Thousands of Newspapers on a Google Map

Newspaper Map is a new for locating and reading newspapers from locations all around the world. Newspaper Map claims to have put placemarks for more 10,000 newspapers on one Google Map. To find a newspaper you can browse the map then click on a placemark to open the link within to read a newspaper. You can also locate newspapers by using the search boxes to locate a newspaper by title or location. Along with links to the newspapers, Newspapers Map provides links to translate the newspapers you find on the map.

Applications for Education

Newspaper Map is a good resource for social studies teachers and students. Students can use the map to locate newspapers from around the world to read to gain different perspectives on world events. Reading newspapers from different parts of the world will also give students to learn about what is culturally important to different groups of people.

Lesson Plans for Teaching About Germs

To help elementary school teachers educate their students about germs and disease prevention (and to sell disinfectant) Clorox has developed a website for teachers. Clorox Classrooms offers sixteen lesson plans for K-5 classrooms. Each of the lesson plans is designed to help students understand what germs are and how to prevent the spread of germs. Most of the lesson plans include an "extension" activity for interactive whiteboards.

Applications for Education
Most of the Clorox Classrooms lesson plans are intended to be conducted as hands-on lessons. The download package for each lesson plan includes references to National Science Standards, handouts for students, and slides when necessary.

Germ Blaster - An iPad Game for Learning About Germs

Parts of this post originally appeared on my other blog, iPadApps4School.com

Rice University offers a number of web and iPad-based educational science activities for students of all ages. Germ Blaster is one of their free iPad games that is appropriate for students in elementary school.

Germ Blaster is a fun iPad game through which students learn about six types of pathogens and the “weapons” used to fight them. Before starting the game students review each pathogen and what makes it different from the others. Then they review the methods used to fight those pathogens. In the Germ Blaster game students fight off the pathogens by selecting the appropriate weapon to kill the approaching pathogens. If they get stuck and can’t remember which weapons fight which pathogens, students can pause the game to look up information about the pathogens.

Applications for Education
Playing Germ Blaster won't replace the need for lessons taught by you, but it could be a fun way for students to review after a lesson that you have taught.

The Differences Between Colds and the Flu

For the last four days I've been knocked down by the flu. This experience has reminded me of a few videos about the flu and colds.

What is the difference between having a cold and having the flu? DNews has a relatively concise explanation in the video embedded below.


How is a cold or flu passed from person to person and what exactly is it doing to your body? NPR answers those questions in the following animated video.


If you wanted to use either or both of these videos in a flipped lesson, EduCanon and VideoNot.es are good platforms for doing that. The videos embedded below will show you how to use those tools to create flipped lessons.

Week in Review - In Bed With the Flu

Good evening from Woodstock, Maine where I have been in bed or on the couch trying to get over the flu for the last four days. This is the first time since early Thursday morning that I've had the energy to open my laptop and even think about blog posts. But it's not all doom and gloom here. The Patriots are in the AFC Championship game tomorrow night. So I do have something fun to look forward to. I hope that all of you are in better health than me this weekend and have fun things in your future too.

Here are this week's most popular posts:
1. Google Launches Google Classroom Mobile Apps
2. Three Efficient Ways to Keep Parents Informed About Your Class and Their Children
3. Chromebook Creation: Slides, ThingLink, & Snagit
4. 10 Charts Comparing Popular Ed Tech Tools
5. Explore the World with the Google Cultural Institute
6. How to Create Flipped Lessons on eduCanon
7. Create, Share, and Find Online Courses on Versal

Would you like to have me speak at your school or conference this year? Click here to learn more about professional development services.

Please visit the official advertisers that help keep this blog going.
Practical Ed Tech is the brand through which I offer PD webinars.
Versal is a great tool for building interactive online course components.
MidWest Teachers Institute offers online graduate courses for teachers.
Typing Club offers free typing lessons for students.
Discovery Education & Wilkes University offer online courses for earning Master's degrees in Instructional Media.
MasteryConnect provides a network for teachers to share and discover Common Core assessments.
The University of Maryland Baltimore County offers graduate programs for teachers.
Boise State University offers a 100% online program in educational technology.
EdTechTeacher is hosting iPad Summit San Diego in February.
StoryBoard That is a great tool for creating comics and more.
BoomWriter and WordWriter are fantastic tools that help students develop their writing skills.