NGS Daily jigsaw puzzles

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

HOLOCAUST ONLINE


WOW, WHAT A GREAT FREE (MOSTLY) RESOURCE FOR HISTORICAL PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS!!


The following article was from the Salt Lake Tribune about a tremendous online site with over a million Holocast-related documents (as well as for many other historical events) free for viewing:
http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13448566



"Lindon company puts more than 1 million Holocaust records online
Collection from National Archives, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will be free to view in October.

By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 09/29/2009 11:26:13 PM MDT

At the U.S. Holocaust Museum, it is a pile of shoes that powerfully drives home for many the scale of events in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II.
At Footnote.com's new Holocaust Collection site, it is the rows of portraits of men, women and children -- nearly 600 in all -- that are likely to invoke the same emotional response from visitors.
Scroll over this portrait and you learn it is of Ruth Huppert Elias of Czechoslovakia, who gave birth in a camp but was not allowed to nurse her infant as part of survival experiment; the child died.
That one: Idzia Pienknawiesz of Poland, who was 22 when she died in a concentration camp. Or this one, which turns out to be Fred Bachner of Berlin. Bachner was taken to Auschwitz and given the task of checking shoes for hidden valuables; he escaped in a transport train and was liberated in 1945.
The interactive Web site, located at www.footnote.com/holocaust, offers more than 1 million Holocaust-related documents. It is a collaboration between the National Archives and Records Administration, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Footnote.com, based in Lindon.
"It really is a central gathering place for these documents to come together and tell the story," said Justin Schroepfer, Footnote.com's marketing director. "It is important that they not be forgotten, with the generations that are disappearing."

Footnote.com, founded in 1997 as iArchives Inc., is a privately held company that uses scanning technology to place newspapers and historical documents online. It charges fees for access and provides scanning services to other entities.
It has a partnership with Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper owner, on anniversary projects about Woodstock and the Apollo moon landing.
Footnote.com buys copies of microfilms from the National Archives and digitizes them for use in searchable, interactive databases. The National Archives, which lacks funds to bring its collection into the online era, is allowing the Utah company to make commercial use of the digitized records for five years; the databases will then transition back to the archives' Web site.
The company has already created interactive databases on the Lincoln assassination, the Revolutionary and Civil wars, and the Great Depression.
Like those documents, the Holocaust records are available at archives' research centers in paper or microfilm format, which makes searching for specific records difficult.
"Working with Footnote, these records will become more widely accessible, and will help people now and in the future learn more about the events and impact of the Holocaust," said Michael Kurtz, assistant archivist of the United States in a statement.
Ron Smelser, a history professor at the University of Utah whose specialty is Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, said there is a growing awareness of and interest in the Holocaust that the collection will help meet.
"It's a wonderful idea, which means you don't have to fly to Washington," he said.
Access to the documents will be free during October. After that, access will be available only through subscription -- $79.95 for a year, $11.95 a month or $2.95 for a single image view.
The collection includes The Ardelia Hall collection, which catalogs artworks and artifacts seized by the Nazi and then taken into custody by the U.S. at the end of World War II.
There also are intelligence and interrogation reports; camp registration records and death books from Dachau, Mauthausen, Auschwitz and other camps; and proceedings of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum provided the nearly 600 interactive personal stories of survivors and victims.
Visitors can search for specific names and add information, comments, photos and other records and create individual pages. "

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Free Geography Materials--reposting









The new season for GeoAction! and Geography Awareness Week
(Nov 15-21, 2009) is underway! What is GeoAction! and Geography Awareness Week? A brief overview and history can be found at: http://www.mywonderfulworld.org/assets/GAW_FAQ.pdf

Lots of FREE resources ONLINE for teachers from NGS education programs!! Materials include--Back by popular demand--a teacher TOOLKIT, printable BIG MAP of EUROPE, and fabulous EASY TO USE, pre-GIS mapping curriculum and activities for students grades K-12!
To learn more about GeoAction! and how to sponsor a Geography Awareness week at your school see:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geography-action/index.html

Check with your local state Geography Alliance... Alliances should have a GeoAction! /Geography Awareness Week Coordinator or contact person that can also help with program details, inservice/workshop presentations and program materials.

Briney Breath of Enceladus

Thursday, September 10, 2009

ESSENTIAL GEOGRAPHY READS


ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL GEOGRAPHY READING MATERIALS FOR OUR TIMES....SHOULD BE ON REQUIRED READING LISTS IN SCHOOLS....





PLACE OF THE WEEK

Four corner states in the right place?


Recent news articles indicated that with new spatial technologies, the exact spot where the four corners states (UT,NM, CO, AZ)meet is in the "wrong place"...


I found the following contrary information to the above news reports at the "GIS in the News", Utah GIS Portal: http://gis.utah.gov/utah-gis-in-the-news/



As you probably know, numerous web, print, and broadcast "news" items appearing in the past month claimed that the Four Corners survey monument - marking the intersection of AZ, CO, NM, and UT - is in the wrong place. These stories also suggested that the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is the source of this "discovery." Because these stories contained numerous inaccuracies and erroneously cited NGS as the source, NGS management felt it was important that we issue some clarification/correction information. I was asked to put this together, and I have done so.The resulting document is now posted on the NGS Web site, at http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/INFO/fourcorners.shtml (note: I'm hoping we can add some photos as well). I am providing this to you for your own information and also to help you in responding to any inquiries you might have received or will receive regarding this (non) issue.Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions regarding this effort to get out the real story of the Four Corners monument.
Thanks very much!Sincerely, Bill Stone - National Geodetic Survey

Quick online geography quizzes

If you need a quick, pre-made, FREE online geography quiz for your students, try:

Quizzes available for many subjects, mostly
about political and physical maps of the world, some
countries or regions.
OR create your own online geography quiz @:
1. Create a quiz (with their online templates & tools)
2. Share your quiz online, email, or blogsite.
3. View quiz results for discussions and assignments.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Jelly Baby Population Game

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

FOR JELLY BABY POPULATION LESSON PLANS:
http://www.geographyalltheway.com/igcse_geography/population_settlement/population/jelly_baby_population.htm

Mapping the World by Heart program by David Smith

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED GEOGRAPHY PROGRAM:

http://www.mapping.com/Brochure.html
Mapping the World by Heart is a fabulous mental mapping program with proven results for your students! I used it for years with my students, and it really did improve their "mental maps" of the world!!

The following is an editorial description of David Smith's award winning program, Mapping the World by Heart:

"Can your students draw detailed maps without an atlas?

They can now! Perform a miracle with Mapping the World by Heart. It's a complete and proven approach to teaching geography. You'll see the most amazing results! Picture your students confidently penciling in the countries of central Africa, the expanse of the Rocky Mountains, and the nations of Southeast Asia. All by heart. As seen on NBC and in Time magazine! The stunning results of David Smith's curriculum were featured on NBC's Today show, in Time magazine, and in newspapers across the country. Now you can get the same results in your classroom!

What's Included

Comprehensive Teacher's Guide, detailed lesson plans, reproducibles, and blank outline maps. Mapping the World by Heart Lite includes master outline maps (one for each of the 9 world regions).

About the Author
David J. Smith has 26 years of experience teaching geography, history, and English in public and private schools. The U.S. Department of Education honored him in 1992 with their "Breaking the Mold" Award for this curriculum, and that, along with feature stories on The Today Show, and in Time Magazine, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, The International Educator, and other media, propelled him out of the classroom and into a full-time consulting practice.

Since 1992, he has given workshops, seminars, and addresses in 30 countries and 38 states, both on "Mapping The World By Heart" curriculum and on geography and geographic literacy generally, focusing on what he refers to as "world-mindedness across the curriculum".


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Senator Al Franken draws a map of all 50 states from memory

Wow, talking about knowing our country by heart and mind---What a great mental map!!!

Senator Al Franken draws a map of all 50 states from memory during an appearance on Minnesota Public Radio's Midday at the Minnesota State Fair.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-FYyuvrRk

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

REGISTER YOUR SCHOOL TODAY FOR THE 2010 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE!
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geographybee/


"Each year thousands of schools in the United States participate in the National Geographic Bee using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society. The contest is designed to encourage teachers to include geography in their classrooms, spark student interest in the subject, and increase public awareness about geography. Schools with students in grades four through eight are eligible for this entertaining and challenging test of geographic knowledge"

SEE THE ABOVE LINK: for contest details, school registration information, registration deadlines, StudyCorner, GeoBee Quiz game, and other helpful teacher/student materials.

(I took the above photo at the National Geographic Bee Finals in Washintgton, DC/May 09...our UTAH state winner was one of the top ten finalists!!)

NOVA's MegaVolcano




A new program from PBS/NOVA is about scientists tracking down the largest volcanic eruption in the last 100,000 years of earth's history! Check out the link above for teacher materials, program schedules, to watch the program online, podcasts, and additional resources related to volcanoes. Scientists using modern scientific and geographic/mapping technology are discovering details of the TOBA megavolcano and its effect on earth's geologic history.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

PRI's The World -- Geo Quiz

"PRI's The World - Geo Quiz Podcast [PRI]
The World's Geo Quiz tests your knowledge of world geography, and introduces you to fascinating people and places around the globe. The World is a US-based international news and analysis program co-produced by the BBC World Service, WGBH public radio in Boston, and Public Radio International. Visit this podcast's Web site
Updates: Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m., Fridays at 5:15 p.m. EST Duration: approx 12 minutes "


http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510009