Freely Educate

Have Phun with Physics

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist that title.  Phun is a "2D physics sandbox" where your students can have fun while learning.

The creators of Phun describe the program like this:

Great for kids

Phun is a fantastic toy for children, where they can learn and appreciate physics, science and simulations in an open ended gameplay with rich creative and artistic freedom, including colorful freehand drawing.

Tina, a FreelyEducate.com reader, sent in the link to Phun. She said she appreciates why the creators are keeping Phun free: "We want to keep Phun freely available for non-commercial use, since we think and hope that Phun can make a difference in promoting science and art to the masses, in particular children and young people, through a constructionists learning paradigm."

Thank you, Tina, for sharing this high quality, 100% free, educational find with us!

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Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at loriseaborg @ gmail.com

GIVEAWAY! 2 Building Thinking Skills Books (closed)

      

Description & Features (from The Critical Thinking Co.)

Building Thinking Skills® provides highly effective verbal and nonverbal reasoning activities to improve your children's vocabulary, reading, writing, math, logic, and figural-spatial skills, as well as their visual and auditory processing. This exceptional series provides a solid foundation for academic excellence and success in any assessment.

(sample pages from the Primary Level book)

The activities are developmentally sequenced. Each skill (for example, classifying) is presented first in the semi-concrete figural-spatial form and then in the abstract verbal form. Children learn to analyze relationships between objects, between words, and between objects and words as they:

	Observe, recognize, and describe characteristics.
	Distinguish similarities and differences.
	Identify and complete sequences, classifications, and analogies.

These processes help children develop superior thinking and communication skills that lead to deeper content learning in all subjects.

(sample pages from Level 1)

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We have the purple (primary) book for our 5yo and the red (Level 1) for our 8yo.  We use the books by allowing the children access to them at will, and for times when I need them to be quiet while I concentrate on their older siblings.  Both our 5 year old and 8 year old love "my book" and pull it out often.

Would you like a Building Thinking Skills book?  We are giving away two books, one to each of two winners. 

If you win this giveaway, you will get to choose which Building Thinking Skills book you'd like out of the several listed here (only the books with titles that include "Building Thinking Skills" -- they are listed at $29.99 each).

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This time, you may enter more than once!  You get one entry per comment, but you may comment more than once by...

1. Just leave a comment, saying you want one. That's easy!
2. Visit The Critical Thinking Co at this page, then come back here and tell me which of their Building Thinking Skills books you would like to have if you win (you can change your mind later).. 
3. Blog about this giveaway on your blog or website or Twitter or Facebook it, then come back here and leave a link to the blog post, site URL, tweet or Facebook page. 

That's 3 ways to increase your chances of winning!  You can enter up to 3 times.  But, remember, you need to enter 3 separate times, because that makes it much easier for me to count up entries when I go to Random. org to select the winner.

More Rules, sigh:

• Click on "Comments" below* to leave your comment and other entries (separately, remember)
• The form will ask for your email address but only I will see it.  Promise.  And I never, ever spam
• One winner will be selected randomly from the entries (comments) through Random.org's random number generator
• US entries only (head ducking; I'm sorry!)
• Deadline:  Super Bowl Sunday, February 1, midnight CST ( as in, 11:59pm)

Comment away!  Who wants one?

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UPDATED 2/2/2009:  This giveaway is closed. The winners of this giveaway are:

 

Robin, who said:

Tweeted. mypursuitof

Posted by: Robin| January 30, 2009 at 12:17 AM

and...Julie Cinquina, who said:

For my second entry, I would probably choose Building Thinking Skills® Level 3 Verbal
Julie

Posted by: Julie Cinquina | January 30, 2009 at 02:41 PM

Random Number Generator

Here are your random numbers:

26	48	

Timestamp: 2009-02-02 17:24:28 UTC

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Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at loriseaborg @ gmail.com

p.s. The All About Homophones giveaway is still open, and so is the National Security Mom giveaway.

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Quizlet: Create Quizzes for Any Subject

I'm really tired as I write this tonight, so I'm just going to post a screenshot and a review from the gal who sent in the link.  If you're interested in learning more, I hope you'll browse around the Quizlet site (this "Features" page is a good place to start)....

Mrs. B, a FreelyEducate.com reader, wrote, "Quizlet is a site where you can create quizzes for studying anything that has vocabulary or a simple term for an answer.

The funnest thing about it though, I think, is that you can invite your friends to join a group where your can virtually study together and even compete in a couple little games (I've emailed them, begging for more of those!).

I've created a group called Ms. B's Group for studying WOW word quizzes. So far over 12 kids from my live classes have joined, and we have been having a blast trying to outscore each other. There are a few students out there who can define this week's WOW words in their sleep!"

Thank you, Mrs. B., for sharing this high quality, 100% free educational find with FreelyEducate.com!

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Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at loriseaborg @ gmail.com

GIVEAWAY for 2! All About Homophones

I love rounding up giveaways for you, especially in this shaky economy when so many of us are on a tight budget.  I especially love it when I really like the product. If I'm posting an item on FreelyEducate.com, you can be sure I like it, but sometimes one comes along that I really, really like.  All About Homophones (from the same publisher as All About Spelling) is one of those.

Do you know what a homophone is?  I didn't, either.  A homophone is a word that sounds like another word, but may be spelled differently and have a different meaning. 

Just today, while correcting her essay, I attempted to get our 11yo to understand that "there" is not "their" and "where" is not "wear." You know how frustrating teaching can be when our English language has so many different spellings for the same sound!  I didn't realize I was teaching our daughter "homophones." Later in the day, my review copy of All About Homophones came in my email inbox, and now I'm excited to teach our 11yo tomorrow. 

All About Homophones is a 240-page book (available as a paperback or ebook) that is remarkably easy to use.  The book is organized by grade level (1st-8th) and includes a variety of ways to teach homophones through card games, worksheets, crossword puzzles, and graphic organizers.  You may view samples of the book and read reviews at the All About Homophones site.

We have a few ways for you to get your hands on a copy of All About Homophones:

• One winning comment will be selected to win a paperback copy of All About Homophones, shipped for free, straight to his/her door
• One winning comment will be selected to win an ebook of All About Homophones
• An offer from the publishers: "To celebrate the launch of All About Homophones, you can get $10 off any order at www.all-about-homophones.com! To receive the discount, visitors to the site need to enter "FUN" in the customer code box during checkout. The coupon code is good for one week, through February 2, 2009."

(the publishers also mentioned, "And if someone purchases the book during the sale and later wins your drawing, we'll refund their money.")

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As for the giveaways, here are a few details:

This time, you may enter more than once!  You get one entry per comment, but you may comment more than once by...

1. Just leave a comment, saying you want one. That's easy!

2. Visit The Homophone Machine, create a sentence, then come back here and share it with us!  Don't be offended if we laugh.  :) 

3. Blog about this giveaway on your blog or website or Twitter or Facebook it, then come back here and leave a link to the blog post, site URL, tweet or Facebook page.

     That's 3 ways to increase your chances of winning!  You can enter up to 3 times.  But, remember, you need to enter 3 separate times, because that makes it much easier for me to count up entries when I go to Random. org to select the winner.

More Rules, sigh:

• Click on "Comments" below* to leave your comment and other entries (separately, remember)
• The form will ask for your email address but only I will see it.  Promise.  And I never, ever spam
• One winner will be selected randomly from the entries (comments) through Random.org's random number generator
• US entries only for the paperback book; International entries are welcome to enter for the ebook (do you mind typing "International" or your country when entering, if non-US?  Thanks so much)
• Deadline for the 2 giveaways and the sale:  Monday, February 2nd, midnight CST ( as in, 11:59pm)

Comment away!  Who wants one of the two books we're giving away?

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Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at loriseaborg @ gmail.com

Homeschool Skedtrack (a planner)

Homeschool Skedtrack is a scheduler and tracker, useful for homeschooling teachers and tutors.  Here is a screenshot of the planning program...

Here is a description of Homeschool Skedtrack from the site's geniuses who designed the program:

Homeschool Skedtrack is a FREE online lesson planner, scheduler, and tracking system rolled into one. The heart of the system is the automated scheduling of activities that frees you from the headache of rescheduling everything once an activity/lesson is missed.

The whole system is a personal virtual school that features:

• easy record keeping from K-12 for each student
• worry free data back-up
• access of your virtual school from anywhere around the world
• secure access of information between the server and the user's browser using secure socket layer (SSL) just like online banking
• flexible scheduling of your child's activities/lessons per year, per month, per week or as you go
• automated display of daily home school activities/lessons per course
• automated tracking of total number of hours/days completed
• scheduling and tracking of field trips
• scheduling vacations and declaring holidays
• a school calendar for each student
• a resource list per course
• tests recording
• automated grade calculation
• report card generation in pdf format
• transcript generation (coming soon) in pdf format

Here is another screenshot of Homeschool Skedtrack, this time of the field trip log...

Thank you, April, for this high quality, 100% free educational find (you were so right, we do need more in our "planning" category!)

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Have a resource or giveaway to share?  Email me at loriseaborg @ gmail.com

Masterly Inactivity with Charlotte Mason: a free 45-page ebook

Over the past year, I have gleaned so much good information from the newsletter of Simply Charlotte Mason.  Just this week, they announced that they compiled their Masterly Inactivity newsletter articles into a free, 45-page ebook...

What is "masterly inactivity?"  Here is a post I wrote on my Just Pure Lovely blog in September, 2008:

A Little Time Alone

"[Children] must be let alone, left to themselves a great deal, to take in what they can of the beauty of earth and heavens; for of the evils of modern education few are worse than this––that the perpetual cackle of his elders leaves the poor child not a moment of time, nor an inch of space, wherein to wonder––and grow."  ~ Charlotte Mason in Home Education, 1886 (p. 44)

Here is a description of The Masterly Inactivity ebook from Simply Charlotte Mason:

Do you ever feel like you’re on the Mommy See-saw? “I must teach my child to obey, yet I don’t want to be a dictator.” “I want my child to enjoy his childhood, but I can’t just allow him to run wild and do anything he wants to do.”

Welcome to the Mommy See-saw. Up and down, back and forth we teeter, wishing we knew the secret to keeping a happy balance. Charlotte Mason called that happy balanced state Masterly Inactivity.

These Masterly Inactivity articles will help you

• Discover wise and purposeful letting alone

• Check that your fence of authority is in place

• Learn when to grant favors and when to stand firm

• Find out about the game that all children play

• Increase your confidence as a parent

Plus you will receive more than fifty Charlotte Mason quotes on parenting!

This ebook is free for everyone to download at the Simply Charlotte Mason site.  You don't have to sign up or do anything but click on "Free Download" to access the .pdf ebook.

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"[Children] must be let alone, left to themselves a great deal, to take in what they can of the beauty of earth and heavens; for of the evils of modern education few are worse than this––that the perpetual cackle of his elders leaves the poor child not a moment of time, nor an inch of space, wherein to wonder––and grow."  ~ Charlotte Mason in Home Education, 1886 (p. 44)

Here is a description of The Masterly Inactivity ebook from Simply Charlotte Mason:

Do you ever feel like you’re on the Mommy See-saw? “I must teach my child to obey, yet I don’t want to be a dictator.” “I want my child to enjoy his childhood, but I can’t just allow him to run wild and do anything he wants to do.”

Welcome to the Mommy See-saw. Up and down, back and forth we teeter, wishing we knew the secret to keeping a happy balance. Charlotte Mason called that happy balanced state Masterly Inactivity.

These Masterly Inactivity articles will help you

• Discover wise and purposeful letting alone

• Check that your fence of authority is in place

• Learn when to grant favors and when to stand firm

• Find out about the game that all children play

• Increase your confidence as a parent

Plus you will receive more than fifty Charlotte Mason quotes on parenting!

This ebook is free for everyone to download at the Simply Charlotte Mason site.  You don't have to sign up or do anything but click on "Free Download" to access the .pdf ebook.

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GIVEAWAY from SpellQuizzer. 10 Winners! (closed)

Are you tired of repeatedly going over the same spelling words with your students or your child?  If you'd like a break from that  important but often tedious task, you might want to try SpellQuizzer, the "spelling software for mastering spelling words fast!"

SpellQuizzer is unique from other spelling programs for which I've done reviews or hosted giveaways.  With this program, you get to choose the words that need to be studied.  This feature is especially great for teachers and for parents.   

You simply open the program, select "Create a New List" and record the spelling words into the program.  For example, when I created a list, I spoke, "audience" into my computer microphone, then added, "When mama plays the Wii Fit she does not like to have an audience."  

Homeschooling? Here's a free digital magazine for you...

I received a tweet the other day about a digital magazine especially for homeschooling educators.  I found it so interesting - and 100% free, of course, without even a download required - that I thought you might enjoy it, too...

The magazine, Heart of the Matter, may be viewed in a few different ways.  My choice was the "Flipbook version," which allows me to flip pages of the magazine using the computer mouse instead of my licked finger, and it allows me to zoom in on the pages without putting my nose to the paper.  What more could a reader ask for?  More viewing options?  Sure!  You may also view the magazine as a .pdf file or as a blog.

This issue's articles include these among many others (the following links click right to the article in the blog format):

A Glimpse into My Homeschool Life
An Unplanned Delight-Directed Homeschool Day
Common Sense Solutions: Stress Free Writing
Homeschool Burnout - Rising from the Ashes
Incentives for Physical Fitness
Letting Go of Teaching
Love Hate Relationship with Physical Education
Narration: Simple, Easy, and Exciting
They Learn From You First

p.s. I apologize for the multi-colored links and I'm not sure how that happened, but it's late, I'm tired, so multi-colored it is to be. ~ Lori

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Inauguration Day 2009

It's Inauguration Day in the United States.  This is the day when we swear in a new President at noon Eastern time.  One president goes out and the next, comes in, peacefully.  No matter where in the world you are*, and no matter if Obama was your choice for President, this day offers an opportunity to teach students how a democracy works. 

Here are several links to educational sites or information on the 2009 inauguration:

  Want to watch the inauguration on Facebook, tweet during it on Twitter, watch it streaming live online or on television?  There are more options, including watching the inauguration via your iPhone, all listed in Lifehacker's Guide to Watching the Inauguration Anywhere

Curious what will be served for the new President's Inauguration Luncheon?  Find out here.
Want to know what his last dinner as President-Elect was last night?  Here you go.  May your mouth water.

Here is an unusual look Inside the US Presidency, courtesy of National Geographic.  The article includes many interesting tidbits such as this one:  Did you know that most White House employees stay in their jobs from one president to another?

  Have the kids make a paper replica of the White House with this template. or learn about Air Force One through this detailed floor plan.

(photo by Lori Seaborg 2008 - The American flag over Mobile Bay, Alabama)

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*Please send me an email if there is something going on in your country that we could teach our students. We'd love links to educational material/sites about it! Email me at loriseaborg @ gmail.com (smoosh all that together - the spaces keep the spambots from finding my email address so easily).

The Futures Channel: Math and Science Multimedia Content

The following is from The Futures Channel site, who can explain what they do a lot better than I could (bold emphasis is mine, because I could not resist):

The Futures Channel was founded in 1999 with the goal of using new media technologies to create a channel between the scientists, engineers, explorers and visionaries who are shaping the future, and today’s learners who will one day succeed them.

The Mission of The Futures Channel:

To produce and distribute high quality multimedia content which educators in any setting can use to enliven curriculum, engage students and otherwise enhance the learning experience.

To connect mathematics, science, technology and engineering to the real world of careers and achievement, so that students can envision a context and purpose for what they are learning allowing them to envision their own successful futures. 

To provide a channel through which professionals from the sciences, engineering and technology sectors can reach their future workforce prospects and interest them in their fields.

A couple of testimonials, also from The Futures Channel site:

“There are over 3 million teachers in America who face the challenge of relating what they are teaching to the real world. They are expected to be able to effectively answer the questions: ‘When will I ever use this?’ The Futures Channel is going to help them answer that question.”
Dr. Milton Chen,
Executive Director,
The George Lucas Educational Foundation

“More and more, my students beg to see what Futures Channel has for the week. It’s not only a part of my lesson, but it’s a treat for the class. I use it as a reward. Thank you for bringing such exciting, informative and captivating programs right into our classroom.”
Angela Barriga
Hungerford Elementary
Maitland, FL

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Something to Do This Weekend: Go Geocaching!

Geocaching is a little different than the sites I normally highlight, but I think its concept is so appealing to an educator that I had to share about it...

What is geocaching?  It is simply, using your GPS to find a certain location.  This may involve trekking through treacherous terrain or walking along a flatland trail.  What you find at the end of the hike -- at the precise GPS point -- may vary, but usually includes a waterproof box of some sort and a log book, where you mark that  you were there.

I'll leave you to explore the Geocaching site, where you can input your zip code and start geocaching this weekend.  Happy hunting, um, caching!

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Encouraging Students to Invent: InventNow.org

 Where would we be without our lights, stoves, heaters, and especially our all-important iPods, Blackberries and laptops?  If we had a world without inventors, we'd have a simple world, indeed.  I love simplicity, but I also love modern conveniences, so I'm all for encouraging students to invent things.  So is InventNow.org...

InventNow.org has a message for Teachers and Parents:

"Teachers, inspire your students through problem-solving exercises, exploration, creativity and the inventive process. At the same time engage them in learning about the intellectual property protections of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets."

The InventNow.org site is fun to look around.  Here are a few pages to get you started:

• A  few Challenges to get your student started
• The InventNow.org gallery
• The Inspiring Invention Contest (prize:  a package from Sony Creative Software)
• Learn about Patents and how to apply for one

If your child submits his or her invention to the gallery, please let us know!

~ Lori

Note:  Your student does need to register to use the site (no last name, address or phone number requested).  ~~~~~~~~~~

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TODAY (1/14) ONLY: Inauguration Day Lesson Plan

The Bill of Rights Institute has an Inauguration Day Lesson Plan on their site -- but it can only be downloaded today for free.

The description from the Bill of Rights Institute website is as follows:

 "Bring the historic Presidential Inauguration of 2009 into your classroom! “Presidential Inauguration: History, Tradition, and the Constitution” helps your students learn more about Inauguration Day from constitutional, historical, and current perspectives."

I downloaded the .pdf file in less than a minute (it is 9 pages long).  No registration or information is required to download the lesson plan.  Note:  THIS IS A LIMITED TIME OFFER.  The download is only available free through today, January 14th.

Two handouts are included with the lesson plan.  A copy of the US Constitution is needed (click on that text to view one online).

Inauguration Day 2009 is on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 (as set by the Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution).  On that day and time, Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States.  The Inauguration Day 2009 schedule of events can be viewed here.

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Old Book Art

Old Book Art has become one of my favorite browsing websites.  I can see its potential for an educator as vast.  Peruse the files for antique maps, find an illustration to accompany a classic, have the children study an artist whose work was in an old book...

The mission of Old Book Art is:

To provide & facilitate access to free illustrations: pictures, drawings, maps and other images scanned from antiquarian, public-domain books and other old documents. We have over 3,200 images in our gallery with more added regularly, all at no cost and most available at very high resolution. Most of these we have scanned and edited ourselves. We will also screen and provide links to other high quality resources.

Here is a sampling of the book art I found on the Old Book Art site:

     

Let me know what you think of Old Book Art!

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