The Pencil Box

The PENCIL Box provides a venue for companies or individuals who have gently used materials to donate these supplies to New York City Public Schools.  Once you become a member of The PENCIL Box (free) you will find all types of computer equipment, furniture, science equipment, art supplies and much more.  When you identify a piece of equipment you could use in your classroom, simply send a message to the donor with your reason and wait for a response.  Good luck and happy shopping!

Web 2.0 is Changing Education

Education is undergoing dramatic changes as more and more educators and students embrace Web 2.0 tools like podcasts and social networking.  Here is an interesting article from CNN.

DonorsChoose

DonorsChoose is a fantastic organization that brings together public school teachers and people who want to donate money to support public education.  Teachers submit request for materials or experiences for their students and potential donors read through the submissions and fund requests, large and small.  Recently, DonorsChoose received a large donation from the Perry and Donna Golkin Foundation that is to be used specifically for schools in New York City.  Get more information about this exciting grant here.

Inauguration Ideas from the New York City Department of Education

Inauguration

SENSwitcher

SENSwitcher is a free cause and effect program that you can download or run online.  There are over 100 customizable cause and effect programs that can be used for progressive learning and as an assessment tool.  There are also teacher notes, model lesson plans, and checklists.  This is a great program to use at home or at school.

Free Training and Student Activity DVDs

District 75 has a library of assistive technology training DVDs available to you for free.   These tutorials will help you stay current with best practices, explore new technology, and get great ideas from your colleagues in District 75.  You can access the titles here. Follow the onscreen instructions to get your free copies of these professional development DVDs.

District 75 also has a DVD collection of stories and activities made specifically for students with disabilities.  You can find those titles here.  Again, follow the onscreen instructions to request your free copies.

Adapted Books

You can access over 70 pre-made adapted books at the NYCDOE District 75 website.  The books span many subjects and all ages.  There are also communication boards available with many of the books.  Save yourself some time and check out the books here.

Delicious Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking is a service that allows you to save all of your favorite websites online instead of on a single computer.  You can also share your bookmarks with others, check out what people around the world are bookmarking, and tag your bookmarks for easy access. 

You can find all of my bookmarks here: http://delicious.com/skananni.

You can also become my part of my network and see what I am adding.  

Get your own free delicious account by signing up here. 

 

 

Jing

Jing is freeware that allows you to capture your screen, take videos of your desktop, and share it them quickly and easily with others.  This is an excellent (and surprisingly easy) way to give your students access to lessons they may need to see again.  It can also be used as a tool that allows students to show off what they know.  You can find it here.

Autism and the Family

Here is an interesting piece from National Public Radio about growing up with a sibling with autism. Click here for the audio and text.