Showing posts with label thinkfinity.org. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thinkfinity.org. Show all posts

Saturday, April 11, 2009

April is Not Just Tax Season, It's Also Financial Literacy Month

As the big tax day approaches, financial literacy, the economy and personal finance is certainly on all of our minds. So, what great timing for a teachable moment! I guess whomever makes up random holidays agrees because April has been named Financial Literacy month.

Of course innovative educators will want some ideas of how to make this learning engaging to their students. I've found a couple ways to do so.

Remix America has launched their “Coping with the Economy” challenge. This initiative is designed to provide a forum for all Americans – young and old – to tell their stories of the economic crisis. Inspired by the “Is Anybody Listening?” video by a high-school class in Pomona, Remix America created the “Coping with the Economy” initiative as a forum for young Americans to come together and discuss the issues that are most important to them.

Remix America is definitely an organization that cares about what innovative educators think. For this challenge, they’ve also included (on my suggestion!) an oral history lesson plan for teachers who wish to do a “Coping with the Economy” oral history assignment of their own.

Another resource is Thinkfinity. They are sharing free lesson plans, videos, photos and student activities.

Included in the collection are the following materials:
1) http://edsitement.neh.gov/Spotlights/spotlight-hardtimes.asp lets students see, via several video clips of FDR’s speeches, how America dealt with hard financial times during the Depression.
2) URL=http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=172 displays compound interest calculator suitable for students as young as in the third grade.
3) And by playing this fun you’re going to college game, players get information about different ways of funding college.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Thinkfinity.org Provides Innovative Educators with Free Resources for Black History Month

Thinkfinity.org, which is the educational website of the Verizon Foundation, has posted Black History Month related free lesson plans, teacher resources and student activities that innovative educators might find useful for their classrooms. The site has lots of free educational resources for standards-based K-12 lesson plans, educational games, music clips and videos – all relating to Black History Month and available for downloading.

Here is some of what you’ll find on the site:


Interact with Information on Black History Month

Listen to black scientists. Take a virtual field trip. Trace the blues. Immerse yourself in 1920s Harlem. Ride The Underground Railroad. And through it all, discover the contributions of African Americans to our nation's history. read more >>

Image: Associated Press





Investigating African American History, Art and Literature

Learn about the tremendous contributions that African Americans have made to the history, art and literature of the United States with this special Black History Month feature from EDSITEment. read more >>


Image: "The Migration of the Negro Panel no. 57, 1940-1941" by Jacob Lawrence.
©2008 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence

Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.



African American Read-In

Make literacy a significant part of Black History Month. Participate in the Twentieth National African American Read-In. It can be as simple as bringing together friends to share a book by an African American author. read more >>