Solar System Exploration by NASA

Explore the planets, dwarf planets and moons of our solar system with NASA's Solar System Exploration.  Interactive displays take students, and teachers, on a trip to each celestial body in our solar system to learn specific features of each.  A great resource for a project, test prep, or just fun exploration.  This will help students studying Earth Science and Space in the upper elementary and middle school grades.

You can find a link to NASA's Solar System Exploration on the Staff Resources Padlet.

Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor CDP is a resource designed by teachers to provide students with opportunities to explore the important concepts of courage, commitment, sacrifice, patriotism, integrity and citizenship and how these values can be exemplified in daily life. The depth and breadth of our students' insight and reflection after interacting with these materials has been remarkable. We are confident that you will find these resources to be as rich and engaging as we have.

Follow the link here>>

Legos and Robotics (article)

McKinleyville 5th grade class given Lego 

robotics sets

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Animated Maps: A History / Social Studies Resource

Analyzing and interpreting maps is part of the Social Studies learning standards for most elementary and middle school grades.  Mapping History, produced by the University of Oregon, features lots of animated maps illustrating problems, patterns, and events throughout history. Mapping History is essentially a digital atlas of American, European, Latin American, and African history. Each section is divided into modules based on historical themes and eras.

Applications for Education
Mapping History is a resource to bookmark for the next time that you need a thematic map to illustrate a pattern in history. I found that some of the maps will also be useful as question prompts. For example, this map prompts students to evaluate the extent to which the expansion of slavery in the U.S. was connected to the demand for cotton.

FREE Illustrative Mathematics 6–8 Math Curriculum Now Open

FREE Illustrative Mathematics 6–8 Math Curriculum Now Open

One of my favorite websites for math has been Illustrative Mathematics, an incredible resource for K-12 mathematics instruction. That is why I was so excited by the news that they have just released a NEW 6–8 Grade Math curriculum as an Open Educational Resource, which means it is FREE!.

You can

EDSITEment Social Studies and Literacy Materials

EDSITEment Social Studies & Literacy Materials

The National Endowment of the Humanities has a great educational resource called EDSITEment, that is an incredible clearinghouse of all things American history, literature, and art. (In fact, their CLOSER READINGS blog is an awesome literacy tool.)

they also have a monthly EDSITEment newsletter that features high-quality content that teachers will love! Here are some social studies highlights for September:

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Back to School 2017 We’ve culled our most popular lessons in history, literature, art, culture, philosophy, and world languages to jump start your class. U.S. History and Social Studies; World History; American Literature; Contemporary American Poetry; World Literature; Folktales, Fairytales, and Mythology; Philosophy; Art History; World Languages

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Constitution Day, September 2017 This year, we’ve updated our portal with over 30 lessons on the origins, ratification, amendments, and impact of the United States Constitution.