Testing is upon us and that means summer is around the corner!

I hope everyone is getting a good night's sleep and is eating good nutrition because the testing season is upon us.  I know all our students will do their best!

Thinking about testing causes me to think about the end of the school year and summer!  Apparently that is also on the minds of others as I've begun to see some e-mails and information about what students (and adults) can do over the summer to keep their minds sharp!  This year I had the opportunity to hear Rushton Hurley at a technology conference.  Hurley was a fantastic speaker!  He has taught at the high school and college level, been a principal, and has even organized and run an online school.  Hurley established "Next Vista for Learning" which includes all sorts of good information, but I want to focus on two particular items, one of which can be found on the Web site and the other which came as a link in Next Vista's e-mail newsletter.


If you click on the above link for Next Vista, you will land on the home page.  Go to the Light Bulbs section - it's in green on the left on the home page or on the menu bar going across the top of the page.  Light Bulbs are quick videos made by students to introduce or teach something.  There are ten (10) categories and each category has a number of short videos associated with it.  Just click on any of them and take a quick look!  All the videos are 2 minutes or less in length.


A friend of Hurley's, Adam Welcome, shared a Google Docs presentation that includes all sorts of information and links for students, and even adults, to utilize over the summer months.  Just to name a few - Google Books, Open Culture, iPad Resources, Math Playground, White House 101, Alder Planetarium, PowerTyping, The International Children's Digital Library, Physics Central, and even ChessKid!  There are a total of 28 different slides, many with more than one link on them, so check them all out - don't even wait until summer, try some now!


Have a great week (and try to stay dry - we need the rain, but gee, enough is enough)!