Cyber Robotics Competition, Hispanic Heritage Month, STEAM Game & More

Digital Learning • Learning Support

Handwriting Without Tears

Take control in this new era of learning with a new integrated handwriting program to meet the demands of today’s classroom. Learning Without Tears has taken its proven instructional methods grounded in foundational skills for handwriting and applied them digitally to ensure all learners can gain fluency in handwriting, whether they are learning remotely or in classrooms.

September 15, 2020

ctemissioncubesat.com

Funding & Recognition

Multiphase Challenge Building Skills for 21st Century Careers

The US Department of Education has launched CTE Mission: CubeSat, a national challenge to inspire high school students to build technical skills for careers in space and beyond. Students from across the country are invited to design and build prototypes of CubeSats (cube satellites), or satellites that aid in space research, bringing space missions out of the clouds and into the classroom.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Funding & Recognition

Award Honoring Young Women for Computing Expertise

The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) presents the Award for Aspirations in Computing (Award for AiC) to ninth- through twelfth-grade students who self-identify as women, genderqueer, or nonbinary for their computing-related achievements and interests, and encourages them to pursue their passions.

Digital Learning • Learning Support

Cloud-based Classroom Management and Teaching Platform

classroom.cloud gives teachers the tools they need to deliver effective technology-based learning, whether students are in school, at home, or both. With classroom.cloud’s simple-to-use tools, teachers can monitor students’ screens, the applications they are using, and the websites they are visiting—maintaining students’ focus and keeping them safe online. On classroom.cloud, students can collaborate easily, and teachers can interact and capture students’ feedback with messaging tools. Setup is minimal, with full support for Google Classroom and MS School Data Sync for easy rostering. Try classroom.cloud for free and take advantage of the low-cost introductory price of $3 per device.

hispanicmonth.net

Digital Learning • Learning Support

Tools, Links, and Useful Ideas for Celebrating Hispanic Heritage

National Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place from September 15 to October 15 every year, is a time to recognize and celebrate the many contributions, diverse cultures, and extensive histories of the American Latino community. Hispanic influences are tightly knit in the fabric of American life—think music, food, art, cinema, politics, literature, and so much more.

wikimedia.commons

Digital Learning • Learning Support

Teaching Tools for Celebrating a Historic Moment in Our Nation’s History

September 17 is Constitution Day, commemorating the day in 1787 when, at the end of a long, hot summer of discussion, debate, and deliberation, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed America’s most important document.

nytimes.com

Digital Learning • Learning Support

Writing Curriculum Offering Teens a Creative Outlet in Extraordinary Times

The New York Times Learning Network is again offering middle schools and high schools a free, flexible seven-unit writing program based on the real-world writing found in newspapers—from editorials and reviews to personal narratives and informational essays.

theartassignment.com

Digital Learning • Learning Support

Video Series Exploring Art and Art History Through the Lens of the Present

A coproduction of PBS Learning Studios and Complexly, The Art Assignment introduces innovative artists that present the viewer with the challenge to complete different types of art assignments. It also explores art history through the lens of the present and exposes alternative approaches to art-making.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Digital Learning • Learning Support

Audio and Video Materials for Making Hip-Hop Music

Citizen DJ invites students to make hip-hop music using the free-to-use audio and video collections from the Library of Congress. By embedding these materials in hip-hop music, listeners will discover items in the library’s vast collections that they likely would never have known existed.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Digital Learning • Learning Support

Virtual Exploration of US National Parks

The US National Parks are the embodiment of a concept emerging from 19th-century democratic ideas to preserve the magnificent natural wonders of the land, making them available in perpetuity. Studying the national parks helps to illuminate these ideas and illustrate dimensions of US politics, economics, and society that resonate today.

Professional Growth

Webinars on Navigating Today’s Educational Challenges

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, racial violence, and action for justice and healing, back-to-school is nothing like normal. But as schools reopen—online, in person, or both—Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is offering a series of webinars that will look at the challenges of the moment.

Professional Growth

eLearning for Educators of Students with Special Needs

QuickClasses, from Described and Caption Media Program (DCMP), are three-week asynchronous, online classes for professionals working with students who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, low vision, or deaf–blind.

coderzleague.com

STEM • STEAM • STREAM

Virtual Cyber Robotics Competition

CoderZ League (formerly Cyber Robotics Coding Competition) is an exciting, engaging, and entertaining virtual robotics competition for students of all levels to participate in and learn about STEM, robotics, and coding, and to ignite their technology career paths.

pbs.org

STEM • STEAM • STREAM

Videos Revealing Personal Side of Scientists and Their Work

The PBS/NOVA web series The Secret Life of Scientists & Engineers provides humanizing snapshots of scientists who are shaping our world. Students will learn about cutting-edge science and engineering, the amazing people who do that work, and the activities they engage in when their lab coats come off.

phytoheroes.com

Mobile Learning

Game Exploring Phytoplankton As a STEM-to-STEAM Research Subject

Phyto Heroes is a game about phytoplankton, tiny creatures invisible to the human eye that make half of the world’s oxygen while also feeding the ocean’s creatures. Through simple touch activities, children learn how their everyday actions, such as turning off the lights, can affect carbon levels, pH balance, and temperature.

minecraft.net

Mobile Learning

World of Minecraft in Augmented Reality

Minecraft Earth lets users aged 10 and up bring Minecraft into the real world. Students can build amazing objects in tabletop mode and place them in the real world at life size.

zoom.us

Social Media

Videochat Features to Help Teachers Manage Virtual Classrooms

With many K–12 schools moving to a hybrid learning model this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic, Zoom is adding new features designed to help teachers manage virtual classrooms. The free Zoom for Education plan includes more control over virtual classroom views.

BOOKMARK THESE

Big Deal Media provides timely, relevant resources in a rapidly changing educational environment, created with insight and attention to detail by seasoned educational publishing professionals and practicing K–12 educators.

Browse the latest free K–12 Technology ebook sponsored by CDW•G, and be sure to “Like” Big Deal Media on Facebook and follow Big Deal Media on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter (@TheBigDealBook.com) to learn how other educators are using Big Deal Media resources and to share your own ideas and experiences.

Tap into Teaching4Tomorrow, a blog from Big Deal Media, which gives voice to a range of perspectives on educational technology topics and serves as a venue for sparking new ideas, as well as a space for educators to share their experiences navigating the ever-evolving landscape of technology in education.

Subscribe to Big Deal Media’s Amazing Resources for Educators on edWeb.net to get frequent updates on grant deadlines, free resources, and hot, new websites for 21st century learning. And, of course, you can share any great new resources that you’ve unearthed!

Collaborate with Big Deal Media’s inclusive community of special needs educators by joining Everyone CAN! on edWeb.net for sources of funding, research-based developmental strategies, mobile learning innovations, assistive technology collections and truly useful online interactive environments, including specialized resources to partner with parents.

Sign up for Big Deal Media’s free email alerts that include a wealth of information on interactive resources for students, teachers, librarians, principals, and others involved in the education of students with special needs and English learners.

Please forward this newsletter to a friend!

If you received a forwarded version of this newsletter and wish to subscribe
for FREE, visit: www.bigdealbook.com/members/sign_up/