Teaching Tools

Following is a list of free or inexpensive resources that teachers can order.

Drama.
Lively Plays for Young Actors, edited by Christina Hamlet, includes 12 one-act comedies for performances by schools, drama clubs, and other amateur groups. Plays include parodies on Oscar Wilde and It's A Wonderful Life as well as an original play depicting Shakespeare with writer's block. Cost: $13.95. For more information, contact: Plays Inc., 120 Boylsten St., Boston, MA 02116.

African American Students.
The 100 Best Colleges for African American Students, by Erlene Wilson, lists schools by state and summarizes perceived benefits and disadvantages for African American students at each school. It also offers basic information such as enrollments, test scores, African American faculty, and student organizations. Cost: $14.95. For more information, contact: Plume, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014; (800) 847-5515; www.penguin.com.

Math.
Math Games and Activities From Around the World, by Claudia Zaslavsky, includes more than 70 international games, puzzles, and projects to help children ages 8 and up develop math skills. The book encourages students to use geometry in designing board games, probability in analyzing games of chance, and logical thinking in devising strategies for those games. Activities include building a model pyramid, testing the golden ratio of the Parthenon, and working maze-like African puzzles. Cost: $14.95. Contact: Independent Publishers Group, 814 N. Franklin St., Chicago, IL 60610; (800) 888-4741; www.ipgbook.com.

Physical Education.
Creative Physical Activities and Equipment, a new book from Human Kinetics, is designed to help gym teachers expand their physical education or recreation programs in low-cost ways by using common household materials and traditional equipment. The book also covers how to extend the life of old or broken equipment, how to get free equipment, and other budget-stretching ideas. Cost: $16. Contact: Human Kinetics, 1607 North Market St., P.O. Box 5076, Champaign, IL 61825-5076; (800) 747-4457; fax (217) 351-2674; www.humankinetics.com.

Movies.
Teachable Movies for Elementary and Middle School Classrooms, by John Hulse, offers tips on how to use more than 100 movies as teaching tools. The book includes details about each film's story, availability, featured players, and awards. There is also information on how to obtain curriculum packets for films. Cost: $16. Contact: Phi Delta Kappa International, P.O. Box 789, Bloomington, IN 47402-0789; (800) 766-1156; fax (812) 339-0018.

Resources.
Teacher Created Materials, a publisher of supplemental resource materials for early childhood, elementary, and middle school teachers, offers various teaching guides featuring activities, reference guides, and books. Celebrate ABC's contains activity sheets and cards divided into 26 units corresponding to the letters of the alphabet. Integrating Technology Into the Language Arts and Internet Activities for Math suggest language arts computer activities for three levels: primary, intermediate, and challenging. Included are 25 classroom-ready lesson plans. Other titles are Storytime Activities To Help Children Cope and Writing Workshop. Cost: $12.95-$24.95. Contact: Teacher Created Materials, 6421 Industry Way, Westminster, CA 92683; (800) 662-4321; fax (800) 525-1254.

Mathematics.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has published two new curriculum guides, The Open-Ended Approach: A New Proposal for Teaching Mathematics and Mission Mathematics: Linking Aerospace and the NCTM Standards, 5-8.Mission Mathematics provides lesson plans using aerospace themes and topics. The book includes National Aeronautics and Space Administration pictures, pages that may be reproduced as handouts, and an appendix of resources for educators. The Open-Ended Approach is the English translation of a Japanese book analyzing Japanese developmental research into methods of evaluating higher-ordered thinking in mathematics. The book explores using questions with multiple correct answers in the teaching of mathematics. Cost: $19.95. For more information, contact: NCTM, 1906 Association Dr., Reston, VA 20191-1593; (800) 235-7566; fax (703) 476-2970; e-mail: orders@nctm.org .

Reading.
Book Buddies: Guidelines for Volunteer Tutors of Emergent and Early Readers is a guide for volunteer coordinators and tutors of reading skills. Authors Francine Johnson, Marcia Invernizzi, and Connie Juel discuss the role of the volunteer coordinator, training, assessment guidelines, and lesson plans. The illustrated book also includes reproducible activity samples and suggested letters that can be sent to parents. The book's appendices list resources for tutoring programs. Cost: $19.95. For more information, contact: Guilford Publications, 72 Spring St., New York, NY 10012; (800) 365-7006; fax (212) 966-6708; e-mail: info@guilford.com; www.guilford.com.

Gardening.
The National Gardening Association has two free resources for teachers. It offers a 12-page teaching guide called The Wonders of Aloe to help students understand the connection between people and plants. Garden-based online lesson plans are also available on the "Kids and Classrooms" section of the National Gardening Association's Web site. For more information, contact: National Gardening Association, Dept. MP, 180 Flynn Ave., Burlington, VT 05401; (800) 538-7476; fax (802) 863-5962; e-mail: eddept@garden.org; www.garden.org/edu.

Diversity.
Great Events Publishing is distributing a free 48-page catalog titled Celebrating Diversity and Our Common Heritage. The catalog offers schools, colleges, and community organizations low-cost learning tools intended to promote multiculturalism. It features books, videos, and posters demonstrating the contributions of many ethnic groups in America. For more information, contact: Great Events Publishing, 135 Dupont St., P.O. Box 760, Plainview, NY 11803-0760; (888) 43-EVENT; fax (516) 349-5521; e-mail: Greatevnt@aol.com.

Vol. 10, Issue 2, Page 65