Solar System Scope

Solar System Scope is an online 3-D interactive simulation of, yes, the solar system.  The controls are simple and intuitive, but since everything is well labeled, you can just follow the on-screen directions.  Click to begin . . . drag background to move camera view . . . double click to visit a planet . . . use menu to select a new view.  Mood music plays in the background, but you can mute if it becomes too much.  This is a new website, and not all of the controls are functional yet, so watch for updates.  Take a look even if you're not teaching planets or the solar system right now. 

Solar System Scope

Refrigerator Magnet Poetry

Awesome fun for poetry lovers!  Here's a chance to manipulate words, play with sounds and meanings in a new format--just like on your fridge at home.  Magnetic Poetry offers several different kits of words.  Select from The Artist, Genius, The Poet, Romance, or Office related words. Just move the "magnets" from the kit into a meaninful poetic form--rhyme or not--any form will do.  Teachers with interactive white boards may want to let students move the words, but even without the display board, students can work from their own computers or from the teacher's projected computer.  The submit option and a print option allow poets to share and keep their work.  This is a new form of word play that students are sure to enjoy.

Take a look at the sample below.

Use for poetry or for word play--the options are only as limited as our imaginations!

It's probably a good idea to stay out of the poetry archives since we never know what somebody else might have written since we last visited the site.