13 Free Google Slides Templates for Teachers

From Make Tech Easier via ResearchBuzz: 

13 Free Google Slides Templates for Teachers . "As an educator, you may want to use a visual tool but don’t have much time beyond lesson plans, grading, and lectures. If you’d like to create a presentation for your students or fellow staff members, this list includes several free Google Slides templates for teachers to get you started."

Letters About Literature Contest

The Letters about Literature contest opens on October 2 and will accept entries until January 18, 2024.

The Mass Center for the Book invites students from Grades 4 to 12 to read a literary work of their choice and write to its author explaining their personal connection to the theme, a character, or the author's viewpoint. There are cash prizes for those who place in the #1-#3 spots for each of 3 age categories and up to 7 honorable mentions. Most years there is an in-person celebration in spring which students who place well are invited to attend at the State House in Boston.

Letters will be accepted electronically in class/group sets by teachers, librarians, and writing centers or individually by students.


If you are interested in this contest for any/all of your students, here is more information. I am happy to support you or your students with this, please let me know if I can do anything!


All about LAL - read some 2023 winners, see guidelines, entry form, schedule an informational meeting, get teaching aids, etc.

Music about Safety for Kids

Believe it or not, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has released a collection of songs aimed at youth 13-24 about safety that are actually pretty catchy and not stupid. They are also in the public domain so you can download and post or whatever!


The whole EP is here on YouTube.
We're Safety Now Haven't We is a collection of songs created by USCPSC to teach young Americans (ages 13 to 24) how to avoid some of the most common hazards in their lives.

More info about each track or download MP3 here: We’re Safety Now Haven’t We

Protect Ya Noggin - about wearing a helmet - versions in English and in Spanish! Between 2013 and 2022, an average of 212,000 young people a year between the ages of 13 and 24 were injured in incidents related to bikes and similar vehicles.

Phone Away - about not walking/biking etc. while looking at. your phone. Between 2013 and 2022, an average of 5,100 young people a year between the ages of 13 and 24 went to the emergency room with injuries related to using phones while moving.

Se Pone Caliente (Spanish) - about smoke detectors
Between 2013 and 2022, an average of 7,200 young people a year between the ages of 13 and 24 went to the emergency room with injuries related to home fire incidents.

Going Off Like Fireworks - Between 2013 and 2022, an average of 3,200 young people a year between the ages of 13 and 24 went to the emergency room with firework-related injuries.

Off Road Adventure - Between 2013 and 2022, an average of 36,000 young people a year between the ages of 13 and 24 were injured in ATV-related incidents.

Beats To Relax / Be Safe To

Public Library card applications in translation

Some of your families may find this of interest.The library has just added library card applications in Albanian, French and Haitian Creole and they already had Portuguese, Spanish and French. These are fillable forms.

There is also an Arabic application available but only in printed form from the circ desk, although I'll ask if I can get a scan of it that we can share/print out.

Printable versions of library card applications: (English) (Portuguese) (Spanish) (Haitian) (Albanian) (French).

Your Hot Job from TFK

Your Hot Job is from Time For Kids

The About section says:
Our most critical mission is to show all young people that there is no single route to success, and that anything is possible. Your Job empowers kids to tap into their strengths and start exploring career opportunities relevant to the ever-changing future of work. The platform is free for all, thanks to funding provided by the PwC Charitable Foundation.

See more resources for educators and families

Here's the educator's guide

Citizen Science Opportunities and Projects

There are some interesting Citizen Science opportunities that could be a great fit for student civics projects that they may not have thought of.


CZ-Tip - Sign Up for Coastal Citizen Science
Community-based data collection helps fill gaps left by government, private, and nonprofit groups with limited funds to research, explore, and protect vast natural systems.

Community Science - Mass Audubon

Citizen Science - for teachers from UMass

Salem Sound Coastwatch Volunteer

9/11 - 22 years ago on Monday

If you are interested in marking the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 on Monday, here are some materials that may be of either personal interest or to use with students:

Plan Your Own Observance - from 9/11 Memorial and Museum

9/11 Anniversary Digital Learning Experience

Join students and teachers from around the world to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 by registering for the FREE 9/11 Anniversary Digital Learning Experience, formerly known as Anniversary in the Schools. View a film highlighting first-person accounts of the attacks and their aftermath and connect with Museum staff in real-time through an interactive live chat. The 30-minute program will be available on demand beginning Monday, September 11, 2023.

• Viewing Guide: Grade 3-5
• Viewing Guide: Grades 6-8

Read 2011 ten-year anniversary recollections shared by staff at Beverly Middle School. - this is viewable only by BPS staff

FDA: Talking about Vaping with Youth

Free resources from the FDA for teachers, students, and parents to learn more about the dangers of vaping nicotine.

Includes

• For teachers: lesson plans focused on the latest science-based vaping prevention information from FDA
• For students: the latest science-based materials on vaping prevention from FDA
• For parents: the most up-to-date, science-based resources on vaping prevention from FDA

Giving kids more independence may help anxiety

This piece really resonated with me: This Simple Fix Could Help Anxious Kids

Quote: "While there could be many reasons our kids are suffering, what if the problem was simply that kids are growing up so over-protected that they’re scared of the world? If so, the solution would be simple, too: Start letting them do more things on their own."

There's also a good video showing lots of kids who look about 4-6th grade

This is the website/program Let Grow mentioned in the piece

The "big kids" need reading help due to COVID disruptions

Children hit hardest by the pandemic are now the big kids at school. Many still need reading help.
Stuck with distance learning as they began grade school, the kids who are now finishing elementary school were the ones most disrupted by COVID, with alarming delays in their reading ability.

Some excerpts:

• "as this generation progresses, many will need extra reading support that schools are not as accustomed to providing for older students."
• Last year’s third-graders, the kids who were in kindergarten when the pandemic started, lost more ground in reading than kids in older grades and were slower to catch up. 
• an analysis of last year’s test scores by NWEA found that the average student would need the equivalent of 4.1 additional months of instruction to catch up to pre-COVID reading levels.
• Historically, phonics and help decoding words have gradually disappeared in the upper grades.
• Most English teachers at that level are no more prepared to teach a student to read than a math teacher would be,
• Lewis, of the NWEA, said the takeaway should not be that the COVID kids are beyond help. “The message has to be: We’re doing the right things. We’re just not doing enough of it,” she said. “And we need to amp up and certainly not take our foot off the gas pedal anytime soon.”