New Game Builds Vocabulary for Kids - and Adults: There is a new game in town for your Nintendo DS, it is called "My Word Coach", and it is getting great reviews. It was inspired by a college professor and has six different vocabulary games that also tracks your progress, read about it here:
My Word Coach
Indoor Gardening: Growing your own Vegetables and Herbs Indoors durinig
the Winter: This is a fantastic and informative article about how to
grow vegetables inside your house during the winter. It is written
with clear direction and really shows you how to get started with
little cost. This would make a great home-school family project! (Not
to mention fresh vegetables around the house year-long)Indoor Gardening
Scottish Water Plant Dig reveals ancient Roman Fort: This is a cool story! When construction workers in Scotland were readying a site for a new treatment plant, they came upon an ancient Roman fort, which is dated 2000 years old. To read about the discovery:
Ancient Roman Fort
Puzzle Pouch and Free Patterns: If you have a student who likes to sew
and if looking for some easy patterns, don't miss this article. The
sewing blog at About.com has found some terrific free patterns for a
Puzzle Pouch, and don't worry about not having a sewing machine, these
can all be done by hand:Puzzle Pouch and Free Patterns
Fortune Cookie - Made in Japan?: This is a fun story, it has been discovered that fortune cookies are not Chinese at all, they are Japanese! Read the story of how one history graduate in Japan discovered this shocking fact:
Fortune Cookies: Made in Japan?
U.S. Scientists Create beating Hearts in Lab: This was a huge story in
the science and medicine world. A group of scientists created beating
hearts in aging rats, they feel that this could lead to some mighty new
changes in health-care in the future. Read about the discovery and
story:Beating Hearts in Lab
Sir Edmund Hillary, who first climbed atop Mt. Everest, has died: Yes, Sir Edmund Hillary died at the age of 88 on January 11, 2008. This story made me put a note to myself about future lesson plans on Sir Hillary and Mt. Everest in general. Children will find his story exciting, and his life even more so:
Sir Edmund Hillary dies
On-Line Tangram Puzzle Games: If your student is into puzzles of any kind, then your student is going to love Tangrams. Dave at About.com has put together a few sites for you involving Tangrams. Tangrams may look simple enough, but believe me it is not, some of these are wonderfully challenging:
On-Line Tangram Puzzle Games
Tornado Handbook, an Interactive Guide: You have to love the people
over at the Discovery Channel, they are always coming up with some
unique learning tools! This is a interactive Tornado handbook, that
allows your student to participate in making a tornado, while learning
step by step along the way how tornadoes form, you are going to love
this!:Tornado Handbook
New Solar System could Breed Life: Astronomers are very excited about this one. The beginning stages of a new solar system have been discovered, and scientists believe that this new solar system could breed life. To read more on this discovery:
New Solar System
Time-Line Greenland: This is just a great time-line for Greenland that
will enhance any study or lesson plan you may be doing on Greenland.
Done in chronological order and stacked full of information:Time-Line Greenland
Civil War Detective Solves Grave Mix-Up: Imagine that you really really really don't like the neighbors down the street "The Smiths", you are feuding constantly. But then you die and for some strange reason, end up buried in the Smith family plot! Read the story of the Civil War soldier, who really wound up buried in the wrong place, and the person who solved it:
Civil War Grave Mix-Up
Make your own Sock Puppets: Finally, some hands-on fun for the little
ones. Very good article on making your own sock puppets and a list of
materials that you will need to get the project done:Sock Puppets
Going High-Tech: Geo-caching in the Classroom: This is one gold-mine of a find for classroom fun with GPS. This site will help inspire hours of learning and fun using a GPS for your older or advanced students. The blog has several ideas to get you started:
Geo-caching in the Classroom
Volunteers needed to join International Bird-Feeding Study!: Be part of an international study on bird-feeding. There are two different programs to choose from. This would be an ideal on-going lesson plan for the entire family, and a chance to be part of something very special and important:
Volunteer for Bird-Feeding Study
That is it for this week, hope you found something new for your home-school curriculum planning!
