Experiential Explorations
100 Life-long Learning Opportunities for Adults and Kids
Celebrating 100 Years at North Shore Country Day School
Take a Field Trip in Chicago
See the Wired to Wear Exhibit at MSI
Participate in MSI's Maker United Workshop
Visit the Wanger Family Fab Lab at MSI
Check out the Chicago Children's Museum Tinkering Lab
See Morton Arboretum's New Nature Connects Exhibit
Through September 15, take in their newest exhibit, Nature Connects, which features 15 LEGO creations from New York-based artist Sean Kenney. In addition to these exhibits, the Arboretum has wide-ranging programs for all ages, a terrific children's garden, and many hiking trails. Also, check out their exhibits in Google's Cultural Institute.
Bonus! Teachers from preschool through college can visit the Morton Arboretum with free admission every Tuesday from June through September 2019.
Open House Chicago
Some innovative locations from 2018 include: ArtReach Chicago, Big Monster Toys,
Charles H. Shaw Technology and Learning Center, and Street Level Youth Digital Media Center.
Drop into an Openhouse at Join Pumping Station: One
Visit Your Local Library's Makerspace
Here are some locations to check out:
Chicago Public Library Maker Lab
Makerspace, Santori Public Library, Aurora
Studio300, Fountaindale Public Library, Bolingbrook
The Makery, Elmhurst Public Library
The Creative Studio, Niles-Maine District Library, Niles
The Makery, Homewood Public Library
Forge, Ela Area Library, Lake Zurich
The Collaboratory, Northbrook Public Library
The BoomBox, Skokie Public Library
The Launchpad, Indian Trails Library District, Wheeling
The Studio, Winnetka Public Library
Explore Opportunities at Your Local Apple Store
Take Advantage of Museum Free Days
Make the Most of Road Trips
The Best Road-Trip Apps for Kids That Make Travel Less Painful | Fatherly
Where to Find Free and Cheap Audiobooks for Family Car Trips | Trip Savvy
Read a Book - Grown Ups
The Art of Digital Fabrication: STEAM Projects for the Makerspace and Art Studio | Erin Riley & Sylvia Martinez
The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life | ya Kamenetz
Many have been quick to declare this the dawn of a neurological and emotional crisis, but solid science on the subject is surprisingly hard to come by. In The Art of Screen Time, Anya Kamenetz--an expert on education and technology, as well as a mother of two young children--takes a refreshingly practical look at the subject. Surveying hundreds of fellow parents on their practices and ideas, and cutting through a thicket of inconclusive studies and overblown claims, she hones a simple message, a riff on Michael Pollan's well-known "food rules": Enjoy Screens. Not too much. Mostly with others.
This brief but powerful dictum forms the backbone of a philosophy that will help parents moderate technology in their children's lives, curb their own anxiety, and create room for a happy, healthy family life with and without screens." Click here for more information.
Bringing Innovation to School: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World | Suzie Boss
Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World | Tony Wagner
A Guide to Documenting Learning: Making Thinking Visible, Meaningful, Shareable, and Amplified | Sylvia Tolisano
"What is learning? How do we look for, capture, reflect on, and share learning to foster meaningful and active engagement? This vital resource helps educators answer these questions. A Guide to Documenting Learning facilitates student-driven learning and helps teachers reflect on their own learning and classroom practice. This unique how-to book
- Explains the purposes and different types of documentation
- Teaches different "LearningFlow" systems to help educators integrate documentation throughout the curriculum
- Provides authentic examples of documentation in real classrooms
- Is accompanied by a robust companion website where readers can find even more documentation examples and video tutorials"
Invent to Learn | Gary Stager & Syliva Martinez
Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom. You also might be interested in
the Invent to Learn Guide to MORE Fun: Makerspace, Classroom, Library, and Home STEM Projects by Josh Burker
Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play | Mitch Resnick
The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World | Jordan Shapiro
Shapiro offers concrete, practical advice on how to parent and educate children effectively in a connected world, and provides tools and techniques for using technology to engage with kids and help them learn and grow. He compares this moment in time to other great technological revolutions in humanity's past and presents entertaining micro-histories of cultural fixtures: the sandbox, finger painting, the family dinner, and more. But most importantly, The New Childhood paints a timely, inspiring and positive picture of today's children, recognizing that they are poised to create a progressive, diverse, meaningful, and hyper-connected world that today's adults can only barely imagine." Click here for more information.
Project Based Teaching: How to Create Rigorous and Engaging Learning Experiences | Suzie Boss & John Larmer
Project Based Teachers encourage active questioning, curiosity, and peer learning; create learning environments in which every student has a voice; and have a mastery of content but are also comfortable responding to students' questions by saying, "I don’t know. Let's find out together."
In this book, Suzie Boss and John Larmer build on the framework for Gold Standard PBL originally presented in Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning and explore the seven practices integral to Project Based Teaching:
- Build the Culture
- Design and Plan
- Align to Standards
- Manage Activities
- Assess Student Learning
- Scaffold Student Learning
- Engage and Coach
For each practice, the authors present a wide range of practical strategies and include teachers' reflections about and suggestions from their classroom experiences.
This book and a related series of free videos provide a detailed look at what's happening in PBL classrooms from the perspective of the Project Based Teacher. Let's find out together." Click here for more information.
Viral Parenting: A Guide to Setting Boundaries, Building Trust, and Raising Responsible Kids in an Online World | Mindy McKnight
Mindy shares practical tools for creating family rules for kids of all ages about privacy, bullying, respectfulness, and family time, while emphasizing the importance of trust and open communication. Using family contracts, guided conversations, device checks, and respectful but firm oversight, the McKnights have raised a close knit family and navigated the complexity of being world-wide internet celebrities with grace. McKnight will show any parent of any child or teen how that's done--setting non-negotiable guidelines and offering a savvy perspective toward privacy that audience have been begging for." Click here for more information.
Read and Create Apple Books
Apple Distinguished Educators Books
Distinguished School Success Stories
Joy of Professional Learning Books
Read a Book - Kids
TEC Books on Goodreads
Listen to Podcasts
Connect Safely Podcast
20 Best Podcasts for Kids | Common Sense Media
105 Podcasts You Should Check Out | Getting Smart
Teaching Podcasting: A Curriculum Guide for Educators | NPR
Read Articles on Tech and Innovative Practices
Denver’s CUBE: Reimagining the High School Experience | Getting Smart
This Teacher Started a Hands-On PD Lab That’s Sparking Change Across the District | EdSurge
Lessons from a School Without Walls | Bright
Find More Articles & Share Your Favorites
Subscribe to Blogs and Websites in Feedly
Here are some of my favorite blogs to help you get started.
- User Generation Education - Jackie Gerstein
Live and Serve
Volunteer as a Family
Bernie's Book Bank: https://www.berniesbookbank.org/
Cradles to Crayons: https://www.cradlestocrayons.org/
Feed My Starving Children: https://www.fmsc.org/
Become a Citizen Scientist
Learn to Code
Why Code?
There are many resources and apps for teaching code now. Check out the following suggestions for getting started yourself and for encouraging your child to explore computer science.
Browse These Lists of Recommended Resources
Think About Subscribing to BitsBox
Disclaimer: I've known Aidan, one of the co-founders of BitsBox, since his days at Google as part of the SketchUp team. HIs co-founder, Scott, is also a former Googler who learned to code using real code like Javascript. You might have seen them previously on Shark Tank! And...there's a North Shore parent who knows this team and is impressed with their work.
Books About Coding
Everyone Can Code
Coding Games in Python | DK
Each chapter in Coding Games in Python shows how to construct a complete working game in simple numbered steps. The book teaches how to use freely available resources, such as PyGame Zero and Blender, to add animations, music, scrolling backgrounds, 3-D scenery, and other pieces of professional wizardry to games. After building a game, instructions show how to adapt it using secret hacks and cheat codes. Instructions are illustrated with zany Minecraft-style pixel art.
Master the key concepts that programmers need to write code--not just in Python, but in all programming languages. Find out what bugs, loops, flags, strings, tuples, toggles, and turtles are. Learn how to plan and design the ultimate game--and then play it to destruction as you test and debug it.
With coding theory interwoven into the instructions for building each game, learning coding is made effortless and fun." Click here for more information.
The Official ScratchJr Book: Help Your Kids Learn to Code | Marina Umaschi Bers & Mitchel Resnick
The Official ScratchJr Book is the perfect companion to this free app and makes coding easy and fun for all. Kids learn to program by connecting blocks of code to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing.
Each chapter includes several activities that build on one another, culminating in a fun final project. These hands-on activities help kids develop computational-thinking, problem-solving, and design skills. In each activity, you’ll find:
–Step-by-step, easy-to-follow directions
–Ways to connect the activity with literacy and math concepts
–Tips for grown-ups and teachers
–Creative challenges to take the learning further
By the end of the book, kids will be ready for all sorts of new programming adventures!" Click here for more information.
The Official Scratch Coding Cards (Scratch 3.0): Creative Coding Activities for Kids | Natalie Rusk
Take in a TED Talk or Two
Hone Your Technology Skills
Join the Apple Teacher Program
Consider Google Certification
Customize Your Chrome Browser
Play with Amazing Apps
Take a Photowalk
Flex Your Creative Skills
Become a YouTube Creator
Set Up Amazing Outdoor Art Spaces to Encourage Creativity
Watch a Webinar
Book Creator Webinars
- Hands-On with Book Creator for New Users - June 4
- Project Ideas for the Science Classroom with Book Creator - June 14
- Using Book Creator for Reading Responses - June 18
- Collaboration with Book Creator - July 10
- Social Studies and Book Creator - July 16
- New Features! Must-try Updates to Book Creator - July 22
- Favorite Apps to Use with Book Creator - August 6
- Social-Emotional Learning Activities Using Book Creator - August 15
- Nurturing Creativity with Book Creator - August 20
- Book Creator in Special Education - September 3
EdWeb
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