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This looks like a great collaborative project. If I Were Running for President is hosted by DeAnna Sheets, a teacher in Branson, MO.

Students will poll adults and students from their school and collect data about what issues make them choose one presidential candidate over another. The students will then use that data and create a mock presidential candidate of their own. They will include background information on their mock presidential candidate, key issues, political party ticket, campaign slogan and title. After all of the participating schools have created and entered their mock presidential candidate, an election will be held to see which candidate has been elected as the new president.

• Project Dates: September 2, 2008-November 7, 2008
• Grades 1-6
• Registration is open
• To see the list of classrooms currently registered visit the project wiki and look for the Sidebar on the right.
• Minimal tech tools required. “The basics you will need: either access to a digital camera or a way to upload pictures of your kids drawings etc (unless you choose to do them on a computer). You or your students will need to have access to one computer to type in all of the completed information about the candidate for others to read.”
• Information must be uploaded to the wiki by October 27, 2008
• Election will be held November 3-7th. All students will get to cast their vote.

I would love to see a Willard class participate in this. Let me know if I can help!

Image Credit: EJP Photo

All the Willard R-II attendance centers are subscribing to Discovery Education Streaming this year, aka United Streaming. This is a powerful resource with an extensive collection of videos, lesson plans, worksheets, speeches, songs, images, quizzes, etc. for all grade levels. Yes, you can access this tool from home.

ACCOUNTS

As you return to the classroom, rested and enthusiastic, consider the message in the video below, A Vision of K12 Students Today.

The online Collaborative Projects described below are all sponsored by JenuineTech. These projects are well organized, provide lots of classroom activity options, and are fun for the students. Jennifer Wagner, the person behind JenuineTech, has been facilitating these award winning projects for years and is very experienced.

A Room with a View

• August 10, 2008 to June 10, 2009
• Ages: PreK – Sixth Grade
• Classes will capture a monthly picture of the view from a classroom window, documenting how the scenery changes. Students will write descriptions of what they see change and share with other classrooms their observations.
• Technology Objective: Teachers and students will learn to upload to an online arena to showcase their work.
• Register online now.

Other Upcoming Projects

O.R.E.O.

• Registration opens in about 2 weeks
• Project has 2 parts. You can choose which to participate in.
  • That’s the Way the Cookie Tumbles
  • O.R.E.O. STUF Fashion Show
• This will be the10th year of this project.
• Read about last year’s O.R.E.O. project here.

Hats Off to Lincoln

• February is the 200th Birthday of Abraham Lincoln more on this project soon.

Image Credit: Hurry Formally, Viewing His New World by cobalt123