NEW! The Power of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from Smithsonian's History Explorer

Don’t miss these five new educational activities related to the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Museum’s OurStory Web site! Each of the activities relates to the children’s book, “Martin’s Big Words,” by Doreen Rappaport (2001, Hyperion Books for Children). “Martin’s Big Words” is an award-winning biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that focuses on his work in the Civil Rights Movement. The activities encourage readers to go beyond the words of the book by reading actively, creating word art from King’s speeches and other thought-provoking projects.

I Have a Dream: Celebrating the Vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from EDSITEment

The vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is recognized in the January 2010 Feature from EDSITEment, which includes two new lessons on the role of the NAACP in American history, politics and culture. Learn more with Birth of a Nation, the NAACP, and the Balancing of Rights and NAACP's Anti-Lynching Campaigns: The Quest for Social Justice in the Interwar Years.

Also check out Verizon Thinkfinity’s collection of lesson plans on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Movement and the American Dream.

The first step in the American Dream for many was the opening of Ellis Island in January 1892. Verizon Thinkfinity has great lesson plans to help teach your students about immigration and the immigrant experience.

TIMELY TOPICS

Super Bowl, Super Math!

Get your kids in the game with Illuminations' Mathematics and Football unit. These three lessons for grades 3-5 ask students to look at the Super Bowl not just as the “big game” but as an opportunity to apply mathematics to some interesting problems. The activities involve number sense, geometry, measurement, statistics, estimations and problem solving.

Go Figure!

Puzzles are a great way to challenge your students and add some amusement to the day. January 29 is National Puzzle Day, so celebrate with some great Verizon Thinkfinity lessons using puzzles.

WINTRY WEATHER

Bring some winter fun and learning to your students with these frosty lessons!

Putting the Ice in Hockey from Science NetLinks

In this lesson, students explore a Web site to learn what happens at the surface of ice to give it its slippery nature.

Melting and Freezing from Science NetLinks

This lesson explores what happens to the volume of substances as they change from a solid to a liquid or a liquid to solid.

Let’s Build a Snowman from ReadWriteThink

This lesson uses both fiction and nonfiction texts and the Internet to gather information about how animals survive in cold and snowy areas. Students learn that building a snowman is one way to provide food for animals during the winter.

NEW - FREE Instructional Videos from Verizon Thinkfinity

Want to learn more about Verizon Thinkfinity but only have 5 minutes to spare? NO PROBLEM!
The Verizon Thinkfinity Professional Development team has developed a handful of short training videos! No login or registration is required, so check them out now! Be sure to bookmark the page and check back often for new videos!

Looking for more than just a snippet? Verizon Thinkfinity also offers FREE Webinars ranging in length from 30-60 minutes - sign up today!

VERIZON THINKFINITY PARTNER NEWS

Bridging Science & Society:
2010 AAAS Annual Meeting

Join Science NetLinks, their parent organization, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and leading scientists, engineers, policy-makers and fellow educators at the 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting in San Diego, February 18-22.
You’ll find tracks specifically targeted for education with topics ranging from science literacy and minority education to teaching mathematics using video games.
And don’t miss Family Science Days, a free two-day event open to the public featuring hands-on demonstrations and other family and kid-friendly activities!

NEH 2010 Summer
Seminars and Institutes

The National Endowment for the Humanities, creator of the EDSITEment site, will be hosting professional opportunities for K-12 teachers this summer. Topics range from the "Arabic Novel" to "Shakespeare." Join your colleagues in a two- to six-week project that will deepen your understanding of the humanities. Check out the full listing of opportunities here.

VERIZON FOUNDATION NEWS

Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier

As part of our focus on education technology and Internet safety, the Verizon Foundation is proud to bring to you a WGBH/PBS FRONTLINE documentary, Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier.

Digital Nation will be the premier documentary for the 2010 FRONTLINE season and explores what it means to be human in a wired world. The program, along with new educational resources, was made possible by a grant from the Verizon Foundation. Watch it February 2, 2010, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on PBS (check your local listings)!

VERIZON THINKFINITY TRAINER TIP

Using ReadWriteThink's Bio-Cube!

We polled our Verizon Thinkfinity Trainer team for some of their favorite resources and a hands-down winner was ReadWriteThink’s Bio-Cube. Here are some great quick and easy ways to use Bio-Cube!

Share Your Verizon Thinkfinity Tips!

Do you have a great tip or idea on how to use Verizon Thinkfinity resources in your classroom? We’d love to see the creative ways teachers are using Thinkfinity.org. Share your tips with us and we’ll feature them in an upcoming newsletter and on the Verizon Thinkfinity site!