any source via Bluetooth or cable connection. Juno’s accompanying one-touch activated lesson-capture technology allows you to record screen content and your voice before, during, or after class. MP4s are produced in seconds and instantly uploaded to your teacher page on your school site, a Google Drive, or the location of your choice for classroom flipping, or simply to allow students and parents to review missed content. Visit www.gofrontrow.com/DonorsChoose for details.
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openscied.org
STEM • STEAM • STREAM
Open-Source Science Materials Aligned to College & Career Standards
In 2017 philanthropists, state leaders, and curriculum writers formed
OpenSciEd to get materials to teachers implementing the Next Generation Science Standards, which emphasize
hands-on projects and integrate several scientific disciplines.
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Tell Us About Yourself!
As a recipient of
Big Deal Media’s
K–12 Technology eNewsletter, you are invited to tell Big Deal Media how you use this publication and how you participate in the purchase of technology products and services.
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Photo by stem.T4L on Unsplash
Funding & Recognition
Grants to Enhance Innovation in STEAM Teaching
The
National Society of High School Scholars is providing
STEAM Educator Grants to enhance STEAM-related activities (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics), innovation, and classroom excellence for teachers in a STEAM field.
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Digital Learning • Learning Support
Toolkit for Managing IT Assets and Safeguarding Students
NetSupport DNA provides educators, technicians, and even counselors with their own dedicated solution to manage all classroom devices and school-wide IT assets, while identifying vulnerable students. As technology use continues to expand in schools, educators should be equipped with tools to not only improve the quality of technology-led instruction but also maintain a safe learning environment while ensuring IT assets are used effectively. In addition to providing teachers with tools to interact and collaborate with student devices, IT staff can centrally manage and support IT assets and endpoints across a school- or district-wide network. Powerful student eSafety features help support counselors in proactively identifying and protecting students via internet metering, keyword/phrase monitoring, webcam controls, report a concern, risk index, plus more. NetSupport DNA provides a complete toolkit for successful IT management while promoting positive digital citizenship and protecting students.
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nancydrewcodesandclues.com
Mobile Learning
Game Using Computer Science to Solve a Nancy Drew Mystery
Nancy Drew Codes and Clues Mystery Game sparks an interest in coding, especially for girls, through a fun and engaging story. The mystery adventure also builds critical thinking and reading skills, as students read along with story dialogue. As members of Nancy Drew’s De-TECH-Tive crew, players choose disguises, find clues, and program a robot puppy to solve the mystery of a missing project at the Tech Fair.
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mars.nasa.gov
Funding & Recognition
Contest to Name the Next NASA Mission to Mars
K–12 students in US public, private, and home schools can enter NASA’s
Mars 2020 Name the Rover essay contest. One grand-prize winner will name the rover and be invited to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
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constitutioncenter.org
Digital Learning • Learning Support
Program to Cultivate Habits of Civil Dialogue
Just in time for
National Constitution Day (
September 17), the
National Constitution Center has a new initiative for
constitutional education and
civil dialogue. Through the Center’s
Classroom Exchanges program, teachers engage students in dialogue and deepen their constitutional knowledge.
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netflix.com
SPOTLIGHT! On Realistic Portrayals of Indigenous People
For decades, animated children’s stories included negative stereotypes of indigenous people. Now three new cartoons are reaching children with realistic portrayals on the small screen—where they consume most of their media. In the United States and Latin America, Netflix is running the animated film Pachamama. The Cartoon Network series Victor and Valentino features two half brothers in a fictitious Mesoamerican village, exploring myths that come to life.
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Digital Learning • Learning Support
Constitution Day Viewing Party
iCivics and
Discovery Education will present a special
virtual viewing party for students and teachers in observance of
Constitution Day 2019. Politics and government can often seem like the dominion of adults, and school-aged children may not realize that they too have a voice in American society.
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guitarbuilding.website
Professional Growth
Workshops on Using Music to Spark Interest in STEM
The
National Science Foundation STEM Guitar Project hosts
free weeklong workshops for high school and college educators across the country. Mark French, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology at
Purdue University, had the idea to use guitars and music to spark interest in STEM.
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Professional Growth
Event to Help Schools Make Future-Oriented Financial Decisions
Join Allovue and education finance trailblazers at the Future of Education Finance Summit (FEFS) on October 8, 2019, in Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s theme, Blazing the Trail, will navigate the checkpoints and challenges of creating sustainable resource strategies for school districts. District leaders and education finance professionals are invited to attend this daylong event and earn up to 5.0 CPE credits. FEFS will arm leadership with tactical solutions and serve as a figurative “pulse check,” allowing participants to evaluate their resource allocation plans, ensuring they are making the best financial decisions for their districts, schools, and students.
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rif.org
Digital Learning • Learning Support
Digital Tools for Social–Emotional Learning
In honor of
National Literacy Month and students heading back to school,
Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) and
Macy’s are offering new,
free resources and digital tools to support the fight against the national literacy crisis. The newly created “
Be Your Best You”
social–emotional learning (SEL)
collection focuses on the themes of confidence and empowerment.
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nationalgeographic.org
Funding & Recognition
Grants for Early Career Educators to Lead a Project
The
National Geographic Society offers
Early Career Grants to help less experienced individuals lead a project. Funding supports the areas of education, technology, research, storytelling, and conservation.
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Photo by NASA on Unsplash
STEM • STEAM • STREAM
Full Spectrum of NASA Science Search and Discovery Tools
NASA Wavelength is a
digital collection of earth and space science resources for educators of all levels—from elementary to college, to out-of-school programs. In one activity, designed for grades 3–5, students examine line plots of NASA data and see that the Sun heats up land, air, and water.
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techspaghetti.com
Mobile Learning
App Creating Musical Story Worlds by Coding
“
Coding, the Musical,“ by
TechSpaghetti, is a
free interactive app designed for
iOS mobile devices that introduces children aged 4–8, specifically girls, to coding as they create characters and build musical story worlds.
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