Teacher+Page

**The Teacher and Faculty Page**
= Looking for Tricks to Make Class a Treat This Halloween? =

//Try out these three nifty Halloween resources for lessons, activities, and scary-cool information about this popular holiday to make your class a scream!//

TeacherVision: Halloween Teacher Resources (http://www.teachervision.fen.com/halloween/teacher-resources/6626.html) Try this link for tons of Halloween-themed slideshows, printables, and cross-curricular lesson plans!

SMARTBoard Halloween Resources (http://www.teacherslovesmartboards.com/2010/10/smartboard-halloween-resources.html) For those teachers who love finding any excuse to play with their SMARTBoard! Sound files, clipart, games, activities, and more all made specifically for this special learning tool can be found here!

History.com—Halloween Page (http://www.history.com/topics/halloween) Information on the history of this fascinating fall holiday, plus videos and links to other Halloween-related topics.

And for more historical Halloween information, try searching our newest resources from ProQuest, History Study Center: http://www.historystudycenter.com/home/home.do

= Discussion Topic: What’s Your Favorite Scary Story? =

//Last month, we asked faculty to create a post in our newsletter's discussion forum about their favorite spooky tales! Here’s how some of you responded://

Mrs. Rodgers—//The Witches// by Roald Dahl. Equal parts creepy and funny; this book always keeps me spellbound!

Mr. Ed—//The Legend of Sleepy Hollow// by Washington Irving. There is just something very appealing about this story. I’ve watched every film adaptation of it that I can get my hands on. It’s interesting to see how different directors/actors/script writers/etc. interpret the story and characters.

Ms. Spink—//Coraline// by Neil Gaiman. The movie version was fun, but the original book will always be my favorite. Coraline was a much more pleasant character in the book.

Mrs. Finklestein—//The Black Cat// by Edgar Allan Poe. Ever since first reading this story in one of my college English classes, I have been unable to look at a black cat without wondering how many lives it has lead and what dark secrets it may be keeping.

Mrs. Arnold—//Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children// by Ransom Riggs. The eerie black and white photographs really help the spookiness hit home.

Mr. Jackson—//The Shining// by Stephen King. Ghosts, possession, insanity, and a big empty hotel isolated from the rest of the world. It doesn’t get much scarier than that!

Ms. Rothbert—//Summer of Fear// by Lois Duncan. I had some pretty evil cousins too, although they weren’t quite as bad a Julia (usually…)

Mrs. Price—//The Haunting of Hill House// by Shirley Jackson. This is a classic supernatural thriller that set the standard for all supernatural thrillers that came after it. If you are into edge-of-your-seat terror, don’t miss out on this oldie-but-goodie!

Thanks to everyone who responded! This month's question to be presented in our next issue: What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

= Technology News: Teachers to Get New iPads! =

Thanks to our PTA and library staff’s hard work and collaboration during last month’s Read-A-Thon fundraiser, we’ve finally earned enough money to purchase iPads for all of our teachers! Aside from being able to quickly check e-mail and peruse the Internet without being at your PC or hauling around your laptop, these new teaching tools will be loaded with a ton of useful apps for making instruction easier (courtesy of our library’s favorite tech wiz, Tony)! Some of these include Dropbox, for accessing computer files anywhere; iBook, for downloading and viewing books you are working on with your class, or books for read-aloud; Notes for—what else?—note-taking during meetings and conferences; and BPM (behavior progress monitor), to help you keep track of and document any behaviors your students may exhibit.

Your new iPads should be delivered by the end of next month. After Tony has charged and loaded them with the pre-mentioned apps, we will arrange a date and time for a teacher workshop, where you will receive the iPads and be guided through how to use the apps. We will also be showing you how to hook up your iPad to our projectors, as well as how the iPad can be used as a document camera! We will send out an e-mail notice with the exact details as soon as we’ve confirmed them. See you all there!