 Hi, this is Jill Bates, thanks for joining me for today's Wednesday webinar entitled Celebrate Nebraska, 150 Years of Statehood. Nebraska will turn 150 on March 1st as we were granted statehood in 1867. Our state began commemorating its sesquicentennial beginning on January 1st of this year. We're going to have a year-long celebration that will involve a wide variety of programs and projects all across our state. Our 150th birthday presents a unique opportunity in time to honor our heritage, celebrate our growth, and plan for our future. In our schools, we can commemorate this historic occasion and celebrate the great state of Nebraska, our diverse history, and our cultures by engaging, educating, and inspiring our students and leaving a legacy for future generations. So let's get started. We'll check out our official Nebraska 150 website and the address is right there. Simply type in any150.org. As we go to this website, it is chock full of information. Up across the top, you can find information about the history and mission. There is a link for programs and events, which I'll refer to later. You can learn about the partners for the events. You can shop for Nebraska 150 merchandise, or you can learn about some grant opportunities. We're going to start with events and programs, and I'm going to click on all programs and events. This will bring up a menu with lots of links to things that are happening across our state. I'll be specifically talking about Nebraska 150 sponsored events and programs a little bit later, but we can also look at legacy events, signature events, and if you're interested in finding something to do on a weekend or over the summer, there are lots and lots of opportunities to celebrate Nebraska's sesquicentennial at events in communities across our state. So check that out. I'm going to scroll back up here, and I am going to click on a legacy event and program entitled the Virtual Capital Tour, and I already have that tap open, so I'm just going to go right there. This website is sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Education, the Nebraska State Historical Society, NET, and our State Tourism Commission. It gives us the opportunity to actually visit the state capital and the governor's residence. So let's click on state capital and go inside. You'll notice right away it comes up with information about how to navigate the website. There are a number of icons, including stars with cool facts. There are some embedded movies, some photographs. There's a green arrow hotspot that will take you to the next location, or if you get confused, you can click on the map and it will show you exactly where you are. So let's click out of that, and we'll start with this first star. This will be one of our cool facts that gives a fact about the steps leading to the main entrance to the Nebraska State Capitol. So be sure to check out the cool facts. I think your students would really enjoy looking at that information, too. If we click on a photograph, there you can get an up and close picture of a certain part of the building, either of the outside facade or of some of the features inside, as well as a little bit of information about that particular item. If I click on the arrow, you can see and I hover over it, it tells me it will take me to the vestibule, so I'll click on that. Now I'm inside the Capitol. I can move down the hall by clicking on the green arrow, or as another option, I could just click on the next dot along the red bar on the bottom to take me to the next location. With your mouse, you're able to scroll around to see the different features of the buildings, and you can also scroll up and down if you want to look up high or if you want to look at the features of the floor. Okay, let's say that I am confused with where I am, so I simply click on this map right there and it will show me that I'm right here in that rotunda area. If I click back, I can go to the exterior. Now I'm on the second floor, or I could have the opportunity to go to the top of the Capitol up in the memorial chamber, and again, your students would be able to navigate through here, click on some of the features, click on the facts, et cetera. Okay, so let's go back to the map and now we're going to click on the governor's residence. I'll just click right on this first dot, which will take me to the outside, and again, you can see the similar icons. I'll click on the green arrow, which will take me into the entrance of the Governor's mansion. Okay, I can go into the formal drawing room, and again, I can rotate around, or I can go into the hallway where I can see photographs of different First Ladies. So take advantage of that. I think that would be a great website to let your students explore, especially if you're planning a trip to the Nebraska State Capitol, or you just want to learn some more facts about it. So we'll click off of that, and let's go back to the events and programs, and I'm going to click up here in the upper left-hand corner, which will take me back to the first page. This is where I can see the sponsored official Nebraska 150 events and initiatives, and there are several here that specifically are for students, and so we're going to start with some of those. My favorite one is Now You Know Nebraska. I'm going to click on that, and it takes me out to YouTube. You can see that there are playlists. Each week, a series of five videos will come out, and this started on January 9th. Now You Know Nebraska January 9th. So let's click on this, and we'll see that there's a series of five for the whole week. They're just about a minute or two in length, and I'd like to just give you an idea of what these videos are like, so we're going to click on the first one, and we're going to play it. 40th Governor of the Great State of Nebraska. Today, we're talking about government and presidents on Now You Know Nebraska. Did you know the last document President Abraham Lincoln ever signed was about Nebraska? After Lincoln's inauguration as President in 1861, he appointed Alvin Saunders as Nebraska's territorial governor. He and Saunders had become acquaintances during the election campaign. Four years later, Saunders' term in office had ended, but Lincoln decided to appoint him once again. On April 14th, 1865, Lincoln signed the papers reinstating Alvin Saunders as Nebraska's territorial governor. Immediately afterwards, he left to attend a play at Ford's Theater. As everyone knows, Lincoln was assassinated that night by John Wilkes Booth. The Nebraska paper was found on the top of his desk after his death. You can see the actual document on display yourself at the Nebraska State Historical Society. Our greatest leader's last act as president was related to our great state. I'm Governor Ricketts, and Now You Know Nebraska. Well, there you get an idea of what Now You Know Nebraska is about. There will be a series of 174 video shorts that tell some of the state's most compelling, entertaining, and appealing stories and facts. They're specifically made for students in grades 4 through 8, but as you can see, they would be appropriate for any type of audience. I learned a lot myself by listening to them, and I encourage you to show them. Show them at the beginning of a class every day, so your students learn a little more about Nebraska. Another initiative that is specifically for school students is One State, One Book. This is an initiative specifically for students in the fifth grade that will provide each fifth grader a copy of Chief Standing Bear of the Ponca, written by Virginia driving Hawk Sneave. And it will also be accompanied by a curriculum for teachers so that if you're a fifth grade teacher, make sure that you stay alert and watch out for that initiative. There are a couple others that are specifically for fourth graders. There's the Nebraska Atlas Project, and we know that fourth graders spend a lot of time studying Nebraska. They learn about the geography, the history, and our people. Well, every fourth grader will receive a 52-page Atlas of Nebraska that was created by a Wayne State geography professor. And again, teachers will also have an accompanying curriculum so that you're able to use this in your classroom. Another project that is specific for fourth graders is the Nebraska Experience. This is an initiative to ensure that all fourth grade students have either the opportunity to visit the state capitol in Lincoln, or to go to another significant Nebraska site during 2017. There are a couple other sponsored events that are appropriate for schools. One of them is Nebraska Impact. Nebraska Impact is a program that allows people to register and discover volunteer opportunities. We're all being challenged to volunteer 150 hours during our sesquicentennial year. And schools could enter teams. Your classroom could take on a project to volunteer for 150 hours in your community or your school. You can also find a volunteer opportunity and you can post volunteer opportunities. You can see that there are some that are related to education. So check out that website. Another opportunity is the Nebraska 150 Challenge, which focuses on health and wellness. This is an online fitness program that strives to make fitness fun more motivating and help Nebraskans reach a goal of moving 150 miles or more during 2017. So you can register as an individual or you can register as a group. This might be something fun to do as a classroom, as a track team, as a school. They also have a Twitter challenge with the hashtag NebraskaMiles. So you can see who's joined. I joined a few days ago and after posting just over 100 miles, I earned a journeyman badge and a walking on sunshine badge. I intend to encourage my other ESU8 co-workers to join this challenge as well. Another challenge is Nebraska 150 Books. There is a list of 150 books and they're all authored by Nebraska authors. These books represent the best literature produced from Nebraska during the past 150 years. And you can download this book list, so you could post it in your classroom. It includes fiction, nonfiction, young adult children and poetry categories. So challenge your students or yourself to read a book by a new Nebraska author this year. If your students are interested in photography, the Hildegard Center for the Arts is offering a wonderful guide to you in the exploration of everything Nebraska, including history, culture, landmarks, natural resources, the economy, geography, and its people. The Hildegard Center for the Arts and its partners put together a traveling photo exhibition entitled Bridges Sharing Our Past to Enrich the Future. And they have photo images from each of Nebraska's 93 counties along with some instructional materials. So if I go up here to Bridges and click on instructional resources, it will take me to this page and I want to show you the story map. Story map allows teachers and students to access the instructional resources for specific counties. So it will bring up a map of the state of Nebraska with links to each one of the photographs. And you'll notice that the counties are pictured down here across the bottom. I'm going to click on Antelope County. And it will show me that the photograph is of the Old Mill Bridge. I can click on the bottom to access instructional resources or I can also click here for instructional resources. Each county will have an instructional resource link and it includes information about the photograph, the applicable fourth grade Nebraska social studies standards, quick facts about the county, discussion questions and additional resources. So I suggest that you check that out too. Finally, if you are a Facebook user, Nebraska 150 has a Facebook page and it looks like regular posts that highlight events that occurred on a specific day will be posted. So if you are a Facebook user, this website certainly might be worth exploring. I hope that this webinar has piqued your interest in Nebraska's sesquicentennial. You are definitely equipped with a wide variety of resources to use in your classroom as we celebrate 150 years of Nebraska statehood. Whether you teach elementary students or physical education, whether you're in the history classroom or English or you serve as a guidance counselor, there is definitely a program for you. So check it out. Again, thanks for joining me. My name is Jill Bates. You can certainly contact me at jbates.esu8.org if you have any questions. Thanks so much and happy birthday, Nebraska!