HS Forms

Yes, I know, in NJ, forms are not really an issue, but I found some neat free printables from Donna Young for planners, to track attendance and for individual subjects.

But you may want some comic strip forms already set up for you.

However, if you want to keep track of attendance, consider: Donna Young's Attendance forms starting in July or August.

Sheep Hill Observatory

The Sheep Hill Observatory is in Boonton NJ at the end of Ross Drive. It features a 16-foot dome housing a 16-inch Newtonian equatorially mounted telescope. Public observing 3rd Friday of every month. Beginning at dusk, weather permitting.

Observatory off Ross Drive
Observatory phone 9793 335 5990
Public Nights 3rd Friday every month. Club Nights Saturday closest to the new moon.
Meetings 1st Sunday every month at Boonton Town Hall Community Room. New website under construction?

Last year's Astronomy Day in Boonton.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Solar observing at Wal-Mart parking lot during the day.
Astronomical Observing at the observatory in the evening weather permitting.

This is the best information I had at the time of posting.

Classes for Educators

Who offers seminars for educators? (Their primary audience is teachers with no childcare issues so seminars might start at 9 a.m. on a weekday, be patient with them!) At least:

• Morris County Parks (Register for 2008-09 workshops),
• Montclair Art Museum Educator Resources
  
• Morris Museum (Morristown),
• Mayo Community Theatre (Morristown),
• Liberty Science Center,
• New Jersey Astronomy Center at Raritan Community College,
• Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum (Brunswick, listing, For more info. call 732.932.7237, ext. 615. Brunswick)

all offer seminars for educators. Also check out Project WET Education for Teacher NJ Training Schedule. It includes a Project WET training date at the Morris Museum (Morristown, March 2008).

* Montclair Art Museum Educator Resources, including Teacher Programs & Workshops FREE For High School & College Educators, Call (973) 746-5555 ext. 213 to RSVP; or email tours@montclairartmuseum.org Earn 2 hours of Professional Development credit for each session. Join us for a special evening for teachers of grades Pre-K through college. Come view the exhibitions, enjoy light refreshments and learn how the Museum can be a valuable resource for your class.

* Morris Museum offers courses from $30 to $85 (for a 2-day training) as well as $10 "open house tours" They also have School Loan and Outreach Education, including items and collections that can be borrowed by educators.

* Mayo Community Theatre has $30 professional development seminars on topics, including theatre in the classroom, bringing history alive, and on Shakespeare - or get one free if you book "class trips" to their "on school time shows" (not those by Arts Power).

* Liberty Science Center offers periodic Teacher Impact Workshops (usually $8 each for 10 am - 2 pm) and monthly Teacher Connections (Saturdays, 9 am - noon; $139.00 for yearlong membership; $60.00 per session). Teacher Impact Workshops for 2007 included topics like: Nervous Systems and Behavior, Weather or Not, and The Science of Sound. Teacher Connections topics have included:

• Our Hudson Home, June 7, 2008: Learn about estuary wildlife, the relationships between nature and humanity, and how human choices and actions affect the ecological health of the Hudson River. ...

* New Jersey Astronomy Center at Raritan Community College Courses for teachers – NJACE offers workshops to help teachers increase their students’ understanding of difficult astronomical concepts. "At our workshops teachers DO the activities while presenters MODEL true inquiry based learning. We don’t lecture to teachers. Teachers will walk away with lots of resources, an increased understanding of astronomy, increased confidence to teach it, and a binder full of hands-on inquiry-based activities they can do tomorrow in their classroom. All workshops are limited to the first 20 registered participants!

For more information and registration forms for NJAC courses, click on the workshop name or contact Theresa Moody at 908-526-1200 x 8942 or email tmoody@raritanval.edu or visit their site to see all their workshop dates! They also offer summer institutes.

Learning Resource Center

subtitle: The best $2/year I spend on education.

One of my favorite support centers remains NJ Dept. of Ed's Learning Resource Center. My children (*) and I have logged hours and hours at the LRC. I have used many of their machines, their work area and their professional library. I have borrowed board games, books, manipulatives and curriculum resources, and cut hundreds of pieces on their Eillison Dies. I know no less expensive place to laminate things.

There are 4 LRC offices: North (East Orange), north satellite (Morris Plains), central (Dayton) and south (Sewell). Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5 pm.

New evening hours starting 9/2/08: Morris Plains, Tuesday until 6 pm; Dayton Wednesday until 6pm; East Orange, Thursday until 6 pm. (They follow the state schedule and do close for snow storms. I am not liable for any schedule changes. Late August to early September and spring break the centers are often packed with teachers, but many other times there is more work space than you could need. If you arrive on the day of a conference, the parking lot may be packed -- but there may still be work space; it will depend on the conference they are running.)

* - it is not a children's center at all. If you do not have children who can sit and self-entertain and handle time without food or drinks perhaps you can coop, or trade time with another parent so that you can go on your own.

"Kids" these days: 2012 graduates

Beloit College has posted their annual list about the "average" incoming freshman for Fall 2008. Most of them were born in 1990; Jim Henson, Sammie Davis, Jr. and Stevie Ray Vaughan have always been dead; and Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.

For the complete list, visit:
http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php

Enjoy!

Went to a Garden Party...

Sunday, August 24
Exhibit Opening "Who's Minding the Store?" & Member's Garden Party
1-4 PM
At Acorn Hall
The opening of “Who’s Minding the Store?” will take place at the Society’s annual Garden Party and feature a “Pie Contest” and “Home-grown Tomato Competition.” A raffle will include a gift certificate to a local food business and food-related merchandise. "Who's Minding the Store?" is a traveling exhibit from the Jewish Historical Society of Metrowest. A reconstructed store from Morris County’s earlier days, the exhibit will demonstrate how people once shopped for food and other essentials. The exhibit will be augmented with agricultural, dining, and food merchandising artifacts from the collection of the Morris County Historical Society.

Homemade Dessert Pies Contest & Jersey Tomatoes Contest
Entry forms are now available on-line and at Acorn Hall on the day of the event.

Entrants for the various contests should bring their pies and tomatoes, with competed application forms, to Acorn Hall, 68 Morris Avenue, Morristown, between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. Pies should be accompanied by their recipe.

Judging begins at 2:00 p.m., beginning with any cream pies. No refrigeration is available.

Pies will not be returned.

MCHS members are welcome to bring a picnic to enjoy on the lawn of Acorn Hall. Tea and dessert will be served.

Follow this link for contest rules and entry form.

No Child Left Inside

“No Child Left Inside,” the theme of Earth Science Week 2008 (October 12 - 18) will encourage young people to learn about the geosciences by getting away from the television, off the computer, and out of doors.

Objectives

• To engage students in discovering the Earth sciences.
• To remind people that Earth science is all around us.
• To encourage Earth stewardship through understanding.
• To motivate geoscientists to share their knowledge and enthusiasm about the Earth."[1]

Earth Science Week 2008 will encourage young people to learn about the geosciences by getting away from the television, off the computer, and out of doors.

Click for their Resource list.

I have not looked at their educators guide to "Journey to the Center of the Earth" ... yet.

AGI hosts Earth Science Week in cooperation with sponsors as a service to the public and the geoscience community. Each year, local groups, educators, and interested individuals organize celebratory events. Earth Science Week offers opportunities to discover the Earth sciences and engage in responsible stewardship of the Earth. The program is supported by the U.S. Geological Survey, NASA, the National Park Service, the AAPG Foundation, and other geoscience groups.

http://www.earthsciweek.org/

[1] Copied straight from their site.