USA Today Free Resources for classroom teachers

It’s not terribly well-organized nor unified, but USA Today has quite a few ‘free resources’ of interest to educators. All are accessible from USAToday Educate site (where you'll find a Teacher’s Lounge and a blog) at the top under ‘Free Resources.’ A few I picked out:

Teachers/media specialists can sign up to receive complimentary classroom copies (print or electronic) of USA TODAY. First come, first served.

A Lesson Library houses lessons that have been developed over the past few years by USA TODAY Education. in the topics of Language Arts, Social Studies, Science & Engineering, Math & Technology, Health Entrepreneurship, and Financial Literacy. There is an archive as well.

The Dream UP! Program, designed to be simple, effective, and with little outside prep on the part of the teacher, helps students identify career directions. 

Lessons from the Visions of Exploration program are designed to enhance students’ reading, writing and comprehension skills, while introducing them to topics in science, technology, engineering and math. Each contains a recent article found in USA TODAY, discussion questions, and an activity. The lessons prepare students for the world beyond the classroom and inspire them to become explorers.

Some Cyber Security content (http://usatodayeducate.com/wordpress/index.php/technology-cyber-security) might help ‘teach our children how to become cyber citizens and better ensure they don’t become cyber crime victims in the future.’

Money Matters 101 is a series of free lesson plans that help teach students about finances and planning. Thy are based on real-world examples / articles from USA TODAY, and lesson topics include saving for now and for later, being prepared for a financial crisis, using credit cards, protecting oneself from online scams.

Healthy Teens is a “free cross-curricular health and wellness literacy program to inspire middle school students to build a better quality of life for themselves, their families, and their communities.” 

The ‘Prepared, Not Scared TextMessaging for Safety’ program is a six-week, project-based learning activity where students research a threat facing their community and create a series of text messages to inform and guide the community through the emergency.

Lastly, maybe Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow technology giveaway for 6th to 12th grade educators is right for you.  

Follett Challenge for School Libraries

The Follett Challenge invites the education community to promote the role that school libraries play in encouraging and developing information literacy and student engagement. Demonstrate how your program makes use of technology and content to engage students and improve information literacy.

Six winning libraries will be rewarded with the cash-equivalent of products and services from Follett. Five prizes, including a $35,000 first place prize, will be awarded by a panel of judges. A sixth $10,000 prize will be awarded based on online voting for the best video.

The application consists of a detailed program description, a written endorsement of support from the school's administration and a 3-5 minute video as a creative representation of the program's impact.

More information.

Deadline: June 1, 2011

Target's Community Outreach

Target Stores seem to have about a bazillion different areas of interest to libraries and media centers.

They have 5 different Reading programs, among which are:

* School Library Makeovers

* They help PTO Today by sponsoring free Family Reading Night Kits to schools.

* Supporting United Through Reading, a program that unite families facing physical separation by facilitating the bonding experience of reading aloud together.

They also have those Early Childhood reading Grants (I blogged about those before).

They offer Art and Culture in Schools Grants for $2,000 (deadline is April 30 each year to helps "schools bring more arts and culture into the classroom, enabling them to expand their creativity.” Because “music, art, dance, drama and visual arts are all part of the well-rounded education our kids deserve."

To benefit school kids, they also offer Field Trip Grants.

Target also does social services type stuff, crisis relief type stuff, and also support military families and veterans, which are worthy and valuable areas of support.

Grant: Improving Literacy Through School Libraries

This is a program from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Eductaion's Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality Programs (hoo!).

Full details are here; the basics are below.

Local education agencies (LEAs) in which at least 20 percent of students served are from families with incomes below the poverty line are eligible to apply. Projects should improve reading achievement by providing students with increased access to up-to-date school library materials; well-equipped, technologically advanced school library media centers; and professionally certified school library media specialists.

Districts may use funds for the following activities:

• Purchase up-to-date school library media resources, including books;
• Acquire and use advanced technology that is integrated into the curricula to develop and enhance the information literacy, information retrieval, and critical-thinking skills of students;
• Facilitate Internet links and other resource-sharing networks;
• Provide professional development for school library media specialists of PK-3 students and provide activities that foster increased collaboration among library specialists, teachers, and administrators of PK-12 students; and
• Provide students with access to school libraries during nonschool hours, weekends, and summer vacations.