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iCollaboratory Warm Winter News 2011

iCollaboratory Warm Winter News 2011

by Bonnie Thurber -
Number of replies: 0

Hello Everyone,

We have many projects taking place in the iCollaboratory this Winter and Spring.

The Activity Wizard is supporting teachers as they create standards-aligned lesson plans. The next planned updates include being able to save and edit your lesson plans online and share them with collagues in the iCollaboratory. More information about the Activity Wizard can be found at http://www.icollaboratory.org/activitywizard

We currently have four Internet Book Clubs:
---Read For A Lifetime Internet Book Club (Grades 9-12). Continues all year!
---Abraham Lincoln Internet Book Club (Grades 9-12). Ends in February
---Bluestem Internet Book Club (Grades 3-5). Ends in February
---The Illinois Monarch Award Internet Book Club (Grades K-3). Ends in February

Please don't wait. Join and pick a book to read and discus in the iCollaboratory!


New teacher-created projects:

---Field Trips - Awesome! is a project where students talk about school field trips. Cathedral of St. Raymond School, Joliet, IL, is currently exchanging information with Lovgardesskolan School Gotenborg, Sweden. Students from both classrooms are learning about each other by communicating through Skype.
---The Iditarod is now part of the iCollaboratory. Gifted students in Palos Heights School District 51 are working hard to complete the dog sled race.
---A Starry Sky in Our Neighborhood is currently being tested by McHenery Middle School and will be available for members in May.


Announcements:

March 15: Each iCollaboratory user now has 10 gigabytes of space to upload video in almost any format. We will be running a special member Webinar at noon on March 15 to show attendees how to use the new tool.

April 1: National Poetry Month will begin April 1. Please send email to icollaboratory@northwestern.edu by the end of March if you will be participating in the project. National Poetry month participants 1) take a survey and view results between April 1 and 11. 2) They research poetry types between April 5 and 18. 3) They write, illustrate and publish poetry between April 12 and 24. 4) The last week of April participants will comment on at least two poems, one from their classroom and one from another classroom, take a final survey and write a reflection including two or more facts about what they have learned.

April 26: SAVE the DATE! The iCollaboratory Symposium will be held April 26, 2011. We will be in Northwestern University's Harden Hall, Rebecca Crown Center for the morning and have hands-on workshops in the afternoon.

May 1: A Day in Our Neighborhood and a Starry Sky in Our Neighborhood Sponsored Projects will open. Please register for them by April 30.

Looking forward to Fall 2011: The Moon Over Us project begins in September and is an exchange with students from Beijing, China.


We look forward to seeing you in the iCollaboratory!

Thank you,

Bonnie Thurber and the iCollabotatory Team