The National Institutes of Health Office of Science Education offers several free resources for K-12 science teachers.
The NIH curriculum supplements are teacher's guides to two weeks of lessons on the science behind selected health topics. Current topics include: Asthma and physical education, evolution and medicine, and rare diseases. The site also includes a downloadable calendar on eye facts and eye health.
Each lesson is available online in HTML and PDF versions. U.S. educators may also request a print version.
For more information, visit www.science.education.nih.gov/customers.nsf/WebPages/CSHome.
Making money HIP
The United States Mint offers a host of education resources as part of its History in your Pocket (HIP) website and educator pages. Since 1999, the Mint's education pages, www.usmint.gov/kids/teachers/siteInformation/, have been dedicated to finding ways to use coins to connect kids with our country's history and culture. The site combines government, technology and education to help teach about coins and the history that surrounds them. Tools include teacher-created lesson plans, classroom ideas and fun-filled projects.
The skinny on aerosols
Consumer Aerosol Products Council (CAPCO), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information about aerosol products, offers an online teacher's kit featuring the history of aerosols and a host of activities and classroom experiments. Teachers can use information from the site for lessons about the Earth's protective upper ozone, facts about aerosol products and the environment, and aerosol technology. An additional interactive website, EcoAerosols.com, includes more info about aerosols and the environment. For more information, visit www.aerosolproducts.org/teachers.html.
Celebrity readers
Want to invite James Earl Jones, Betty White, Amanda Bynes and more than 20 other celebrities into your classroom? The Screen Actor's Guild Foundation hosts Storyline Online, an online streaming video program featuring SAG members reading children's books aloud. Each of the 25 books also features an activity guide available for download and other activities. Visit www.storylineonline.net for more information.
The "Freebies" column offers free opportunities for you and your students. We do not screen for subtle or not-so-subtle plugs.