During this harvest season, we hope your classroom “pumpkins” are filled with seeds of learning – without too much of the “goop” that sometimes makes it hard to see the promising seeds held in your hands.

Geo and Meri Leave Cinderella
If you haven’t been following Geo and Meri on Globetracker’s Mission, you will find them on the road again this week following a visit to Cinderella, West Virginia. Read the latest and catch up on recent weeks as they head off somewhere new. Your students will learn map skills and more as you follow the blog and/or trace their steps on Google Earth. Your class can even send a question to Pandora, the teens’ annoying little sister!

Big Events, Little Known?
This past week we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Our students may have little idea of the significance of historical events more than a year old, but TeachersFirst’s Dates That Matter and weekly  Brain Twister can help. Dates That Matter features a daily “hint” about an event in history, projector or whiteboard ready, with a series of prompts to guide students into guessing the event in context of their own knowledge. Then your class can click to learn why it matters. Written for middle school, this feature is adaptable for students in grades 5-10 or even older. Find it under the Classroom menu, Ready to Go. Our weekly BrainTwister quiz often includes questions on current events, as well. Find versions for both elementary and middle school, always in the Classroom menu. New BrainTwisters appear each Friday.

Thanksgiving and More
Don’t miss the Thanksgiving resources and ideas for Native American Heritage Month offered via TeachersFirst’s Classroom Planning Calendar. The planning calendar is always available from a puzzle piece on our home page and from the Classroom menu, under Resources.

OK2Ask Holiday Hiatus and 2010 Plans
OK2Ask, TeachersFirst’s series of free online “snack sessions” for teacher professional development and exploration, holds its final session of 2009 this week. We know that between Thanksgiving and New Years, teachers have more than enough to do in the after school hours!  Resolve now to give yourself a “gift” in the New Year. Check out our plans for 2010 (pdf file), and then watch the weekly Update for announcements of open registration. Read the FAQ and more here. Tuesday’s session still has some space if you sign up TODAY:

Find It, Use It: Exploring the Resources of TeachersFirst to Plan Effective, Technology-Infused Lessons
Tuesday, November 17, 2009, at your choice of two time slots. Read the details and preregister here.  Note: This is a repeat of a previous OK2Ask session, back by popular request.

This Week's Question of the Week
Turn obstacles into opportunities. That is what we tell our students (and even ourselves). What teaching obstacle have you turned into an opportunity, and how did you do it? Share your response to this Question of the Week. Remember to check "anonymous," if you wish. See what other teachers have to say, as well. You can always see responses to past questions by clicking to see the Question archives.

Featured Sites
This week’s featured sites include some reading treasures along with other finds:

• Two booklist sites and a readers’ social network
• A tool to create interactive books
• Science case studies to solve
• Safe videos organized for ease of use
• A spelling and thematic words interactive
• Books for Native American Heritage month
• and more, as well as other “recent additions” (click at the bottom of the page)

Whether your students are more like promising pumpkins or dried corn, may your week bring a harvest of learning plenty.

Your “teacher to go,”
Candace Hackett Shively
Director of K-12 Initiatives