Remember the game we used to play as kids (not that long ago) where you played a hike-and-seek type game called Marco Polo? One would say, “Marco” and the other would say “Polo.” Eventually you would find each other.
Some of you might be saying, “Whatever happened to the website called MarcoPolo?” It hasn’t disappeared; it’s upgraded and renamed Thinkfinity. As one of our I.T. division initiatives, training will be coming for my buildings, but this should give you a heads-up to see what goodies are on the site. As with MarcoPolo, the site is divided into the following:
==> ArtsEdge: Covering the arts, such topics (as of this writing) are Identity Boxes (students introduce themselves to new and old friends) and a Podcast Library of classroom-ready audio stories and video clips;
==>Econoedlink: Economic lessons that cover teaching economics using the Internet with lessons, templates for your own lesson plans, current events, data links with primary source materials, and weblinks;
==> Edsitement: Covering Art & Culture, Literature & Language Arts, Foreign Language, and History/Social Studies, you’ll find lesson plans (such as Constitution Day on Sept. 17), the Greek Alphabet (your overchievers in 3rd grade would like this), and website links;
==> Illuminations: Sponsored by the NCTM, you can find interactive activities to support the SOLs, lesson plans, standards, and weblinks;
==> Read-Write-Think: Besides lessons, standards, and web resources, you’ll also find student materials. This is sponsored by the International Reading Association.
==>Science NetLinks: As with the other typical links like above, this section as a tools area;
==>National Museum of American History (Smithsonian): See the Smithsonian from your own home! Visit the collections, see the exhibitions, be a history explorer on an interactive time line, visit the link for educators, have your children see why history is exciting, and join in on the blog.
Sit back and explore Thinkfinity!
Tags: division initiatives, website
