http://www.411learn.com http://www.411learn.com en http://www.411learn.com/images/rss_logo.gif http://www.411learn.com 60 60 School and Homeschool Resources - 411 Learn K-12 Education Marketplace http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=18 If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If children live with hostility, they learn to fight. If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive. If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves. If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy. If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy. If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty. If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence. If children live with tolerance, they learn patience. If children live with praise, they learn appreciation. If children live with acceptance, they learn to love. If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves. If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal. If children live with sharing, they learn generosity. If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness. If children live with fairness, they learn justice. If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect. If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them. If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live. Excerpted from the book CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE ©1998 by Dorothy Law Nolte and Rachel Harris The poem "Children Learn What They Live" ©Dorothy Law Nolte Used by permission of Workman Publishing co., New York All Rights Reserved Dorothy Law Nolte Mon, 21 Nov 2005 08:46:00 GMT http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=31 The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.  One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education.  He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Susan. Be honest.  What do you make?" Susan, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? "I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.  I make a C+ feel like the winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor.  I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence. "You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math and perfect their final drafts in English. I make them understand that if you have the brains, and follow your heart, and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you must pay no attention because they just didn't learn." Susan paused and then continued.  "You want to know what I make?  'I MAKE A DIFFERENCE.'  What do you make?" THERE IS MUCH TRUTH IN THAT STATEMENT: "Teachers make every other profession possible" Unknown Sun, 5 Feb 2006 14:31:00 GMT http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=2 Get a free random education quote for your website! You may choose from different education related quote databases and customize it by choosing the size and color of your random quotes. After choosing, html code is generated so you can simply copy and paste the quote where you want on your website. New databases and quotes will be added regularly. Fri, 11 Feb 2005 03:55:00 GMT http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=1 The 411 Learn K-12 Educational Marketplace serves to provide parents and educators of K-12 children an organized way of finding useful educational resources on the web. It is designed primarily for educational products or services. In the near future, many additional features will be included to 411 Learn to help you find additional learning information and resources to address the needs of your students. Free and sponsored links are available to all companies, schools, individuals, and organizations who offer K-12 educational products or services. Visitors to the website can access many of the features, yet they will not be able to participate and contribute fully to the site. For instance, members can submit and modify their own articles, add quality product or services links, make comments on links, receive the newsletter if they choose, use the message board, and customize their settings. Membership is free and private. 411 Learn is meant to be interactive so you can give your feedback on what websites, products or services worked for you, and those that did not. Also, when you find a website that we don't have, please add it to the directory so others may benefit as well. Members can also announce K-12 national events, new products or services, and updated and improved products in the Articles section of Marketplace. Finally, many more features are planned for 411 Learn. If there are other features or resources that you would like to see, please let me know. I will do my best to help. Daryl Hickman - 411 Learn Admin Sun, 6 Feb 2005 14:24:00 GMT http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=3 411 Learn now accepts free K-12 educational resource link submissions into the directory. Now when you submit a link you will have a choice of selecting up to three categories that are appropriate for the link. If the link is for a resource that charges a fee for its products or service, please do not place the link under a "Free Resources" category. The 411 Learn Directory was designed to separate vendor products and services apart from free resources from parents, teachers (like myself), non-profit organizations, and others who are offering free K-12 educational resources or services to the public without charge. Initially, I did not feel the need for another educational directory that had free resources, since there are so many great directories and searches out there. Yet, I would like to offer excellent free resource links as I find them and allow you to submit your suggested free resource links just in case a great resource is missed at other websites. After all, there are so many free resources from people who put a great deal of effort and time into making these resources available to us, it would be a shame to miss them. Thu, 3 Mar 2005 00:07:00 GMT http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=4 One of the latest addition to 411 Learn is the Education Quotebook. It offers hundreds of quotes related to education, teaching, learning, and life in general. Best of all, you can add your favorite quotes as well into the quotebook. I will also be adding more quotes to the quotebook as I find them. So please visit the quotebook and add your favorite quotes, or rate the quotes that are in the quotebook. Additionally, if you have a website you may add the free education quote code to your web page. More quotes and quote databases are being added to it as well. Thu, 3 Mar 2005 00:16:00 GMT http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=13 How much do you know about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, and Wampanoag Indians? Here are some interesting facts about them. Before the Pilgrims hired her, the Mayflower was in the wine trade with France; before that, she was in the fish trade with Norway. It took the Mayflower 66 days to reach Massachusetts. There was one baby born during the crossing of the Mayflower and he was named Oceanus Hopkins. The Pilgrims landed at Provincetown, MA, at the tip of Cape Cod, on November 11, 1620. Since the land was not good for farming, they moved to Plymouth. To eat, the Pilgrims used a knife, spoon, a large napkin, and fingers...no forks. They also shared plates and drinking vessels. In the Pilgrim household, the adults sat down to dinner and the children waited on them. Lobsters, clams, and mussels were considered "hard rations" when the food supply was low. Many Pilgrims thought that lobsters were fit only for pigs! The turkey was familiar poultry in England. It was brought to Europe 100 years earlier by the Spanish. There were only four married women who survived the first harsh winter from 1620-1621. They supervised the food preparations for the three-day harvest feast for the 50 colonists, Chief Massasoit, and the 90 Indians who attended. That event became known as "the first Thanksgiving." Pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce were not eaten at the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims did eat roast wild fowl such as duck, goose, and turkey; corn meal; cod; sea bass; and venison brought by the Indians. Massasoit in the Wampanoag language means "Great Leader." His real name was Ousamequin or "Yellow Feather." The Wampanoag Indians of southeast Massachusetts were the people who befriended the Pilgrims. Their name means "People of the Dawn" and they continue to live on Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and inland. With the severe weather the world has been experiencing, now is a good time to reflect on all the positives in your life. Write them down to keep as a reference when times are rough! Sometimes, seeing them in print is an eye-opener; you might be surprised how long that list can get if you add all the little things. HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone! I hope these ideas have been useful and have inspired your own creative thinking. And remember...Reading is FUNdamental! About the author: Freda J. Glatt, MS, retired from teaching after a 34-year career in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. Her focus, now, is to reach out and help others reinforce reading comprehension and develop a love for reading. Visit her site at http://www.sandralreading.com. Reading is FUNdamental! Freda J. Glatt, M.S. Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:53:00 GMT http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=12 Thanksgiving to most folks means family and friends and Turkey, or maybe beer and football. Many do not know or even care about the significence of the Holiday. Way back in the 1600's a group of people who were members of the English Separatist Church (Puritan's) in England fled their homeland to escape religious persecution. They boarded a ship and sailed to Holland in the Netherlands. In Holland the people enjoyed a brief time free from the religious persecution they faced back in England, but they soon became frustrated with the Dutch peoples bad morals and what they considered sinful lifestyles. Seeking yet a better way of life, the Separatists made a deal with a stock company in London to finance a trip to America on a ship named the Mayflower. There were others from England that were not separatists, in fact the majority that made the trip on the Mayflower were not. The group arrived in America on Dec 11, 1620 and they set ground at Plymouth, Massachusetts. The first winter season the pilgrims encountered in America was horrible. With extreme cold and blizzard conditions, they lost 46 of the original 102 who came over on the Mayflower. But the spring and summer of the next year was wonderful with most of the days pleasant and nice and most of the pilgrims staying healthy. The local indians showed them where and how to hunt and trap for the available game, and shared their secrets on growing and storing of the native crops. The harvest of 1621 was very bountiful and the pilgrims along with the local indians who had helped them survive their first year, decided to have a huge feast to celebrate and give thanks. The feast or as it's commonly called 'The First Thanksgiving' was probably held outside on handmade tables and benches, most of the people sat on blankets on the ground while eating, because records show that the colonists didn't have a building large enough to accommodate all the people. From an original letter of a member of the colony, Edward Winslow, here is the actual account of the First Thanksgiving celebration: "Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, Many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty." From the hand written letter we can see that 1 Indian Chief or King and 90 others (91 total indians) that were invited as guests attended the event along with the pilgrims, and that the feast or celebration lasted 3 days. The celebration or feast was not repeated again until the year 1623, when during a severe drought the pilgrims all gathered and prayed for rain. The next day, a long steady rain occurred, and Governor Bradford proclaimed another day of Thanksgiving, and again the pilgrims or 'colonists' invited their indian friends to celebrate. The next Thanksgiving celebration did not occur until the year 1676, when the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting on the best way to celebrate and give thanks for the good fortune their community had experienced. By voting, they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29th as a day of Thanksgiving. Other dates that were important to the Thanksgiving Holiday were October of the year 1777, when there was a Thanksgiving holiday that was celebrated by all 13 colonies that had been established. In 1789 George Washington proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving, and after a campaign of letter writing to presidents and governors, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. The date was altered a couple more times, but finaly in 1941 it was sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, on the fourth Thursday in November, where it remains yet today. Thanksgiving is such a wonderful Holiday that we should all celebrate it, and there is a FREE Thanksgiving Screensaver available for download at this website address: http://www.rb59.com/thanksgiving-screensaver By Robert W. Benjamin Copyright © 2005 About the author: Robert W. Benjamin has been in the software business on the internet for over 5 years, and has been producing low-cost software for the past 25+ years. He first released products on the AMIGA and C64 computer systems in the late 1970's-80's. RB59.COM Software http://www.rb59.com/software Robert W. Benjamin Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:53:00 GMT http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=27 Our society is captivated by the notion of intelligence and measuring intelligence levels. What does this measurement indicate? For the past hundred years intelligence has been measured by tests. A person's performance on those tests would indicate their intelligence quotient, or IQ score. IQ scores are normally thought of as being an indication of a child's ability and potential and also a possible indicator of how that child will perform in the future, in school or workforce. However, IQ scores have been used in research to see if there is any correlation between the scores and a person's affluence, longevity, health, and behavior. If there is a link between these scores and all the above characteristics, then is there anything that we can do to influence the scores? Some feel IQ scores are primarily genetic. Some feel that a child's environment can positively or negatively influence IQ scores. There are even studies that show that high levels of fluoride in drinking water caused a decline in IQ scores in children. A lot of time and energy has been spent on trying to find out how much of an impact intelligence has on our lives. Are we any closer to finding out the validity of IQ scores and how much of a role they play in determining a person's success? There is much debate over this issue, and compelling arguments for and against IQ testing. Parents and teachers can use this information to determine their viewpoint on how they will use the IQ scores to benefit their education. Many researchers question the benefits of IQ testing on children. Is this something that a parent should want for their child? Will it help the child's future? How can a teacher use this information in the classroom? The IQ test, sometimes referred to as the norm-referenced, is very stable and shows how the intelligence of a child is important to their learning process. IQ scores can help place the child in the appropriate learning center, whether the child needs to be placed in a special education classroom or an advanced classroom. It would be inappropriate to ask a child to work geometry problems without the proper education and background. A child's IQ scores can show the level at which child is able to perform. If a child's IQ scores are within the lower percentile, then it is logical that the child should be placed in a classroom that moves at a slower speed so that the child's learning style can be taken into account. The converse is true for a child who has a high IQ score. Even when taken repeatedly, IQ scores tend to be consistent, making it easier to predict what the child's IQ will be later in their life though the older the child (Bee, 2000). It really can fairly predict what accomplishments the parent and the child can expect through their life. Though this test is based on a solid foundation, there are still some questions to whether the IQ test should be considered valid. One thing most psychologists agree on is that there is no relationship between IQ scores and the career choice of a child. An example would be, "while it is clear that successful business executives usually score at least moderately well on the IQ test, the rate at which they advance and their ultimate business achievements are only minimally associated with their specific IQ score" (Feldman, 2000). This means that there is a way to achieve success, with hard work, in the workforce even if you are not placed high on the IQ scale. The test might interfere with the educational plans of children who might think they are not "smart enough" to accomplish more than their IQ allows. Helen Bee explains, "Although these scores do become quite stable in late childhood, individual children can and do shift in response to especially rich or especially impoverished environments, or in response to any stress in their lives" (Bee, 2000). The IQ test really has to be administered later in the child's life after they have had experience in life. This brings about the question of whether performance on IQ tests has to do with the nurturing of a child. Another problem that researchers have discovered about the IQ test is that there is a deviance in scores of people of lower socio-economic classes and underrepresented minority groups. Any test that has "...an unequal distribution of IQ scores by race, gender, and ethnic origin" or that is not culturally diverse should be considered to have a few flaws (Pyryt, 1996). It is important to have a test that can measure ability within all cultural classes, and the IQ test may be short in this section. The children that fit into this category really don't have the means or resources to score high on the IQ test (Pyryt, 1996). However, this discrepancy has been rebutted with the fact that the children in lower socio-economic classes or minority groups can achieve what their IQ scores predict, with the proper education and self-esteem (Bee, 2000). What the parent has to remember is that the child will have to overcome their environmental obstacles in order to achieve their IQ level. Even though the IQ test has its shortcomings, it is still accepted as a valid way to verify a child's ability and to predict future performance in school and in the workforce. The IQ test has the potential to help students be successful in their individual learning styles. IQ scores help educators and parents place children in classes that will be appropriate for the child's ability level. There is still some question as to whether the IQ tests are flawed because they do not accurately reflect the ability of all cultural and socio-economic groups. However research shows that environment does have an affect on the IQ score, supporting the idea that a child can increase their potential with the proper nurturing environment. IQ tests can be a useful tool. However, parents and educators need to recognize that a child's performance on an IQ test is only an indication of potential and can not predict the child's willingness to succeed or the environmental obstacles that a child must overcome in order to fulfill the indication of their IQ scores. References: Bee, H. (2000). Child and Adolescent Development (9th ed.) [e-text]. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing. Feldmen, R. (2000). Essentials of Understanding Psychology (4th Ed.). Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts. Pyryt, M. (1996, June). The Bell Curve. Roeper Review, 18 (4), 4. About the author: Debbie Cluff is the owner of Links for Learning, an online tutoring and instant homework help site, www.links-for-learning.com. Links for Learning was established to help create a positive and quality educational environment for all students. Debbie has 2 children, with one on the way, and has been married for 5 years. She recieved her BA in Liberal Studies and her Master's in Education. She is currently in a first grade classroom. Debbie Cluff Fri, 13 Jan 2006 05:47:00 GMT http://www.411learn.com/article.php?n=6 I have just added a collection of useful educational online tools that can be used by teachers, parents, or students to help them find the answers they are looking for. Best of all, these tools are FREE! This collection will be growing as I either find or build additional online tools. As I do, I will post them on thecool online educational tools. If you know of more free online tools that are not in this collection, please let me know using the message board on the 411Learn Home page. Sun, 12 Dec 1999 20:52:00 GMT