What two numbers make….
December 19, 2006 
If you are looking to add a little higher level thinking to your math fact practice, try NASA’s math addition blast off activity. Here is the gist…
Instead of just practicing:
1+1 = 2
1+2 = 3
Try asking your kids this:
What two numbers make the sum of 11? 10? 13?
Or what three numbers make the sum of 11?
Interested? here is the link to NASA’s site – http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/games/levelthree/KC_Blast_Off.html
This link & more can be found at:
Use Funbrain’s Word Turtle to Practice Keyboarding
December 18, 2006 
One of the many issues surrounding technology and schools today involves keyboarding. We have not accepted the fact that kids need to know how to keyboard just as much as they need to know how to print. Once a child knows how to type, writing tasks will be so much more beneficial.
I use to subscribe to the keyboarding program school of thought – get a program and have the kids use it. However, teachers need to know how to use it, it costs money – blah, blah. So, keyboarding within the confines of the curriculum is my new mantra. So here is a quick way to do it.
Objective: Practice keyboarding while typing in the names of characters from a story the kids’ are reading. For example, if the kids are in third grade and reading the BFG, they could type in the characters from the story, such as: BFG, Sophie, Child Chewer, etc. You get to review the characters from the story and they can practice their keyboarding.
- From your teacher web site – link to Funbrain.com’s Word Turtle – http://www.funbrain.com/detect/
- Choose the options I have indicated below (this is just one variation)
- Level (select one):
Hard (10 words, 12 letters long, with reverse and diagonal)
Style (select one):
Make Puzzle to Print On Paper (for yourself or friends)
- Level (select one):
- Have the kids type in their name for the title – this makes it easier for you to find who printed what
- Have the kids type in the character names – you could ask them questions and they have to type in the correct character based on the answer
- When they are all done – have them click Make Puzzle
- Print them from the File Menu of your Firefox browser
They have practiced a bit of keyboarding and you have reviewed story elements
Buffalo State College Graduates Create WebQuests with the WebQuest Garden
December 17, 2006 
The father of the WebQuest, Bernie Dodge, has created a tool to help get teachers to publish webquests. This tool, called the Webquest Garden uses a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editing interface and takes the pain out of web publishing.
This is the first semester that I have used it. I am very impressed with what was created by my graduate students with very little input by me. Below are the results:
Class Projects incorporating Google Docs
By: Nicole Giambra
All the Ed Tech mags and newspapers are talking about Web 2.0 in the classroom. One of the elements of that is the shift from proprietary client based software to on-line web applications. An example of this (there are many now) is Google Docs, primarily its Word Processor.
There are various ways to incorporate Google Docs into class projects. One example is using it to have students collaborate writing a script for a podcast. Creating a podcast with your students is worthy of its own blog post. Watch out for that soon.:) But for now let’s focus on how Google Docs is helpful for collaborating.
Ok, so the assignment goal is to write a script for a radio talk show on your curricular topic. The students are given instructions and/or a rubric. Instead of students huddling around one computer or working on seperate computers and copying and pasting try this:
Collaborating a script using Google Docs.
Using Google Word Processor, students (best with groups of four or less) can work on-line and have access to the same document. The script can be paperless! Before, only students that were allowed to use laptops or had access to school e-mail could work paperless. Now with a little bit of planning, students can log-in to their script from anywhere that has Internet access and work remotely without having to carry papers to and from school.
Students who have used Google Docs have commented on how accommodating it was for them to be able to work on-line from home.
Students can work at their own computers editing the document at the same time. The application does work best if students are not typing at exactly the same time. Typing at the same time will cause a slight delay in processing. (hey, this a new technology:)
Below is the easy technical stuff that you and your class will do first to get Google Docs set up for your class project.
- Days before (steps 5 and 7 tells you why) the assignment begins have students create Google Accounts by going to Google.com
- At the top right corner have click Sign-In
- Underneath the log-in fields have the students click the link to Create an Account now.
- Students then follow the on screen instructions to create their account. If students have a school district e-mail account have them use that to fill in the current e-mail address field. That will make all the Google Account names nice and uniform. Students can use their own personal e-mail address to start a Google Account. Note: The students’ current e-mail mail is also going to be their Google Account User Name for log-in. So if a students’ personal e-mail is sweetiepiexo@yahoo.com their Google Account user will be that also.
- After filling out the account info an e-mail will be sent to the student’s e-mail address to activate thier account. If students do not have school a-mail they may need a couple days to remember to activate from their e-mail at home for homework;) If all students have access to e-mail at school, these steps can all be done the day of the project.
- One inside their Google account have students become familar with the interface of the Docs and Spreadsheets Word Processor.
- Next assign one student as the Owner of the script or project document. This will be the student who creates the New Document and saves with a file name.
- The Owner of the document will then with the document open, click Collaborate in the top right corner of the document, type in the user names of students who he or she will be working with. Then finish the process by clicking Invite these people.
- The invited students will then have access to the document the next time they log- in to their Google Account!
Google Earth – Find Your House Lesson
Google Earth is a fantastic tool to teach with. Like most things, it can be quite daunting. Here is an easy way to start.
Learning Objectives
- Locate address using the search tool
- Experiment with the Zoom tools to find items, such as: pools, roof, trees, playground etc, located near their house
Procedure:
- Have the kids type their address into the SEARCH PANEL (make sure that you are on the Fly To tab)
- Go over how to:
- type a proper address
- Go over how to:
- Click on the magnifying glass to have Google Earth find their home
- Use the Zoom tools located on the top right to zoom in and out
- Print what they have found if you want
Recipe for getting video on the web
There are many ways to record a video and present it on the web. Here is a fast way to do it with hardware and software that BOTH come with the machine. I did this video – rough as it is – and put it up on the web in 10 minutes.
Ingredients:
- 1 MacBook Pro with built in iSight Camera -the camera comes right with the laptop
- iMovie
- Web hosting service – this is the trickiest part (if you don’t have a web hosting service – this can’t be done easily)
Procedure
- Open iMovie and choose New Project with iSight
- Choose Record with iSight
- Mix with iTunes
- Click Share>>Quicktime
- make sure that you share in Web format (a choice)
- Use an ftp program (like FireFtp – a firefox extension) to upload it to your web hosting service
- Once the movie is up on the web, you have a couple of choices
- Link to the movie
- Embed the movie (I like to embed the movie – so you will need the code shown below)
- Examples:
- http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/SKarpie/index.cfm?subpage=32291
- http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/DYates/class.cfm
Embed HTML Code:
<embed src=”http://www.hosting service.com/moviename.mov” border=”3″ height=”500″ width=”800″>
Sequencing Phonics on the web
Starfall – short e
Starfall – Peg the Hen
Read Write Web – Word Bank – ed, et ending
