Long Live Harry Potter

Even though the last Harry Potter movie is complete, there’s still plenty of life left in the Harry Potter world.  So, for all of the folks who are mourning the completion of the final Harry Potter movie, here are some ideas for getting more mileage out of the tremendous body of work currently available.

1. First of all, the novels are so richly detailed that readers should read through the series again. Find those clues hinting at future events you missed the first time through.
2. For added interest, take turns reading the books aloud, using voices for different characters.
3. Plan a vacation in Orlando, Florida. Visit the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.
4. Check out the new Pottermore website.  J.K. Rowling‘s new Pottermore site promises to provide an engaging online experience around the Potter series and characters.
5. Make a Harry Potter wand sheath that fits inside of your robes!
6. Host a Harry Potter weekend movie fest for the family and watch the entire series. For added fun, invite viewers to dress as their favorite Harry Potter characters and serve Butter Beer.
7. Encourage young fans to write their own Harry Potter fan books.
8. Discover the Harry Potter movie music, especially if young fans are also musicians.

Have more fun activities to add to this list?  Add them to our comments section and help us celebrate Harry Potter!

SpottyBanana and Easy Canvas Prints Team Up for Cool Giveaway!

We all have great photos of the kids at the beach, after losing that first tooth, or enjoying an ice cream cone!  SpottyBanana has teamed up with Easy Canvas Prints to provide one lucky reader a beautiful, customized canvas print of one of your most precious photos.  Easy Canvas Prints turns your great photos into works of art, mounted and printed to display like actual art gallery works.

 

UPDATE:  The contest has ended.  Congratulations to Robin Vabolis for winning the free Easy Canvas Prints print!

 

 

 

The Seeds of Religious Intolerance Start Early

When you examine some of the worst atrocities of humanity, look back through history’s wars, and examine some of the major conflicts in today’s news, a common thread in these conflicts is religious intolerance.  I’m not a religious scholar and this isn’t a treatise on religion.  It is a recommendation based on an incident involving a group of young children of mixed faiths playing together on the playground.

The conversation started innocently enough when one of the youngsters made a reference to one of his Hindu Gods.  Another child quickly stated an opposing viewpoint due to her faith’s differing beliefs. In a matter of minutes, there was an all out name-calling, yelling, my-God-is-better-than-your-God rhetoric, threatening, fist waving, tussle brewing.  Thankfully, one of the older kids interjected and made everyone apologize before these friends damaged each other’s friendship irreparably.  Why do children as young as six years old already harbor so much intolerance for others’ beliefs?  Doesn’t this sort of intolerance lead to the wars and genocides we read about from history and in our newspapers today?  What can we do to foster tolerance of different ideas, religions, beliefs, etc.?  These are questions that came from our youngster after this disturbance.

What did we do?  First, we all agreed that these kids need to remain friends and learn to respect each other’s differences.  As a family, we watched Elizabeth Lesser’s TEDTalk entitled “Take the Other to Lunch”.  Elizabeth does a very good job of showing how much easier it is to accept a person’s differing beliefs if you get to know that person before passing judgement.  And from our observations, this kind of engagement must start in early childhood.  Otherwise, humanity may pay dearly with human lives lost in pointless conflicts.  We should be joining each other for lunch instead!

Watch Elizabeth Lesser’s Talk and tell us what you think.

Google Art Project: A Museum of Museums

For anyone familiar with Google Maps street view, the Google Art Project takes the same navigational approach to select art museums.  Yes, you can cruise  through the Museum of Modern Art just as you can cruise a street in Google Maps using just your web browser.  Even better, you can zoom in on art works, too.  In some cases, you can zoom in so far that you’ll see cracks, brush strokes, and places where the canvas is showing through from damage.

The Google Art Project is completely online, completely free, and extremely simple to navigate.  Viewers can enjoy over 1,000 art works from over a dozen art galleries from around the world.  Viewers can even create their own collection of favorite works to share with others.  Google has included an informational panel for each work of art, making the virtual museum tour great for students.

The Google Art Project creator, Amit Sood, recently spoke about his project at TED. Watch the video to learn a bit about this cool project.

Dance Mat Typing

Let me start by saying that the BBC is amazing. First of all, the British Broadcasting Corporation’s stated vision is ‘To be the most creative organisation in the world’. In fact, the BBC is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world! The BBC takes social and corporate responsibility seriously and has some great educational resources.

One of our favorite free learning resources is Dance Mat Typing. Dance Mat typing is specifically for children and offers real typing lessons in a fun and engaging manner. When the student completes all lessons, they can print out a completion certificate.  Even better, children really learn to use the keyboard to type properly.

Google Breadcrumb

image of girl courtesy of apdk on Flickr

Google Breadcrumb is an interesting Google Labs application designed specifically for mobile devices.  The best things about Google Breadcrumb is that it is free, easy, and a powerful tool for kids.  Check out our article on GeekMom to get the inside scoop on Google Breadcrumb.

Global Learning Ideas

Houghton-Mifflin loves out-of-the-box ideas on how to create global-scalable initiatives that can improve student outcomes across the globe.  To encourage truly unique ideas, Houghton-Mifflin has created a challenge to the world.  Who can come up with unique and globally-scalable ideas for improving learning?  To encourage serious participation, Houghton-Mifflin has recruited an all-star judge line-up and offering significant prizes to the best ideas.

Mobile Device-Centered Curriculum

As a child-led, project-based learning advocate, I’ve submitted a few ideas to the challenge on transforming student learning.  Because my extensive research shows that mobile devices are strategically one of the most important learning tools available (and cheaper than traditional computers), I’ve suggested a mobile device-centric curriculum.  I already have a significant body of curriculum content developed. With enough support, I’m willing to formalize the content and adapt it for public, private, and home schoolers.

Global Collaborative Network

Another idea I’ve contributed outlines a collaboration space where global students can work together to compose music, write poetry, short stories, solve math problems, share research data, and anything else they wish to crowd source. This space isn’t designed to improve skills, learn facts, or write Wikipedia-like articles. This is a creative space where students from around the world create or join creative projects where they flex skills they’ve already gained.  The resulting products are Creative Commons licensed to encourage participation.

Vote

If you’d like to see either of these projects become a reality, please  create an account at GEC and “Thumbs-up” these ideas.

Thanks!

An Important Lesson in Giving

The dining table is an important piece of furniture in a family.  It’s where we all meet to share conversation, enjoy meals, gather for big holidays, celebrate birthdays, etc.  The dining table  is the root of some of our fondest family memories. “Remember when Uncle Frank told that joke during dinner and Uncle Ralph laughed so hard coffee shot out of his nose?” “Remember Marcie’s first birthday party where she tried to eat her birthday candles?”

For a home learning family, the dining table also serves as a daily meeting spot around learning.  Instructional video creations, science projects, paper sculptures, model rockets, and writing projects took shape around the dining table.  So, it was a big deal when our family decided to upgrade the table and give the old table away.  Everyone in the family had an unspoken connection to the table and no one wanted to part with it at first.  However, it wasn’t in great shape  and a newer, bigger, stronger table presented itself for free.

We decided to give our old table away for free so as to benefit someone else.  We cleaned the table, carefully carried it out to the curb, put a nice big “free” sign on it, and looked upon it with great memories.  Our youngster had an especially difficult time with the idea of giving away such a central part of his young life until we turned the giving into a life lesson.

Lessons Learned

Empathy – Giving away something meaningful to benefit another is a powerful lesson in empathy.  The table, instead of tossed in the trash, has a new lease on life with the chance for another family to build memories and photos around it.  Perhaps the new owners couldn’t afford a table before, and this new table will allow them to sit together at dinner for the first time.

Reuse – Reusing used furniture items can reduce the demand for new item purchases.  A greener, more sustainable model for living in harmony with our environment calls for better stewardship of our resources, including trees and garbage dumps.

Perspective – “Stuff”, no matter how symbolic it is in our families, is just stuff.  It cannot replace or measure up to the human connections we have with each other.  It should never be placed on so high a pedestal that it interferes with what is truly important.  Understand the role that stuff plays in our lives, but don’t let it play the starring role.  The starring role in our lives belongs to our family, friends, neighbors, community, country, and global connections.  What better way to strengthen this connection than through giving?

The First Grader

A powerful new movie based on a true story about an 86-year old Kenyan man who wants to learn to read has just been released. Anyone passionate about learning should seek out a nearby theatre and make some time to see this movie. The old man seeks to attend first grade after the Kenyan government announces free education for all. Of course, the old man is unwelcome in a school that’s already overcrowded with young children.

The fact that this man has a burning desire to learn to read reminds us that free education is not available to everyone around the world. To him, learning is worth fighting for, regardless of who he has to confront. So, although the kids might balk at sitting through something like the First Grader, this is a film they really need to see. Learning is the key to everything, something many of us take for granted, and something that has the power to transform our lives.

Make an International Friend Through ePals

Photo courtesy of The Italian Voice

We love online learning tools, especially free resources that provide real value.  Kids love online learning tools, too, and summer is a great time to explore new resources.  ePals is a free online learning portal through which teachers, parents, and learners can connect with each other for group collaborations, interactions, and communications.  ePals also has some quality group learning projects focused around culture, natural disasters, and natural science.  It is a safe way for children to connect with each other, regardless of where they live.  What a great way to practice your second language skills or learn about another culture from a kid’s perspective.

Set up a free a ePals account and start connecting whether you’re a teacher, parent, homeschooler, or school student.