BITTER HARVEST Available now at the American Labor Studies Center Web site is “Child Labor in Agriculture,” one of the many rich curriculum resources for teachers on the enduring problem of child labor in the United States and around the globe. The problem is dire and topical: Current U.S. law allows children as young as 10 to legally work in commercial agriculture, while children of the same age are prohibited from working in nearly all other industries (with only a few exceptions such as delivering newspapers). An estimated 400,000 to 500,000 children work America’s fields, often for backbreaking shifts of up to 10 hours, and often are exposed to pesticide application; the industry comprises 40 percent of child-worker fatalities. For more information, visit www.labor-studies.org.

STORM SCIENCE The National Hurricane Center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, offers a variety of online resources to help students understand the science at work behind hurricanes. Many of these materials are compiled in the Hurricane Preparedness Week section of the center’s Web site, located at www.nhc.noaa.gov, and are available in both English and Spanish. Explained are such concepts as storm surge, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and naming conventions for hurricanes.

MIDDLE SCHOOL HELP The Rainforest Alliance is now offering seventh- and eighth-grade teachers a new online educational resource that explores the environmental, cultural and economic aspects of banana production. The free, standards-based environmental curricula for this age group were created by the Rainforest Alliance and Project Learning Tree; the curricula touch on aspects of banana production ranging from soil and water conservation to workers’ health and safety. Teachers can log on at www.rainforest
-alliance.org/programs/education to access the free  curricula, sign up for the Eco-Education Matters monthly e-newsletter and browse through the new educational resources.

ELL MONTHLY PreK-12 educators of English language learners can get tips, materials and news by subscribing to T.ELL.E-GRAM, a free monthly electronic newsletter launched by the AFT and Reading Rockets as part of their Colorín Colorado! project. Included are articles, instructional help, sample lesson plans, recommended books for students, a glossary of terms, developments on policies and programs affecting ELLs, and personal stories about these children and the educators who work with them. To learn more about the newsletter or to sign up, visit http://colorincolorado.org.

BUTT OUT The recent high-profile death of ABC news anchor and former smoker Peter Jennings has heightened national attention to the risks of tobacco use. These concerns will be highlighted on the Nov. 17 observance of the “Great American Smokeout.” The American Cancer Society has developed a number of free materials that teachers of all grades can use to spark a discussion of the problem. Teachers who visit www.cancer.org and click on the “community” tab will discover a wealth of lessons, posters, sticker sheets and other materials in both English and Spanish to help students understand smoking risks and to build a commitment to living smoke free.

MUSIC THAT MOVES One of the more poignant chapters in the Holocaust involves the Judische Kulturbund, the Jewish Cultural Association. This organization of Jewish musicians and artists was countenanced by the early Nazi regime until it had exhausted its propaganda usefulness and was dissolved in 1941, when its members either fled to other countries, hid underground or were forced into concentration camps. The events formed the basis of Martin Goldsmith’s recent book The Inextinguishable Symphony, which details the struggle of Jewish musicians exiled from German cultural life. The book also is the focus of a free Web site dedicated to bringing the story to film and multimedia. Visit The Inextinguishable Symphony Project www.tisproject.com, for updates on the documentary, resources for educators, and details on a traveling exhibition and symphony tour tied to the project.

INTEL AWARDS The Intel Foundation will award $250,000 to 20 schools during the 2006 Intel and Scholastic Schools of Distinction Awards. This national program recognizes outstanding U.S. schools for academic, literacy, mathematics and science achievement; technology excellence; technology innovation; collaboration; teamwork; leadership; and professional development. One elementary and one secondary school will be chosen in each of the 10 categories and will receive a grant of $10,000. In addition, every application will automatically be entered for consideration for the overall “best of the best” category with one elementary and secondary winner. These two schools will receive an additional $15,000 for a total award of $25,000 each. In addition, winners will receive valuable educational prizes from event sponsors. Applications deadline for the 2006 year is Jan. 5. To apply or for more information, visit www.schoolsofdistinction.com.

WORTH WATCHING For decades, the PBS series “Frontline” has set the standard for broadcast journalism. Now more than 50 of the series’ most memorable reports are available as “Frontline Classics,” video-on-demand files located at the show’s Web site. Visit www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ for full-length versions of such reports as “Inside the Teenage Brain,” “Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” and “Tax Me if You Can,” an investigation into corporate tax-dodge schemes. Shows can be viewed in either RealPlayer or Windows Media format. The site also features a teachers’ center that includes more than 4,000 free lesson plans.

ADMISSIONS FRIENDLY The National Research Center for College & University Admissions recently released its seventh annual Enrollment Power Index (EPI), a ranking of how user-friendly college and university Web sites are to prospective students. Of the 3,039 postsecondary institutions whose sites were graded, less than one-quarter earned A or B grades in the group’s latest study, which attempts to measure how well a college or university admissions Web site takes students from a prospect to applicant. It considers such factors as prominence of an admissions office link on the institution’s home page, admissions page design and ease of navigation, and online access to admissions materials. More information on the rankings is available at www.nrccua.org.