netTrekker Blog

Stimulus Money – Informative Website

Learning Point Associates created a very informative website at http://www.learningpt.org/recovery/ .  Here you can select your state and district to see the estimated amount of Title I and IDEA money the district will be receiving.  These figures are only estimated as each state will deduct a portion for required set-asides and administrative costs prior to allocating money to the district.

Click on “Funding Update by Alan Whisman” above for additional information.

EETT Funding Update

Please visit “Funding Update by Alan Whisman” for news from the Ed. Tech. Government Forum taking place in DC.  I provide EETT stimulus funding information and policy news.

Tags: ARRA, education, EETT, Federal Funding, stimulus

New Funding Information

On March 17 – 18, 2009 I will be attending the SIIA Ed Tech Government Forum.  Topics include “Setting the Scene for 2009: Education Policy Agenda & Budget Outlook, School Improvement and NCLB and The Obama Administration’s Education Agenda for Innovation and 21st Century Leaning”.  I will provide updates on the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Money) as I learn more.  Check my Funding Update page for new information.  Alan Whisman

St. Patty’s Day

One of my favorite days to celebrate, St. Patrick’s Day, is coming up next week on March 17th. According to U.S. Census Bureau 2009 release, there are 36.5 million U.S. residents who claim to be of Irish Ancestry. This is 32% of our total population. It’s the second highest reported ancestry, with Germany being number one.  Now as a daughter of an Irish father and an Italian mother, I was shocked by this number. I would have expected Italy or England to be #1.

But I digress. I want to share with you more than just confounding numbers! I want to share some ideas for St. Patrick’s Day. After all, this green holiday is coming up next week!
I searched the elementary netTrekker tab and found  28 resources for “St. Patrick’s Day”. I selected the BBC  (British Broadcast Corporation) site that had an interactive book about St. Patrick. I learned something new! In all my 35 years, I don’t once remember being told that there never were snakes in Ireland to begin with and that the snakes were more a symbolic reference to other evils. As someone who is terrified of snakes, I’m now ready to move to Ireland.

Of course I didn’t stop there, I went on to learn more about the festivities and how they got started in America, the reason for the shamrock association, and many more interesting trivial facts. The reason we wear green, pinch each other, drink green beverages or enjoy corned beef and cabbage became lost from the original purpose of the holiday.

Some ideas for the classroom:

• Have students write 3 facts of St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations or St. Patrick the person on a 3 leaf clover, listing one fact on each leaf.
• Students can write a limerick about St. Patrick’s Day.
• Create an Inspiration (or other diagram) comparing the traditional St. Patrick’s Day festivities to today’s festivities.
• Print out a map (you can find these in netTrekker d.i.) and track St. Patrick’s journey from Britain to Ireland and his trek afterwards. Add facts for each trek, such as when he was kidnapped into slavery and when he escaped.
• Introduce other Irish symbols or characters, such as leprechauns, rainbows, pots of gold, and blarney stones.  Have students create a PhotoStory about one of these symbols, the myth, the truth behind the myth and how they are thought of today.

Of course, netTrekker d.i. has all the resources to find the information and background on each of these projects. I would love to hear how you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day –just make sure it’s a way that we can share with the kids.