The Snow is Melting and onto March Madness!

Congratulations to Amy for being in the March Tech Spot Light for fantastic 21st Century Lessons! Starting in February Amy has had her students complete a President's WebQuest and complete both an expository and narrative essay in Writing Road map about a President. She has also had her students research the 5 regions of the USA using digital and printed resources and created an on line/printable brochure. Following are the links to resources for these lessons: http://tiny.cc/PresInfo, http://tiny.cc/USRegInfo, and
http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=379&title .
Kudos to the Thunderbirds for completing the E-Pal Tech Step project. As always teachers and students learned together. Who's next for tech steps? The COW and I are ready to roll your teams' way.
St. Patrick's Day Links:
Trivia Hunt- http://arthur.k12.il.us/arthurgs/stpthunt.htm
Quiz Your Noodle Game from National Geographic-http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Games/PuzzlesQuizzes/Quizyournoodle-st-patricks-day

First Technology Post of 2010 . . . take us away!

, In the Spot Light this Month ~ Congratulations to Gary H. for earning the title Mr. OVI Accelerator Reader King. He is really on top of the Tops Report and impressed our Webinar host today. Mark your calendar now for our next and last AR Webinar on March 1st where we will present Gary with his well deserved crown. Gary is a great resource to go to when you need help with this site.

TechSteps (yes I said it) Projects, well there is “snow on the ground.” Every classroom teacher is required to complete one project with your students. I am here to help you plan, deliver, and record the student data. These projects don’t need to be saved until the end of the year and you may complete more than one. Brianna and Nicole have worked with Sharon D. to update BCS’s TechStep site with curriculum connections for each grade level. New for this year, projects can be completed in pairs. Fourth grade can do the e-pal lesson with the modification of not actually mailing the letter. I would like to have a rough idea of what projects and when you want to complete them by March 1st. This will enable Enrichment or Special Subjects teachers to complete projects not chosen by classroom teachers. You will have the main lab during its open time, the COW, and café and/or Writing Lab available to complete your projects. Fifth grade, if you want to do the PowerPoint’s for graduation that is fine, and I will help you. However, I would like to see many of you take on a second project before that. We finished up the 5th grade project so close to the end of the year that a few teachers did not enter the scores into the rubric on the TechStep site. So, it’s like the projects were not done. For this reason every classroom should try to complete a project before Westest.

Recipe for a Great Year

Thought For The Day Recipe for a Happy New Year By Author Unknown
Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate. Cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past-have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time.
Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.
Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing- don't do it), prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution.
Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.

TIS-MAS TIME!

Countdown to Christmas
by visiting this Web 2.0 wiki. The information and ideas are exciting and wonderful. I hope you have time to visit this site. What a way to spice up 2010 with new technology resources in the classroom!

Also, don't forget about OVI's Multicultural Holiday Traditions Glogster filled with resources and activities.

Happy Halloween to my Tech Friends

Keeping up with the times and in-touch with our children.
Text messaging shortcuts - here you can find Chat Jargon, plus fun Smilies.
Text message cheat sheet from netlingo. This is the largest list of Internet Acronyms and Text Message Jargon found on the web.
Don't let GradeQuick spook you this Marking Period. Last Minute Tips for ending the first term and beginning the second. Buck-tooth smiley says, "Ha1dafuld!"