Technology in our classroom

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.

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.

A great big thank you to all my students who made today’s lesson a pleasure to teach.  I hope you all learned a lot about your strengths and weaknesses.  When you choose activities to do now, from the grid Mr Hand and I are developing, you should be able to decide on ones you are interested in that do not necessarily relate to word smart or maths smart only.

Please leave a comment here telling me what were your top two or three strengths and whether you think the test was accurate or not.

Original image: ‘Oops‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65768710@N00/3209636742
by: Francisco Martins

Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial License

I have just checked out the information sent to teachers about websites and contests and found a few that some of you might be interested in looking at.

Name a road

With the Hobart International Airport expanding they are needing four roads to be given appropriate names.  You might need to check out this website for the correct way to name roads – this is called nomenclature.  This website also has information about giving geographical names in Australia.

You must be in primary school, so sorry Grade 7 students, you won’t be able to enter.  If either of your parents work at the airport, you also won’t be able to enter.  This closes 5pm on 10th July, 2009.  Check with your teacher by the end of June,  if you are interested in submitting 4 names as there is an official entry form for you to fill in and send off.

Image: ‘747 Over Airport Road‘
www.flickr.com/photos/67952341@N00/512716303

 Grow a crystal

This competition runs from July to September and involves participants in growing a crystal.  Check out the information at this website and also mention it to your science teachers.  They might do this as part of the science course over term 2.

In the Smithsonian kits, these are called ‘frosty diamonds’.

Anne Helmenstine

http://chemistry.about.com/od/growingcrystals/ig/Crystal-Photo-Gallery/Alum-Crystals.-LUM.htm

What are the 3R’s?  If you asked your grandparents they would say reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. Three of the most basic skills needed to survive in the twentieth century.

But we are now in the 21st century, so what do the 3R’s represent now?  Reduce, reuse and recycle.

How do you reduce, reuse and recycle at your home or school?

Are you and your family going to take part in Earth Hour on 28th March at 8.30pm? What would you normally be doing at this time of day?  Will you need to practise doing something in the dark like the fellow in this video? Check out their website to find out what is going to be happening around the world.

This week, 10-16 November, is National Recycling Week in Australia. Since November 1996, Planet Ark has been running this event and in Australia, we sure need to be reminded to recycle. 

OECD figures show Australia to be one of the world’s biggest per capita producers of waste – at an alarming rate of 2.25 kilograms per person per day.

Check out the information about recycling here.  It includes videos to watch and fact sheets.

How can you get involved in recycling? Find out here. Some activity sheets you might like to download.

Week 8 activities to choose from

1. Write a post about how you, your family, and/or your school recycle.
2. Run an event at your school about recycling. Could include creating sheets for younger students to teach about recycling.  You and your teacher can come up with some great ideas.  Write a post about your event. Include some images if possible.
3. Create a voicethread, video or mp3 file about recycling. Put it on your blog so other students can listen to or watch it.
4. Make a machine, toy etc by using only recycled goods.  Take a photo and add to your blog.  Write a post about how you created it.
5. Write a post about recycling around the world.  Research the topic and include links and images correctly attributed.
6. Check out the website “Ollie saves the planet“. Write a post about this website.

Original image: ‘christiania, glass house, august 2007‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94852245@N00/1244185274
by: seier+seier

Released under an Attribution License

Thanks again to Larry Ferlazzo for this note about the improvements to the free rice website.  I had been to this site a few times, earning rice to be donated. But now instead of just English vocabulary, you can practise your tables or learn the capital cities of countries around the world.  If you are into chemistry learn the periodic table or practise your French and other languages.  Many thanks for this recommendation Larry.

Original image: ‘ricefields Bali‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23283035@N04/2250582572
by:

Released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License

Another great game from the BBC KS2 Bitesize website.  If you are interested in science, maths and language then this game is for you.  It is interactive in that you have to do things in a certain order before the games begin on each slide. 

When I first came up against these interactive sites, I nearly gave up in frustration.  Keep persevering and as a final resort, ask me for a clue to get you going.  Hovering until you get a hand to point at something is a great way to start.

I won’t add the flash player version here as it doesn’t load well in Edublogs at the moment.

There are some new websites being produced where, by answering questions, you can help the environment or those people in worse conditions than you.

Here at Jogo green the more answers you get correct, the more trees they will plant. 

Why do we need more trees in the world and what effect does removing huge areas of rainforest have on the earth and we humans who live on it?

In this activity, you need to use water wisely.  A concentration card game showing you tips for conserving water at home.

Why do we need to conserve water when we are always being told the sea levels are rising?

Be sure to play these games and then answer the questions as part of your comment.