NIE Newsletter

Happy New Year!

Here are just some of the NIE resources we hope you'll take advantage of this semester

MPCU Financial Literacy Supplement

Coming January 30 - This comprehensive student insert will guide your students through the complex world of financial planning. They will learn about the basics of budgeting, savings, investment choices, credit costs and benefits, debt protection, insurance, and how to plan for a career that will help them meet their financial goals.

This special student supplement is available to every student in grades 7-12, and will be inserted in your Jan. 30 NIE papers. If you are not currently receiving classroom papers, but would like to order papers with inserts for your students on this day only, you'll need to let your office secretary know by Jan 22. We'll be calling each school to log special bulk student orders that day.

Also, watch for the MPCU "Making Cents" monthly finance quiz in your Post Register for students K-6. If you need fun, creative ways to teach your students about saving, spending, and managing their own money, make sure you are signed up to receive Monday papers.

Learners Online

Teachers, this is your best source for weekly current events! You'll find in depth resources, activities, information, and amazing educational links to today's hottest topics. A new topic is offered every week, and comes with everything you need to meet your teaching goals. From charts, to graphs, to timelines, photos, video and so much more- you'll have more information at your fingertips than you could search for in a week! No passwords required. Just go to http://nie.postregister.com and click on the intro paragraph. It will take you to the current Learners Online lesson, and great archives!

ArtWorks

"Creation Station" continues! The name has been changed to ArtWorks to reflect the expanded art partnership project currently underway at our schools.

Now printed in the Moose section on the last Tuesday of each month, you'll find a delightful full page, full color art activity and lesson you can try in your own classrooms. Your Tuesday ArtWorks classroom papers are paid for and sponsored by local NIE Partner in Education Bechtel BWXT Idaho in partnership with the Eagle Rock Art Museum.

Mark Your Calendars:

2007 Teacher of the Year Event and Essay Contest

Essay submission deadline: March 16
Award Ceremony: April 13.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Banquet

January 19.

2007 Teacher of the Year Event and Essay Contest

April 13, 2007 NIE Teacher of the Year awards at O'Callahan's in Idaho Falls.

Sponsored by:

At least one teacher nominated from each school district will receive an award, and ALL nominees will be recognized and rewarded as outstanding local teachers. Awards are also given for selected administrators, staff members, or anyone who portrays an exemplary educational support role at your school.

We'll be letting your students know it's that time of year again! If you or your students would like to nominate a teacher this year, write a one page, one-sided essay explaining why YOUR teacher should be nominated for a 2007 Teacher of the Year Award.

Send your nomination essays to:
2007 Teacher of the Year/ Attn: Jennifer Jolley
333 Northgate Mile, Idaho Falls ID 83401

Nomination Deadline is March 17, 2007

Have you had a chance to order your classroom newspapers?

Get your orders in now for the rest of the school year. If you aren't currently enrolled in the Newspaper in Education program through your school, simply go to www.postregister.com/nie today, and click on "Request Free Papers" to join the hundreds of local teachers currently receiving sponsored classroom sets of the Post Register in their classrooms, and discover how using a "living textbook" can enhance YOUR daily teaching experience.

As a NIE participant, you'll have daily access to dozens of lesson plans, teaching activities, educational downloads and quality classroom resources all created to:
- meet national and/or state educational standards
- enhance existing testing curriculum
- get the training and information you need in order to include the daily paper as a valuable teaching tool
- motivate your students by bringing classroom studies to life AND meeting mandated academic achievement goals

Also, please remember that while NIE is housed by the Post Register, it is a national educational foundation, and operates as a non profit organization in our community. Our program relies solely on non-profit donations from local businesses and individuals dedicated to supporting education in our community. Please notice the NIE Thank You ads we place in the Post Register, and make a point to support the businesses that support our schools. Without them, we would not be able to continue this valuable resource.

Need help finding teaching resources for a specific topic or unit you are teaching this year? NIE can help. Just send me an e-mail, and we can search our nationwide NIE archives and information services for you! Or go to our website, and browse the many links we've posted for you to use. We are adding new features every week, so check back often.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Newspaper Activities:

1. Find articles about Martin Luther King Jr. Design a classroom bulletin board using the items you found.

2. Find articles about the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday - the history of the holiday, when it was first celebrated, community celebration activities, etc.

3. Make a list of adjectives describing Martin Luther King Jr. Write a short story about him using as many of these adjectives as you can.

4. We remember Mr. King for his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Find excerpts of that speech in the paper, if you can. Have a classroom discussion about how many, if any of the dreams he had, have come true.

5. Discuss any political cartoons in the paper that refer to Martin Luther King, Jr. Hold a classroom discussion or write a brief explanation of the meaning of the cartoon.

6. Make a timeline of the major events of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life as outlined in newspaper articles.

7. Mr. King was known for his non-violent protests. He encouraged people to work together to accomplish great things through nonviolent means. Find examples of community or individual issues currently being addressed by non-violent techniques. Examples could be community, city council or school board meetings.

8. Write a Letter to the Editor about your opinion of Martin Luther King Jr., the holiday celebrated in his honor, issues of injustice or inequality you are concerned with, or anything else that pertains to this holiday or to Martin Luther King Jr. Submit it for publication in the Post Register Attn: Letter to the Editor

SPECIAL INVITATION FOR TEACHERS

The African American Alliance (AAA) is a community based organization committed to initiating dialogue and providing resources that contribute to the educational, economic, and cultural growth and development of the Idaho Falls community. In an effort to promote community outreach and diversity, the AAA is hosting the Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) banquet in conjunction with sponsoring the Family Care Center/Pearl House Project. The MLK banquet is scheduled for:

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Walter Massey, President of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Massey's notable accomplishments include: former Director of the National Science Foundation, former Director of the Argonne National Laboratory, former Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Chair, and current member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Morehouse College is the repository for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 10,000-piece collection, including 7,000 handwritten notes, unpublished sermons, and other memorabilia.

Also, performing at the banquet will be the Utah Jurisdictional Choir, the Idaho Fire Department's Pipes and Drums, a step performance by Idaho Falls High School and Skyline High School African American students, and the Idaho Jurisdictional Praise Dancers.

What better way to celebrate January's Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday than to have the President of Morehouse College here in Idaho Falls and at the same time aid the Pearl House in reaching its financial goal.

Pearl House will be a non-profit crisis center, capable of accommodating up to 65 children, 18 years and younger in the Idaho community. The Pearl House facility will be staffed by medical and certified clinical professionals who will provide services such as, psychological counseling, medical treatment, and rehabilitation and treatment programs. According to recent statistics for the Eastern Idaho region, many of the children experiencing crisis situations are not receiving the help they need. For this reason, AAA has undertaken the initiative to sponsor Pearl House to assist in raising the necessary funds to build the facility.

Family Care Center/Pearl House has recently been awarded a $250,000 Murdock Foundation Grant. The first $100,000 is an outright gift. The remaining $150,000 is designated as a matching grant in which the Murdock Foundation will match $1 for every $2 raised, giving Pearl House the opportunity to raise an additional $300,000.

High school students, particularly those pursuing science, engineering, math, and technical degrees are encouraged to attend the banquet and take advantage of the potential opportunity to network with Dr Massey.

We hope you, and any guests you wish to bring, will join in this special occasion. To obtain tickets, please contact LaDonna Foster at (208) 523-4946, or Marilyn Standfield at (208) 525-8219. Table seating for 10 is available upon request.

WALTER E. MASSEY, Ph.D.

President of Morehouse College Atlanta, Georgia

Dr. Walter E. Massey is the ninth president of Morehouse College, the nation's largest private four-year liberal arts college for men.

Massey held a range of administrative and academic positions. He is former director of the National Science Foundation, a position to which he was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush. The Foundation is the government's lead agency for support of research and education in mathematics, science and engineering. Massey also served as vice president for research and professor of physics at the University of Chicago, as director of the Argonne National Laboratory, dean of the College and professor of physics at Brown University and as assistant professor of physics at the University of Illinois.

Immediately prior to Morehouse, Massey was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of California. In this position, the second most senior position in the UC system, he was responsible for academic and research planning and policy, budget planning and allocations, and programmatic oversight of the three national laboratories the University manages for the Department of Energy: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

After earning a bachelor of science in physics and mathematics in 1958 from Morehouse, Massey received his master's and doctorate in physics in 1966 from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Massey's research has involved the study of quantum liquids and solids. His written work has also addressed science and math education, the role of science in a democratic society, and university-industry interactions and technology transfer in national and international settings.

Active with a range of organizations, Massey is a past chair of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) and is currently serving his second term as a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, having also served on PCAST under the first President Bush. The recipient of more than 30 honorary degrees from institutions such as Yale University, Northwestern University, Amherst and the Ohio State University, Massey's leadership in education includes his service as a member of the Gates Millennium Scholars Advisory Council and the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, and chairman of the Atlanta Committee for Public Education. In addition, Massey is active on several corporate and foundation boards, including the Mellon Foundation, Bank of America Corporation, McDonald's Corporation, and BP p.l.c.

He is a Fellow and past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow and past vice president of the American Physical Society, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Born in Hattiesburg, MS, he and his wife Shirley Anne have two son and three grandchildren.

-Feb. 2006