Keystone Tech Talk

Links for 2012-02-09 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Bloomin' iPad by Kathy Schrock
...a clickable image map with iPad apps to support each level of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy
Worldometers - real time world statistics
This is the page for world stats. At the bottom is a link for US stats. (Thanks, Nicole G.!)

Links for 2012-02-07 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Build a Body
In Sponge Lab Biology's Build a Body students construct a human body system-by-system. To build a body students drag and drop into place the organs and bones of a human body. Each organ and bone is accompanied by a description of the purpose of that bone or organ. The systems that students can build in the Build a Body activity are the skeletal, digestive, respiratory, nervous, excretory, and circulatory systems.

Links for 2012-02-06 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Alphabetimals
Alphabetimals offers some nice little resources to help you help children learn the alphabet. The option to type a word and print it in an alphabetimalized version could be a nice way to print and display vocabulary words in your elementary school classroom.

Links for 2012-02-05 [del.icio.us]

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Microsoft in Education--Free Teacher Resources
Microsoft offers free tools to help engage students in a variety of subject areas—from movie-making to collaboration to science, math, and beyond. Teachers can download these tools for free, the majority of which require no special training.
Mission US
Mission U.S. offers two interactive journeys through two important eras in U.S. History. The journeys are designed as role-playing games or missions. Both games can be played entirely online or downloaded for play on your PC or Mac (you do need an Internet connection to save a game in progress). The first mission in Mission U.S. is set in Boston in 1770. Students play the role of 14 year old Nat Wheeler who, after the Boston Massacre, must choose to side with the Loyalists or the Patriots. The second mission in Mission U.S. is set in Kentucky and Ohio in 1850. Students take on the role of a fourteen year old slave named Lucy. In the mission students escape slavery in Kentucky and navigate to Ohio.
Hot Apps 4 HOTS by Lisa Johnson & Yolanda Barker
Hot Apps 4 HOTS (link opens to iTunes) is a free ebook about iOS apps that can be used to help students practice and develop higher order thinking skills. The book takes readers through a series of apps that are aligned to the various parts of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. Examples and suggestions for app use are included in the book. As Hot Apps 4 HOTS is an ibook, it can only be viewed on an iOS device.

Links for 2012-02-03 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

AppAdvice - iPhone/iPad App News and Reviews
This is a site dedicated to all mobile apps for Apple. A person will find reviews, news, guides, and more on here.

Links for 2012-02-02 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Digital Textbook Playbook | FCC.gov
A guide for K-12 educators and administrators to begin building rich digital learning experiences for students in districts across the country, the playbook offers information about determining broadband infrastructure for schools and classrooms, leveraging home and community broadband to extend the digital learning environment, and understanding necessary device considerations. There are also school district lessons learned and success stories.
Black History Month: Everything You Need | Scholastic.com
Scholastic has built a set of free resources to help teach students about the African American experience. These resources include lesson plans, videos, student activities, and other content to teach a wide range of topics—from the stories of the Underground Railroad and Ruby Bridges to the books that inspire today’s African American leaders.
EasyBib: Free Bibliography Maker - MLA citation styles
A quick and easy way for students to cite their research sources. Copy and paste a URL or type the title or ISBN number of a book, and EasyBib does the rest! Thanks, Kami!
mySchoolNotebook.com
mySchoolNotebook.com is a great tool for students. With its help, you can easily write your notes to a computer, edit and format them or insert an image or a video into them. You can also share notes with others. Free and for pay ($2 month) versions; iPhone/iPod and Android apps. Registration required.

Links for 2012-01-31 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST

Gooru
Gooru is an online study tool that allows you to explore and study over 2,600 standards-aligned and personalized study guides. Study guides cover fifth grade through high school math and science topics, and resources include digital textbooks, animations, instructor videos and more. All resources are vetted and organized by teachers or Gooru’s content experts, so you don’t have to sort through the mess of subpar educational resources available online yourself. Thanks for sharing, Kami!
The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits
The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits is a neat series of interactive animations designed to help students of elementary and middle school age learn how electric circuits work. There are five sections to the series. Each sections builds upon the lessons of the previous section. The series starts with the basics of what makes a circuit complete and concludes with diagramming and building circuits. Each section in the series has a few short lessons and is followed by an animated interactive activity to which students can apply what they have just learned.
Science of NFL Football | Lessonopoly.org
"Science of NFL Football" is a 10-part video series funded by the National Science Foundation and produced in partnership with the National Football League. Lessonopoly has created student activities and lesson plans to support the video series, Science of the NFL, created by NBC Learn and the National Science Foundation. Featuring exclusive footage and contributions from football players and NSF scientists, the series will help teach your students concepts like nutrition, kinematics, and projectile motion. Each video is complemented with lesson plans which include fun classroom activities.

Creating PDFs in Word 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:51:00 +0000

PC users . . . Did you know that you can easily save Word 2007 documents in .pdf format? This is especially helpful if you want to post documents created in Word 2007 on the Internet. If you post in .docx format, generally only those with Word 2007 or 2010 installed on their computers will be able to open the document. However, .pdfs are opened in Adobe Reader, which is a free download and which is usually installed on both Macs and PCs. I strongly recommend converting Word documents to .pdf before posting on the Web. (Of course, documents that the recipient needs to edit should be posted in Word format.)

It is also a good idea to convert Word documents to .pdf format if you are sharing them via email or other means. Again, as long as the document doesn't need to be edited by the recipient, .pdf files can be opened on most computers, Mac or PC.

Here's how to save a Word 2007 document as a .pdf file:

Type your document and save a copy as usual. This will ensure that you have a copy in Word format for future editing.
Then click File > Save As PDF or XPS. (See picture below.) If you don't have the Save as PDF or XPS option on your computer, download the add-in here.

Tech Talk Tips 12-16-11

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:36:00 +0000

It looks like my automatic feeds from Delicious quit working again, so I'll send out my links via the blog!

How do I upload a document to google docs using pages from my ipad?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sa2yUfnhbo&feature=youtu.be

Learn how to upload pages from iPad (or any iOS) to google docs.

December 13, 2011

Embracing Continuous Improvement with EdTech | Edutopia

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/embracing-continuous-improvement-mary-beth-hertz

Successful, effective and meaningful tech integration is basically a bumpy road, like anything new we try in our practice. Don't get down on yourself . . . read this article for some good advice!

Favorite Freebies

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec11/vol69/num04/Favorite-Freebies.aspx

Educational Leadership asked, What's your favorite source for no-cost professional development and instructional resources? Enterprising educators share their answers.

Digital Lesson Plans For The Substitute Teacher

http://ipaddiction.blogspot.com/2011/12/digital-lesson-plans-for-substitute.html

Use digital tools to leave lesson plans for a sub. There are ways to do this without an iPad . . . your Smartphone for example. Anyone want to explore this with me?

Cell Phones in the Classroom

http://timac.wikispaces.com/Cell+Phones+in+the+Classroom

Resources for educational uses of cellphones in the classroom.

December 6, 2011

Educational-Blogging

http://educational-blogging.wikispaces.com/

A resource for teachers who are interested in starting a blog.

What are Those Funny Looking Squares?

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:53:00 +0000

Have you noticed the unusual squares that are popping up in magazines, on store windows, and almost anywhere else you look? These are "QR" (quick response) codes that can be read with the camera of a smartphone or iPod Touch to provide information on products and services. You'll need to install a QR reader on your phone or iPod, and my quick search of the Apple Apps Store found many free or inexpensive QR readers.

With free software such as Kaywa or Qurify, you can even make your own QR codes to use in your classroom! Teachers are using QR codes to:

Provide web site links. Students can scan the codes with their phones instead of typing in the URL.
Post codes for homework, etc. on the board.
Link to videos or other interactive content by placing codes on a handout.
Post a code on the door with an embedded text file containing homework assignments, vocabulary lists, or study guides. Students can scan it on the way out the door.
Have students create QR codes linked to content that enriches their own presentations.

Read more about using QR codes in your classroom in this blog entry by David Andrade. And if you'd like to experiment with these codes in your classroom, I'd love to help!

Tech Talk Tips 11-16-11

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:45:00 +0000

A couple of teachers indicated on the tech training survey that they would like to learn more about Excel 2007. Check out this free introductory course from HP.

http://bit.ly/vndWkh

I've been on a Twitter kick lately while I prepared for an introductory workshop for KHS teachers. I learn so much from articles posted on Twitter, and that's where I get lots of the resources that I forward. Other teachers apparently share that sentiment. Read 10 Ways Twitter Has Made Better Teachers, and then check the Twitter resources on my wiki. KES teachers . . . are you up for a Twitter workshop, too?

I like this quote that was tweeted and retweeted many times tonight:
"Work with students shoulder to shoulder, rather than toe to toe." ~David Heard

Tech Talk Tips 11-13-11

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:56:00 +0000

I find many of the links that I share on Twitter or from blogs via RSS feeds in my Google Reader. Richard Byrne from the Free Technology for Teachers blog provides many excellent recommendations for free Web resources. A few of his recent standouts include:

The Wild Classroom
http://www.thewildclassroom.com/
Check out the Biome Map as well as the videos and podcasts on biology and ecology subjects. According to the web site, "Our goal is to open the eyes of the public to science by producing action-filled nature documentaries, creating exciting lesson plans for schools and educators, and by holding seminars, presentations and photographic exhibitions."

Simple Science's Videos
http://vimeo.com/user697789/videos
Includes 91 videos that aim to give elementary and middle school students clear explanations of science topics.

Math Chimp
http://www.mathchimp.com/index2.php

Several KES teachers asked for resources for teaching and reinforcing math facts. Check out Math Chimp, with games for Grades 1-5! The web site says: "Welcome to Math Chimp! We collect free online math games and organize them by the common core standards. We're glad you've come to play cool math games here... they're free and always will be!"

Take a look at other math resources I've bookmarked at http://delicious.com/barbwit56/math.

Tech Talk Tips 11-10-11

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:13:00 +0000

Museum Box (Nicole Gorog shared this site. Thanks, Nicole!)
http://museumbox.e2bn.org/
This site provides the tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. What items, for example, would you put in a box to describe your life; the life of a Victorian Servant or Roman soldier; or to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? You can display anything from a text file to a movie.

Steve Condon's New Class Web Site (Still a work in progress!)

http://kescondon.weebly.com/index.html
Steve used a FREE Weebly web site. Weebly has lots of nice options; just drag and drop!
http://education.weebly.com/

Tech Talk Tips 11-6-11

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:18:00 +0000

Recommended by the Ed Tech Digest blog:
CommonCore360.com
http://www.commoncore360.com/
The free website, www.CommonCore360.com, is devoted to providing a host of resources to educators in need of Common Core Standards training. Read more.

From the Edmodo blog:
7 Brilliant Ways to Use Edmodo that will Blow.Your.Mind
http://blog.edmodo.com/2010/11/17/7-brilliant-ways-to-use-edmodo-that-will-blow-your-mind/

From the Free Technology for Teachers blog:
Punctuation is Important (30-second YouTube video.)
English teachers . . . Wouldn't having your students create short videos like this be a fun way to help them remember punctuation rules?

Tech Talk Tips 11-3-11

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:22:00 +0000

Microsoft Word 2007 Introduction
Free course from HP's Teacher Experience Exchange
http://h30411.www3.hp.com/content/1002-Microsoft_Word_2007_introduction_course
This free Microsoft Word tutorial will help you create professional documents, work with graphics, proofread and more.

Data to Drive Instruction--from the Socrative Garden Blog
http://www.socrative.com/garden/?p=714
This blog post was written by Keystone's very own 8th grade English teacher, Jessica (Visseau) Resig!

Tech Talk Tips 11-2-11

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:45:00 +0000

From the Tech & Learning Advisor Blog:
Research Supporting the Benefits of Technology in Reading and Writing
http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&EntryId=3338
Despite the fact that we’re well into the 21st century innovative educators often still have to make a case for using the tools of the world inside school. This post was written for those looking to justify their decision to use technology to support readers and writers. Below you will find a compilation of research that outlines the benefits of technology in supporting readers and writers.
Read more.

Free To Be . . . Unbullied

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:51:00 +0000

From Marlo Thomas . . .

Free To Be....Unbullied from MarloThomas .com on Vimeo.

Tech Talk Tips 10-31-11

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:12:00 +0000

1. Recommended by the author of the iLearn Technology blog:
ABCMouse.com
FREE for public schools: ABC Mouse is a complete online curriculum for pre-k and kindergarten students that provides a step-by-step learning path. There are six academic levels that include curriculum that includes over 350 interactive lessons and more than 2000 learning activities.
Read more.

2. Recommended by 21st Century Educational Technology and Learning blog:
Science Netlinks
ScienceNetLinks refers to itself as a premier K-12 science education resource produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Perhaps they should consider being the premiere of STEM resources, because they definitely fit the bill. What a wonderful place for educators to find quality teaching tools, interactives, podcasts, and hands-on activities, and best of all… it’s free!
Read more.

Downloading Discovery Streaming Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:28:00 +0000

Are your Discovery Streaming (aka Unitedstreaming) videos buffering while you're playing them for your students? If they are, you're streaming them from the Internet--even though perhaps you thought you downloaded them!

Here's a refresher on how to download these videos to your computer for buffer-free viewing. I did these screenshots on my Mac so the screens may look a little foreign to Windows users, but the concepts are still the same.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

1. Log in to Discovery Streaming and search for a video or video clip.

2. To download the video or clip, follow the instructions below. To download, you must RIGHT CLICK on the film icon. If you left click, you are streaming, not downloading!

3. Choose Save Link As.

4. Save to your computer. I suggest saving to the desktop of the computer you will use to show the video. Then just delete the video when you're finished. You can also save to My Documents. I discourage saving to your T drive because videos are large files and take a lot of space on the server.

As always, let me know if you need help!

Is Video Buffering Driving You Nuts?

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:09:00 +0000

Buffering . . . that pause you get in the middle of a YouTube or other online video while it's loading. That rotating circle that makes you and your students sit and wait. And just when the video gets interesting . . . it stops and buffers again!

So try this the next time you want to show a streaming video:
1. A minute or two before you're ready to start the video (while you're introducing it, taking attendance, etc.) press Play. Then immediately pause the video.

The video will continue to load, even though it isn't playing. The red line at the bottom of the video shows your place. The gray line indicates how far it's loaded.

2. Let the gray line get well ahead of the red line. Then press Play and watch the video (hopefully) uninterrupted by buffering!

Tech Talk Tips 10-27-11

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:49:00 +0000

I've decided to use blog posts for the time being to share the interesting educational web sites that I come across. Although you're not receiving the Delicious feeds that usually give you the links that I've bookmarked, as far as I know, the "Keystone Tech Talk" posts are still getting through!

From Kathy Schrock's "Sites of the School Days:"
I love that teaching idea!
http://ilovethatteachingidea.com/
...a great collection of teacher-created tips, ideas, and resources on things from assessment to substitutes and everything in-between!

Celebrating Innovation in Education

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:01:00 +0000

I recently came across The 8 Blog, which is written by Oliver Dreon, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the Education Department at Millersville University. His "Celebrating Innovation in Education" post describes two online sessions the University hosted recently on innovative ways that Pennsylvania teachers are using technology in their classrooms.

The recorded sessions may be viewed via the Elluminate links. Also check out the ten teacher project videos. Most are only a couple of minutes long, and the topics range from "Technology in Kindergarten" to "Nanotechnology in the Classroom."

If you get inspired and want to try a new project with your students, contact me. I'd love to help!

Where's the "Tech Talk?"

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:49:00 +0000

It occurred to me this evening that I haven't received any "Keystone Tech Talk" emails recently. I know I haven't been too efficient about writing blog entries, but I have been tagging web sites in my Delicious account regularly. Those are the web sites listed in the "Tech Talk" emails that you usually receive several times a week.

I did some investigating and found that the service that usually emails my Delicious web sites isn't working for anyone right now. Yahoo sold Delicious to a different company, and apparently that company isn't supporting the "feed" that emails the web site links to you. Hopefully, this is just a temporary inconvenience!

In the meantime, you can find my bookmarked web sites by going directly to my Delicious account at http://delicious.com/barbwit56 or by checking the list on the right of the "Keystone Tech Talk" blog.

Summer Learning with SimpleK12's Free Webinars

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:37:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/1142207245/sizes/m/in/photostream/

SimpleK12's Teacher Learning Community is offering free webinars this summer! Topics include Twitter, Edmodo, Word Cloud Tools, Mobile Learning, and more. Look for the "Everyone" link under "Who Can Attend" to participate for free. Check out the entire list of topics, dates, and times and learn something new this summer!

Read the "Laptop Buying Guide" and Save!

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 17:19:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jangelo/2708411711/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Summer is the time of the year when new college freshmen spend their graduation money on laptops for school. Others take advantage of the back-to-school "specials" to get a great deal on updated computers. But buying a laptop can be confusing! Mac or PC? How much RAM? Hard drive size? Screen size?

Before heading out to your favorite computer superstore to make your purchase, check out MakeUseOf.com's Laptop Buying Guide 2011. The Guide can be downloaded in .pdf format or read on Scribd.

Also remember that many manufacturers offer education pricing for students and educators. For example, Apple usually sells their white Macbooks for $999, but students can buy the same Macbook for $899 when purchasing through the Education store. HP and Dell offer similar educational discounts. Additionally, see if your college offers special student pricing. This information can usually be found on the college web site.

One more tip . . . don't buy a laptop bag or backpack until AFTER you choose a laptop! Measure your laptop and then choose your bag; not all backpacks can accommodate the widescreen laptops.

More Summer Learning with Curriculum 21

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:18:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peteashton/56631252/

Like many teachers, I read more during the summer than during the school year, when on a good night I get through a chapter before falling asleep! In addition to reading some mindless "chic lit" selections on my Kindle, I've started Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World, edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs. Although I've only read a chapter and a half so far, I've already been inspired to share some new ideas for updating your curriculum.

Hayes feel that we should stop talking about "integrating" technology and begin "replacing" outdated curriculum with technology-rich lessons that address real world skills and applications.

Upgrade Assessments
Hayes identifies three basic elements of curriculum: content, skills, and assessment. To update the curriculum to better address the 21st Century needs of our students, she suggests starting with assessments. She advocates gradually upgrading dated assessment types with modern ones using this process:

Brainstorm and research the products and performances used by professionals in your subject area(s). (For example: documentaries, films, web sites, email exchanges, blogs, etc.)
Identify the software, hardware, Internet resources, and other technology tools already available in your school for teacher and student use. Commit to learning and using at least one new tool per semester or school year.
Replace at least one dated assessment per semester with a modern one.
Share these changes with colleagues and update curriculum maps.

I think this is a fairly simple and painless process that we can begin to implement together. What are your thoughts? Does this procedure complement or conflict with PDE's SAS framework?

Learn Something New This Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:16:00 +0000

Summer is the time of the year that teachers can relax, refresh, and reflect. It's also the time of year when many of us look for new ideas to enhance our curriculum! With that in mind, take a look at "77 Web Resources for Teachers to Try this Summer" by Richard Byrne of the "Free Technology for Teachers" blog.

View the document below or download it from here.

77 Web Resources for Teachers to Try This Summer

Traffic Safety Students Produce Public Service Announcements

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:24:00 +0000

L to R: Braden, Nick, Jenna, Matt, Alyssa, Matt, Alicia, Marana, and Jesse (from C-93)

Students in Brigette Irwin's Traffic Safety classes once again produced public safety announcements on safe driving. After working in groups to write scripts, the students used Garageband software on their Macbooks to create and save their podcasts.

Students who wrote the three winning projects then traveled to the C-93 radio studio in Clarion to have their podcasts produced by C-93's "Scuba Steve" for broadcast on both C-93 FM and AM 1300. KHS math teacher Dustin Kifer, a part-time deejay on C-93, coordinated the efforts with the radio stations.

Enjoy the students' public service announcements and please pay attention to their important messages.

Fighting Bullying with Enhanced Podcasts

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:53:00 +0000

Sandi McElravy's ninth grade English students at Keystone High School recently created public service announcements with a focus on bullying. Keystone participates in the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, so Mrs. McElravy and her students integrated those topics into their study of PSAs. After a quick lesson on making enhanced podcasts using the GarageBand software on their Macbooks, the ninth graders created sometimes poignant videos with anti-bullying messages. See samples of their work below.

By Katie and Jacob:

(Photos were shot using the webcam on the Macbook.)

By Samantha and Brooke:

(I'm still trying to figure out why we're only seeing 1/2 the width of the video!)

Green Screening with First Grade and iMovie

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:31:00 +0000

Keystone Elementary first grade teacher Suzanne Buckley and I have been experimenting with video and green screening. Suzanne first approached me with an idea for recording a video of her students acting as reporters and sharing what they had learned during their cross-curricular unit on owls. She wanted the students to appear as though they were reporting from a newsroom as well as from "the field."

After doing a little research, I discovered that the iMovie '09 software on my Macbook would allow us to do just that! We video taped the kids standing in front of a green screen--a sheet of green fabric that we borrowed from our high school art teacher. (Thanks, Fred!) In iMovie, I was able to import photographs of a newsroom as well as nature shots and then superimpose the video over them. I admit that my video-editing skills need a lot of work, but the green screening process itself was very easy with iMovie. A blog entry from "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" got me started.

Our next project was video taping Mrs. Buckley's students in front of a green screen as they recited lines from "Camper, Camper, What Do You See?" This time we replaced the green background with student-created artwork. We also used a Flip video camera, which made importing the video onto my Macbook very simple. It was also easy to delete video clips that we weren't happy with as we did the taping, instead of after they were imported into iMovie. We will definitely use the Flip again for future projects.

I haven't figured out yet how to add transitions between the video clips in iMovie without messing up the timing for the changing of backgrounds. The lack of transitions makes the videos a bit choppy, but hey, we're still learning!

I've embedded our videos below. Enjoy watching these delightful first graders as they demonstrate what they're learning in first grade!

If you don't see the embedded videos, visit our SchoolTube channel.

Dropbox Makes File Access Easy

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:34:00 +0000

Do you use a flash drive to carry documents and other files to school from your home computer? Or do you email tests and quizzes to school from your home account? If so, you should take a look at Dropbox.com!

Dropbox allows you to save files in the "cloud" (on the Internet) for access from any computer. I've been using Dropbox for over a month, and I love it! Dropbox is also a handy backup solution. If your computer crashes, your files are safe since they are saved on Dropbox's servers.

Dropbox gives you 2 GB of storage space for free. However, they will increase your storage by 250 MB (up to 8 GB) for every person you refer to their service. So, if you create a Dropbox account using the following link, both my account AND yours will increase by 250 MB! You will begin with 2.25 GB instead of 2 GB. http://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTExMjI2MjM4OQ

So how does Dropbox work? Once you create your account, you download the software on your computer. Dropbox adds a folder in "My Documents" on a Windows machine or in Finder on a Mac. You just save as you normally would, choosing your Dropbox folder as your location.

But what if you're working in a lab or on someone else's computer and need a saved file? Easy! Just go to dropbox.com and log in. You can access and download your file from any computer with Internet access.

If you need help setting up your Dropbox account, let me know. I think you will love Dropbox as much as I do!

Saving to Dropbox on a Mac

Saving to Dropbox on a PC

First Grade Meets Anansi the Spider

noreply@blogger.com (Barb Witkowski) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 18:18:00 +0000

Erin Zacherl's first graders from Keystone Elementary School recently participated in "Anansi the Spider: A West African Folk Tale," a video conference presented by the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia. Keystone joined students from eight other elementary schools throughout Pennsylvania for this special event, sponsored by Magpi.

The African folk tale came alive with brightly colored shadow puppets and recorded Nigerian drumming and narration. The students were introduced to Anansi and participated in learning activities about West African food and culture. They finished this special program by making their very own Anansi shadow puppets!