Thing 8: What on Earth is Happening?

Well, now I can tell you at a glance because I've create an RSS Feed just to keep me informed of changes occurring on and to Earth. Why? Earth Science continues to be the lowest area of science on 5th TAKS testing statewide. It is my favorite, and I think I do a great job of teaching it but that is just not enough. So ta da da, I have set up daily feeds of volcanic activity, earthquake shaker maps, violent weather notices, and news feeds from the New Mexico about caverns, sand dunes, mountains...
I figure if a student can check these every day or so and report to the class then perhaps these events will just become second nature to them, create a curiosity to find out more, or just build a foundation of personal experience for them. I think it will also be a great teaching tool because I will have gobs of current examples and data to use in class. I put a current feed from each of these on my shared page. It took me a couple of tries to get that going but managed in the end. I also found a blog I really liked from another 5th grade science teacher. I plan to view it often to see how it progresses through the school year as it looks like she uses it to communicate with her students, parents and other teachers. Is there a way to save your reader page as your home page? I'm sure there is but I feel technologically pushed beyond my limits right now. If I have to research anything else I might not have time to eat my breakfast of bacon and homegrown tomatoes! I bet if I did a bog search I could find many gardeners bragging about their bumper crops of tomatoes this year too!