Websites for 6th Graders to Test

This week, our 6th graders will be playing games in class! After talking about study strategies, my students will be my online educational game/site testers as they test and review 2 game sites in the computer lab. Here are some of the sites they are testing. I will post some of their reviews here later.

Site 1: Number Nut: http://www.numbernut.com/

Site 2: My Wonderful World: http://www.mywonderfulworld.org/games.html

Site 3:FunBrain Math: http://www.funbrain.com/

Site 4:FunBrain Reading: http://www.funbrain.com/

Site 5:Primary Games.com Science and Social Studies: http://www.primarygames.com/

Site 6:Primary Games.com LA and Math: http://www.primarygames.com/

Site 7:Arcademic Skill Builders.com Math: http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/

Site 8:Arcademic Skill Builders.com LA & Geography: http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/

Site 9: PlayKidsgames.com Vocab & Alphabet: http://www.playkidsgames.com/

Site 10: PlayKidsgames.com Math & Geography: http://www.playkidsgames.com/

Is your Child Interested in a Health Career? Great Local Opportunity for Them!

If your child is age 14-20 and they have an interest in a health career or the health and medical field, here is a great local opportunity:

"Youth who are 14 (and have completed the eighth grade) through 20 years of age have the opportunity to explore many different areas of health care through hands-on activities, lectures and field trips.

The purpose is to help young people identify the field(s) of health care that most appeal to them. To do this, we bring in experts for each meeting to expose students to fields like: surgery, obstetrics, family medicine, physical therapy, podiatric medicine, social work, psychiatry, emergency medicine, nursing, epidemiology and forensics.

In addition to learning from the experts, the Post members are able to spend time with volunteer DMU graduate students who act as mentors/facilitators. These students answer questions, share their personal experiences, give tours of the medical school, and encourage the students to fulfill their aspirations in health care.

Meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month from September through April on the Des Moines University campus. Leadership opportunities abound; officers are elected and are responsible for the majority of the programming of the Post activities. Local and National Awards can also be earned. Exploring post members participate in community services activities throughout the year as a way to give back to the community."

Click here to learn more about this opportunity. Also, see Mr. Barry for more details.

The Last Lecture

Just to let you know, our 8th grade watched the very beginning of this video and the last 24 minutes or so of this video. Very inspirational with great advice. Long story short, this professor at Carnegie Mellon, Dr. Randy Pausch, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given less than 6 months to live. He gave one last lecture filled with advice on how to live your life. It hit Youtube and became one of the most watched videos in Youtube history. He then wrote a book and actually ended up living over a year with his cancer diagnosis before he passed away. His advice is a great way to start our middle school students' last year here at Carlisle Middle School. To learn more, visit this site.

To watch the video, click here: "The Last Lecture"

Two New Documentaries About Public Education Coming to a Theater Near You!

I love movies. Sadly, I have seen nearly 1,000 movies in my lifetime and even have a ranked list of my top 375 movies of all-time! I'm weird, I know. But I'm normal in the way that most people like movies and they enjoy a good movie from time to time. Lost in all the changes in theaters and movies lately (3D, high ticket prices, computer effects, computer animation, etc.) is that documentaries are getting much more entertaining and being watched by more of the public. Good documentaries about public education have been non-existent though until now. Two award-winning (what awards? Mainly the world film festivals so far) are coming out this fall. The one I am most anxious to see is called "Waiting for Superman", but I just learned of another film titled "Race to Nowhere". Both are documentaries about our public education system. Superman takes a look at the failing public education system, who is to blame, and what we can do to make it better. Race takes a look at the pressure we put on our students to get good grades and be successful while forgetting their mental health needs, their need to be a kid, and their learning along the way. I encourage you to view the trailers for these movies by clicking on their title above. But also consider having your child go with you to these films and having a good discussion about its content after the movie is done. I hope to view both when they come out and talk about their content in class as well. So....enjoy the movies this fall!

"Waiting for Superman": Opens this fall in theaters across the nation. When you visit the site, pledge to see the movie and you will be given a code where you can donate $5 to donorschoose, a site that let's you provide for schools in your area.

"Race to Nowhere": Not sure when it will be in local theaters, if at all, but I will keep checking. Might have to wait for video for this one.

Also, a good read from a famous NY Times columnist just last week. The editorial is his idea on why this movie needs to be seen!