Preparing for Black History Month?

The Teacher's Discovery English and Social Studies divisions are interested in making your planning for Black History Month a little easier.



This DVD, "Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream," is a great piece for reviewing one of the most important speeches in American History. King's speech is also a great example of a truly remarkable rhetorician at work.

You'll find a sample of the video, and a free quiz to accompany it, at the link above.




Speaking of Martin Luther King, Jr., this great Talking Poster would be a fine addition to your classroom decor. Press the button on the poster for an audio clip of his famous speech.



And speaking of classroom decor (we are apparently all about the segues today), this poster set will let the words of African American poets resonate with your students every time the pass by. Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and others speak across generations, right into your students' hearts.



If you're interested in covering the Harlem Renaissance from all the angles, our set of three Harlem Renaissance PowerPoint presentations lead your students through the literary, musical, and artistic movements withing the Harlem Renaissance. The images and sounds in these presentations make them something really special.

If these pieces aren't quite what you're looking for, head over to the Teacher's Discovery website and give it a search.

As always, feel free to give us a call or drop us an email at teachersbrunch @ teachersdiscovery. com.

It's Catalog Season

Hello again, from Teacher's Brunch HQ in freezing fog-stricken Auburn Hills, MI.

(As Mike, our tech guy said, if smoke and foggy makes smoggy, do freezing and foggy equal froggy?)

Teachers across the country will soon find in their mailboxes our Spring Teacher's Discovery catalogs.

We've seen them, and they look great--full of ideas and awesome stuff to make teachers' days a little easier.

If you don't think you're going to get a catalog from us, and want to make sure you get one, head over to this link for English, Social Studies, and Science teachers, and over here for our Foreign Language friends.

When it does arrive in your mailbox, let us know what you think.

Play Ball! Two New Science Games

These two new gems just arrived to spice up Science classrooms everywhere.




The first baseball game covers micro-organisms and bacteria. Sure, it's a gribbly topic, but that's what makes it all the more fun!




Tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, floods, earthquakes, tsunami, and a host of other insurance adjuster nightmares take center stage in our second new game, Natural Disasters Baseball.



Of course, both of these games are perfect for your new interactive whiteboard, but they work great on a regular wall, or a computer lab.

Let us know what you think of them by emailing us at teachersbrunch at teachersdiscovery dot com.

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Cow has landed."

The title of this post is a not so subtle nod to the anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, but is also serving to announce the distribution of our Fall Social Studies catalogs.

Teachers who purchase items from Teacher's Discovery with their home addresses will be receiving our comprehensive Social Studies catalog featuring the cow on the cover.

Everyone else will have a catalog waiting for them at school.

If you'd like a catalog before that, give us at call at 1-800-543-4180. Tell them the blog sent ya!

Twitter Goes All Lit-Like!

Most of us around here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in "rooting-for-neighbors-Lake-Orion-the-whole-time" Auburn Hills, MI are a little puzzled by Twitter, the social networking site that allows users to post short messages , called "tweets," updating friends, family, and perfect strangers to daily goings-ons in 140-character doses.

Really. Do we need to know what you had on your bagel this morning?

And while Twitter's usefulness to the savvy techies in Iran recently cannot be understated, the utility to the average user strikes us as a little, well, obsessive. Going for a walk? Great. Gotta tell the world? Not so much.

But this neat story about Twitter being used for literature caught our eye.

Maybe we've been a little too hard on the old Twit-machine? Feel free to comment and tell us how Twitter has a place in your classroom. This blog might get the old Tweety-Thinker working: here.







(Oh, and while we're at it. That's what you get, Bob Corker. We feel your pain, Spring Hill.)

This Just In: We're Officially SMART Board Ready!

From the beginning, we've known that our games and PowerPoint presentations work great on interactive whiteboards of all makes and models (including ours!).

Now, SMART has officially recognized a big batch of our products to be what they call "SMART Ready."

That means that SMART has reviewed our product and determined it to be a great fit with SMART Board interactive whiteboards.

To us around here, it's sort of like a perfect stranger coming up to you at the park saying "Your kid is great and would fit in perfectly with my family." (OK, maybe not quite as creepy, but you get the idea.)

Below is the list of SMART Ready products that we have so far. It makes for a rather dull blog post, but when you realize we have over 200 items that were awarded the SMART Ready tag, it seems worth the scrolling.

If you'd like to learn more about any of the titles listed below, click on the correct division at www.teachersdiscovery.com and search for the title.

We've made a link on each of the subject websites to make tracking things down a little easier.

Here's Social Studies: here.

And English: here.

Of course, Science: here.

And finally, Foreign Language: ici, aquí, and hier.

As always, we're here at teachersbrunch at teachersdiscovery dot com if you'd like to fire off an email with your question.

A RAISIN IN THE SUN NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME A SEPARATE PEACE NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME ADV OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME ANIMAL FARM NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME BEOWULF NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME THE CATCHER IN THE RYE NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME THE CRUCIBLE NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME FAHRENHEIT 451 NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME FRANKENSTEIN NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME THE GIVER NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME JULIUS CAESAR NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME LORD OF THE FLIES NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME THE ODYSSEY NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME OF MICE AND MEN NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME THE OUTSIDERS NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME THE SCARLET LETTER NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME NIGHT NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME MACBETH NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME ROMEO AND JULIET NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME THE GREAT GATSBY NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE POWERPOINT ON CD THE ENGLISH ROMANTICS POWERPOINT ON CD 19TH & 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN POETS POWERPOINT CD AFRICAN AMERICAN AUTHORS POWERPOINT ON CD CHARLES DICKENS POWERPOINT ON CD ERNEST HEMINGWAY POWERPOINT ON CD MARK TWAIN POWERPOINT ON CD JOHN STEINBECK POWERPOINT ON CD EDGAR ALLAN POE POWERPOINT ON CD GEORGE ORWELL POWERPOINT ON CD S.E. HINTON POWERPOINT ON CD HARPER LEE POWERPOINT ON CD HARLEM RENAISSANCE AUTHORS POWERPOINT ON CD ETYMOLOGY CHALLENGE GAME ON CD RHYME TIME GAME ON CD SAT WORD CHALLENGE GAME ON CD KEY WORDS FOR COLLEGE BOUND CHALLENGE LITERARY TERMS & DEVICES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD ELECTRONIC JOURNALISM STARTER ELECTRONIC ESSAY STARTER ON CD ELECTRONIC POETRY STARTER SHORT STORY DEVICES POWERPOINT ON CD ELEMENTS OF A NOVEL POWERPOINT ON CD 19TH & 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN POETS POWERPOINT ON CD SHAKESPEARE CHALLENGE GAME ON CD MYTHOLOGY CHALLENGE TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BASEBALL GAME ON CD OF MICE AND MEN BASEBALL GAME ON CD ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN BASEBALL GAME ON CD ROMEO & JULIET BASEBALL GAME ON CD THE OUTSIDERS BASEBALL GAME ON CD IDIOMS BASEBALL GAME ON CD GRAMMAR BASEBALL GAME ON CD ELEMENTS OF SHORT STORIES & NOVELS BASEBALL ON CD POETRY BASEBALL GAME ON CD FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT PPT ON CD AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES POWERPOINT ON CD THE WILD WEST POWERPOINT ON CD THE FIRST AMERICANS POWERPOINT ON CD EARLY EXPLORERS AND EARLY COLONIES POWERPOINT CD SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES POWERPOINT ON CD WESTWARD HO! POWERPOINT ON CD THE PROGRESSIVE ERA POWERPOINT ON CD THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA POWERPOINT ON CD INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION POWERPOINT ON CD THE ROARING TWENTIES POWERPOINT ON CD THE GOLDEN AGE OF IMMIGRATION POWERPOINT ON CD 1930'S & THE GREAT DEPRESSION POWERPOINT ON CD 1950S AMERICANA POWERPOINT ON CD THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT POWERPOINT ON CD KENNEDY,JOHNSON,& THE 1960s POWERPOINT ON CD NIXON & THE 1970s POWERPOINT ON CD THE REAGAN REVOLUTION & THE 1980s POWERPOINT ON CD HARLEM RENAISSANCE AUTHORS POWERPOINT ON CD HARLEM RENAISSANCE ARTISTS POWERPOINT ON CD HARLEM RENAISSANCE MUSICIANS POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR AMERICAN REVOLUTION POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR CIVIL WAR POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR WORLD WAR I POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR WORLD WAR II POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR? THE COLD WAR POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR? KOREAN WAR POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR? SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR POWERPOINT WHY WAR? FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR? MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR? THE WAR OF 1812 POWERPOINT ON CD WHY WAR? THE VIETNAM WAR POWERPOINT ON CD EARLY EXPLORERS & COLONIES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR CHALLENGE 1930'S & THE GREAT DEPRESSION CHALLENGE ON CD THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION CHALLENGE GAME ON CD THE PROGRESSIVE ERA CHALLENGE GAME ON CD THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA CHALLENGE GAME ON CD THE WAR OF 1812 CHALLENGE GAME ON CD VIETNAM WAR CHALLENGE GAME ON CD SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD ROARING TWENTIES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD THE PATH OF WORLD WAR I GAME ON CD THE PATH OF WORLD WAR II GAME ON CD AMERICAN HISTORY FOOTBALL REVOLUTION GAME ON CD AMERICAN HISTORY FOOTBALL 1800-1900 GAME ON CD FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT FOOTBALL GAME IMMIGRATION FOOTBALL GAME WILD WEST FOOTBALL GAME AMERICAN HISTORY FOOTBALL 1900-1950 GAME ON CD AMERICAN HISTORY FOOTBALL '50S AND '60S GAME ON CD COLD WAR FOOTBALL GAME ON CD KOREAN WAR FOOTBALL GAME WESTWARD HO! BASEBALL GAME ON CD THE CIVIL WAR BASEBALL GAME ON CD NIXON & THE 1970S BASEBALL GAME ON CD REAGAN & THE 80S BASEBALL GAME ON CD THE ANCIENT GREEKS POWERPOINT ON CD PEOPLE OF THE NILE: EGYPT POWERPOINT ON CD ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS: MAYA, INCA&AZTEC CHALLENGE EGYPT: PEOPLE OF THE NILE CHALLENGE GAME ON CD GOVERNMENT CHALLENGE GAME WORLD RELIGIONS POWERPOINT ON CD WORLD RELIGIONS CHALLENGE GAME ON CD REVOLUTIONS BASEBALL GAME ON CD REVOLUTIONS! (1750-1917) POWERPOINT ON CD ANCIENT GREEKS BASEBALL GAME ON CD THE ANCIENT ROMANS BASEBALL GAME ON CD GEOGRAPHY FOOTBALL GAME ON CD GEOGRAPHY CHALLENGE TERMS DIGITAL FLASHCARDS FORENSICS CHALLENGE GAME ON CD ACIDS, BASES & SALTS CHALLENGE GAME ON CD FORCES AND MOTION CHALLENGE GAME ON CD BODY SYSTEMS CHALLENGE GAME ON CD CELL DIVISION CHALLENGE GAME ON CD LIGHT, OPTICS & SOUND WAVES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD SIMPLE MACHINES CHALLENGE GAMES ON CD GENETICS-DNA,RNA CHALLENGE GAME ON CD WEATHER CHALLENGE GAME ON CD THE CELL: ELECTRONIC BOARD GAME ON CD THE KINGDOMS: ELECTRONIC BOARD GAME ON CD ECOLOGY: ELECTRONIC BOARD GAME ON CD MATTER BASEBALL GAME ON CD BIOLOGY FOOTBALL GAME ON CD DISSECTIBLES RESPIRATORY SYSTEM CD-ROM DISECTIBLES BRAIN CD-ROM DISSECTIBLES HEART CD-ROM DISSECTIBLES DIGESTIVE SYSTEM CD-ROM DISSECTIBLES EAR CD-ROM DISSECTIBLES EYE CD-ROM SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: HOUSEHOLD NOUNS SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: PROFESSIONS SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: SEASONS & WEATHER SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:TRANSPORATION SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:VEGETABLES SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:ANIMALS SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:BODY PARTS SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:CLASSROOM NOUNS SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:CLOTHING SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:FRUITS SPANISH CONCENTRATION ANIMALS GAME ON CD SPANISH CONCENTRATION BODY PARTS GAME ON CD SPANISH CONCENTRATION CLASSROOM NOUNS GAME ON CD SPANISH CONCENTRATION CLOTHING GAME ON CD SPANISH CONCENTRATION FRUITS GAME ON CD SPANISH CONCENTRATION PROFESSIONS GAME ON CD SPANISH CONCENTRATION TRANSPORTATION GAME ON CD SPANISH CONCENTRATION VEGETABLES GAME ON CD SPANISH CONCENTRATION HOUSEHOLD NOUNS GAME ON CD SPANISH CONCENTRATION SEASONS & WEATHER GAME ON CD SPANISH FLUENCY DICTIONARY ANIMALS DIGITAL FLASHCARDS IN SPANISH PPT BODY PARTS DIGITAL FLASHCARDS SPANISH PPT FRUITS & VEGETABLES DIGITAL FLASHCARDS SPANISH PPT FOODS DIGITAL FLASHCARDS IN SPANISH PPT CLOTHES& ACCESSORIES DIGITAL FLASHCARDS IN SPANISH PPT TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH ALPHABET & NUMBERS PC ONLY TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH VERBS PC ONLY TV GAME SHOWS FOR SPANISH ARTICLES & NOUNS PC ONLY TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH ADJECTIVES PC VERSION TV GAME SHOWS IN SPANISH FOR VOCABULARY PC VERSION TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH CULTURE PC VERSION TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH ALPHABET & NUMBERS MAC ONLY TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH VERBS MAC ONLY TV GAME SHOW FOR SPANISH ARTICLES & NOUNS MAC ONLY TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH ADJECTIVES MAC VERSION TV GAME SHOWS IN SPANISH FOR VOCABULARY MAC ONLY TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH CULTURE MAC VERSION GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: ANIMALS GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: BODY PARTS GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: CLASSROOM NOUNS GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: CLOTHING GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: FRUITS GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: HOUSEHOLD NOUNS GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: PROFESSIONS GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: SEASONS & WEATHER GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: TRANSPORTATION GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: VEGETABLES GERMAN CONCENTRATION ANIMALS GAME ON CD GERMAN CONCENTRATION BODY PARTS GAME ON CD GERMAN CONCENTRATION CLASSROOM NOUNS GAME ON CD GERMAN CONCENTRATION CLOTHING GAME ON CD GERMAN CONCENTRATION FRUITS GAME ON CD GERMAN CONCENTRATION PROFESSIONS GAME ON CD GERMAN CONCENTRATION TRANSPORTATION GAME ON CD GERMAN CONCENTRATION VEGETABLES GAME ON CD GERMAN CONCENTRATION HOUSEHOLD NOUNS GAME ON CD GERMAN CONCENTRATION SEASONS & WEATHER GAME ON CD FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: ANIMALS FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: BODY PARTS FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: CLASSROOM NOUNS FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: CLOTHING FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: FRUITS FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: HOUSEHOLD NOUNS FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: PROFESSIONS FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: SEASONS & WEATHER FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: TRANSPORTATION FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: VEGETABLES FRENCH CONCENTRATION ANIMALS GAME ON CD FRENCH CONCENTRATION BODY PARTS GAME ON CD FRENCH CONCENTRATION CLASSROOM NOUNS GAME ON CD FRENCH CONCENTRATION CLOTHING GAME ON CD FRENCH CONCENTRATION FRUITS GAME ON CD FRENCH CONCENTRATION PROFESSIONS GAME ON CD FRENCH CONCENTRATION TRANSPORTATION GAME ON CD FRENCH CONCENTRATION VEGETABLES GAME ON CD FRENCH CONCENTRATION HOUSEHOLD NOUNS GAME ON CD FRENCH CONCENTRATION SEASONS & WEATHER GAME ON CD DIEGO RIVERA POWERPOINT MASTERPIECES OF ART CONCENTRATION GAME ART HISTORY IMPRESSIONISTS CHALLENGE GAME PABLO PICASSO INTERACTIVE ART SHOW VIRTUAL MUSEUM

This also marks the first time we've used a table in our blog. HTML is fun!

Correct Common English Errors With Our Newest Game

Stephanie has just put the finishing touches on this game that is sure to be a hit with teachers and students.

Using your interactive whiteboard, review 100 of the most frequently misspelled and misused words in the English language.




Of course, this game works just as well in a computer lab, or on your stand-alone classroom computer, as a great review for standardized tests.

Make sure you allot a lot of time for this, because it's going to be worth its weight in gold! (I think we got all of them write right!)

Here are the links to the sample games, so you can try it before you bye buy it.

Here for PC users.

Here for Mac users.

Teacher's Discovery Interactive Catalog Going to Librarians and Media Specialists

Our sister division, Teacher's Discovery Interactive, is sending a catalog to secondary schools' Media Center Specialists and Librarians.

If that's you, be on the lookout. If you'd like one, drop a line to 1-877-TECH-311.

In the catalog, you'll find a lot of what we mention here, along with other, tech-based teaching aides.

It's called the 2009 Digital Education Yearbook, and we're sure you'll find it a useful resource for hardware and software that your whole school can use.

Edison Patents

This website has files for all of Thomas Edison's patents. It's pretty cool.

Below is the diagram included in the paperwork for Edison's first patent, a voting machine.

(insert politically aware joke here)