Lunchbox packed with string cheese, and the Batman backpack zipped up tight? Check-Check.
Looks like we’re ready to go back to school with you!
But remember that thing about “all work and no play?”
Feel free to think of this newsletter as recess for teachers. Read a little, learn a little, laugh a little (but only at the funny parts, please) and don’t leave anybody standing against the wall. We’re all on one team here!
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NEW! Interactive Personal Finance Curriculum With TimeMAPS you don’t have to be a financial expert to teach like one!
The current state of economic affairs calls for serious solutions to financial literacy education. There are a lot of products that touch on common financial topics and put the facts in front of students. But if you want to properly prepare them for the important decisions they must make to achieve lifetime goals, you need TimeMAPS.
TimeMAPS Money Management and Life Skills Program covers the subject matter in rich detail—necessary for students to grasp complex concepts and successfully apply them in their lives. To accomplish this, TimeMAPS creates an interactive experience that presents real life scenarios, represents concepts and calculations in charts and graphs, and allows students to experiment with outcomes to draw the right conclusions. The only way to get your arms around a challenging topic is through hands-on learning, and TimeMAPS has more than 140 interactive examples and exercises.
This innovative software is designed to meet National Standards for Personal Finance Education (according to the JumpStart Coalition) and is aligned with most state benchmarks for financial literacy. Your Product Consultant can tell you how!
For a look inside TimeMAPS, view a 5-minute online demo and visit the Evaluation Center to download a sample version of the software. This gives you access to the student experience and the wealth of teacher resources. With TimeMAPS you don’t have to be a finance expert to teach like one!
Features of TimeMAPS:
Comprises a complete curriculum with extensive teacher resources including PowerPoints, lesson plans and assessments
Aligned with Perkins funding
Meets national standards for Personal Finance education (JumpStart Coalition)
Never out of date—uses the most recent government data, updated annually
Integrates technology into the classroom
Interactivity that engages students and allows independent learning
Paper quizzes and online testing with instant results
A message to current TimeMAPS users—2009-2010 school year update CDs will be hitting your mailbox soon! These CDs provide up-to-date government data for all the financial information included in the software.
The Summer Tour comes to a close.
Commemorative T-shirts anyone? Thanks for visiting the Realityworks booth this summer! It was a pleasure seeing so many customers and friends during the state CTE and FACS conferences. We were in 22 states during June, July and early August and still have a few more to get to before we park the tour bus.
RealCare Baby did a lot of cooing over the summer, and those who hadn’t seen the time-saving, easy-as-pie operating software for RealCare Baby II-plus did a lot of ooh-ing over the summer. As if Baby being wireless and rechargeable wasn’t enough to knock you off your flip-flops, you can program a whole classroom of Babies in two shakes of a stick! Pretty soon Baby will teach the class for you. (Seriously, our engineers secretly tinker with the idea of world domination through infant simulators.)
Many got their first look at the Shaken Baby Syndrome Simulator in person, and even though none of us like demonstrating it, FACS and nursing education teachers could see many reasons why this breathtaking demonstration would benefit their classrooms. This Baby stops crying when it’s shaken, but for all the wrong reasons. Not a demonstration for the faint of heart, but the need is clear . . . and so is Baby’s head—the clear skull reveals the areas of the brain that are affected by shaking. Along with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Manikin and Drug-Affected Demonstrator, Shaken Baby Syndrome Simulator is part of a powerful arsenal for child abuse prevention and nursing education. Whoa, did that sound like a sales pitch? We can’t help ourselves.
Now back to your regularly scheduled newsletter . . . We also had great fun demonstrating TimeMAPS software, the new personal finance curriculum with loads of interactivity and up-to-date government data that keeps lessons relevant and accurate for every area of the country. We love this product and judging by the response, educators want to know more.
Product Support Tip: Welcome Back! Your checklist for back-to-school with Baby
Summer is nearly over, and some of you may already be back to school. August is a good time to prepare your RealCare Baby Program for the new school year. Use the checklist below as a guideline to ensure both you and Baby are ready to go!
Babies – with clean clothing
Bottles & accessories – enough for each Baby/student (car seats, diaper bags and blankets are convenient, realistic “props”)
Green/yellow diapers – a set for each Baby
Baby charger (or fresh batteries for older model Babies) – make sure Babies are fully charged before simulation; just plug them in like your cell phone! If you're still using batteries, now is the time to upgrade to "plus" model Babies!
Student IDs (and Babysitter IDs if you plan to allow a second caregiver)
Program Materials – make copies/print out worksheets and reproducible documents as needed
Control Center software – make sure you’ve checked for updates from the Help menu so you have the latest features
Handheld control unit – optional for one-Baby programming and data retrieval; be sure you have fresh batteries
Now comes the part when you get reacquainted with your Babies. You take a deep breath, you check your pulse and then you may realize you’re not certain what to do first. (This would be because you had an amazing summer, of course.) And you then realize you’re not certain what comes next after first.
While RealCare Baby II-plus practically runs the program itself, you may require assistance from a real human being . . .
So call Product Support at 800.830.1416. We have highly realistic and technologically-advanced experts to help you get reacquainted with your program. Product Support will take the time to assist you with programming, Baby operation, and helpful tips to jump start your classes. Please have all the items above at your fingertips—and your Babies fully charged—when you call and Product Support will devote all the time you need to prepare you for the new school year.
Need supplies to replenish your program? National Sales Support is at your service with wristbands, diapers,
wireless IDs and more!
National Sales Support is a team of Realityworks staffers who specialize in promptly serving the needs of our customers and friends. For product information, ordering supplies or any questions you may have about Realityworks products, National Sales Support is here for you, with expanded staff and hours to accommodate calls from coast to coast.
Call National Sales Support today for fast ordering and delivery for the new school year. Their hours are 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday.
Note: Please direct inquiries about technical help with products to the Product Support team at 800.830.1416 or productsupport@realityworks.com
Need money? Find it here!
Funding information is current as of the date we write this newsletter (which means it's pretty darn hot off the press...could you hear our wheels squealing as we crashed into your email box?)
USDA Funds Research on Children, Youth & Family Programs Agency: Agriculture Dept. (Cooperative State Research, Education & Extension Service, CSREES) Program: Children, Youth & Families at Risk (CYFAR) Research & Evaluation -Funding improves the quality of comprehensive community-based programs for at-risk children, youth, and families. Eligibility: Institutions of higher education Funding: $400,000 for multiple awards ($250, to build capacity) www.csrees.usda.gov/funding
/rfas/cyfar_research_
evaluation.html
Weinberg Foundation (Deadline: Rolling) After taking a hiatus from accepting new Letters of Inquiry, the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation plans to begin accepting grant applications once again, starting Aug. 1. The foundation supports disability, substance abuse, mental health and general health care services in Maryland, Hawaii, Northeastern Pennsylvania and New York. www.hjweinbergfoundation.org
Carl D. Perkins Act Many Realityworks customers in the field of Career and Technology Education use Perkins money to fund their purchases. Ask your Product Consultant how Realityworks products align to Perkins funding today! www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/
CTE/perkins.html
Here’s some information we’ve heard on the street. Send us news we can use and we’ll do our best to post it here.
Births: Preliminary Data for 2007: Teen Births Increase
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) report, released in March 2009, showed a rise in births to teen mothers for the second year in a row, contrasting with a previous 14-year decline. The preliminary 2007 birth rate for U.S.15- to 19-year-olds was 42.5 births per 1,000. Rate increases were seen both for teenagers 15-17 years, and for those 18-19.
Experts Applaud $650M Tech Grants to State
We’ve read where experts told lawmakers that the federal funding stream supporting classroom technology—including $650 million in education technology state grants( via the Recovery Act)—is an important element that can't easily be replicated on the state or local level. Ask your Product Consultant how Realityworks products align to Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) and let your curriculum and technology experts know our technology can be funded this way.
Lincoln Introduces Legislation to Boost Funding for After-School Programs
Rural after-school programs could get a financial boost under a new bill—if signed into law—that would create a federal grants program dedicated to improving after-school transportation, professional development, training, planning and increased access to technology. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AK) introduces the "Investment in After-School Programs Act," legislation to enhance after-school programs in rural communities. Under the bill, such programs could receive a grant of $25,000 or more to make investments in projects or activities. Federal funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants has been anemic in recent years. President Obama has suggested flat-funding the program at $1.13 billion in fiscal year 2010.
August Star Trivia
Have the dog days of summer got you down? Well, take some time to get out of the sun and settle down in the air conditioning with a cool drink and your computer, and try to answer this month's trivia question: Where exactly did that doggone canine-inspired expression (the dog days of summer) come from, anyway?
Email your answer here, and be sure to give us your name, title, organization and contact info.
In June we asked...
Whose signature song was "Tiptoe Through the Tulips"
The answer:"Tiptoe Through the Tulips" was the signature song of Tiny Tim. It was originally published in 1926. The music was written by Joe Burke, and the lyrics by Al Dubin.
‘Crooning Troubadour’ Nick Lucas’ recording of "Tip-Toe Through The Tulips" hit the top of the charts in May 1929. The song he introduced in the 1929 musical talkie Gold Diggers Of Broadway? held the #1 position for 10 weeks. Other artists charted the song in 1929 including Jean Goldkette (#5); Johnny Marvin (#11); and Roy Fox (#18).
The song was revived in 1968 by Tiny Tim, and charted at
#17 that year. (Information courtesy of Wikipedia)
Commemorative T-shirts anyone? Thanks for visiting the Realityworks booth this summer! It was a pleasure seeing so many customers and friends during the state CTE and FACS conferences. We were in 22 states during June, July and early August and still have a few more to get to before we park the tour bus.
and blankets are convenient, realistic “props”) 
