News for December, 2009

What a wonderful year it has been! Our biggest request has been for us to list our most popular links along the left sidebar, and that is exactly what we are in the process of doing. Starting in January, there will be a much more extensive list of links along the left side of each webpage. Enjoy, and happy new year!

News for November, 2009

Did the first quarter really come and go that quickly? Are we really shopping for turkeys already?

Our latest major project has to do with PowerPoint presentations. Several users have commented that they are using the older version of Microsoft PowerPoint (1997-2003), which goes under the file extension ".ppt", as opposed to the latest version (2007), which goes under the file extension ".pptx".

Here's the deal: We create all of our PowerPoints as .pptx files. Then we save them as .ppt files. This would be terrific, except that a lot of the fancy new features in PowerPoint do not work in the 1997-2003 version. The result is .pptx files that look terrific, and .ppt files that might not look so great. The complaint from users downloading .ppt files has been that they have had to waste time cleaning up the presentations before they could use them.

We have a better solution. And no, it doesn't require upgrading to the latest version of PowerPoint! Instead, we have saved each presentation as a .pdf file which you can read and display using Adobe Acrobat Reader. In fact, you can view and print the PowerPoints as .pdf files online (straight from your browser) without having to download them at all.

While we were at it, we went ahead and created student notes hand-outs of the presentations. Each page of the handouts looks like this: along the left side are three miniature versions of the slides, and along the right side are lines for student notes. These files are also in .pdf format, meaning that you can view or view and print them straight from your browser.

This project involves going through all of our PowerPoints and "redoing" them. We are more than halfway finished. We thank you for your patience and ask that you bear with us for just a little bit longer.

News for October, 2009

The weather here is changing very quickly! We hope that you are all well into the swing of things. Improvements and additions to the site continue. One of the new items this month is a PowerPoint presentation on the life and legacy of Macedonia's Alexander the Great: "Macedonia, Alexander the Great, and the Hellenistic World" PowerPoint Presentation - 18 slides including 7 review questions- Version PPT | PPTX. Enjoy!

News for September, 2009

A colleague recently proposed the idea of a newsletter for frequent users of this site. His suggestion is that we send out these monthly updates in emails, including complete lists of the month's newly posted teaching materials. We shied away from the idea because personally, we dislike mass emails, and tend to send email newsletters straight to the trash. What are your thoughts? Please use the contact button below to share your suggestions on this or any other relevant topic.

News for August, 2009

Is the summer really nearly over? If you're feeling the heat and humidity that we are feeling in the northeastern portion of the country, then you must be nearly as eager as we are for fall to finally arrive!

This upcoming school year looks to be full of collaborative opportunities to work on contributions to this site. As we pursue the idea of teacher-created materials to accompany standard junior and senior high school textbooks, we will add many more to our current listings. Keep your eyes peeled!

News for July, 2009

We hope that you are enjoying your summer vacation as much as we are. The textbook handouts, begun last month, are about one-third complete. If they are not completed by the end of summer, they will definitely be completed during the course of the school year (in time to keep up with course pacing).

We were saddened by the death of entertainer Michael Jackson. Despite the controversies surrounding his life and death, there is no doubt that he was extremely talented. We had the privilege of attending the vigil held in his honor at the old "Hitsville, U.S.A." Motown Museum in downtown Detroit, Michigan, and are sharing some of our photographs here.

News for June, 2009

School's out for summer! There are a lot of things that we are working on, including creating handouts to accompany the latest Prentice Hall history textbooks. We are first working on United States History: Reconstruction to the Present (2008). These are terrific textbooks for use in the classroom, with a lot of nice interactive features on their CD-roms, but we like having something a bit more practical--even "simple"--when working with students. Our first batch of handouts for this book, available here, are one-sided sheets containing the section checkpoints and terms. These are ideal for guided reading use in the classroom or at home.

News for May

Spring is all around! Our eyes love it, but our allergies hate it.

This past month, we finally got around to fixing up our blog. We hope to update it regularly with thoughts, personal stories, etc., in a way that educators may find useful.

The newest feature is the Calendar section. We created a new weekly planner for the 2009-2010 school year (it'll be here before you know it), dated monthly calendars through December, 2010, and a "What's so important about today?" feature. The "What's So Important " pages feature each month, at a glance, with recurring holidays and today-in-history anecdotes. The pages are not fully up yet, but we have created a lot of interesting, educational links for each posted event. For example, the anniversary of the Bataan Death March links to additional information on the tragedy.

Please keep emailing us with your requests and suggestions, as we take them very seriously. We will be very busy this summer uploading materials! Okay, so we'll spend some time relaxing around the pool. But on those rainy days, you can bet that we'll be at our computers.

Great Blogging Info from a Great Blog

Learning with Impact has posted great advice on teacher blogging, much more technical and in-depth than that posted here. Check it out.

http://learningwithimpact.blogspot.com/2009/04/techno-tuesday-starting-class-blog.html

Sample Classroom Blog Now Posted

http://studenthandoutssampleblog.blogspot.com/

We have posted a sample classroom blog to explain how you can take your classroom into the new millennium using this free and simple tool.

Giggles Post: Packer's Tar Soap

This ad from circa 1921 just cracks me up. Well, most old ads crack me up, to be honest.

School Security Funding

According to an article from CNN, funding for high-tech school security was cut by 1/3 during the Bush administration. Obama's education package, rather than replace the previously slashed security funding, is replacing it with funds to increase student-school involvement and to create an overall more close-knit school community that will deter violence.

What are your thoughts? Will close-knit school communities with increased counselors and violence prevention programs stop another "Columbine" from happening? Or is the threat of school violence so immediate and pressing that schools need officer patrols, metal detectors, and drug-sniffing dogs?

Obama on Education

If you've been following the news lately, you are aware that President Obama is planning massive federal spending on education. Fifty-three billion dollars will go toward state stabilization funds. Ten billion will go toward Title I programs.

What are your thoughts on Obama's education spending plan for 2009? Is it enough? Are the funds being placed into the right programs?


Student Handouts, Inc.

Healthy Eating

Here is a great online article on what to eat to increase brain functioning:

http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/09/05/eat-your-way-to-intelligence/

For me, looking at the culinary offerings at schools, this article was a bit depressing. Why aren't schools offering greater nutrition in school lunches and breakfasts? As someone who cooks breakfast every morning at home, I know from experience that eggs are less expensive than high-sugar cereals.

Your thoughts?

Student Handouts, Inc.

Spring Break!

We hope that everyone has enjoyed Spring Break 2009 as much as we have. It nearly reached seventy degrees here. Very nice indeed!

As tempted as we have been to bask in the natural light, we have managed to put a few items up this week. We have also begun reorganizing things into more manageable, easy-to-skim tables/boxes. What are your thoughts?


Student Handouts, Inc.

News: April, 2009

This month, our focus is on terms in the social studies. Many of our readers have requested handouts that do not require the assistance of textbooks or other reference materials (so that students need not carry these often heavy books home each day). On the World History pages, we are adding numerous history- and geography-themed word puzzles -- crosswords, word searches, and decoding games -- which can be completed by students anywhere without the aid of textbooks.

Here is a sample:

HANDOUT: Early Humans Crossword Puzzle with Word Bank Answer Key

Green Tip: Recycling Cardboard

CARDBOARD: Cardboard can be recycled, but remember to break down the boxes and remove any staples. Sides of a box free of ink can be used for gardening. Separate plant root systems with buried cardboard, knowing that it will degrade and disappear within a couple of years.

Visit the Go Green! section of the website for more information.

News: March, 2009

We are off to a great start. This month, our goal is on reorganizing the materials which we already have. Presently, there are numerous materials listed in one category which should logically be cross listed in another (e.g., certain historical documents are found under Texts, but not under the appropriate Social Studies unit). Once this task is completed, we should better be able to assess which areas need more materials and which are fairly complete.

Green Tip: Buy Better Batteries

Buy better batteries!

Non-rechargeable: It's very tempting, in a shopping rush or on a budget, to buy "cheap" batteries. We've all seen them at the discount store, with four or more "AA" in a package for $1 or so. In this case, you get less than what you pay for. These batteries are often "heavy duty" or "super heavy duty" and will be dead before you know it. If you don't yet use rechargeable batteries, at least go for the higher-end long-lasting batteries. They may be more expensive initially, but will last longer and prove less expensive over time.

Rechargeable: These are your best bet. When a battery runs low, you simply place it in your charger for a boost. Rechargeable batteries seem to last forever, making them the "cheapest" bet in the long run. They also contain enough to juice to properly run high-energy electronics such as digital cameras.

Warning: Rechargeable batteries contain heavy metals and must be recycled. Visit Rechargable Battery Recycling Corporation for information on where you can drop in or mail your dead batteries.

Visit the Go Green! section of the website for more information.

News: February, 2009

What a month! We have completely reorganized the American History section for high school by subdividing the NYSDE Regents Curriculum Outline into 20 separate and distinct units (or chapters) of study. This change is designed to correlate to the precise units of study implemented by high school social studies teachers. Much remains to be done, but what a terrific beginning!

Tip: eBay for Teaching Supplies

We would like to mention that we LOVE eBay. Not just love, but adore. For example, we maintain subscriptions to magazines like National Geographic for the neat articles and great maps. But were you aware that huge lots of National Geographic maps are available on eBay for around $20? When you figure in the shipping charges, buying a lot of maps equates to about $1 per map. Just log into eBay and do a search for "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAP" and lots of listings will pop up.

Do you have a money-saving tip to share? Leave a comment!


Student Handouts, Inc.

News: January, 2009

Happy New Year! We are hard at work uploading and creating new handouts, worksheets, and PowerPoint presentations. We have revamped (and hopefully improved) our PowerPoints on the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era. Enjoy!

Teaching Tip: Create a Classroom Blog

A classroom blog is a great way to reach out beyond the school walls to parents and students.

Instructions:

1. Open a blogging account on a site like blogspot.com.
2. Name your blog something simple that students will remember, like MSJOHNSONSENGLISHCLASS.
3. Every day before you leave the building, post what happened that day. For example: "PERIOD SIX - ENGLISH I: Today we looked at the use of metaphor in writing, and read an excerpt from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles. The homework assignment is to answer questions 3, 5, and 7 on page 45 of the textbook. Tomorrow we will discuss these questions in class and begin discussing the development of mystery fiction."
4. If you can't update every day, be sure to do so by the end of the week, making sure to list what was done in class and what assignments were given.

Benefits of a Classroom Blog:

• Students and parents quickly and easily can see what assignments are due.
• Make certain that parents know about the blog, because students may be tempted to keep it a bit of a secret. This way, when a student tells a parent, "I don't have any homework," the parent can quickly confirm it.
• Teachers get a chance to highlight their organizational and teaching skills.
• Supplemental learning can occur. If you're covering Shakespeare, you can post a link to a site dedicated to Shakespeare.
• Parents are connected. Many parents who are dedicated to their children's education cannot contact teachers often, nor attend conferences. A classroom blog keeps parents informed and lets them know that the teacher cares about keeping parents informed.
• Homework can be posted. Many schools offer hosting for notes, PowerPoints, etc. If not, there are free hosting sites available online. You can scan or copy/paste handouts, etc. You can copy/paste the instructions for a term paper. This will give students and parents easy access to "back-up" copies of assignments.
• Students gain access to the educational benefits of technology.
• Teachers are not pestered by students asking, "What did we do yesterday?" Such students can be directed to a classroom or library computer and told to check the blog.