Common Core State Standards and Library of Congress Teacher Resources: Find Lesson Plans (and More) That Meet Your CCSS Needs

The most recent issue of the Library of Congress TPS Journal focuses on the Common Core State Standards and the importance of incorporating primary sources to insure student success. 

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are on many teachers’ minds this school year, and the Library of Congress is ready to help. The Library’s teacher resources are a great fit for teachers trying to meet key CCSS goals, including critical thinking, analyzing informational texts, and working with primary sources. They’re all free, and finding them is as easy as going to www.loc.gov/teachers.

Change your desktop to look like an iPad, iPhone or Chromebook

This is a screen shot of my desktop.

Symbaloo allows you to make your desktop very user friendly.  You create buttons for places that you frequently go to.  I have buttons for my home and school email, my Google drive, and web sites that I frequent. 

Vermont Fest Resources

If you were not able to attend Vermont Fest, you can still have access to all of the handouts and presentation materials.  Look through the conference brochure for workshops that are germane to your grade level or curricular area.  Then look at the spreadsheet for links to all of the materials.

Prezi has updated its interface

Check out the YouTube video that highlights the new features.  (Yes, it's still free!) If you don't already have Prezi, sign up for a free license.

Embedding a slideshow into Blogger

It may not be as easy as moving a slideshow from iPhoto to iWeb but with a little effort, you'll be able to do this.  You will first need to go to Google's Picasa Web Albums.   (Use your wsesu.net username and password.)   This is where you will upload your pictures and make them into a slideshow.  The handout details some of the steps that you will need to take to embed your slideshow into either a POST or PAGE on your Blog (or Google site).

Here's a sample slideshow of pictures taken with USB microscopes. 

As always, send me an email when you are available and I'll walk you through the process.