ROAD TO FREEDOM The groundbreaking PBS series “Slavery and the Making of America,” which makes its debut in February, is supported by a companion education Web site. Visit www.slaveryinamerica.org for comprehensive resources, geared toward social studies and English teachers, that illuminate the human stories behind slavery. History, geography, literature, and narrative/biography sections are included, as are lesson plans, book lists, classroom activities and other materials developed by teachers. One popular feature is the interactive “Roads to Freedom,” which allows students to explore the six routes most frequently used by enslaved men and women seeking liberty.

HOLOCAUST CONFERENCE The Education Division of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum invites middle school and high school educators with five or fewer years teaching about the Holocaust to apply to attend the 2005 annual Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Educators. Museum educators and scholars share rationales, strategies and approaches for presenting this complex topic to students. Seminar sessions emphasize planning and implementing units of study for teaching about the Holocaust in middle and high schools. Educators who complete the program receive a set of educational materials and a voucher to purchase Holocaust-related resources in the Museum Shop. For more information visit www.ushmm.org.

MANAGEMENT HELP The free Web service www.gradeconnect.com has won plaudits from the U.S. Education Department, the University of Kansas and other groups for its array of tools to help teachers manage courses. Included are an online gradebook that automatically calculates quarter grades and keeps students informed of their standing. The site also allows teachers to post homework and project assignments along with due dates, and the service’s “students’ personal calendar” feature constantly reminds them of upcoming deadlines. There is also a “post announcements” feature and a tool to send progress reports.

WORLD AFFAIRS The World Affairs Challenge is a student competition that helps kids explore some of the key issues facing the nation and the world. Developed at the University of Denver’s Center for Teaching International Relations, the challenge allows students to compete for scholarships. It encourages them to work in teams and explore an aspect of the competition’s annual theme and then present their findings to panels of judges drawn from the community. They also meet students from schools around their state for an in-depth dialogue about the theme. To find out how to participate or to locate a challenge in your area, visit www.du.edu/worldaffairschallenge.

EARTH MOVERS The VIVA! School Contest recognizes classrooms that are active in gardening with Home Depot awards and recognition on the Web. Twelve classrooms will be selected in 2005 for Home Depot gift cards of $250, and their gardens will be featured online. Categories include best use of space, most creative garden design and best garden plan. Entrants must submit a photo of their garden, description and signed entry form; winners will be notified in the summer. For details, e-mail schools@vivagarden.com. or visit www.vivagarden.com/garden/contest.asp.

ONLINE EXHIBITION “From Haven to Home” is a Smithsonian online exhibition that traces Jewish immigration to America. The exhibition features many items on loan from partner institutions of the congressionally recognized Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History. The members of the Commission are the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, the American Jewish Historical Society and the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives. The exhibit features information on subjects as diverse as astronomical tables prepared by scientist and rabbi Abraham Zacuto that Columbus reportedly used on his voyages and the evolution of Maryland’s “Jew Bill,” an effort to open public office to non-Christians in the state. The exhibit is available at www.loc.gov/exhibits.

PLANT ONE HERE The Arbor Day Foundation offers a Volunteer Tree-Planting Resource Kit, to help motivate and inform community organizations. The kit includes a video and is illustrated with dozens of drawings and photographs. Also featured in the kit is a leadership guide that describes the benefits of trees and suggests a wide range of tree-planting events and projects (as well as advice on how to carry them out), and tips on working with volunteers and the media. The kit comes with reproducible sheets on topics from preparing a budget to properly planting trees, and has easy-to-follow checklists for major activities. The resource kit is available for $29.95 plus shipping and handling. For more information or to purchase the kit, contact The National Arbor Day Foundation, 100 Arbor Ave., Nebraska City, NE 68410 or order online at www.arborday.org.

MATERIALS AND MORE More than 1,000 pages of lesson plans, thematic units, teacher tips and downloadable materials are available at the “A to Z Teacher Stuff” Web site, www.atozteacherstuff.com. The site also offers search engines tailored to educators, discussion forums, printable worksheets, emergent reader books and more. Visitors also can subscribe to a free online newsletter that focuses on classroom-related topics.

READ-INS ARE BACK More than a million readers in communities across the nation are expected to participate in the Feb. 6-7 “African American Read-In,” an effort to make literacy a major focus of Black History Month in February. To participate, simply select books written by African-Americans, conduct Read-In(s) on the days designated and report results by submitting the 2005 African American Read-In Report Card at www.ncte.org.  The site also has a PDF version of the African American Read-In Packet, containing a news release, host training and information on how to submit the report card. You also can download selected recommended booklists.