What better way to celebrate a circus coming to town than by visiting an antique children's book about the circus from 1883. This picture book of poems describes the crew, performers, and animals of the circus.

TEACHING THE SEVEN MINDSETS
Pros: Incredibly detailed and organized lessons help students dig deep.
Cons: Can be repetitious, and for the price, the lack of a student progress dashboard is disappointing.
Bottom Line: If teachers take advantage of the extension activities, students can get great in-depth instruction and practice in SEL skills needed for life. 

This site features 11 amazing nature photographs answering questions like Do bees like caffeine? Are spiders omnivores? What does it feel like to be left out when you want to join a group? Habitat Network, a citizen science project from Cornell University, collects data by asking individuals across the country to draw maps and take pictures of their backyards, parks, farms, favorite birding locations, schools, and gardens. It also offers a link to tips for taking beautiful landscape photos and step-by-step instructions to upload photos.

​Smithsonian Learning Lab

Discover, create, remix, and share Smithsonian resources

Pros: Inviting interface, powerful tools, and the ability to curate, annotate, and share over 1 million Smithsonian resources.
Cons: There simply isn't enough time to search through all the available resources.
Bottom Line: This thoughtfully crafted, open-ended curation and creation tool has a place in most classrooms.

Do you know about ALL the negative health effects tobacco has on your body? To draw attention to these negative effects, World No Tobacco Day was established to encourage people to abstain from tobacco consumption for a day. This site contains a game that tests your knowledge of tobaccos’ harmful ingredients, health costs, financial costs, side effects, and more. By playing this game, students will learn why abstaining from tobacco is an important decision they can make for their health. They will also see how abstaining from tobacco is not only an important decision for their health but also their financial health.

Please feel free to share this if you have a special needs child.  There needs to be more awareness of the disabilities children face today and the effect certain individuals have on them

You may also drop Fred a line and let him know how you feel even if you are not a resident of Volusia County.  

Special Need Parents:

My son worked for Fred Costello.  He suffers from General Anxiety Disorder (GAD).  It was a great milestone to join Fred and his team stretching his “comfort zone”.  Anyone that knows anyone with GAD knows they are hyper vigilant and strive for approval.  But sometimes bad things happen to decent people.

I normally don’t interfere with my son’s employment, but here was a candidate I planned to vote into office.  I certainly didn’t want a heartless individual in its place.  My son worked 3 days feeling self-assured and validated for Fred.  Each evening he came home with positive affirmations.  I happened to meet the campaign manager, Chris, and was informed my son was doing an excellent job.  On the second day, he texted this campaign manager who watched over “the grid” (numerous times) saying he is running late due to a family emergency (that would be me). On that third day, that same manager, recently full of approvals, told him his services were no longer needed.  There was no explanation; he was distant and aloof. 

I wrote to Fred because he is a Christian man.  I knew he would look into the situation due to the circumstance.  I also explained my son’s diagnosis noting he is hyper vigilant and always strives to do his best.  Something was definitely amiss here.  Fred replied with a letter from the mouth of his campaign manager (Chris) with no concessions.  Furthermore, he purported my son never checked in or texted. He felt due to the family emergency that he needed more “observation” and “training” stating Chris had to “follow up and check to see if he was fully following our directions”.  I guess Fred didn’t realize my son shared all his texts with me.  Fred also mentioned that the day of emergency held no justification.   He reported Chris had concocted a map that was in walking distance where he could knock on doors singing Fred’s praises.  This map contained five miles in both directions that would prohibit walking and talking to 80 houses in one day without a vehicle.  The bottom line is Fred didn’t care.  Fred didn’t want to hear the other side.  Fred was propelled more by his emotional justification than his values, ethics, and actions of his campaign manager. 

He expanded by saying, “There is no excuse to be late to work.”  His letter ended, “Hopefully this will be a great life lesson for your son.  I hope this experience has helped him learn that he must fully follow the directives of his boss in whatever job he has in the future or he won’t hold the job for a long time, he must be where he is expected to be…….. no excuses.”

Not even for an emergency, Fred?  Life lessons are apparently more important than the hearts and self-worth of the public for whom you represent. 

Fred Costello For Congress
http://www.electfredcostello.com/
fred@electfredcostello.com

Have you ever used equity sticks (popsicle sticks with each student’s name written on them) to ensure that you are calling on all your students equally? Wouldn’t it be great if your sticks could do more? What if your they could help your students build higher order thinking skills? Or what if they could help your English language learners improve their English? With Stick Pick, you can!

Are you getting ready for college or about to pursue a career? Not sure what you are getting into? Having second thoughts about the choices available? Then explore this site for  other available options in higher education. Learn how to decide on a career path that is right for you. Take a look at the collection of resources offered to help you prepare and pay for college. It includes useful tips on job hunting, resume writing, job interviewing techniques, and student loans, and provides a link to a free online career exploration adventure for middle and high school students

Trying to teach parts of speech and pulling your hair out? Try this interactive site that allows students a chance to place in correct grammar and out pops a wacky story to share. The Houghton Mifflin Company’s Education Place offers Wacky Web Tales
a site offering a variety of stories for students grade three and above. This site can be a formative assessment, reinforcement of sentence structures, or parts of speech review.You'll love this one!            

Welcome to Florida Educator’s Video Learning Library.


Are you concerned with what you might find on other media sharing sites?

The Florida Educator’s Video Learning Library was designed with schools, students, teachers, and parents in mind. You will only find educator approved videos in our learning library so everyone can learn in a safe and comfortable environment. Florida Educator’s Video Learning Library is the perfect resource for students who are working on their homework or just need a little extra help on any given subject. Teachers can use the animations and videos to capture their students’ attention and enrich classroom lessons!

Watch, share, and upload.