tech-notes

April 2005 Issue

NOVA (PBS): This site holds a wonderful selection of dynamic interactive information resources for students to explore. Most of these well constructed online adventures includes a section that guides teachers and provides clear activities and plans for engaging students. Most resources are intended to go along with TV broadcasts. Tapes of previous broadcasts that align with online resources can be purchased. Even without the shows the online resources are exceptional learning opportunities for students to explore.

Web Address: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova

PBS Teacher-Source: Combines lesson plans and online activities found elsewhere on PBS Online with original activities and professional development opportunities. Resources are arranged in seven learning categories; Arts & Literature, Health & Fitness, Math, Science, Social Studies, PreK-2, Library-Media and provide activities and learning for all students levels.
Web Address: www.pbs.org/teachersource

• education's best resources by curricular subject, topic and grade level and standard;

• in-depth online professional development through PBS TeacherLine;

• details on PBS station outreach activities in your community;

• tips on how to effectively teach with technology;

• PBS television programs with extended taping rights for educators;

• access to convenient online shopping for your favorite PBS videos;

• convenient tools for teaching, such as recommended books and Web sites;

• interdisciplinary teaching suggestions;

• free weekly electronic newsletter highlighting new TV and online programming from PBS;

• and much more!

Sample PBS Teacher-Source Resources:
Cyberchase: Know Your Dough (PBS Kids – Elementary)
Catch a two hour special with the Cybersquad as they explore financial literacy, on-air this week.
http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/knowyourdough/index.html

Earth Day, April, Lesson Resources and Activities (Grades 3-12)
Find a wide range of curriculum resources to go along with Earth Day celebrations.
www.pbs.org/teachersource/thismonth/index1.shtm

Visionary Art - Off the Map (All Grades)
Yet there are many different kinds of art and artists. As demonstrated in Off the Map, personal expression is not restricted to canvas or stone; it can be created using almost any object, and any space that is available. Off the Map is an interesting exploration site for all students and one that you could easily construct activities for even at the earliest grade level. The site does include a variety of constructed learning activities for grades 4-12.
www.pbs.org/independentlens/offthemap

Check out the ML Technology Integration Web Page!

www.morrisville.org/classrooms_curriculum/hive_portal/MLTIC.html

Look for the graphic to the right "Online Teacher Tools" when you get there and you will find a long list of engaging online tools that can be used in a wide range of subject areas. Many of these tools can be used in creative ways by all K-12 students. Some are intended as tools to assist busy teachers enhance their professional practice. Check out the many other exceptional teacher resources on this page... save as a favorite!

If you would like help using any of these tools or resources and would like help integrating them into a lesson or unit plan, just contact your Technology Integration Consultant and he will be glad to help out!

Tips for using Microsoft Word

Word offers busy teachers a break with its templates. To get to them, select New from the File menu and click on the appropriate tab - letters and faxes, other documents, publications, or reports. Of particular interest are the memo and brochure templates and the letter wizard.

You can download more helpful templates at Microsoft's Template Gallery:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx

I am especially fond of the newsletter template. It is not only a formatting tool, but gives helpful advice on doing a newsletter in general. If you have intermediate or beginning students, you'll need to modify the language in the template to be more appropriate. In general, only the Editor in Chief will need to use the template on the computer - the rest of the reporters/authors will give their submissions to the Editor, who will add them to the template to create the newsletter. The process of adding and moving articles around can be done well in a one-computer class with a projector, giving everyone the chance to see and comment on layout.

Also, a great place to find clip-art and images to use in your Newsletter, PowerPoint, Web Pages, etc., can be found by using Microsoft's Design Gallery Live. You will need to use Internet Explorer to save clip-art and images properly to use in Word/PowerPoint/Publisher.

Visit the following website to search for and download clip-art and images:

http://office.microsoft.com/clipart

some useful ideas for Google searches:

Put the most important word first.
Google treats words next to each other as "and" relationships first, then as "or" relationships.
Search for a phrase by putting " " around the phrase, such as "peanut butter"
Using a + sign in front of a required word (peanut +butter) means that you want only things with both peanut and butter somewhere in the document.
You can make a NOT relation by putting a space then a hyphen in front of a word you don't want. For example,
star -wars
would eliminate documents about Star Wars. Notice that there must be a space before but not after the hyphen for this to work.
Use a tilde (~) to get synonyms for the search terms. For example, ~peanut butter might return links to nut butter and cashew butter.
For more tips and Google goodies check out the Google "Help" page www.google.com/intl/en/help/index.html
A great lesson to go over with students is the Search Basics page www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html
It is amazing how little most students know about basic search procedures.. even though they spend a great deal of time performing search. Help them be more efficient and productive with their searches!
Remember that not all search engines work the same! Google is regarded as an exceptional starting point, but make sure to learn about others to help increase your search IQ.

Contact mark.arnold@morrisville.org for assistance or to learn more