Well, that’s really the super-simplified version of what we do – we partner with national and international companies to create free contributions for schools, districts, camps, and other educational organizations.  The free ‘stuff’ we provide each time is rarely the same because we work with so many different companies.   Sometimes the contribution we provide is a sample of a product or snack that can be used by the teachers or parents, or given to the students.  Other times, the contribution is a helpful packet of classroom materials with posters, a website, and lesson ideas about a particular topic like the ChooseZero program we created with Nissan in April. 

When we’re not contacting schools and districts to offer them free programs, we’re staying in contact with them to learn what types of materials and products they’d like to have in the future.   We keep a record of each program we work on and how the schools like it so that we can continue to provide relevant materials.  I was looking through the long list of what we provided in the past and I started to notice a trend…for the last few years we haven’t sent any candy or sweets samples to schools. 

I know from watching the news that in recent years there has been a slight push to reduce the amount of junk food in schools and replace it with nutritional offerings, but I still have questions:

Has the recent movement towards nutritional lunches abolished candy from schools, or is there a place for sweets in moderation?

Is this primarily a social push towards instilling more nutritious habits in kids, or is it backed by district-wide rules across the board?    

Do you agree with the move to cut down on children’s intake of non-nutritious foods? 

I would love to hear your opinion!  Please take a few minutes to click the link below and answer our poll about sweets in schools or add your comments to the section below!

Sweets in Schools Poll

Thanks!

Sarah

Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week!  We couldn’t help but wonder: When did we first set aside this time to honor our teachers?  And how has the celebration changed over the years?

In the 1940s, Eleanor Roosevelt started the movement when she received a letter from an Arkansas teacher named Mattye White Woodridge.   Ms. Woodridge felt that we needed a special day each year to celebrate the contributions that teachers make on a daily basis.  So, Roosevelt lobbied the 81st session of the U.S. Congress to set aside a day to honor our nation’s teachers, and she was successful.  But that year’s celebration never grew into an annual occurrence.

In 1980, Congress was lobbied again when the National Education Association (NEA) pushed to proclaim a National Teacher Appreciation Day to be observed on March 7th of that year.  From then on, the NEA continued to recognize National Teacher Appreciation Day each year on that date. 

In 1985 the NEA, along with the National PTA, decided to expand Teacher Appreciation Day into a whole week of celebration.  So the first week in May is now National Teacher Appreciation Week, and the date of Teacher Appreciation Day is now celebrated so that it occurs within Teacher Appreciation Week every year.  This year, Teacher Appreciation Week is May 2nd-May 6th with Teacher Appreciation Day falling on May 3rd. 

Parents and students celebrate the week by reminding their teachers that they are thankful for the education they impart.  They bring flowers to class, provide teachers with lunches, or bring them small gifts or notes.  Some schools hold awards ceremonies for their teachers, and others break the week up into themed days in which students bring a small gift that fits with each day’s theme.

One example of a cute gift you can make to show your favorite teacher that you care is a candy bar poster.

How to: On a piece of plain poster board, write a poem or a thank-you note using the names of candy bars as substitutes for some of the words.  Once your note is created, glue the candy you chose to the spot where the word would be so that your teacher can read the note and enjoy the candy as he or she goes!

Below is an example poem you can use for your candy bar poster:

Dear Teacher,

You are such a SWEET TARTS for everything you teach us.  You deserve 100 GRAND every PAYDAY for all of the papers you have to SKOR.  Sometimes we act like AIR HEADS and GOOBERS, and drive you NUTRAGEOUS but you are the RIESEN we will be SMARTIES and not DUM DUMS.  You bring such ALMOND JOY when you teach and we appreciate the MOUNDS of knowledge you give us.  We hope this note brings a BIT O’ HONEY to your day! 

HUGS & KISSES,

Your Class

Teachers!  Enter to win a 3-year lease on a brand new, all-electric Nissan LEAF™ at http://teach.choosezero.com

April 22, 1970 was the first time Earth Day was observed across the country. Senator Gaylord Nelson founded it in an effort to elevate awareness of the state of the environment among the nation’s leaders.  He felt as if the environmental issues were not high enough on the legislative agenda, so he decided to do something to make the problem more known.

In November of 1962 he began by persuading President John F. Kennedy to go on a national tour promoting conservation.  President Kennedy’s tour lasted for five days in September of 1963. The tour did not succeed in bringing attention to the state of the environment politically, but it did grab the attention of the people.

Sen. Nelson took over, speaking about environmental issues across the country, and to help get the word out, he organized a huge grassroots movement to protest what was happening to the environment.  In September 1969, he announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate.  Finally after 7 years of working hard to make environmental issues known, the first Earth Day was celebrated!  1 in 10 Americans participated; many media outlets covered the demonstration and made more people aware!

Here at Kaleidoscope we are celebrating Earth Day by telling everyone about the new ChooseZero™ website. We have partnered with the makers of the new Nissan LEAF™ to create two free environmental education websites for teachers and students! They both focus on the importance of carbon reduction, and encourage kids to make better choices for the protection of the environment. Throughout the site there are various examples of items that can be recycled and how they can serve more than one purpose. For example, there is an area that teaches students how their old jeans can insulate homes, or how recycling their cell phones can ultimately save a gorilla’s life.  Parents and Students visit www.choosezero.com. Teachers visit teach.choosezero.com be sure to enter the sweepstakes to win a 3-year lease for a new 100% electric, no-gas Nissan LEAF™. Contestants can enter to win EVERYDAY!

We recently teamed up with Nissan to create a free program to celebrate the release of their first all-electric car, the Nissan LEAF™.  The result of that collaboration?  A completely free educational website for students to visit and learn all about what a carbon footprint is, how it affects the environment, and how they can have a hand in reducing carbon emissions globally.  There is also a site for teachers with free lesson ideas, and printable teacher guides, activities and posters.

The kids’ site ( http://choosezero.com ) is designed to teach students about conservation around the globe AND in their backyard and suggest that changes they make on a daily basis can make a difference for the planet.  The website starts with an animated planet-view landing page with facts about endangered species in different areas around the world.  As you click to the next page the Nissan LEAF drives you along a path where you see facts and videos about conservation at a national level, and then within your community, within your school, and finally there is a section about what each individual can do to make a difference. 

The site for teachers ( http://teach.choosezero.com ) is divided up into categories like ‘awareness’, ‘advocacy’ and ‘understanding carbon’.  Within each category are step-by-step classroom activity ideas, resources and videos that can be used as a supplement to existing lesson plans, or as a base for creating new ones.  There are also printable teacher’s guides and slideshows for teachers in 3rd-8th grade, as well as links to other sites with information about conservation.  While visiting the teachers’ site, teachers can click to enter for a chance to win a 3-year lease on a Nissan LEAF! 

These sites offer great, standards-based information that’s completely free.  So, teachers can use them as a supplement to Earth Day activities, or as a base for post-testing or end of the school year lesson plans!

If you’ve worked with Kaleidoscope before, you know that we work with fortune 500 companies to provide free supplies, classroom materials, and samples to educators.  If you haven’t worked with us – check out our website: www.kaleidoscopepartners.com and click the ‘sign up’ link on the right-hand side of the page!  We’ll keep you updated about free programs we are offering and those we are working on.

One way teachers can use Skype is to connect with an expert related to the topic being studied. For instance, classrooms that are reading a particular book together can have the author of the book videoconference in so the students can chat and ask questions.

Foreign language teachers can use Skype to help students practice the language they are studying by talking to students in other countries. Face to face conversation in different languages really helps the students gain real-world understanding of the language while learning about the culture. Skype allows students to see firsthand what other students’ homes, schools, clothing, weather etc. look like.

There are plenty of websites out there to help teachers find others who are using Skype in the classroom; here are just a few.

• ePALS- Teachers can sign up for a free account and find other teachers around the globe using Skype.
• Mixxer- This group helps connect language learners seeking partners to preactive their language skills via Skype.
• Skype an Author Into Your Library or Classroom- This site connects classrooms with author through Skype.

These are just few of the many ways that Skype can enhance your classroom experience! If you have any questions or comments please leave a comment!

Talking to someone on the phone has taken on a new meaning with Skype. The program offers free video calling! You can be face- to- face with a family member on vacation, friends who live far away or colleagues in a different city. Now schools are starting to use this program to learn about various cultures or let their students have “virtual pen pals”.  This blog is the first of a two-part entry all about Skype. The first part will explain what Skype is and how to sign-up. Part two (next week) will cover how educators are using Skype, and will include specific examples of how you can get started.

Using Skype, you can call landline and cell phone numbers; the rates are low and quality is great, but skype-to-skype calls are free.   So you can connect with other teachers, and classrooms near and far without cutting into your classroom budget. For the times when you want to talk to more than just one person you can use Skype group video calling. Classrooms can use it to talk to multiple classes all over the world. 

Here are the easy steps to sign-up for Skype:

Step 1: go to www.skype.com; click on the JOIN SKYPE button

Step 2: Fill in your information and click the I Agree-Continue button

Step 3: Start adding contacts and explore Skype!

Creative Valentine Magnets:

What you’ll need:

• Tile (old game pieces, or something else square and small)
• Magazines
• Scissors
• Glue
• Magnets (flat magnets are best because you can cut them up to fit on the tile)



1^st: Think about what message you want to say, i.e. “I Love you”; “Happy Valentine’s Day”; “You’re Special” etc.

2^nd: Take the magazines and cut out letters to spell out your message. If you want match the colors of the letter, or make them all pink and red. 

3^rd: Lay out all of the tiles (if you want you can paint them). Glue all of the letters onto the tiles.

4^th: Glue the magnets to the tile.

5^th: Send the pieces to someone special so they can put them on the fridge.

Comment and let us know if you have any other fun recycled craft ideas for Valentines Day!

Facebook:

Facebook can be a powerful tool in the classroom, school office, or home.  However, teachers and administrators need not worry about using their personal Facebook accounts to connect with their students.  Facebook Pages can be used by businesses, organizations, and anyone else who is seeking to distribute information to large groups.   

Teachers or administrators can create a Facebook page for their classroom and use it to post study tools and notes, schedule study sessions, and provide links to websites.  By using Facebook, you can grab the attention of students who are already engaged with the site, and they can easily stay connected to the classroom even when class is not in session. 

Teachers of younger grades can use their classroom page to post information for parents like schedules and class projects.  Teachers and administrators of all grades can also connect with organizations like Kaleidoscope to receive free contributions like materials and supplies for their classroom!  For more great ideas (tons!) about uses for your classroom Facebook page check out this article: 100 Ways You Should Be Using Facebook in Your Classroom

To create a page for your class visit www.facebook.com and you will come to a page like the one below: 

Click on the ‘Create a Page’ link at the bottom and fill in the information to create your page!  Pick a name like ‘Ms. Smith’s Fourth Period Science Class’.

Twitter:

Twitter is best used for quick updates – each message you post on Twitter has a limit of 140 characters.  It’s known as ‘micro-blogging’ and you can use it to post messages for students and parents about upcoming projects, study groups, parent-teacher nights, or field trips.  The key to Twitter’s power is its popularity – your students are already engaged, so why aren’t you?

I came across this great blog post by the Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Berkhamsted School in Hertfordshire.  She offers great insites about the uses of Twitter and its benefits to teachers: 9 Great Reasons Why Teachers Should Use Twitter

To sign up for a Twitter account visit www.twitter.com; on the right side of the page you will see a ‘sign up’ button.  Click the button and fill in your information to create your account.  Once you’re signed up you can create your username (example: Ms.Smith_ScienceClass) and start posting!

But are educators at districts and schools actually using social media? 

I recently read an article on Education Week’s website that did a great job of explaining the benefits that various social media sites provide to educators, as well as hurdles that are keeping teacher access to these sites restricted.  Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs can put a great deal of valuable information at an educator’s fingertips.  

District administrators use Twitter’s 140 character format to broadcast their schools’ achievements and community involvement.  They keep parents updated about academic awards, student trips, and changes to sports schedules.  

Teachers connect their students to other classrooms located in other countries using Skype, and then collaborate with those classes on projects.  The students can blog about science experiments and what they learned on field trips and receive advice from around the globe.

So why are sites like Facebook and Twitter sometimes blocked on school servers? 

The open format of these sites raises concerns about privacy and security for teachers and students.  The Education Week article highlighted one school principal who utilizes Twitter on a daily basis to obtain valuable donations for his school, and to inform parents of school events.  He has also created a Facebook page for the school, and yet he has decided to keep the social media site blocked within his school walls because even he believes that access during the school-day could pose problems.

The idea of using social media in schools raises a mixed bag of opinions.  Some educators see social media as a tool to aid in classroom activities and in communications and others see it as a distraction.  One thing is certain – social media is the future of communication, and it can be used to benefit your classroom, even if you can’t use it in your classroom.

Take a moment and try to recall the differant ways that you have tried to raise money for various organizations. I think we can all remember some form of fundraising? Either it was a fundraiser we were doing for school, a sports team, camps or some other organization but usually once a year we had to go through it. The boxes of chocolate, the magazine catalogs, the wrapping, you name it – chances are one or all of them have probably been in your home at one time or another.

With all of these fundraisers it was the child’s responsibility to sell the products. Some go around door to door and say the same speech over and over again others sit outside the grocery store and try to entice the patrons as they enter or exit. For those who were lucky, their parents would take the fundraiser to work and the parent collected all the orders. All the children had to do was turn in the money.

Now we can all jump for joy and be happy that we have an alternative to all of that: GoEco! The Ultimate Eco- Fundraiser!

GoEco! is 100% percent online, meaning no more forms, candy bar wrappers or loose cash! It is available for any school or non-profit organization. When an organization signs up they are given a personal URL. A portion of the profits from the purchases made under this URL will go directly back to the organization. The only work that needs to be done is getting the word out: give everyone you know the URL so they can start shopping right away. There are over 1,000 products to choose from! All of them are environmentally friendly and affordable. The best part of GoEco! is it is year- round! No more deadlines! Everyone you give the URL to can shop anytime of the day and your organization will receive checks quarterly. For more information check out the website.

Say good-bye to the old ways and hello to GoEco! Be sure to sign-up today!