Solve Environmental Problems
The Captain Planet Foundation funds hands-on environmental projects to encourage youth around the world to work individually and collectively to solve environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities. Generally, the foundation’s grants range between $250 and $2,500.
Deadline: Quarterly; next round ends on March 31, 2008
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Fund Innovative STEM curricula
The goal of the Tellabs Foundation’s grants is to develop cutting-edge curricula for math, science, engineering and technology. K–12 levels are of interest, and schools are eligible. Award amounts usually start at $10,000. Submitting a two-page (maximum) letter of inquiry (by postal mail) is the first step. Full proposals must be invited. Reviews are held quarterly. For specific deadline dates, contact the foundation’s executive director, Meredith Hilt, at (630) 798-2506 or email meredith.hilt@tellabs.com.
Deadline: Quarterly; next review will take place in April 2008
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Promote a Positive School Culture
Through the Sprint Ahead for Education grant program, the Sprint Foundation will award grants to school districts and individual schools to fund the purchase of resource materials, supplies, equipment and software that facilitate and encourage character education among K–12 students. The foundation will accept applications for character education programs that promote youth leadership, youth volunteerism, school pride and a positive school culture. The Sprint Ahead for Education initiative will award individual school grants up to $5,000 and school district grants up to $25,000. In 2008 the Sprint Foundation plans to award up to $600,000 in combined grants to schools and school districts.
Deadline: April 15, 2008
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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 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

Join in a Celebration of Numbers
Voyager Expanded Learning® and 3P Learning are hosting a free, Web-based World Math Day competition on March 5, 2008. Children of all ages and ability levels from around the globe will unite in their quest to set a world record in answering math questions correctly on Voyager’s VmathLive^TM Web site (www.vmathlive.com) and 3P Learning’s Live Mathletics® Game Engine (www.mathletics.com.au and www.mathletics.co.uk). More than 17,500 schools worldwide have signed up for this free event.
Click Here to Register Online

Design a Google Logo
Google has announced the launch of Doodle 4 Google, a competition that invites schoolchildren to design a Google logo inspired by the question, “What If ...?” The winning student’s doodle will be displayed on the Google homepage on May 22, 2008; the champion “doodler” will also win a $10,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for his or her school. The Doodle 4 Google competition is open to all K–12 students in the United States.
Deadline: Registration closes March 28, 2008; all entries must be received by April 12, 2008.
Click Here to Register Online

Plus: For inspiration, read this Wired article on how Google got its original colorful logo.
Click Here to Read Online Article

Respond to an Ethical Dilemma
Junior Achievement and Deloitte’s fourth annual Excellence through Ethics essay contest asks students to apply their knowledge of ethical decision making and share their views on the importance of ethics in business. To enter, students must compose an original essay of 500 words or less in response to an ethical dilemma posted on Junior Achievement’s Web site. The contest is open to current high school seniors (U.S. citizens), with a graduation date of spring 2008, who have completed one JA class. A $5,000 scholarship will be awarded to the winner for use at any accredited college/university (inside or outside the United States).
Deadline: March 28, 2008
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Connect Generations
The Legacy Project’s Listen to a Life Contest connects generations through oral history. To enter, a young person must interview an older person about his or her hopes and goals through life, including how the older person achieved the goals and overcame obstacles or how dreams may have changed along the way. The young person should then write a 300-word essay based on the interview. Each team must consist of a young person aged 8–18 and a grandparent or grandfriend 50 years or over (co-entrant cannot be a parent, but can be a grandparent, older friend, mentor, neighbor, nursing home resident and others). The grand prize is a Lenovo ThinkCentre computer with $800 of Orchard software and an iPod classic with video from Orchard Software for the winner’s school; 20 runners-up will each receive prizes of $400 of Orchard software and an iPod Shuffle from the firm.
Deadline: March 31, 2008
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Celebrate Reading
Take part in the largest reading event in the United States on Monday, March 3. Gather books and readers for the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day, celebrated on or around the birthday of Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Then celebrate year-round with read-aloud, read-along and reading marathon activities.
Click Here to Access Free Activities

Plus: Read Across America’s 2008 Resource Calendar and toolkit—with art by well-known children’s illustrators—shines its light on fun books and book events. Find posters, tips on Read Across America Day events and links to keep reading on the radar throughout the year.
Click Here to Access Free Calendar and Toolkit

Put a Poem in Your Pocket
Invite students and colleagues to choose a favorite poem and carry it in their pockets to celebrate the first national Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 17, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. During the day, encourage readers to unfold and read their pocketed poems in celebration of the visions of poets. To share your ideas or receive more information about Poem in Your Pocket Day, contact Elaine Bleakney at ebleakney@poets.org.
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Deepen Your Understanding of NETS-T Standards
PBS TeacherLine provides professional development through facilitated, online courses, collaborative learning communities and Internet-based resources. Currently more than 100 courses across multiple subject areas are offered to help teachers acquire the skills they need in order to prepare students for a successful future. In 2007, PBS TeacherLine and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) launched the Certificate of Proficiency Capstone Program. In three courses, educators deepen and demonstrate their mastery of ISTE’s National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) to earn a certificate.
Click Here to Learn More About PBS TeacherLine

Expand Your Professional Expertise
Nova Southeastern University (NSU) awards associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, educational specialist, doctoral and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields, including Computer Science Education, Early Literacy Education, Educational Leadership, Educational Media and Urban Studies Education. Many of NSU’s programs are offered through the Southern Regional Education Board’s Electronic Campus, in full compliance with SREB’s comprehensive set of Principles of Good Practice.
Click Here to Learn More About NSU's Programs

Electrify Your Classroom
Spend a week in residence (June 23–27) at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The Summer Teacher Institute, Electrifying the Classroom, brings K–12 teachers together with arts education specialists, historians, community educators, curriculum designers and performers to learn how to use popular music effectively to teach across the K–12 curriculum. For more information, visit the museum’s Web site or contact the education department at education@rockhall.org or call (216) 515-1510.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Teach Academic English
Academic English is the formal language of school-based learning, the academic disciplines and reasoned discourse. It includes reading, writing, speaking and listening. A free online video on the U.S. Department of Education’s Doing What Works site explains the concept of academic English and why it is important. The video emphasizes teaching academic language throughout the day, in content-area classes, English language development classes and reading classes.
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Plus: Get a glimpse of the instructional strategies used by two schools with a schoolwide emphasis on academic English. At the Doing What Works site, you can see and hear about teachers’ lessons and also view students’ work.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Access Academic Word Lists
Help your students prepare for academic study with the Academic Word List (AWL) devised by Averil Coxhead, a researcher based in New Zealand. To build this word list, Coxhead spent some time placing on computer several hundred written academic texts (that is, about 3.5 million words in total). She then analyzed the words to see which ones were used most frequently. The 570 words on the Academic Word List are all thought to be important for students preparing for academic study, regardless of discipline. The AWL lists are organized in Sublist Families. For example, Sublist 1 contains the most common words in the AWL. Sublist 2 contains the next most common words and so on. You can download the AWL Sublists document, free of charge, either as a text (.rtf) file or as an Acrobat (.pdf) document.
Click Here to Access Academic Word Lists

Integrate Geography Across the Curriculum
Rand McNally Classroom contains more than 1,800 reference, special topic and history maps that can be printed, viewed and saved. The site’s new interactive history maps and its numerous interactive games and activities will engage your students, while the lesson plans and assessments will help you implement all the site has to offer. A correlation search tool shows you how the site’s content aligns with your state standards and how to integrate the site’s features across the curriculum in reading, math, science and social studies. Special features include weekly current events articles and discussion questions, as well as daily “Where in the World?” photo features. In addition, “Traveling Teddies” photos and postcards describe places in the world where a traveling bear has visited, and “Ask the Geography Sleuths” gives students the opportunity to submit their geography questions to Rand McNally’s resident experts. Rand McNally Classroom is a 2008 CODIE Award finalist.

Click Here for More Information and Free Trial

Save a Planet from Ecological Disaster
The free 3-D video game PowerUp is intended to supplement science education by asking players to work in small teams or individually to save a planet approaching ecological disaster. The downloadable game and accompanying lesson plans are being offered, at no charge, by IBM and the TryScience/NY Hall of Science.
Click Here to Access Free Video Game

Address Social Issues
A set of illustrated stories from MyYoungChild.org attempts to address issues (sharing, dealing with bullies, respecting others and taking responsibility for actions) that children face every day. The free online stories are intended to be an enjoyable and playful tool that can be used to teach social values. Accompanying each story are discussion questions and activities as well as parent tips designed to complement the story’s message and reinforce the impact. The nine stories include “Rosa the Rabbit Learns to Be Fair,” “Ramon Sticks Up for Himself” and “Gilbert the Goat Learns Respect.”
Click Here to Access Free Online Stories

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.

Predicting Key Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released a publication that provides projections for key education statistics, including enrollment, graduates, teachers and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools. Included in the report are national data on enrollment and graduates for the past 15 years and projections to the year 2016, as well as state-level data on enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools and public high school graduates to the year 2016.
Click Here to Access Free Report

Creating Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Interventions
A brief from the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) outlines best practices for professionals who encounter culturally and linguistically diverse students in their classrooms. The goal is to promote academic success and prevent unnecessary special education referrals. The brief also contains suggestions for how to create positive learning environments and how best to communicate with and engage families.
Click Here to Access Free Brief

Create Curriculum-Based Technology Projects
Atomic Learning’s Lesson Accelerators (LA) teach essential software skills while using tutorial movies to demonstrate, step-by-step, how to create curriculum-based technology projects. Lesson Accelerators can be used in the classroom with students or also by teachers as a professional development tool.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

Watch the Dynamics of Global Climate Change
The Discovery Channel has launched Earth Live, a new visualization tool for understanding the dynamics of global climate change. Drawing on data from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the site allows users to see nearly real-time satellite data of the globe’s cloud cover, water vapor and sea surface temperatures. Discovery and developer partner EffectiveUI have combined these elements to create “stories” around events such as Hurricane Katrina, La Niña and a year in the life of Earth’s biosphere. Users can also remix the elements of the biosphere into custom worldviews. In addition, Earth Live can be used to fish through Discovery’s content, which is mapped onto the globe. Discovery eventually plans to link researchers in the field with users at their computers through the application.
Click Here to Visit Web Site

View the Creative Capabilities of Special Needs Students
Students at a Mexico City art school for low-income people with Down syndrome are making a global splash at art museums across Mexico, the United States and Europe, as their paintings shatter preconceptions about the creative capabilities of youth with special needs. “They have a capacity, a sensitivity, for art: They’re very creative,” said art instructor Daniel Perez of the students. “Their limitations enable them to see the world in a way you and I don't.” The students’ artwork is exhibited online at the site of the Mexico School of Down Art.
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Help Young Children to Learn Using the Computer
PBS Kids has unveiled a test version of an educational game site for children aged 3–6, in one of the first advertising-free efforts aimed at small children and their parents online. The Web site, called PBS Kids Play, is a subscription-based service that lets children play animated games with characters such as Curious George and learn basic skills in reading, listening comprehension and problem solving. Parents can log onto the site separately to view their child’s progress on various educational games based on national standards. The site will officially launch by mid-March and will cost $9.95 per month or $79.95 annually for a family of up to four children. Parents are being offered a free trial before the site’s launch.
Click Here for Free Trial Visit

Visit the World of Animalia
On this BBC interactive Web site based on the classic children’s book Animalia, two children, Alex and Zoe, stumble into a magical library that transports them to the animal-inhabited world of Animalia. Strange events have undermined the Animalian civilization, and Alex and Zoe join forces with their new friends G'Bubu the gorilla and Iggy the iguana to save Animalia.
Click Here to Visit Web Site