Big Adventure DVDs, K-3

These award-winning DVDs feature people at work. Click on the title to read the annotation and to order online.

• The Big Air Show #809950
• The Big Aircraft Carrier #809951
• The Big Aquarium #809952
• The Big Auto Plant #809953
• The Big Boom #809954
• The Big Christmas Tree #809964
• The Big Hotel #809955
• The Big Newspaper #809956
• The Big Park #809957
• The Big Plane Trip #809958
• The Big Renovation #809959
• The Big Rescue #809960
• The Big Space Shuttle #809961
• The Big Submarine #809962
• The Big Train Trip #809963
• The Big Zoo #809965

Environmental Health Science Education, K-12

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/scied/
This Web site explains the link between human health and the environment. It includes fact sheets, news articles, videos, and pamphlets that can help with reports, papers, and homework in general; interactive online activities and storybooks to enhance learning; and opportunities for summer jobs and research. Teachers will find a long list of curricular materials grouped into several categories. There are also lesson resources such as interviews, fact sheets, videos, flyers, and Web sites, as well as professional development opportunities. The third section for scientists will also be of interest to teachers, as it includes classroom activities that use simple strategies to effectively communicate complex ideas on toxicology to students.

Animated Cellular and Molecular Concepts, 9-12

http://icarus.med.utoronto.ca/neurons/index.swf
This site offers interactive presentations and animations that explore how the neurons work and what actions they perform. The content is divided into eight chapters: Anatomy of a Neuron, Axonal Transport, Ions and Ion Channels, Resting Membrane Potential, Action Potential, Neurotransmitter Release, Postsynaptic Mechanisms, and Removal of Neurotransmitter. Each of the sections includes explanations with hyperlinks for viewing the images or animations. Students can also review the pages in a chapter by clicking the page numbers in the bottom left corner of the pages. Included is a “How to Use the Program” guide with helpful hints for navigating the site and a list of all the available animations that can be downloaded for non-commercial purposes.

Green Careers DVD Series, 9-12

This DVD series for checkout showcases careers that can help address global warming, energy conservation, and environmental protection. It includes interviews and profiles of workers, entrepreneurs, scientists and engineers. Information is included on the educational requirements for entering various fields. Click on the title to read the annotation and to order online.

• Clean Energy: Biofuels #809973
• Clean Energy: Geothermal Power #809974
• Clean Energy: Solar Power #809977
• Clean Energy: Transportation #809976
• Clean Energy: Wind Power #809975
• Green Careers: Environmental Justice #809978
• Green Careers: Green Design #809979
• Green Careers: Restoring the Land, Hazardous Waste Management #809980
• Recycling #809147
• Water Management #809148

Nova DVDs, 6-12

This DVD series has some new titles for checkout. Click on the title for the annotation and to reserve online.


• Absolute Zero #809450
• Alien from Earth: The Little People of Flores #809495
• Arctic Dinosaurs: Warm-Blooded Creatures of the Cretaceous? #809490
• The Bible’s Buried Secrets #809493
• The Big Energy Gamble #809967
• Car of the Future: Engineering for the Environment #809528
• Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster #809494
• Four-winged Dinosaur #809449
• Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension #809452
• Ghost in Your Genes #809448
• Is There Life on Mars?: Reports from the Phoenix Lander #809507
• Naturalist E.O. Wilson: Lord of the Ants #809547
• Ocean Animal Emergency: Troubled Waters for Marine Mammals? #809489
• Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives #809451
• Percy Julian: Forgotten Genius #809446
• Solar Energy: Saved by the Sun #809447

Sports and Nutrition, 6-12

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/hsnut/index.html
Health and physical education teachers can use this online resource to help students understand the relationship between food and physical performance. There are several main sections, including: Don't Let Your Diet Let You Down, The Pregame Meal Planner, Keeping Energy Levels Up, and Keeping Fluid Levels Up. The information can help students understand how participating in sports can increase their food energy needs and learn the dangers of not practicing good nutrition. Included are recommended training table diets, questions asked by other young athletes, tips for eating right, a planner for making wise food choices, and more.

Great Hearts of Courage DVDs, 6-12

This series of DVDs is for checkout. It features 30-minute biographies. Click the title to read the annotation and to reserve online.

-- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn #809937
-- Billy Graham #809934
-- C.S. Lewis #809938
-- Elie Wiesel #809936
-- Martin Luther King, Jr. #809933
-- Mother Teresa #809939
-- Nelson Mandela #809935

Personalized Commemoratives, K-12

Would you like to give something special to your students to leave a lasting impression on your time together? Perhaps you want to give personalized certificates to outstanding students, bookmarks with a check-off list of books to read over the summer or a personalized picture of the class (like the one shown below). Heartland AEA has skilled graphic artists that can create and design almost any concept into reality.

For more information on Heartland’s Graphic Design Services, go to http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/print/Graphics.html or contact the graphic artists at graphics@aea11.k12.ia.us.

National Parks DVDs, 6-12

America's Great Historic National Parks DVD series is available for checkout. Click the title to read the annotation and to reserve online.

--Yellowstone: America's First National Park #809942
--Grand Canyon: America's scenic treasure #809941
--Yosemite: Inspiration for Conservation #809940

Virtual Math Manipulaataives, K-1

http://www.dreambox.com/teachertools
DreamBox Learning Teacher Tools include a variety of lessons using virtual manipulatives, ideas for incorporating the lessons in the classroom, and resources to support teachers’ professional development as they use the toolkit. The virtual manipulatives are Web-based tools that help students more easily grasp math concepts in visual terms. The lessons are designed to be successful in a wide range of classroom environments.

Probability Tutorials, 9-12

http://www.probability.net/
"...What are the changes?" includes 20 tutorials on measurability, product spaces, Jensen inequality, finite variation, differentiation, Gaussian measure, and more. The tutorials are accompanied by a page of proved theorems, a glossary of terms, and a history page with links to biographies of all the mathematicians mentioned in the tutorials. The solutions to exercises are provided and can be printed. Also, a discussion board, a page describing the notations used, and links for further exploration are included.

Book Rotation 2010-2011, K-8

Register online to receive a box of 30 fiction and nonfiction books every five weeks to supplement your school library and classroom collections. Students will enjoy a variety of books at appropriate reading and grade levels. Click here.

Summer Reading and Parents, K-6

Summer reading loss is real. One way to engage students during the summer is to alert parents to the rich online resources that are available with the school username/password: BookFLIX, Searchasaurus, EBSCO Animals, World Book Kids, etc. Click here for a black/white and color half-sheets that you can copy and send home with the students.

6+1 Writing Traits: Interdisciplinary Approach, K-12

http://senior.billings.k12.mt.us/6traits
The InterActive Six Trait Writing Process Web site provides an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and improving student writing based on the 6+1 Traits writing model. The site provides an overview of the model along with scoring rubrics for each trait. Exercises give both teachers and students a chance to read sample writings, rate them and compare

LIFE Writing Prompts, 3-12

Last month the World of Media featured an article on the LIFE Discovery Education streaming video series. The series is narrated by Oprah Winfrey and captures never-before-seen animal behaviors using the latest high definition filming techniques. Writing prompts are now available. Click here.

Bookwink, 3-8

http://www.bookwink.com/index.html
Through podcasting and Web video, Bookwink connects students with books that will make them excited about reading. The videos are approximately three minutes long and are updated monthly. Each video booktalk is about a different topic, and additional read-alikes can be found on the Bookwink Web site. You can look for books by subject, grade level, author or title. Subscribe to the video podcast to automatically receive the latest videos.

Storyline Online, K-4

http://www.storylineonline.net/
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Foundation created an online streaming video program featuring SAG members reading children’s books aloud. Each book includes accompanying activities and lesson ideas.

2010 Horizon Report, K-12

http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-201http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-2010/0/
The Horizon Project is a research-oriented effort that works to identify and describe emerging technologies that will likely have a significant impact on education. The technologies to watch in the “near-term horizon,” or entry into the mainstream for schools within the next twelve months, are cloud computing and collaborative environments. The “midterm horizon,” technologies identified as being in schools within two to three years, are game-based learning and mobiles. Finally, the “far term horizon,” technologies likely to be in schools within four to five years, are augmented reality and flexible displays. According to the Horizon Report, “All six of these technologies, taken together, will have a significant impact on learning-focused organizations within the next five years.”

2010 Horizon Report, K-12

http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-201http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-2010/0/
The Horizon Project is a research-oriented effort that works to identify and describe emerging technologies that will likely have a significant impact on education. The technologies to watch in the “near-term horizon,” or entry into the mainstream for schools within the next twelve months, are cloud computing and collaborative environments. The “midterm horizon,” technologies identified as being in schools within two to three years, are game-based learning and mobiles. Finally, the “far term horizon,” technologies likely to be in schools within four to five years, are augmented reality and flexible displays. According to the Horizon Report, “All six of these technologies, taken together, will have a significant impact on learning-focused organizations within the next five years.”

Library Circulation Program Demos, K-12

Heartland has asked these three vendors to demonstrate their resource management and library circulation modules. Requests for information were sent this fall and schools identified these vendors of interest. The goal is to provide students access to information and materials that will impact student learning. Register online at http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us, click Professional Development, Professional Development Catalog, then enter the IL number listed below.

TLC
April 13, 12:00-2:00
Heartland Computer Lab
IL003992111001

TLC
April 13, 2:30-4:00
Webinar (log-in from your school)
IL004092111001

Auto-Graphics VERSO
April 15, 10:00-12:00
Heartland Computer Lab
IL004392111001

Auto-Graphics VERSO
April 15, 12:30-2:30
Webinar (log-in from your school)
IL004492111001

Follett Destiny
April 19, 10:00-12:00
Heartland Computer Lab
IL004192111001

Follett Destiny
April 19, 12:30-2:30
Webinar (log-in from your school)
IL004292111001

PBS SciGirls, 3-9

http://pbskids.org/scigirls/
This new series premiered in February on PBS. In addition to the weekly series, a Web site has been created to encourage girls to think about science, technology, engineering, and math.

Earth Day, K-12

http://www.earthday.net/earthday2010
“A Billion Acts of Green” is the campaign slogan for Earth Day 2010. Click on Programs and Education to find over 300 standards-based lesson plans, school greening tips, grants for teachers, and links to more than 25,000 teachers. Go to Resources for materials such as environmental fact sheets and an ecological footprint calculator that help build a cleaner, healthier, and safer world.

Get Body Smart, 9-12

http://www.getbodysmart.com/
Get Body Smart is a fully animated and interactive e-book about human anatomy and physiology that offers free tutorials and quizzes. Students and teachers can view detailed instructional diagrams, drawings, and other items related to the systems of the human body. Within the sections, they can view illustrations of the various anatomical parts and read through the tutorials to learn about each system.

Comparing Global Warming Potentials, 9-12

http://tinyurl.com/yl24mub
Wolfram/Alpha provides information on the relative global warming effects of about 30 common pollutants in the atmosphere using the global warming potential (GWP) index.
The GWP index estimates how much a certain chemical will add to global warming compared to the same mass of carbon dioxide over a certain time span. Here’s an example with methane: Choose timeframes of 20 years, 100 years, and 500 years to see the short-term and long-term contributions of methane in the atmosphere. You’ll see that the longer the timeframe, the GWP decreases. This may seem counterintuitive, but makes sense when you discover that methane has an atmospheric lifetime of about 12 years. As a next step, compare methane to other greenhouse gases in the short and long term.

ChemTutor, 9-12

http://www.chemtutor.com/
This basic chemistry resource can be used for independent study, review of lessons taught in class, or a tutoring program. The content is grouped into sections by topic including how to learn, the periodic table, kinetics, reactions, atomic structure, elements, solutions, and thermochemistry. Within each topic area, students can read the text and view charts, tables, sample problems, and diagrams.