Technology in our classroom

What an unusual title for a blog post but today is officially ‘World Toilet Day’. This is celebrated every year on November 19 and you can find lots of information from the following websites:

Add a banner or logo from here.

Why do people squat when going to the toilet?  Check it out here.

Lots of links about ‘World Toilet Day’.

Our class squatted for one minute.  Some comments were:

• Legs went numb after a while.
• Hard not to put your hands down for balance.
• Started hurting your thighs.
• Difficult because we are not used to squatting.
• Strained your muscles.

Miss Wyatt’s first try at creating an animoto. Hayley is complaining about the oldies music Miss Wyatt chose for the background of this animoto.

Do you want to take part in another digital technology competition like ‘Doodle for Google”?

Then check out this website. 

Notice the closing date is 30th November, so you dont have long to get it done.

The challenge is to design the 2010 edna schools calendar.

Original image: ‘2008 Calendar‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80812899@N00/2180397669
by: Dier

Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial License

As our history theme this term, we are looking at the early and ancient civilizations but I am not going to add any links to the history blog unless you add the link in a comment on this post or in a post on your own blog. You must tell me why you recommend that particular website.

Remember we are looking at the following:

• stone age man and how humans developed since leaving Africa
• early towns around Mesopotamia region or the Middle East and the Tigris/Euphrates Rivers
• Ancient Egypt along the Nile River
• Ancient Greece and the city states
• Ancient Rome

Have a look at the headings in the wikipedia articles.  Jot these down as they might be helpful for when you are planning your research and final presentation. Create a mindmap or use bubbl.us which will then allow you to embed your mindmap in your blog. Add any more interesting information you find while searching the web during today’s computer blocks.

Can you find any great websites, videos or audio visuals that I could add as a link?  This could include activities to help with your presentation as a team. I have already linked this post to sections in wikipedia so don’t include those in your comments.

Many students in the blogging challenge have done some great research on this topic for their BAD post. There will be a post highlighting some of their posts over the weekend.

But having lived on this earth now for just over half a century (this makes me old …lol) I have started noticing in the last decade or so, the many changes in our weather and climate patterns, especially how they affect me.

When growing up as a child, winter was always cold and wet, maybe some snow on the nearby mountains and this happened in June, July and August.  But recently we have been having more rain in September and October. We even had snow on Mt Wellington in  September.

Trees that used to begin flowering early in September, are now flowering in October – no good for my hayfever.

Here in Australia, we are hearing more about hurricanes, cyclones and tsunamis in the last few years.  Maybe this is the media being more interested in the topics but they are certainly in the news more often.

Having travelled to many countries over the last twenty years, I really appreciate getting back to Tasmania and the little town where I live.  We have a reputation as a state that is clean, green and very little crime.

My greatest wish for Australia regarding climate change is that something is done at the summit in Copenhagen later this year.  I would like to see electricity in our country to be clean and green – hydro power (Go Tasmania), wind power (Go Tasmania), solar power, tidal power and as a last resort nuclear power.

Image: ‘Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep‘
www.flickr.com/photos/27639319@N00/2935143781

Let’s go on a tour of some challenge class blogs.  Some blogs will have a list of students in the blogroll.  Please leave some comments on their blogs as sometimes they get missed when students are in the blogging challenge.

Mr Bogush – he always has some great topics to write about  – his students are all registered for the challenge as individuals as well

Mr Barrett – lots of images used in this blog

Mrs Yollis – lots of comments including from parents

Mrs Benjamin – only been blogging for a month

Mrs Manross – nearly all her students have registered in the challenge

Mrs Randall – very bright blog with student folios on the sidebar

Mr Baker – Fab4 have student reporters and lots of global connections

Mr Salsich – love the header

Ms Giraud – check out what each student is blogging about

Mrs Braidwood – check out their vision

Mrs Odom – 2nd year in the challenge – they exchanged ‘peeps’ with NZ last year

Doris – Venezuelan students learning English – check blogroll for monthly bloggers

Mrs Carrington – check out the class avatars

Mrs Smith (Huzzah) – 2nd year in the challenge – great posts about classroom activities

Mrs Davis – this blog run completely by students – maybe some comments needed to invite them to other blogs might be helpful

Mrs Burton – some great widgets, a superstar blogger badge and lots of videos about Web 2.0

Mrs Hogan – another blog run entirely by students who are listed under categories

Ms Cahusac – check out the Eagle Nest in Hong Kong

Image: ‘SRPS Bo’ness Steam Locos.‘
www.flickr.com/photos/26314424@N08/3657498431

I hope every participant in the student blogging challenge is going to be a BAD writer on Thursday 15 October. 

 ”Why be a BAD writer on just that day?” you ask.  “Isn’t Miss W shouting when she uses capital letters in blogging?”

No, she isn’t. She is using an acronym.  BAD stands for Blog Action Day.  Visit their website to find out more about the origins of this day in the blogging calendar.  On this one day in October thousands of bloggers around the world will be speaking as one voice on the topic of climate change. If you register your blog, you can add a badge to your sidebar to prove you are taking part in this world wide event.

What can I write about climate change?

Perhaps you can visit these websites and get some ideas:

• Check out world CO2 emissions here at breathing earth. Which countries have decreased their emissions over the last two years?  How did they do it?
• An index of great sites to visit about climate change.
• Visit Canadian eco-kids site.
• Excellent climate change games to play and learn from.
• Visit the BAD partners’ websites to get ideas.

 

Week 6 challenge:  Theme is climate change

1. Write a post about climate change – how it affects you personally; what you can do about it at school, home or local community;  how it is affecting certain parts of the world etc.  Remember to show you have researched the topic by linking words to other websites where you found some great information that you mentioned in your post.
2. Create a series of comic strips about climate change.  Look at the sidebar on this linked blog to find some great comic websites. Maybe create a superhero relating to climate change and tell his/her story.
3. Create a climate change story using images. Remember to give attribution as many other bloggers might visit your blog over the next few weeks.
4. Create your own quiz about climate change using MyStudiyo or another quiz site you know. Make sure the questions and answers relate to climate change and show you have researched well.
5. Maybe you would rather find out what people consider are the important aspects of climate change – create a poll or survey about the topic.  PollDaddy or SurveyMonkey are good sites to do this.

Whatever you do as an activity, remember to make a link back to the BAD site, so they can come and visit your blog.  You might word it something like this:

As part of the student blogging challenge, I wrote a post for BAD 2009 on the topic of climate change.

We thought some of you might like to add badges to your blogs to let your readers know you’re part of the Student Blogging  and Commenting Challenge.

So here they are!

For the Better Bloggers

150 pixels wide

Image location:   http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/files/2009/10/better_bloggers_150.gif

200 pixels wide

Image location:   http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/files/2009/10/better_bloggers_200.gif

For your blog posts

Image location:    http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/files/2009/10/better_bloggers_468.gif

For the Better Commenters

150 pixels wide

Image location:    http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/files/2009/10/better_bloggers_150.png

200 pixels wide

Image location:    http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/files/2009/10/better_bloggers_200.png

For your blog posts

Image location:    http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/files/2009/10/better_bloggers_468.png

For the Challenge Helpers

150 pixels wide

Image location:     http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/files/2009/10/better_bloggers_1501.png

200 pixels wide

Image location:     http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/files/2009/10/better_bloggers_2001.png

For your blog posts

Image location:     http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/files/2009/10/better_bloggers_4681.png

Adding to your blog sidebar:

All you need to do is add a text widget to your sidebar and write a link to the image here on this blog using HTML code.

Here is an example of how you need to write the code:

Where it says:

http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/files/2009/o3/theedublogger2.jpg

you replace it with the image location given above for the size of badge you want to add to your sidebar.

Enjoy!

Miss W. says, “Thanks very much James  from Edublogs for designing and organizing these badges.  Also many thanks to Sue from Edublogs for writing this post to show students and me how to add them to their blog.  I am sure many students and classes will soon have them on their blogs and will have left a comment here thanking you for your support of the challenge.”

Hey, hey, just because I am away doesn’t mean you don’t have any work to do.  You have

• your presentations about a period of time in earth’s history to get organized
• check the history blog for links about the period of earth’s  history
• if you haven’t finished your work on “Bridge to Terabithia” do that
• read more of ‘Bridge to Terabithia’
• in your blog write a post about a time you didn’t have to come to school - was it the fault of nature? was it illness? was it a special event?
• leave comments on some new blogs in the blogging challenge
• catch up with the activities in the blogging challenge

Finally, if the relief teacher brings work for you to do, I will expect it finished before going on with the work I mentioned above.

Over the weekend, my neighbours and I held a regatta out on the street in front of our houses.  A regatta you say – but you need water for that. Well look below at the photos that I took.

One of the neighbours called the ABC and they sent down a photographer and reporter.  Our regatta was mentioned on the news on Saturday night.  Since then the water level has risen even further and two cars about the same size as mine have been stuck and had to be pulled out of the water on the road. This is not good for the underside of the car nor the engine and certainly not the brakes.

Underneath that water are some dangerous potholes – one at least two metres long and about 50cms deep. The council are going to try and pump away some of the water but that won’t be until Wednesday so we have been told.  With more rain due tonight and tomorrow, I feel safer in my house and not trying to leave my driveway to get to school.