Constitution Day-September 17th.

This week’s clicks are all about Constitution Day on Sept 17. I wanted to give you enough time to explore these links and incorporate them into your lessons. There are more activities and ideas on the library website.

1. Architect’s Virtual Capitol Really cool videos and tours of our nation’s capitol.

2. DocsTeach From the National Archives, this source gives you ideas on how to teach history using documents. Documents may also be photographs or videos. Looks interesting.

3. Constitution Day Great site. Has an easy to read version of the constitution and biographies of the Founding Fathers.

4. Ben’s Guide for kids Has some great information and activities for kids to do at all grade levels.

5. Constitution Day Lesson Plans Lesson plans and activities.

I hope you find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do, please make a comment.

September 11

This week’s clicks are all about America and the events that occur here. With the 10th anniversary of September 11th, I wanted to give you enough time to explore these links and incorporate them into your lessons. Make sure you preview all materials BEFORE showing to your class.

1. Reading A to Z They have 3 books about Sept 11 and 2 on Constitution day, one which is poetry and fits in perfectly with the curriculum. Don’t forget to check out the state standards and what’s new when searching in this great resource.

2. Brain Pop There are videos for Constitution Day and Sept 11. Some are free if you don't have a subscription.

3. Ten years after 9/11 Watch the attacks unfold. There is a before and after photos of the events as well as photos of

the events unfolding.

4. Portraits of Grief On this link you will be able to read about many of those who lost their life that day. There is also a

section where you can find out how the families have coped.

5. History.com Video of the events as they unfolded. About 5 min.

6. Bonus link Inside 9/11 Might be too high for elementary students but I thought you might want to see this. Video and interviews from many people involved in the investigation and events of 9/11.

Organize yourself

This week’s clicks are all about organization. There are clicks for organizing your bookmarks, lesson plans, documents, photos, videos, and notes.

1. Organize your Bookmarks: There are two social bookmarking sites that I know of. Delicious and Diigo. I use Delicious because that is what I started with. They are both free. If you choose Diigo there is an educator account. You can also set up accounts for you students. Take the free tour! You choose.

2. Organize your Documents: How would you like to have access to your documents no matter what computer you are on? Dropbox can do that for you. You can share documents with Dropbox. There is even and add on so others can drop you documents called Dropittome. Dropbox also has an app for your phone so you can drop those photos into the Dropbox.

3. Organize your lesson plans: There are two online lesson planners. I have not used either one of these because I just learned about them. PlanbookEdu is a free source and is offering a free 10 day premium trial. That tells me that it is free but you could upgrade for some money. Planbook.com looks more like what I would want. Take a look, try them out and then leave your feedback about the lesson planners.

4. Organize your thoughts: Evernote is a resource I have yet to fully utilize. You can load it on your computer and your phone. The idea is to have a place to keep to do lists, reminders, photos, websites or anything. It is free but has premium accounts for a small fee. There are tutorial videos to help you use it and get organized.

5. Organize your time: Google has a great calendar feature. If you haven’t used it yet, maybe it’s time. You can set up a calendar with reminders to email you or to send you a reminder on your phone. Since I have set up Google Calendar on my phone, it has helped me remember all the appointments I have to be at and things I have to do.

I hope you find something you can use in this newsletter. If you do please make a comment.