MAGNUM OPUS The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation offers a variety of grants to deserving students and music programs. Inspired by the motion picture of the same name, the foundation is a nonprofit effort to fight the erosion of music instruction in schools across the nation. Grants offered through the foundation range from $500 to $8,000 for established K-12 music programs and after-school music programs. The foundation also offers an instrument purchase program for outstanding student musicians enrolled in grades 8-12 who otherwise can't afford to buy an instrument. For details, visit www.mhopus.org.

THE VISION THING The ExploraVision program challenges students to research scientific principles and current technologies as the basis for designing innovations that could exist in 20 years. Students work in teams of two to four. Since the program's inception, more than 230,000 students have submitted entries. Each student on the four first-place ExploraVision winning teams will receive a $10,000 Series EE U.S. Savings Bond. Students on second-place teams will each receive a $5,000 bond. The eight teams also will receive an all-expenses-paid trip with their families, mentor and coach to Washington, D.C., for an awards weekend in June 2008. Activities will include a visit to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress. The deadline for entries is Jan. 29. ExploraVision is sponsored by Toshiba and administered by the National Science Teachers Association. For details, visit www.exploravision.org.

WATERSHED WORKS The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress is inviting readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter "Letters About Literature," a national reading-writing contest. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre-fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic-explaining how that author's work changed the students' way of thinking about the world or themselves. There are three competition levels: Level I for children in grades 4-6; Level II for grades 7 and 8, and Level III, grades 9-12. The contest ends Dec. 14. Winners, announced in the spring, will receive cash awards at the national and state levels. For information and entry material, visit www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/letters.html.

EVERGLADES ONLINE Dec. 6, 1947, marked the establishment of Everglades National Park in Florida. Students around the country can join in celebrating the 60th anniversary of this unique national treasure by visiting the National Park Service's site dedicated to the Everglades at www.nps.gov/ever/. It's filled with photos, articles, links and even "e-field trips" to guide students through the park. Also receiving extensive coverage are the history, culture and conservation of the region. For educators, the site offers teacher guides and a "materials for loan" project that allows teachers to request NPS software and other materials.

COPY RIGHT The Business Software Alliance recently introduced a free educational program designed to raise student awareness of copyright and encourage responsible behavior online. "B4UCopy" was designed by curriculum specialists and offers a comprehensive program with lesson plans and teacher guides for grades 3-12. The curricula are available for free download at www.b4ucopy.com/kids (grades 3-8) and www.b4ucopy.com/teens (grades 9-12).

JOIN THE CLUB MATHCOUNTS celebrates its 25th anniversary with the launch of a new club to provide middle school students with free tools to create and hold regular meetings of a math club. MATHCOUNTS, which is aimed at getting middle schoolers excited about careers and achievement in mathematics, has reached more than 7 million students over the past quarter century. The organization is hoping to expand its reach through the MATHCOUNTS Club, which helps provide the structure and activities needed for a math club. Schools that participate may win recognition plaques and banners, along with other prizes. To sign up math clubs and receive a "Club in a Box" resource kit, teachers may complete and submit the MATHCOUNTS request/registration form, which is available at www.mathcounts.org.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grants helps provide the funds for schools and parent groups to conduct school and community construction projects. Grants of up to $5,000 per school are available. Any individual nonprofit public K-12 school or parent group is eligible. Feb. 15 is the application deadline for spring 2008 grants. Once 1,500 applications are received, the application process will close. For more information, visit http://toolboxforeducation.com/hta.html.

THE ‘IN BOX' CROWD Members of the AFT are entitled to a free PDF edition of "Classroom News," a monthly newsletter covering all the latest technology news and resources for the classroom. The electronic publication is delivered monthly via e-mail right to your desktop; it focuses on such areas as curriculum and assessment tools, using multimedia in the classroom and finding the best educational resources on the Internet. Grants and funding, emerging technologies and best practices for schools also are examined. For details or to sign up, visit www.eschoolnews.com/AFT/.

SAFETY ON "Youth @ Work: Talking Safety," is a curriculum that aims at reducing occupational injuries and illnesses among youth. "Talking Safety" consists of six modules, student handouts, overheads, a PowerPoint slide show, video and interactive activities. It also includes references to resources for more information. Major topics include raising awareness of risks for teen workers, recognizing workplace hazards, understanding hazard control options, dealing with emergencies, understanding rights and responsibilities of teen workers, and empowering students to communicate with their employers about workplace safety. The curriculum is available at www.cdc.gov/niosh/talkingsafety.

Now online: Free ELL resource
There are more than 5 million English language learners in U.S. public schools today; these students now constitute almost 12 percent of the student population, and their numbers are growing. To help meet the educational needs of ELLs, the Colorín Colorado education partnership now offers a free PDF booklet called "ELL Starter Kit for Educators: Tools for Monitoring Language Skills."

The kit offers a variety of forms educators can use to track ELLs' growth in reading, oral communication, fluency and comprehension. Also included are common phrases for the classroom, cognates and reading tip sheets, available in 11 languages, for the parents of young readers.

The kit is available in the Publications/Reports section of www.aft.org. Enter "CC Starter Kit" in the search field. And visit the educators' site at www.ColorinColorado.org, for resources to help preK-12 edu-cators of ELLs. Colorín Colorado is a partnership of the AFT and PBS station WETA.