-----Original Message----- From: owner-schoolnotes@news.edgate.com [mailto:owner-schoolnotes@news.edgate.com]On Behalf Of Copernicus Learning Communities Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 9:16 PM To: schoolnotes@news.edgate.com Subject: SchoolNotes Community News ========================================================== SchoolNotes Community News A feature of EdGate's Copernicus Learning Communities http://www.EdGate.com ========================================================== December 6, 2001 ---------------------------------------------------------- This Issue's Theme: Special Needs and Special Gifts News in this issue: + CHECK IT OUT! + HOT TIPS + WHAT'S HAPPENING AT EDGATE + SCHOOLNOTES SPOTLIGHT + SUPER SITES ============================================================ CHECK IT OUT! Do you have students with special gifts? If so, you should be aware of the Center for Talented Youth at the Johns Hopkins University http://www.jhu.edu/gifted/ . The Center for Talented Youth is a national and international talent search that identifies outstanding academic talent and provides challenging and innovative learning opportunities in mathematics, science, and the humanities through summer programs, distance education programs, and conferences. ========================================================== HOT TIPS: This month's SchoolNotes Tips focuses on Special Education and Gifted teachers. SchoolNotes may be the perfect place to organize curriculum ideas for students with various learning abilities. Many times, SchoolNotes users create only one SchoolNotes page for all their classes. Here's a tip: You can setup a unique SchoolNotes page for different subjects or create different SchoolNotes pages for a specific ability level, i.e. beginning, intermediate, or advanced. Remember to title each page clearly, so the students or parents know which page is appropriate for them. You can then organize all of the appropriate links, resources and possible flash cards covering that subject or ability level. SchoolNotes for Special Education teachers also provides a great way to keep concerned parents up-to-date on various curriculums being covered in their class. You can't give individual specifics on the students, but using different SchoolNotes pages for various levels and subjects may help. Another idea for Special Education and Gifted teachers who have more than one assignment is to provide parents with a summary about your role in the school or district. You could write a short profile about your self and your schedule at each site. You could use SchoolNotes pages to share various Special Education and Gifted concepts that would be informative to your parents and other teaching staff. You could also provide information on topics such as Tips for Parents, Try a new Approach, Multiple Intelligences, Independent Projects, etc. So keep using SchoolNotes and let us know if these ideas help or if you have other ideas that would be a benefit to other SchoolNotes user and we'll share them in the next newsletter. For great examples of Special Education and Gifted SchoolNotes sites, take a look at the SchoolNotes Spotlight section below. =========================================================== WHAT'S HAPPENING AT EDGATE EdGate is launching two exciting new features this winter!! MONTHLY CALENDAR Coming in December Copernicus Learning Community subscribers will have access to a daily event calendar with hundreds of links to events of the day, thematic content for the season and an easy-to-use listing of famous birthdays and historic happenings. The Monthly Calendar will be available from the main page of any Copernicus Learning Community. SPECIAL EDUCATION CENTER The Special Education Center will soon be an addition to every Copernicus Learning Community. This new section of our Web site will be dedicated to serving teachers, administrators and parents that work with Special Needs and Gifted student populations. The Center will organize hundreds of links to Web sites, articles on topics of interest and professional reviews into four sections: +Law Resources - a place that parents, advocates and educators can find accurate, up-to-date information about effective advocacy for children with disabilities. +Hot Topics - information organized around current events and trends in education. +Conditions and Disorders - find an all-inclusive list of many disorders, conditions and disabilities. +Professional Support Staff - a section organized by occupational categories of special education and related services professionals. ========================================================== SCHOOLNOTES SPOTLIGHT: This month's SchoolNotes Spotlight is on Special Education SchoolNotes sites. Let's see what we can learn from them. Let us start our tour at Ms. Toni Dolan's site from Richmond, VA. http://www.schoolnotes.com/23237/dolan.html In a simple and straightforward presentation, Ms. Dolan provides visually appealing background information to parents, as well as specific daily assignments. The use of a "secret word" at the bottom of the page is a great motivator to encourage students to view the page frequently. It could be moved around in the text to insure that students actually read the text. Congratulations and well done to Ms. Dolan. For the personal touch that makes parents feel part of the class, we jump from Virginia to South Dakota and New Mexico. Sandi Carlson form Brandon, SD has created another site that presents good and useful background information to parents with an inviting conversational tone. http://www.schoolnotes.com/57005/mrsc.html By changing the topic and text of the site frequently, parents will keep coming back for more! Ms. Vicki Allen in New Mexico also has a style that lends that personal touch to her site at http://www.schoolnotes.com/88240/vallen.html. By having her room number and telephone number posted on the page she has an "open door" policy for parents. This Spotlight tour finishes in Illinois at the site of Tom Forman. http://www.schoolnotes.com/60046/forman.html Tom is a School Psychologist who includes an explanation of what he does on his site. Other professionals and paraprofessionals in the school with SchoolNotes pages may use this style of page with the same success as Mr. Forman. SchoolNotes pages are like student reports that we give for assignments; the content and personal touch makes all the difference. Keep those pages changing! =========================================================== SUPER SITES Editor's Note: Again, because of the topic, Special Education, we have forsaken grouping these Super Sites by grade level this month. EdGate is preparing to launch its own page for Special Needs and many of these sites, along with others, will be available as part of this new section. About.com: Math Related Learning Disorders http://specialed.about.com/cs/mathdyscalculia/ Math Related Learning Disorders, also known as Dyscalculia, involve recognizing numbers and symbols, memorizing facts, aligning numbers, and understanding abstract concepts like place value and fractions. This site lists links to help students, teachers and parents with math learning difficulties. ADDA Kid's Area http://www.add.org/content/kids1.htm National Attention Deficit Disorder Association's Kid's Page for students with attention deficit disorder. This site helps explain ADD and gives tips for success for students. E-Ready http://www.teachersfirst.com/sped/prof/index.html This site provides teachers and other education professionals with information and resources about teaching students with disabilities. Some of the content will be of use to any classroom teacher. Other topics may be more appropriate for special education teachers or specialists working with disabled students. Check out their gifted section under the purple tag at the top of the page. Fragile X http://www.fragilex.org/education/education.htm Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited cause of mental impairment, and is second only to Down syndrome as a cause of mental retardation. Learn more about Fragile X and how to identify it at this site. Hoagies' Gifted Education Page http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/ Gifted Education Internet resource pages for educators, parents, and gifted students. The Internet Investigations page allows students to explore and learn about pre-selected topics. (K-12) Inclusion in Science Education for Students with Disabilities http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/ This science site provides teaching strategies for specific impairments in the Science classroom. Under the Related Information button you will find more general Special Education links. National Association for Gifted Children http://www.nagc.org/ The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is an organization of parents, teachers, educators, other professionals and community leaders who unite to address the unique needs of children and youth with demonstrated gifts and talents. An extensive resource list is available on the site. National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education http://www.special-ed-careers.org/ This national clearinghouse provides resources and research for professionals and paraprofessionals in Special Education. NICHCY: The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities http://www.nichcy.org/ NICHCY is the national information and referral center that provides information on disabilities and disability- related issues for families, educators, and other professionals. Check out their State Resource Sheets for your state. SchwabLearning.org - A Parent's Guide To Learning Differences http://www.schwablearning.org/ SchwabLearning.org is dedicated to helping kids with learning differences be successful in learning and life. Special Education Resources on the Internet http://seriweb.com/ Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI) is a collection of Internet accessible information resources of interest to those involved in the fields related to Special Education. This collection exists in order to make on-line Special Education resources more easily and readily available in one location. The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) http://www.cec.sped.org/ The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities, and/or the gifted. The Educational CyberPlayGround: Special Education Links http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/specialed.html An extensive list of some of the Web's top special Education Resources centering around inclusion. The ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education http://ericec.org/ ERIC EC gathers and disseminates the professional literature, information, and resources on the education and development of individuals of all ages who have disabilities and/or who are gifted. There are over 70,000 citations on disabilities or gifted issues. The Learning network: IEP (Individualized Education Program) http://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plans/lesson-5672.html?egs102205 The ins and outs of IEP's from the Learning Network. www4teachers: Special Needs Links http://4teachers.org/profd/spedlinks.shtml Professional development links for teachers to learn more about special needs students. =========================================================== HOW TO CONTACT US Send us feedback or recommend your favorite educational Web links at http://www.EdGate.com/contact . To change your subscription status or delivery address, or to read past issues, visit EdGate's Newsletter Center at http://www.EdGate.com/edunews . To receive information about creating a customized Copernicus Learning Community for your school or district, contact info@edgate.com . Copernicus Learning Communities offer easy access to best-of-the-Web resources for K-12 educators, students, and parents. Visit our Web site: http://www.EdGate.com . © 2001 by EdGate.com, Inc. All rights reserved. ==========================================================
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