Instill Interest in Math
The Actuarial Foundation’s Advancing Student Achievement grant program brings together actuaries and educators in local classrooms with the belief that interaction with real-world mentors will boost student interest and achievement in math. The Actuarial Foundation can provide a local network of actuaries ready to participate, as well as suggestions on how to integrate math concepts from the workplace into the classroom. Schools applying for grants will be given wide latitude in designing programs that enhance learning and create a “love of math” in each student. All schools willing to undertake a math-mentoring program involving local actuaries as volunteers are eligible. However, a sufficient population of volunteer actuaries must be within easy traveling distance to make a regular program possible.
Deadline: None; applications should be received at least one or two months prior to proposed start date
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Study the Life and Legacy of Lincoln
Horace Mann and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) have teamed up to offer 50 teachers the opportunity to study the life and legacy of our 16th president. The fellowship is open to any full-time, K–12 teacher of any discipline in the United States. The curriculum is geared toward teachers of students in grades 4–12. No special knowledge of history or Lincoln is required. The fellowship features two five-day programs, one in June and one in July 2010, at the ALPLM in Springfield, Illinois, and it includes complimentary round-trip transportation, lodging and most meals. Teachers submit applications online, including their résumé and answers to two essay questions (250 word maximum).
Deadline: February 12, 2010
Click Here for More Information

Launch a News Venture
The Institute for Interactive Journalism and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s New Voices Community News Grants will help fund the start-up of eight micro-local news projects and support them with two educational Web sites. All 501(c)3 organizations and education institutions are eligible for the eight grants. Grantees may receive up to $25,000; they will receive $17,000 the first year and are eligible for $8,000 in matching funds in the second year.
Deadline: March 1, 2010
Click Here for More Information

Plus: The New Voices project has launched its companion Web site, J-Learning, a how-to site for community journalism with training in Web site creation; basic HTML; page design and layout; use of photos, audio, video and animation; use of databases and surveys; law and ethics; advertising and marketing; and fundraising and e-commerce.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Join the growing list of teachers enjoying the eBookDestination Rewards Program. On the first day of each month, a digital coupon (representing 5 percent of your total purchases in the previous month) will be added to your shopping cart. You’ll then be notified via email of the presence (and amount) of this coupon.

There’s no application to complete, no points to collect, no cards to carry, no codes to enter and (most important) no fees to pay. Quite simply, you are repaid for your loyalty with a 5 percent credit toward future purchases. It’s as easy as that!

Browse the eBookstore now! You’ll receive an automatic discount on thousands of ebook titles, many of which are bundled with downloadable audio MP3 files, from major educational publishers. Plus, there’s always a selection of the most popular titles on sale!

Find Solutions for Helping English Language Learners
Sign up at The Big Deal Book Web site for hELLo!, a free monthly ELL e-newsletter that includes information about new grants, upcoming contests, the latest educational research and a wealth of information on interactive print and online resources for students, teachers, librarians, principals and others involved in the education of English language learners.
Click Here to Sign Up for Free Newsletter

Solve a Problem--Unconventionally
The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest brings the ideas of Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Rube Goldberg’s “invention” cartoons to life. This Olympics of Complexity is designed to pull students away from conventional problem solving and push them into the endless chaos of imagination and intuitive thought. Groups are given an elementary challenge: something as simple as peeling an apple, sharpening a pencil or putting toothpaste on a toothbrush. But instead of just “solving” the problem, students have to make the solution as complicated and as convoluted as possible. In fact, the more steps—there’s a minimum of 20—the better the Rube Goldberg Machine.
Deadlines: Visit the Web site for the contest schedule in your area
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Plus: Invite your students to play the Goldburger to Go game. The cast and crew on the PBS Kids ZOOM set are hungry. Can your students perfect the ZOOMers’ Rube Goldberg invention for serving lunch? The ZOOMers say it just needs a few minor adjustments before it can deliver lunch to everybody.
Click Here to Play Game

Reward Exemplary Student Writing
Submission information and entry forms are now available for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Promising Young Writers program for 8th-grade students and Achievement Awards in Writing program for 11th-grade students.
Deadlines: February 10, 2010 for Promising Young Writers; February 17, 2010 for Achievement in Writing
Click Here for More Information on 8th-Grade Awards
Click Here for More Information on 11th-Grade Awards

Inspire Environmental Preservation
Action For Nature’s International Young Eco-Hero Awards recognize the individual accomplishments of young people (aged 8–16) whose personal actions have significantly improved the environment. Action For Nature will award cash prizes of up to $500 to young Eco-Heroes whose individual initiatives will inspire others to preserve and protect the environment.
Deadline: February 28, 2010
Click Here for More Information

Get free unlimited online access to all the print content in The Big Deal Book of Technology for K–12 Educators. Explore the many opportunities to fund your special programs, access timely reports and articles, locate free and inexpensive resources and identify engaging interactive Web sites.

Register online to download the Fall 2009 Big Deal eBook for Educators of English Language Learners. Inside this free eBook, you’ll find links to resources, strategies, best practices and interactive Web sites to engage your English language learners. You’ll also find a rich variety of funding sources to bring sustenance to your programs.

Explore Classic Storybooks
Read.gov features classic books online for children and teens. Find the text and illustrations of “Humpty Dumpty,” “Mother Goose,” “The Three Bears,” “Our Flag,” The Arabian Nights, The Secret Garden, The Raven and other classics. The site also provides Webcasts of authors, writing contests and teaching resources.
Click Here to Access Free Resources

Plus: Invite your students to go on a Storybook Adventure in which they will explore The Wizard of Oz, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin and collect treasure. Then they will create an e-card with the Storybook Collage Maker.
Click Here to Access Free Game

Sample Streaming Video
Learn360 is a new choice for streaming video for K–12 teachers. In addition to the up-to-date collection of standards-based videos, video clips and audio programs, you’ll find an image library, audio and video speeches, and a popular collection of newsreels. You can also add your own content or choose from thousands of teachers’ favorite resources from award-winning educational content partners, including PBS, National Geographic, Sunburst Visual Media and others. Try it free for 30 days.
Click Here for More Information and Free Trial

Support Instruction with Virtual Manipulatives
DreamBox Learning offers free digital math resources for teachers to use in their kindergarten through second-grade classrooms. DreamBox Teacher Tools include a variety of lessons using virtual manipulatives, ideas for incorporating the lessons in the classroom and resources to support teachers’ professional development as they use the toolkit. The virtual manipulatives are Web-based tools that help students more easily grasp math concepts in visual terms. The lessons are designed to be successful in a wide range of classroom environments.
Click Here for More Information

Reduce Gang Violence
The YEF Institute has published a new toolkit on Preventing Gang Violence and Building Communities Where Young People Thrive. The toolkit draws on lessons learned over the past three years from the California Cities Gang Prevention Network, a 13-city network formed to identify strategies for reducing gang violence and victimization. The kit contains eight chapters divided into three sections: marshalling resources to fund anti-gang strategies; strategic partnerships within the criminal justice system and with county agencies, schools, neighborhoods and the faith community; and targeted approaches, including street-level outreach and facilitating reentry from detention facilities.
Click Here to Download Free Toolkit

Invest in the Future
February is Career and Technical Education (CTE) month. This month-long celebration of CTE kicks off with National Job Shadow Day and concludes with National Entrepreneurship Week USA (February 20–27). This year’s theme is CTE: Invest in Your Future. The Association for Career and Technical Education’s (ACTE) Educator Resource Center houses career and technical education resources to help teachers and administrators pursue continuing education, improve classroom instruction and develop new and innovative programs. Search the Lesson Plan Library for ideas to enliven your classroom and submit your own tried-and-true lesson plans, browse Model Programs and learn about Professional Development opportunities, online and in person.
Click Here to Visit CTE Web Site
Click Here to Visit Educator Resource Center

Shadow Workplace Mentors
Job Shadow is an academically motivating activity designed to give students the unique opportunity of an up-close look at the world of work and provide the answer to the commonly asked question, “Why do I have to learn this?” Beginning with a nationwide kickoff on February 2, and continuing throughout the school year, students across America will “shadow” workplace mentors as they go through a normal day on the job. The program invites students to see firsthand how the skills learned in school relate to the workplace. Job Shadow is led by the National Job Shadow Coalition.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Instill Interest in Biotechnology
The WGBH Educational Foundation recently launched the new Biotechnology collection on Teachers’ Domain. These digital media resources are designed to deepen the teaching and learning of biotechnology in middle and high schools throughout the United States. Digital video and interactives explore laboratory techniques used in biotechnology for treating disease and improving diagnosis. Video profiles of biotechnology scientists and technicians offer students compelling examples of available career pathways into the field.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Get the “Big Shot”
Students in New York are among the first to participate in a pilot program spearheaded by Columbia University to learn science and engineering concepts by building a fully functioning digital camera from a kit. Students from India, Vietnam and Japan were also given kits, and all students are being asked to share pictures taken with their cameras on BigShotCamera.org. Bigshotcamera.org has been designed as an “interactive textbook,” with animated illustrations that show how energy is converted, how an electrical charge moves through the camera’s circuitry and how filling a frame with light—or removing it completely—can affect images. There are explanations of photons, a tutorial on how cameras use a numbered code to record images and a discussion about how the computer translates the code into pictures. It’s the photo galleries, though, where most of the interactivity takes place. The Web site, though public, is still in testing, but visitors can view images from three focus groups.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Integrate 21st Century Innovation Skills
Developed at the MIT Media Lab, Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy for your students to create their own interactive stories, animations, games, music and art—and share their creations on the Web. Scratch is designed to help young people (aged 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create and share Scratch projects, students learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically and work collaboratively. Download Scratch free of charge.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Connect with Colleagues
Join The Big Deal Book of Technology’s “Amazing Resources for Educators” community on the edWeb. The edWeb gives you the networking tools to connect you with colleagues, groups you’re associated with and the entire education community. You can collaborate with colleagues outside the boundaries of classroom walls and school buildings to share lesson plans and compare notes on resources and products. You can also discuss topics of mutual interest, write a blog, share files, images and videos—and much more—all for free. Now you can join The Big Deal Book of Technology’s community to get more frequent updates on grant deadlines, free resources and hot new sites for 21st century learning. And, of course, you can share any great new resources that you’ve unearthed!
Click Here to Join the Amazing Resources for Educators Community
Click Here to Take a Tour of the edWeb

Celebrate African American Heritage
February is African American History Month. This year’s theme, “The Quest for Black Citizenship in the Americas,” recognizes the endeavors of African Americans to unite a nation, bringing equality and social justice to all. This section of The Library of Congress’s Web site presents profiles and images of notable African Americans as well as audio/video of subjects of similar interest.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Experience Chapters in African American History
Our Shared History: African American Heritage tells about the Underground Railroad, African Americans in the Civil War, historic places of the civil rights movement, the Delta blues of the Lower Mississippi Valley and landmarks dedicated to Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King Jr and Frederick Douglass. Also find classroom lesson plans and other resources to liven your discussions of the people, places and stories on the National Park Service’s (NPS) site.
Click Here Visit Web Site

Hear Their Voices
The Voices of Civil Rights Web site features a searchable online archive of selected stories submitted by people from every corner of the country and from all walks of life. There are also interactive features, essays, interviews and special reports. Voices of Civil Rights is a joint project of AARP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and The Library of Congress.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Investigate the Stories That Make America
What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series Faces of America with Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. Using DNA testing and genealogical research, Professor Gates offers investigations of the family story and ancestry of 12 renowned Americans. For example, episode 3, “Making America,” tells how land came to define the settling and identity of America and how the guests’ ancestors were part of this history. Learn about actress Meryl Streep’s eighth great-grandfather who fought in Metacom’s War (King Philip’s War, 1675–1676); records of a land dispute in Spain that forced actress Eva Longoria Parker’s ancestors to leave for the New World in 1603; and cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s Chinese genealogy. The series premieres nationally Wednesdays, February 10–March 3, 2010 from 8 to 9 p.m. ET on PBS.
Click Here for a Preview of the Series

Draw on Imagination
Hear specialists in art history, art conservation and the sciences discuss the connections between art, science and technology in video clips. You’ll also find lesson plans and student projects on this site created by The Art Institute of Chicago. The overarching goal of the site is to show science teachers that an art museum may be used as a visual library to augment and enrich established high school science curricula in chemistry, earth science or physics. With primary emphasis on the theme of light and color, the site reveals how the scientific method is applied to the making, conserving and exhibiting of art.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Excite Students to Writing
826 National is a nonprofit tutoring, writing and publishing organization with locations in seven cities across the country. The organization’s goal is to assist students, aged 6–18, with their writing skills and to help teachers get their classes excited about writing. After the founding of 826 Valencia, the flagship center in San Francisco, educators around the U.S. joined in to pursue the same goals in their local communities. Now 826 Valencia also serves as the headquarters of 826 National, an umbrella organization that coordinates the adaptation of 826’s tutoring and mentorship model in other cities. Already, 826 has sister centers in New York, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Seattle and Boston. Through volunteer support, each of the seven 826 chapters provides drop-in tutoring, class field trips, writing workshops and in-schools programs—all free of charge. 826 chapters are especially committed to supporting teachers, publishing student work and offering services for English language learners.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Check out the new look of The Big Deal Book Web site. And be sure to explore the Web Wednesday feature, which offers resources and activities for integrating technology into your classroom. Here you’ll find new interactive experiences and resources that incorporate 21st century themes and skills into the study of core subjects.

Also explore the EarTHursday feature, which offers intelligent approaches to “going green” in your classroom. You’ll find interactive ideas that will help you encourage your students to weigh in and take action on some of the biggest environmental issues in our world today.

Appropriately named, these features change mid-week, every week!