It's September and the baseball pennant races are heating up! West coast or east coast, American or National league, there's something for everyone to cheer about as we head down to the last two dozen games of the season. Innovative teachers will want to capture this excitement in their classroom in launching another successful school year. What makes baseball especially conducive to classroom study is its preoccupation with history and statistics. Find a gathering of baseball fans and you'll find a heated discussion about wins, losses, averages and percentages. It's a natural for teaching!

My Digital Dozen Newsletter has launched! Last week's premier issue on JAVA Math Applications was a big hit and this weekend's edition on ADHD resources will surely be a keeper for classroom teachers everywhere. Upcoming topics include Blogs, Islam, Glaciers, Rubrics, Blended Families, Plate Tectonics, Historic Costumes and National History Day. If you love the Innovative Teaching Newsletter and would like to take it to the next level every week in your email box, subscribe today! Please visit http://surfaquarium.com/DD/ to learn more, peruse a sample issue and subscribe.

The 2004 National CyberConvention has begun this week online at http://surfaquarium.com/NCC/ ! This week delegates from around the nation are participating in an online roll call of the states. Next week they begin their look at the major presidential candidates, working towards an online cyberconvention vote the end of October. The project still does not have delegates from the states of Utah, Hawaii, Montana and South Dakota. If you are interested and teaching in one of these four states, you can join the excitement today at http://surfaquarium.com/NCC/register.htm

Keep in mind my new Surfaquarium Online Courses, as well! MI Immersion: A Survey of Nine Intelligences and Ways of Knowing: Multiple Intelligences and Technology are both offering sections that begin the end of September and early October. You'll be done with your course work and have your credits to turn in to your school district before the holidays! Why go to an impersonal online university and take generic courses when you can target your professional development interests with Walter and other like-minded professionals? Register today at http://surfaquarium.com/MI/Courses/ !

And now, let's play ball!

Baseball Almanac
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/
This is a great site to reference for stats and facts that will fuel student work with figures. The Fun & Games link includes crossword, jigsaw and word find puzzles which can all be done right online.

Baseball Cards: 1887 - 1914
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bbhtml/bbhome.html
The Library of Congress offers this impressive collection of early baseball cards, including Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Cy Young, Connie Mack, and Walter Johnson. You can search by keyword, player, team, league, city and card set.

Baseball Classroom
http://www.whitecaps-baseball.com/KIDS/CLASS/
The West Michigan White Caps Baseball Team offers this collection of baseball history and terminology broken down by Math, Science, History and English. Foreign Language is said to be in the works. Lots of good meat for a baseball unit.

Baseball: The Game and Beyond
http://library.thinkquest.org/11902/
Ken Conley, Chang Choi, and Joe Giuliani created this 1997 ThinkQuest entry which immerses students in the history, traditions and skills of the game. Turn on the Trivia Tracker to pick up some extra interesting tidbits!

Baseball WebQuest
http://talent.ed.uiuc.edu/baseballquest/coaches/singlecompplan.htm
Marjorie Henderson and her team of gifted educators from the Danville, Illinois School District have put together this collection of tasks and assessment rubrics built around the theme of baseball.

Batter's Up Baseball
http://www.prongo.com/math/
This Flash-based game allows students to practice Math facts while playing a hitting simulation. Get an answer right and you move your men around the bases. Get it wrong and you get a strike. Three strikes equals an out.

Guide to Baseball Fiction
http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/baseball/
Tim Morris of the University of Texas at Arlington offers these quick critiques on everything from adult novels to children's books, from short stories to film. Great perspective on what is myth and reality in a game that celebrates giants and ghosts.

Negro Baseball Leagues
http://www.blackbaseball.com/
Information about the history of the league, the players, and the teams and lots of stats and trivia will help students appreciate how far baseball and race relations have come over the past 125 years. Best suited for older students.

The Science of Baseball
http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/index.html
The Exploratorium showcases this now classic site on the grand old game, using its many facts and foibles to promote critical thinking and generate enthusiasm in the classroom. Check out the Scientific Slugger!

Take Us Out to the Ball Game!
http://www.northcanton.sparcc.org/~greentown/baseball/baseball.htm
Patricia Knox of the North Canton, Ohio, City Schools has put together this great resource page as well as a link to her Play Ball WebQuest which is based on the links found on her resource page. A nicely contained set of activities!

Talking Baseball
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0310/games/game.cgi
This fun little interactive quiz from National Geographic Explorer Classroom Magazine which gets students thinking about some of the original sayings and slogans which have been borne from the great american pastime.

This Day in Baseball History
http://www.nationalpastime.com/
Users can search by any date in a calendar year or the entire site by keyword. If you're studying World War II for example, you can bring up significant events that occurred within the context of baseball.

 

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