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.

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

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.

Well it’s getting close to the end of the challenge.  Here in Tasmania we have about three more weeks until our end of term then we have a two week holiday.  Those students in Canada and USA are heading towards the end of the year and their summer vacation time.

Are you going to be writing posts over your holiday break?  What topics are you going to write about? Maybe you are going to be away from computers for the break.  But you still want your readers to come back after the break to read your posts.

You have your blogroll organized; you’ve visited everyone on the blog to wish them a great holiday or good luck when they finish middle school and go onto high school. But how are you going to keep them as readers and entice new readers in over your break?

Challenge this week

Begin writing a series of at least three posts on a favourite topic. 

For example, if you are like Braiden in my class last year, your topic would be motor sport.  Perhaps he could write a post about:

• famous motorcar drivers – one post per driver with links and photos to other websites
• famous races – again lots of links and images with correct attribution

At the end of each article ask a question.  Also mention what you will be writing about in your next post. To make it easy for your readers to know when you have written your post, do you have an email subscription on your blog?  Check out this post from The Edublogger to see how to add it.

But, I’m not going to be near a computer over the holidays, you say!!

Easy done!  Instead of publishing the post immediately, tell your computer when you want it published.  In Edublogs above the save/publish buttons in your write post dashboard is a ‘publish immediately edit’ button.  Use this to tell edublogs when you want your post to be published. This will make it look like you are still writing during your holidays.

Original image: ‘Late night‘  by: eden politte
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35237096015@N01/24604141
Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial License

One of the most important parts of blogging is continuing conversations.  This means readers have to read many blogs and leave lots of comments.  If you read a great post and decide to write a similar post on your blog, then it is manners to include a link to that original post where you got your idea from.

So this week’s challenge involves visiting the ‘Bringing us Together’ blog and reading the post about heroes, taking part in the survey and leaving a comment. Some of you might want to write your own post(with a link back to the original) about someone you consider to be a true hero or heroine.  Be careful to spell heroine correctly on your post.

War often brings heroes and heroines to our notice and while I have been ill over the last few weeks, I have been watching a lot of TV on the History channel.  A person I consider a heroine is Vivian Bullwinkel and a hero is Sir Weary Dunlop.

Thanks to Miss Ale and her grade six class in Argentina for the idea for this post.

Original image: ‘Hero of the Soviet Union‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124385307@N01/95230930
by: Kees de Vos   Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

Welcome back after your Easter holiday break.  I hope you all had a great time.  I wonder what you did?  Perhaps you could write a post about it in your blog.  Also with ANZAC Day coming up this weekend, I would be interested in knowing:

• What do you know about ANZAC Day?
• What was the event that began the tradition of ANZAC Day?
• What does ANZAC Day feel like, sound like and look like to people taking part in the parade and to people watching the parade?

This is another great post to be completed by Friday.  Make sure you have done some research and know your topic.  If you visit the website for the Australian War Memorial you will find lots of information and you might also find some images you could use. Remember to give attribution like I have for this photo (tells the readers where you got the photo).

You might also find some information from these BTN websites:  one about ANZAC Day and the other why people joined up. 

From Picture Australia:  www.brisbaneishome

070425 Anzac Day March, April 25th 2007, Adelaide St, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia-52

Flickr

WHO/Shareef Sarhan

A doctor surveys the damage to a medical facility in the Gaza Strip during the conflict in 2009. International humanitarian law urges combatants to respect the neutrality of health facilities, staff and ambulances during conflicts to ensure they are not caught up in the violence and can continue to provide care.

WHO/Christopher Black

In Pakistan’s most-affected areas during the 2005 earthquake, 49% of health facilities were completely destroyed, from sophisticated hospitals to rural clinics and drug dispensaries. A woman receives medical care outside a hospital in Muzaffarabad after the earthquake.

WHO/China

The May 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province damaged or destroyed more than 11 000 health facilities and killed and injured tens of thousands of people. Chinese health, emergency and military authorities led a massive response effort shortly after the earthquake hit.

WHO/PAHO

To ensure health facilities can withstand earthquakes or avoid sea surges caused by cyclones and hurricanes, planning is needed in terms of proper site location, design and construction in compliance with building codes. Two construction workers review the model of a hospital in Costa Rica.

WHO/Myanmar

After Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in May 2008, makeshift health and accommodation centres were set up in temples, monasteries and other buildings that were unaffected by the cyclone. About 2.4 million people were affected by the cyclone.

WHO/Margie Peden

Members of an emergency aid team participate in a training session in Durban, South Africa. Simulating response scenarios and conducting field tests allow health workers to practice their skills and teamwork and be ready for real emergencies.

WHO/Paul Garwood

A nurse checks the intravenous (IV) fluid infusion for a patient at a treatment centre in the district of Norton in Zimbabwe during the cholera outbreak in 2008. Many emergencies occur in remote locations and require strong, flexible and multi-sectoral means of response to save lives and treat the critically ill.

WHO/PAHO/J. Vizcarra

Poorly built and located health facilities are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters but with modest investment and appropriate planning they can continue providing health services when most needed. Two nurses visit the site of a hospital being rebuilt in Mexico.

WHO/Christopher Black

Families of those affected by emergencies need help, particularly psychosocial services, to cope with the tragedy of the event. Mohammed Rafaiq brought to a hospital in Pakistan’s Muzaffarabad his son Razaif who was in shock after the 2005 earthquake, which destroyed their home and killed four in the family.

All photos from the WHO gallery.

Imagine you are one of the people in one of these photos.  Write about what you see, hear and feel.

A few health comparisons between Australia and some of our Asian neighbours.

Country     A                B          C         D            E           F

Australia    $3200                17        12          2.77             1             17

China            $94                  1            5         1.55           34             31

Fiji              $150                   9           ?           0.37             0             15

Japan         $2700                 18        12           2.18             1            29

Malaysia      $255                  7          15          0.87           22             21

New Zealand   $2420             19          ?          2.30             0              21

Papua New Guinea  $29          7         38           0.13        668              ?

Phillipines        $45                 6         37          1.14         122             23

Singapore     $1450                 6            ?          1.61             1             13

Vietnam           $47                  6         29          0.62          41             18

A=Health expense per person

B=% government spends on health

C= % population below national poverty line (different each country)

D= Doctors per 1000 people

E = Deaths from malaria in a year

F = % population smoke daily

What can these statistics tell you about our health and that of people in our neighbouring countries?

In less than a week, we will be losing all those red dots on the clustrmap.  After 12 months, they archive the map, so I thought before that happened I would save an image of what it looks like now.

Since March 14, 2008 we have had nearly 18,000 visitors to our blog.  We have had 50 or more visitors from these countries:

Can you work out the names of ten other countries where our blog visitors have come from?

Last week we had our first official Skype call with Ashley in Connecticut, USA.  It was 1pm our time and 9pm in America.  Students asked questions, talked about their pets and interests, compared schooling in USA and at our school.  It was an exciting 45 minute call with students using the webcam and smartboard to make the call more exciting at both ends.

Well, it is going to happen again!!

This time we will be talking with Grade 6 students in British Columbia, Canada.  It will be 9am Friday our time and 2pm Thursday their time. But to make the activity more interesting, we need to think about what we want to show them.  We also need to think about what questions we want to ask them.

Please comment about what you think:

• we should tell them
• they should tell us

Original image: ‘canada flag‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78873033@N00/83616186
by: Alistair Howard    Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License