Presented in collaboration with the Association for Middle Level Education.

Jokes You Can Use:

Eileen Award:

Twitter: Sarah Cooper

Happy Birthday Award: Ron King

Advisory:

7 Bridges

http://mashable.com/2013/05/03/google-maps-seven-bridges/

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or [email protected])

MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE MINUTE-BEST 6-8 TRADE BOOKS PART 1

Each year the National Science Teachers Association announces the outstanding science trade books from grades K-12. This list includes books published in 2012. This is the first in a series of podcasts that will look at the best books for grades 6 - 8.

The books included in this podcast are:

1. Alien Deep: Revealing the Mysterious Living World at the Bottom of the Ocean by Bradley Hague.

2. Black Gold: The Story of Oil in our Lives by Albert Marrin and Alfred A. Knopf.

3. Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon.

From the Twitterverse:

#mschat every Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Resources:

Generated Paper

http://generatedpaper.com/en

Web Spotlight:

News:

The First Race to the Top

By WILLIAM J. REESE

Published: April 20, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/opinion/sunday/the-first-testing-race-to-the-top.html?ref=opinion&_r=2&

You'll Be Shocked by How Many of the World's Top Students Are American

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/youll-be-shocked-by-how-many-of-the-worlds-top-students-are-american/275423/

In Utah’s digital shift, students turning the page on traditional textbooks

A shift from traditional textbooks to e-books is gaining speed in Utah, as the state Office of Education coordinates efforts to develop digital texts in science, math and language arts. At least two state math texts are already available and the first of the science texts will be released this summer.

But schools can use the savings from free open-source textbooks to buy digital devices for students to read them, said David Wiley, an associate professor in instructional psychology and technology at Brigham Young University who studies innovation as a Shuttleworth Fellow.

Or, he added, schools can print out open-source textbooks at a lower cost than buying traditional texts from publishers.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56179223-78/digital-textbooks-students-open.html.csp

Free Teacher PD Courses

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