Educational CyberPlayGround ®

 

PRESS RELEASE

Current
2002 - 2001

Educational CyberPlayGround ® Hot Site Awards
Educational CyberPlayGround, Inc.® K-12 School reference directory of Resource Hot Site Award USA Today Educational CyberPlayGround®, Inc. K-12 School reference directory of Resources Hot Site Award MSNBC Educational CyberPlayGround, Inc.® K-12 School reference directory of Resources NYT Hot Site Award

Educational CyberPlayGround given Hot Site Awards
Sunday, October 24, 1999 11:20 AM

The Educational CyberPlayGround
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com>
was given MSNBC.com Site Pick Award this past week.
[was] <http://www.msnbc.com/msn/msnnews_front.asp>
MSNBC it seems that they have selected 3 new sites today.

USA Today put in the newspaper on October 20th
Life Section D page 10 Tech Area
"The Educational CyberPlayGround provides teachers, parents, librarians,
home schoolers and regular folks a "webliography" of links to educational resources in a wide range of subjects. With a cool choice of site maps to browse from".
Won USA Today Hot Site Award on October 14th 1999
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/chc1015.htm

USA Today in January 2000 selected the Educational CyberPlayGround as one of its "Best Bets for Educators." The Educational CyberPlayGround was also a USA Today "Hot Site," in both its online and print editions, and MSNBC News online named the portal as a "Web Pick."

The site includes an educational vendor directory to aid users in locating goods and access to "Ring Leaders," experts in their fields who will assist site users.

-- 30

2003 Sackmann Brings School Lists to Educational CyberPlayGround
http://www.urlwire.com/news/010703a.html
Sackmann Brings School Lists to Educational CyberPlayGround. A pioneer of the Internet has brought his school-related resources to the Educational CyberPlayGround, a Philadelphia-based education portal located at http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/

ZDnet.com
http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/callforhelp/teacherzone/jump/0,3652,2319901,00.html

The crisp and clean playground walks technophobic teachers and parents through crystal-clear instructions. A wealth of pertinent topics and subtopics each with their own set of useful resources and links.
Despite all the resources and opportunities for education that the Internet can provide, cyberspace can be a confusing place for new learners, parents, educators, and particularly teachers who have little experience on the rapidly growing World Wide Web.
What does a person do when a simple search can bring thousands of sites to evaluate?

The main purpose of the Educational CyberPlayGround is to help all teachers, parents, librarians, home schoolers and regular folks, even those with little or no online experience, to use the Internet effectively to aid teaching. In The Education Vendor Directory you'lll find an outstanding easy to use resource that will help you locate the very tool you needed and wanted.

 

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 23th, 2010

National Children's Folksong Repository Featured on Destination DIY

Teachers and Students Invited to Contribute a Song, Preserve Culture

Karen Ellis, Founder of the Educational CyberPlayground, https://www.edu-cyberpg.com an online portal for K-12 education with over 11,000 members, will be featured in a series of interviews on Destination DIY starting November 27th.

Do your kids like to sing at the playground? Did you know that songs like “Miss Mary Mack” could be the key to preserving culture and improving literacy and that you can contribute a song with a toll-free phone call?

Karen Ellis, Founder of the Educational CyberPlayground, an online portal for K-12 education with over 11,000 members, will be featured in a series of interviews on Destination DIY starting November 27th. She will be discussing the National Children's Folksong Repository (NCFR), an online library which is collecting playground songs, jump rope chants, circle games and other songs from children around the US to help preserve oral culture. NCFR was created to collect and preserve children's culture, and it is set up to be easy to contribute and use. Karen Ellis uses technology to make it easy for students to contribute:

"Get Ready, Get Set, GO -- This happens so quickly. Use your cell phone, camera or computer to record and then send your music file or video to the Educational CyberPlayGround. We will put it up online for everyone to hear !!"

Destination DIY is a popular Oregon-based radio show and podcast which talks about “revolutionary do-it-yourself projects” and how creative people are making projects with impact using limited resources. The interviews by Destination DIY's Julie Sabatier will be featured in Oregon Public Radio (91.5FM) on the November 27th and December 4th shows at Noon PST and rebroadcast on December 1st and 8th at 8PM PST. Listeners outside of Oregon can listen online at http://www.opb.org/radio. Podcasts of the shows will be available after the broadcasts at http://destinationdiy.org/ .

Teachers, students and families can visit
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/NCFR
to listen to playground songs from around the world,
and can contribute their own by calling 1 - 276 - 633 *0388

-- 30

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 17th, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - A Celebration of the Life of Peter Tamony.
It takes the gift of the goddess to reunite Karen Ellis, the key 1982 "gin-i-ker" citation from the 1940's scholarship of Peter Tamony described by labor leader and folklorist Archie Green as "the keeper of the lore of the Irish clans of San Francisco."; the internet, and Professor Dan Cassidy to connect the source of the word "Jazz" is from Kildare, Ireland.
Crossroads Irish-American Festival March 1 11, 2006
The Crossroads Irish American Festival is an annual event which celebrates and explores the Irish-American experience and its creative energies, historical reflections, and cultural expressions.
Wednesday, March 8th, A Celebration of the Life of Peter Tamony. A night celebrating the life and work of a forgotten Irish-American folklorist and scholar from the old Irish Mission District of San Francisco, featuring Karen Ellis, author, teacher, and publisher; Guest Lecturer Linguistic Rights re: The People's Right To Know - You're not the boss of me!
Educational CyberPlayGround
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com

and Daniel Cassidy, Co-Director, New College of California, Irish Studies Program, New College Cultural Center.
Irish American Vernacular English
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Linguistics/irish.html

-- 30

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2005

PHILADELPHIA - The Irish, Baseball and JAZZ Heat up the Educational CyberPlayGround

Karen Ellis founded the Educational CyberPlayGround [ECP]
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com
provides a community for intuitive learners, adult learners, and educators working with students on the Web and in classrooms. Using her experiences teaching music, dance, and elementary education to young people in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Ellis set up a learning site that celebrates diversity in students' backgrounds while "highlighting the variety in students' preferred approaches to learning."

Ellis integrates linguistics, music, and technology into the classroom and while doing research for her most recent project the National Children's Folksong Repository she hit upon an answer to a question that has eluded everyone in the 20th century.

Where does the word Jazz Come From? It all starts with the Irish sports writers and baseball. Ellis: “There have been many discussions and debates over where the word Jazz comes from and we are now able to explain it's origins.” Dan Cassidy, Director of Irish Studies at New College in San Francisco, singer, author of 2 books: Irish Language influence on Poker and American Gambling and The Tongue of the Saol Luim (slum) from University press in Ireland due out in the fall of 2005, explains its roots.

"News is the first rough draft of history." Philip L. Graham (1915-63), U.S. newspaper publisher.

"The word Jazz, like the music, is part of our entwined American roots culture and was first used in March 1913, by Irish American sports reporter "Scoop" Gleeson in The San Francisco Bulletin as a baseball slang term for exciting, hot, spirited play” says Cassidy.

Jazz Etymology: Irish American Vernacular English and the hidden influence of Irish and Scots-Gaelic on what we call American English. The sanas of jazz is explained in 7 articles with numerous resources.

The Pizzazz of Jazz: The Sanas (Irish etymology) of Jazz, Fizz, Fizzle, and Sizzle

St. Bridget's House of Fire and The Secret Irish Traveller Bain-Fhile (Woman-Poet) of "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo, Git Along Little Dogies" is available.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Linguistics/irish.html

Another opportunity for the Educational CyberPlayGround to recognize the nation's unknown culture makers is the

National Children's Folksong Repository
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/NCFR/

A public folklore project where children record and submit their folksongs, indigenous playground chants and songs into the online archive.

When you access her award-winning site, you can choose the map that matches your learning style (intuitive, logical, or visual) by clicking on the "search this site" pull-down menu. Explore playful educational approaches to music, arts, literacy, linguistics, internet, technology, teachers and online curriculum.

The New York Times Learning Network selected the Educational CyberPlayGround as its "Site of the Day."

The Times noted that the site provides opportunities for parents, teachers, and librarians, even with limited online experience, to learn how to use the World Wide Web to provide more effective teaching.

USA Today in January 2000 selected the Educational CyberPlayGround as one of its "Best Bets for Educators." The Educational CyberPlayGround was also a USA Today "Hot Site," in both its online and print editions, and MSNBC News online named the portal as a "Web Pick."

The site also includes the School Directory and 6 Mailing Lists reaching across the world with over 10,000 readers and access to "Ring Leaders," experts in their fields who will assist site users.

-- 30

For Immediate Release
November 19th, 2003

Educational CyberPlayGround Visits Brimm Medical Arts High School

PHILADELPHIA -- The Educational CyberPlayGround plans to launch the National Children's Folksong Repository
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Repository/NCFR.html
described as a "Public Folklore Project built by the children of the United States an historic online Repository of children's songs and chants."

Ellis said "Everyone can help create and capture our collective heritage in the nation's online archive called the National Children's Folksong Repository.

In that effort Dr. Clayton, Principal of
Brimm Medical Arts High School, in Camden, NJ
http://www.camden.k12.nj.us/S/MAHS/index.html
is excited that his Vocal Music Teacher
Ms. Carla L. Benson a Ring Leader on the ECP site
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Ringleaders/carlabenson.html
integrates literacy, music, and technology into her classroom.

Ms. Benson's also known as "The First Lady of Philadelphia Soul" and currently the Section Leader for the Background Vocalists featured on stage and screen with 2 time Grammy winners "The Funk Brothers" "Standing In The Shadows of Motown" Movie and World Tour 2001- 2003
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Stars/FunkBrothers.html

"Ms. Benson brings over thirty years of professional studio and stage performance experience to the classroom and to the National Children's Folksong Repository. Benson's students had the opportunity to shine when the Educational CyberPlayGround filmed her students on November 18th, 2003. Benson said, "Like Standing in the Shadows of Motown there is an opportunity to recognize the nation's unknown culture makers, who are, our children."

Students used computers to make and upload a free webpages for the Funk Brothers Webquest, explored why music makes you smarter, then recorded and uploaded their songs using The National Children's Folksong Repository Project without leaving their cultural identity behind.

Karen Ellis founded the Educational CyberPlayGround [ECP]
that provides a community for intuitive learners, adult learners, and educators working with students on the Web and in classrooms. Using her experiences teaching music, dance, and elementary education to young people in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Ellis set up a learning site that celebrates diversity in students' backgrounds while "highlighting the variety in students' preferred approaches to learning."

When you access her award-winning site, you can choose the map that matches your learning style (intuitive, logical, or visual) by clicking on the "search this site" pull-down menu. Explore playful educational approaches to music, arts, literacy, and technology.

The mysterious quality that defines the folk song apart from other forms of music lies in the means by which the song is preserved over time and transmitted in space from author to audience.

Folk songs have lasted on the playground in which culture is relatively homogeneous and customs are shared across class and ethnic lines. This is our shared folk culture.

Children located within a school, after school program, at home, hospital, neighborhood library, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA, Technology Learning Centers; Community Technology Centers, are all able to submit their songs to the National Children's Folksong Repository.

The New York Times Learning Network selected the Educational CyberPlayGround as its "Site of the Day."

The Times noted that the site provides opportunities for parents, teachers, and librarians, even with limited online experience, to learn how to use the World Wide Web to provide more effective teaching.

 

For Immediate Release
February 3rd, 2003

PHILADELPHIA -- Educational CyberPlayGround Launches Black History Month All Year Long Curricula

Black History resources include materials about the Underground Railroad, Martin Luther King Jr., slavery, pioneers, folktales, Amistad and African-American contributions to science, literature, music, art and film.

"Teachers should find enough materials to allow them to include 'Black History Month' as part of their classes all year," said site developer Karen Ellis. "Black History Month" All Year Long is only one curriculum resource that is available on the Educational CyberPlayGround, which has received attention from national news organizations.
-- More than 50 pages of printable information.
-- Save time - the research has been done for you.
-- Links to the best sites on the Net for supporting information.
-- Original content not found in school libraries, books, or the WWW.
-- Two original E-books with sound. Read and hear Anansi folk tale in Standard English and American Virgin Islands Creole.
-- Online Collaborative Project that can be expanded past the school day.

MacWorld Magazine has chosen the Educational CyberPlayGround one of the 50 best sites for "high-quality education on the Web." Earthlink.net featured the site in its bLink Magazine in August 2000. USA Today in January 2000 selected Educational CyberPlayGround as one of its "Best Bets for Educators."

The Educational CyberPlayGround in 1999 also was a USA Today "Hot Site," in both its online and print editions, and MSNBC News online in 1999 named the portal as a "Web Pick" "The Educational CyberPlayGround provides teachers, parents, librarians, home-schoolers and regular folks to a 'webliography" of links to educational resources," USA Today wrote.

Teachers and Students may also want to participate in the "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown Funk Brothers Webquest"
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Culdesac/Stars/funkbrothers2.html

-- 30

For Immediate Release January 3, 2003
FUNK BROTHERS WIN 2 GRAMMYS
45th ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARD WINNERS

THE FUNK BROTHERS ARE THE BIGGEST HIT MACHINE IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC WITH MORE #1 HITS THAN
The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and Elvis Combined

- GRAMMY WINNER BEST TRADITIONAL R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE:
" What's Going On" - Chaka Khan & The Funk Brothers

- GRAMMY WINNER - BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK ALBUM:
"Standing In the Shadows of Motown" - Various Artists

"Standing In The Shadows Of Motown", has won and been nominated for several awards, including:

Best Non Fiction Film, New York Film Critics Circle 12/16/02
Best Documentary, Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics' Choice Award Best Non-Fiction Film, National Society of Film Critics Awards
45th Annual Grammy Awards, BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK ALBUM, Various Artists
45th Annual Grammy Awards, BEST TRADITIONAL R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE: "What's Going On" - Chaka Khan & The Funk Brothers

Ellis said one purpose of the portal is to acquaint newcomers to the Web with the educational resources available. "We know that the Internet sometimes can be overwhelming," Ellis said, "and we want to help those with limited Web experience, particularly those involved with education, to master Web tools and skills."

Those with experience on the Web also will find useful resources, she said. The site includes an educational vendor directory to aid users in locating goods and access to "Ring Leaders," experts in their fields who will assist site users.

-------------

For Immediate Release
January 3, 2003
Contact: Jim Leonhirth,
leonhirt@tecomm.com

PHILADELPHIA -- Sackmannn brings school lists to Educational CyberPlayGround

A pioneer of the Internet has brought his school-related resources to the Educational CyberPlayGround, a Philadelphia-based education portal http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/.

Karen Ellis, founder of the Educational CyberPlayGround, said Gleason Sackmann, who has developed school resources on the Internet since 1993, now is serving as director of community programs, for ECP http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/

"Gleason is a trailblazer in regard to helping educators and the education community use the Internet effectively," Ellis said.

Sackmann serves as the moderator for the following e-mail lists:

-- Net Happenings, which provides announcements about the latest Internet resources, particularly education-related resources. Sackmann became the moderator in 1993 which launched in 1989.
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/NetHappenings.html

-- K12 Newsletters, which includes more than 25 newsletters about K-12 education
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/K12Newsletters.html

-- Network Newsletters, which combines in one place more than 20 of the Web's best e-zines
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/NetworkNewsletters.html

-- New-list, which provides the Internet with prompt notification of the creation of any mailing list on any given topic http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/

Sackmann also developed in 1993 the HotList of K-12 School Sites online http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/schools/ which includes a master registry of K-12 schools, organized by state and grade level. The registry also includes sites for school districts, state and regional education organizations, state departments of education, charter schools, virtual schools, state standards and state administrators.

Sackmann has earned several awards for his Web efforts. In 1998, Sackmann received the SIG/Tel Educational Telecomputing Outstanding Service Award, and in 1996, he was rated No. 10 on the Newsweek's list of the "50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet."

A resident of Fargo, N.D., Sackmann holds a B.S. degree in science from Minot State University in North Dakota. He taught high school science for 20 years in Bottineau, N.D.

After Sackmann left teaching, he joined the SENDIT (now EduTech) project, one of the first statewide telecommunication networks dedicated to the K-12 community.

"When we first started, we were one of three statewide K-12 telecommunications networks," Sack said. "The other two were BigSky in Montana, and TENET in Texas."

Sackmann said the SENDIT project provided e-mail account for both teachers and students, educational resources, Web browsing using Lynx and early
versions of Mosaic and Netscape.

He also worked for six years with the Internet Scout Project at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Sackmann said the K-12 network projects have had an impact on all levels of education.

"If nothing else, the involvement of K-12 forces the state universities to get up to speed on the Internet, since the K-12 students were more knowledgeable than the college instructors," he said.

--30--

© Educational CyberPlayGround ® All rights reserved world wide. Hot Site AwardsEducational CyberPlayGround Inc. Hot Site Award USA Today  Educational CyberPlayGround Inc. Hot Site Award MSNBC NYT Hot Site Award