Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 12:28:51 +1200 From: "Virtual Teacher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Virtual Teacher - A LITTLE SILLINESS
Virtual Teacher Newsletter No. 52 June 21st 2002 - A LITTLE SILLINESS THE FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER ----------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: http://mojo.epicentre.org.nz/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?flavor=subscribe&list=Virtual _Teacher Or visit: http://www.virtualteacher.com.au Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.virtualteacher.com.au Newsletter Archives can be found at:- http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/archives.html ============================================== CONTENTS 1. Welcome 2. Mind Candy 3. WWWinfo World Cup soccer 4. New Printables - E-Book 5. Technical Stuff - Seminars and Sony Mavica 6. Web Site Focus - PowerPoint 2 7. Maths Across Australia 8. Great Sites 9. Readers' Requests/Comments 10 Next Issue 11. Code of 'Netizens' 12. Tips ============================================== 1. WELCOME EVERYONE. I hope everyone has his or her Apollo-neck sweater on with this cold weather. It's fun to use jokes for HSIE units and KLA's, making a point presentation, reinforcing concepts, and reading. "A little silliness now and then is valued by the wisest men" - Roald Dahl. Below is a collection for Outer Space. Check out some Spaced Out links here as well http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/science.html and the Webquest here http://members.ozemail.com.au/~d3935pn1/year23/solars.html Don't miss the gigaflopping brilliant powerpoint tips below. Send in any others you might have. ============================================== 2. MIND CANDY Hans and Stein were playing in their yard in Zurich when one of the boys accidentally swallowed a coin and started choking. Hans ran inside to get help, "Mamma! Pappa! Come quick! There's a franc in Stein!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RANDOM ACTS OF SILLINESS IN SPACE What do astronauts wear to keep warm ? Apollo-neck sweaters ! Where do astronauts leave their spaceships ? At parking meteors ! Where do Martians drink beer ? At a mars bar ! How do you get a baby astronaut to sleep ? You rock-et ! Two astronauts went to the football stadium on the moon, but they left after a few minutes ? You see, it had no atmosphere ! How do spacemen pass the time on long trips ? They play astronauts and crosses ! First Spaceman: I'm hungry. Second Spaceman: So am I, it must be launch time ! What do you call a loony spaceman ? An astronut ! What do you call a space magician ? A flying sorcerer ! What did the metric alien say ? Take me to your litre ! How does a robot shave ? With a laser blade ! What do you call a robot that always takes the longest route round ? R2 detour ! Do robots have sisters ? No, just transistors ! What holds the moon up ? Moon beams ! ============================================== 3. WWWInfo Got to be the Soccer http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/ Keep up-to-date at the Official Site. ===================================== 4. NEW PRINTABLES - Jenny Campbell Here is a site for educational ebooks http://www.teacherebooks.com/ Which is free to download. It is about How to research a topic and how to publish the results on the web, directed to secondary students. You'll find it at http://www.knowledgecollegetutors.com/research2.htm http://www.knowledgecollegetutors.com ============================================== 5. TECHNICAL STUFF Hi Cathy I don't know if this will reach you in time but there is a conference, Slate 2 Silicon, in Orange 21st and 22nd June that has been organised by Greg Alchin from Ideate and Mike Tom from DET. details of the conference can be found at http://www.ideate.net.au/s2s.htm There is quite a lot of input from NSW DET TAs and will be of equal interest to both Mac and Win users. The cost to attend is minimal, $70.00, basically just to cover catering costs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the subject of conferences, I am the K-6 strand co-ordinator for the NSW CEG 2002 conference. This year it will be held at a new time and in a new location:- The 20th Annual State Conference New South Wales Computer Education Group Sydney Super Dome, Homebush Monday 30th September to Wednesday 2nd October 2002 For further information go to http://www.nswceg.org.au I am keen to locate K-6 teachers who are willing to share their experiences and expertise with others by giving a session at the conference. The session should have an IT focus and run for about 50 minutes? It can be a paper, a demonstration or a hands on workshop. Please drop me an email if you think you may be interested or even if you just want to discuss some ideas. All input will be welcomed. Linda Zugai NSW State Manager Edsoft Pty Ltd Email:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.edsoft.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sony Mavica Digital Cameras. these Cameras are great for schools as images are loaded direct to floppy disk as jpegs, tiffs etc(your choice). This avoids the usual 11 step process if you use a USB input an a photo manipulation program. The 'Mavica 95 also takes short movies - though is no longer produced. The Mavica 100 for some strange reason no longer records sound - to be careful of this one. The Mavica 75 is just for photos. Check them out at:- http://www.sony.com.au/content.asp?go=products.asp ============================================== 6. WEBSITE FOCUS -POWERPOINT 2 SPLENDIFEROUS PowerPoint Tips 1. To add sound effects to your PowerPoint goto Slideshow/animations/custom. This dialogue allows you to select an animation with a sound effect. Goto order and timing a select mouse click our automatic. For most animations I prefer automatic. 2. Now for a really tricky bit. To add a background track there are a couple of options a. You can goto insert/movie and sounds/play cd - here you can select a track from a CD in your CD drive and cue it to play during the presentation. When you play your presentation you will always need to have the cd in the cd drive. b. Goto insert/movie and sound/sound from file you can select a previously save file and insert this onto your FIRST slide. Select play sound automatically from the dialogue box. TRICKY BIT HERE select the sound icon you have created and goto slideshow/animation/custom. Goto Options in this dialogue box, select 'while playing continue slideshow, select stop playing after '999' slides, select 'hide while not playing', and loop it if you want to. this will mean the music will play from the first to the last slide. NOTE OF CAUTION - PowerPoint will accept most sound formats including, midi, MP3, wav, however your CDs will need to be converted into these formats first before you can use them for this second method. There are also many FREE music midi/wav/MP3 download sites on the web. http://www.externalharddrive.com/midi/midi.html On a Macintosh the conversion to these formats is easy - just using ITunes. On PCs there are also free programs to convert music files to these formats. c. You can record directly onto you PowerPoint using Insert/Movies and Sounds/Record Sound. You will need a microphone plugged into the computer. The sound Icon can be manipulated as above. This is great for narration or PowerPoint slide shows. d. There is another way - GOTO File/Make a Movie, Select Adjust Settings, select 'next', select 'background soundtrack' select the pre-saved soundtrack(in Midi, MP3,or Wav format), then save as a movie. THIS WILL NOT PLAY IN POWERPOINT, it WILL play in your QuickTime player. Most machines should have a QuickTime player. 3. The third really great TIP is to use slide transitions to make you look like the master. The later versions of PowerPoint allow you to use 'QuickTime' transitions - very cool. Goto slideshow/Slide transitions/Select QuickTime transitions. The cross Fad is the most common and professional looking Transition, leave the settings at the default until you are familiar with it. Some of the other settings are suitable for special effects, try them all and preview them as you go. I usually set the transition to automatic and them to about 3 secs - for most image based slides. 4. The fourth really great TIP, is to use pictures as backgrounds. Goto/Format/Background, then click on the arrow at the corner of the colour bar, goto fill effects goto picture. Goto Select picture. Landscape orientation works best for this. Stay Tuned for PowerPoint 3 tips next newsletter. Goodluck. ============================================== 7. Join in the Maths Across Australia quest by the amazing Barbara Braxton Teacher Librarian Palmerston District Primary School http://www.palmdps.act.edu.au/australia_maths/mainpage.htm Where is Australia? How big is Australia? suitable for upper Primary. ============================================== 8. GREAT SITES HOT SITES CIESE Classroom Projects http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/primarysourceproj.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- United Nations Atlas of the Oceans The Atlas is an information system designed for use by policy makers who need to become familiar with ocean issues and by scientists, students and resource managers who need access to underlying data bases and approaches to sustainability. This is another fantastic site with great resources. http://www.oceansatlas.org/index.jsp -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Online marketing for kids (a lesson) http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/med/class/teamed2/onlineads.htm Marketing Lesson http://teachers.purplemountain.com/teachers/resultpage.asp?lp=2 Can you sell it? Lesson plan http://www.lessonplanspage.com/OSSArtLAMarketProductMakeCommercials48.htm Great ideas for teaching marketing http://www.swcollege.com/marketing/gitm/gitm.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Learning Guru http://www.e-learningguru.com/ This site is jam packed with "how to" articles, templates and calculators in the tool box, dozens of white papers, time saving book summaries and links to the best sites on the net. Looking at e-learning for your schools; begin with the article e-Learning Alphabet Soup. Or check out a beginner basic: What are Plug-ins? Adult/Professional ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anatomia - Do you know about anatomy? This is a fantastic site I played with it myself - did pretty well too. http://www.anatomia.learningtogether.net/ Interactive activities labeling the human skeleton, eye, skull, digestive system, respiratory system, skin are the core of this website. A collaborative team of 15 teachers from European countries created this website in 9 different languages, including English. Middle School, High School Science (Life Science) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Internet Public Library - Kidspace - great place http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/ ============================================== 9. READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS Hi Cathy, I am considering doing exchange teaching in Texas, USA. My son is 14 and an excellent athlete, wins middle distance running, also all-rounder in sports, in all the top teams, particularly baseball and football. Which schools would be good to apply to for sporting scholarships, or who would be able to evaluate him. Any suggestions you can give would d be most appreciated. Jon McManis This is one for the US readers - any suggestions?? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you Cathy for your informative site. I have a colleague who I swap web sites with and he has put me onto yours. You can trust me to keep up my end of the netizen bargain, I love helping others with their computer queries! I have found the best kind of help is informal help and we will often sit around the computers in the staffroom helping each other or sharing effective sites or strategies using ICT. regards Michelle Wood (teacher Ulladulla Primary School) This is exactly what it's about. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cathy, Our Year 7 students are looking at the Government as part of their SOSE next term. Do you know of any useful sites which you could recommend and also any WebQuests which you know of? Thanks Chris Richards - Director of Students Ormiston College Hi Chris, Check out the sites on the virtualteacher page http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/australia.html Under the government heading Also check out edna - links suggest below http://www.edna.edu.au/discover/#resulttab ciao cathy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G'day Cathy Sorry for this late thank you Thanks for the information/websites. It was a little mind boggling or is that numbing - all that info but it was extremely useful useable and informative. Thanks Again Mick Duffy Thanks Mick -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Cathy, I'm a Year 6 teacher from Brisbane. I'm going to do a unit of work on 'alternatives in energy' next term and want to know if there's a site which tells you of worthwhile excursions around the city of Brisbane. Also is there a way to search your virtual teacher website for particular topics rather than skimming through backdated issues of your newsletter? Help? Jennifer Hi Jennifer. Yes there is a section on "Cool Fuel" which is a unit of work on energy. http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/coolfuel2.pdf answers http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/energyans.pdf In this unit I used EPA figures for NSW and VIC these sites are excellent - here is one for Brisbane. http://www.env.qld.gov.au/environment/contact/regional/co.html I am unsure about excursions but perhaps folks at the site above may help. Yes you can search the site using the GOOGLE search engine - just for VT - just check the Virtual Teacher box below the google search engine. Goodluck cathy PS Can anyone help with Excursion sites in Brisbane??? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cathy, Would you mind if I made your PowerPoint tutorial available to our teacher education students via my university's digital conferencing service (FirstClass)? If so, I would ensure VirtualTeacher is acknowledged. Geoff Dr Geoff White Deakin University Faculty of Education Burwood Victoria Hi Geoff, Go right ahead. ciao cathy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Cathy, I emailed a request for any sites that list open-ended maths activities for Stage 1 students (lower primary) a few weeks ago and have been eagerly awaiting some news via your newsletter. Perhaps my initial email didn't reach you. I know there are lots of great links to maths educational sites through your site, but so far I haven't found much on open-ended activities. Do you know of any sites that may help? PS. I think your newsletter is great and have encouraged lots of my collegues and friends to join. What an excellent way to share ideas and expertise! Thanks, Sonia. Hi Sonia, Sorry for the delay, your email address doesn't seem to work. I new this would take a while - I love maths and use a lot of ideas. I have used these activities K-2, some sound difficult but all can be managed by even young children. there are many other ideas as well like the 3 colour theory etc.. Try some of the activities on my maths webpage as well: http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/maths.html This site has some interesting interactive activities as well - things like pattern making and tangrams are great. http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/vlibrary.html Virtual Manipulative Pattern Blocks are great http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/frames_asid_169_g_1_t_2.html Fantastic Tangram site http://www.kidscom.com/games/tangram/tangram.html Activities I love to do with Stage 1 maths - that are not on the web:- Use dice- Record the results of throwing 1 dice, 2 dice, 3 dice. Use totals. graph the results. Using 2 dice, using 3 dice. Write down all the distinct additions(also use 3 and 4 dice) subtractions multiplications you can using 2 dice. What numbers are you most likely to throw - use simple tallies to work this out. Using shape. Prove a triangle has 3 sides.(can a triangle have more than 3 sides or less than 3 sides? can it have more or less than 3 angles, can you make a 4 sided triangle, why isn't it a triangle??) - same with other shapes. Make up as many different triangles(rectangles etc) as you can using toothpicks, the matchstick(popstick, cotton bud etc). Count the perimeter. Record you work with a diagram and the number of matchsticks. Record the lengths of each side as well as the perimeter. Later classify triangles into equilateral, isosceles. Discuss 2D, what is 3D? Construct same as above using Pleistocene and toothpicks. Demand accurate diagrams. Count corners and toothpicks used. Discuss 2D, 3D what is 4D. 4D - shapes through time. Create a representation of a 4D cube - (this might involve 3-4 cubes in different positions - through time - or the various stages of construction, this can also be videoed of photographed if you have a digital camera). Experimentation with number: - Look at perfect numbers, abundant numbers etc. How many ways to make 21 by addition, by multiplication, more advanced by subtraction etc. Play Euclid's game http://www.cut-the-knot.com/blue/EuclidAlg.shtml Look at consecutive number addition to 10. 1 1+2 1+2+3 What are the patterns explain them. Take a look at triangular numbers. Interview a number - find out all you can about it - are there any special things about the number, ask your parents ask you teachers. Take a number like 10 2x5 = 10 etc 10 is the basis of our counting system. 10 is the number of our fingers and toes. History of the number ten- ie when did it first get used. Why do we write it the way we do etc all numbers are interesting in this way. Do some coin flipping. Use one coin 2 coins, 3 coins etc. Draw some diagrams on Kidspiration, or by hand to represent the results. Probability tree diagrams. http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/flip/ The secret is really to get students to record all their activities accurately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Cathy, Congratulations on a great site. I have given a paper copy of it to the teachers at my school as I thought it was a great starting point for any Australian study. You may wish to change the main title though, as it is the wrong your/you're. Thanks for all your wonderful contributions! regards, Lauren Bunch Hi Lauren - I corrected the typo - thanks for that. cathy ============================================== 10. NEXT ISSUE A Bumper issue out next fortnight - Number 3 of the Incredible PowerPoint tips and tricks, more jokes to brighten up your day, some great links on questioning strategies, and more, more, more..... Send you your ideas, have a great fortnight. Ciao cathy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. Code of the 'Netizens' This Newsletter is not free, despite the misleading advertising above. The Fee is now due. Each week you must help one colleague on the Internet who has less knowledge than you. Help that person even if you have to visit their classroom or do a little research and get back to them. Trust me, this will help a lot of people get their computer classrooms running better. OK I'm trusting you!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. TIPS 1. Double click on highlighted URLS to open in browser. 2. Send in your Questions, Questions will be published with Answers, send in your Answers, if you have expertise to share. 3. Nominate a brilliant site for review and inclusion in this newsletter. 4. Nominate a fantastic school site for review and inclusion in this newsletter. 5. Make contact with other schools using fantastic programs. 6. Prepare and innovative article for this newsletter. 7. Tell 2 colleagues about this newsletter. ============================================== The opinions expressed here are purely those of the editor, Cathy Brown. All other small print clauses apply. Such as: Use at your own risk. Nothing in life is guaranteed. If it doesn't work for you send me an email. Editor: cathy brown mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Delivered FREE to your e-mail box every fortnight. Online Lesson Plans, Great Sites, Free Stuff, Tips, Time savers, and templates. Computer Solutions for Teachers. Subscribe today! It's totally Free! Just type subscribe in the subject and send it to me. [EMAIL PROTECTED] ============================================== Reach a growing audience of teachers, by advertising in the Virtual Teacher Newsletter or on the Virtual Teacher site. For more information contact, [EMAIL PROTECTED] For information about inservice and training contact me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ============================================== ******************************************* For digest instead of individual postings, send the message: set k12newsletters digest to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe, click and send (no body or subject: required) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] K12 Newsletters mailing list is a service of Classroom Connect - http://www.classroom.com Archives for K12 Newsletters can be found at: http://www.classroom.com/community/email/archives.jhtml?A0=K12NEWSLETTERS **********************************************************
