Fund Art and Music Programs
The Airborne Teacher Trust Fund invites elementary and middle school teachers to submit proposals for art and music programs that their schools are unable to fund. Teachers can submit applications year-round. At the end of each quarter, the judges will select recipients from the applicant pool. Recipients will be announced each month of the following quarter. The number of recipients and the recipients’ projects will determine how many announcements are made each month.
Deadlines: First Quarter—October 31, 2007; Second Quarter—January 31, 2008; Third Quarter—April 30, 2008; Fourth Quarter—July 31, 2008
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Provide Books for Economically Disadvantaged Students
The NEA Foundation will make awards to public schools serving economically disadvantaged students to purchase books for school libraries. To be eligible for the $1,000 award, applicants must be practicing preK–12 school librarians, teachers or education support professionals in a U.S. public school in which at least 70 percent of the students are eligible for the free or reduced-price lunch program.
Deadline: November 12, 2007
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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 some 3,000 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

Support Youth Leadership Development
The Comcast Foundation is awarding grants to maximize the impact of community investments so they yield tangible, measurable benefits to the neighborhoods Comcast serves and the people who live there. The foundation’s primary focus is on funding diversity-oriented programs that address literacy, volunteerism and youth leadership development. The foundation has also established the Comcast Leaders and Achievers® Scholarship Program to recognize the achievements of outstanding youth by helping them pay for a college education, thereby enabling them to reach their full potential.
Deadline: Ongoing
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Get an Interactive Classroom Makeover
Interwrite Learning, in partnersip with TeacherTube, has announced the company’s first video contest to recognize teachers and students for their creativity and use of technology in the classroom. Participants in the contest are asked to create a short music video parodying the song of their choice. The video should demonstrate how different kinds of technology are being used in the classroom. The contest is not limited to users of Interwrite Learning’s products or members of TeacherTube; it is open to all teachers and students who can show how they are using technology in the classroom or how they would like to use technology in their classroom. Winners will be awarded with a complete Interwrite Makeover^TM valued at approximately $15,000. In addition, winners will receive a $1,000 cash prize and a celebration party for the entire school. The contest will name one winner from K–5, 6–8 and 9–12.
Deadline: October 21, 2007
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Honor Outstanding Volunteer Service
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards honor young people in grades 5–12 who have demonstrated exemplary voluntary service to their communities. To be eligible for the $5,000 award, students must have conducted their volunteer service activity within the past year.
Deadline: October 31, 2007
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Put a “Spell” on the Web
eSpindle, a provider of online vocabulary and spelling tutoring, has created the first-ever Word Cup® online competition. Trying out for Word Cup is free, with a registration fee required for semifinal and final participation over the age of 18. All three rounds of the competition take place online so that everyone may take part, regardless of location. Free practice quizzes are available throughout the year and regularly updated.
Deadline: September 24, 2007 through February 29, 2008
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Help Striving Readers
The Passwords series from Curriculum Associates helps striving readers, including ELL/ESL students, acquire content-area vocabulary, improve performance and increase scores on standards-based science and social studies tests. Enter a random drawing to win a gift certificate redeemable for a free classroom set of Passwords (25 student books, one teacher guide and one audio CD). One winner will be drawn each month from August through October 2007. To enter, call (800) 225-0248 or visit the firm’s Web site.
Deadline: October 31, 2007
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Teach Social Studies Through Cartoons
The editorial cartoons and related lesson plans from The Dirksen Congressional Center teach students to identify issues, analyze symbols, acknowledge the need for background knowledge, recognize stereotypes and caricatures, think critically and appreciate the role of irony and humor. The Dirksen Center’s Editorial Cartoon Collection consists of two components: Chronological Listing: images arranged according to date. Subject Listing: images arranged according to their content.
Click Here to Access Free Cartoon Images and Lessons

Focus on Introductory Engineering Concepts
Vernier Software & Technology is providing STEM educators with a Web site featuring free lab activities, such as investigating how concrete cures, writing a program to control an RC Servo motor and providing an LED alarm when a force threshold is surpassed—and more. All of the activities involve data acquisition and control using Vernier sensors. In addition to videos demonstrating cool projects that use Vernier sensors with LEGO’s NXT robot, the site provides 10 ready-to-use investigations that use the company’s SensorDAQTM data-acquisition interface with National Instruments’ LabVIEW software. The SensorDAQ experiments are designed for advanced high school– and early university–level engineering courses. They consist of a brief explanation of the concept, the objective of the specific activity and a listing of required materials. A PDF and Word document are provided, allowing the user to modify the investigation as needed. In addition, a LabVIEW Virtual Instrument (VI) to run the experiments is included with all 10 experiments. For educators who wish to teach programming as part of the project, Vernier has included step-by-step instructions with illustrations for building a LabVIEW VI in several of the experiments.
Click Here to Access Free Lab Investigations

Bring The War into Your Classroom
The wealth of themes explored in Ken Burns’s The War offers an extraordinary educational opportunity for your classroom. The materials on the PBS Teachers Web site are specifically designed to help teachers use The War and its themes not only to teach the history of the Second World War, but also to bring the powerful medium of storytelling into the classroom. The site provides 14 lesson plans with classroom activities appropriate for students in grades 9–12. Many of the lesson plans incorporate video clips from the film as well as additional resources found on the site. In addition, the site includes a series of easy-to-use “snapshot activities.” Each snapshot activity contains a brief overview along with activity ideas teachers can use to create lessons tailored to individual class curriculum and teaching style. The site also contains a comprehensive Search and Explore database with more than 800 photographs; 200 primary source documents and artifacts; 100 videos including clips from The War, historical footage, Web exclusive interviews, home movies and historic newsreels.
Click Here to Access Free Resources

Share Educational Resources
WGBH Teachers’ Domain has launched a special collection of Open Educational Resources—downloadable, shareable, remixable video segments, interactive activities and lesson plans in Earth Science, Engineering, Life Science and Physical Science disciplines.
Click Here to Access Free Resources

FREE online access to BIG DEAL BOOKS Get free unlimited online access to all the print content in The Big Deal Book for Educators of Struggling Students, Middle School Through High School, The Big Deal Book for Teachers of English Language Learners and 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.

Send a Symbolic Monarch Butterfly
The 12th annual Symbolic Monarch Butterfly Migration is about to begin! Each fall students across the United States and Canada send symbolic butterflies to Mexico. At the monarch sanctuaries in Mexico, children protect the butterflies all winter and send them north in the spring. United by the monarch butterfly, children across North America learn lessons of conservation and ambassadorship. The butterflies’ fall flight is timed to correspond with the real monarchs’ journey south. The paper butterflies arrive in Mexico around the time of Dia de los Muertos (November 2), just as the real monarchs do. According to Mexican legend, these returning butterflies are thought to carry the ancestors’ souls and play a role in the Dia de los Muertos celebrations. Visit the site linked below to find out how your students can participate in this symbolic event.
Deadline: "Migrating Monarchs" must be postmarked by October 12, 2007
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Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
Yahoo! Telemundo has unveiled two specially designed mini-sites in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. A tribute site to individuals who are living the American dream, Mosaico Hispano features video profiles of everyday U.S. Hispanics whose successes and triumphs have left an indelible imprint on their communities and are a source of inspiration for all. Among the stories featured are those of New York City’s Tats Cru, a group that has elevated graffiti to an art form; Concha Rodriguez, a Chicago funeral director who visits schools and community centers to talk to youth about the inherent dangers of gang violence; and Juan Diaz, a Mexican immigrant who is today both a boxer and a lawyer-in-training. Battle of the Bands showcases the artistry and musical talents of 10 up-and-coming U.S. Hispanic bands battling it out for instant online fame. The site features videos of each of the bands performing one song at a local venue as well as interviews with band members and fans alike. Users will vote to determine the fan favorite. The sites will be live from the evening of September 17 through October 31, 2007. Both Mosaico Hispano and Battle of the Bands feature Yahoo! Telemundo Respuestas, which allows users to ask and answer questions related to any topic of interest, as well as a number of interactive components including, forums, voting and polls.
Click Here to Visit Mosaico Hispano Web Site
Click Here to Visit Battle of the Bands Web Site

Illuminating Techniques for Better Learning
Students can learn more efficiently when they know what they don’t know, something most people don’t judge very accurately. By summarizing or rereading chapters, however, students become better at evaluating their learning, according to an article published in a recent issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.
Click Here to Read Findings

Provide Blind and Visually Impaired Students with STEM Experiences
The National Center for Blind Youth in Science, an initiative of the National Federation of the Blind’s Jernigan Institute, promotes full access for blind and visually impaired children to hands-on experiences in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Visit the Lesson Plans and Teaching Tips section for classroom activities that will benefit all your students through hands-on activities and exploration. Be sure to view the library of instructional video clips, which highlight tips and techniques for empowering blind students in the classroom. If you have a student who dreams of working within a STEM area, visit the Careers section, where you can learn about internships—including the NFB EXCEL program—to help the student get the job experience that he or she will need. You can also learn about blind people who have built successful careers in the STEM fields by visiting the section highlighting blind scientists and engineers. There, you can read biographies and listen to interviews, during which these successful blind professionals tell their stories and offer advice.
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Try Engineering
TryEngineering.org is a portal about engineering and engineering careers, designed for students (aged 8–18), their parents, their teachers and their school counselors. The site is intended to help young people understand better what engineering means and how an engineering career can be made part of their future. Students will find descriptions of the lifestyles and experiences of engineers as well as information on the different disciplines within engineering. The site provides hands-on experiments and activities, referrals to summer programs and internship opportunities, and search tools for schools that offer engineering programs. Useful tips on course selection, applying to university programs and financial aid are included. Students can also use the portal to send questions to engineering students in universities and to practicing engineers. In addition, parents and educators will find teaching resources, information about school accreditation and descriptions of plans, organizations and programs that can be of help in planning and preparing students to develop a future career in engineering.
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