Hands-on Technology Equipment Spotlight: We all remember the days of overhead projectorsHeavy, cumbersome, and on a rolling cart that took up a corner of your classroom. Thanks to the ELMO cam, you no longer have to sacrifice such valuable space! Our media center has these fabulous (and COMPACT) little gadgets ready for you to use in your classroom this coming school year.
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Use actual specimens for demonstrations. No longer will you need to use a picture of the class
ELMO Visual Presenter Cam
fish. Simply place Goldie’s bowl under the camera’s lens and watch her swim!
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Turn a regular sized picture book into a big book. Now everyone can see the pictures as you read aloud!
and have the class read along with them. Email Mrs. Ergle your ideas on how to use the ELMO cam. A list will be compiled and shared with all staff members at an upcoming
staff meeting!
Demonstrate how to use various manipulatives for mathematics lessons.
FLIP Digital Video Camera! Flip cameras are compact and lightweight with a collapsible CPU connector built right in. There are no cords to get tangled up or misplace. Certain models can record up to 120 minutes of video per battery charge and house
August 2009
Sunshine Elementary School
Inside this issue:
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Take still snapshots of items you can’t put on a scanner.
Equipment Spotlight
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Have students place stories they have written under the lens
Emerging Technology 1
Emerging Technology: Flip Digital Video Cameras Digital Cameras have never been easier to own or operate– Introducing the
Volume 1, Issue 7
up to 8 GB of memory. Flip cameras are easy to hold and operate making them an ideal option for upper elementary grade students to use! With a few simple instructions, watch their projects come to life!
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Teach hands-on basic video recording skills
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Allow students to film Media Festival entries
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Capture field trip videos
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Open-Source Technology
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Record and post video blog posts to a classroom blog
Professional Development
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Much, much more!!!
Maintenance Minutes
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Open-Source Technology: Wordle Are you looking for a fun new way to create a word wall? Are your students bored with traditional flash cards to learn their spelling words? Try WORDLE– it’s FREE and FUN to use! All you need to do to get started is to access the Wordle website at the following URL address: www.wordle.net Click “create” to view your options. You can paste text from existing documents into the first box or the URL of any blog or web page into the second box. You can even create a word cloud for your del.icio.us tags!
The more a word appears in the chosen text, the larger it will appear in the word cloud. If you wish to remove a word from the cloud, simply right-click on it and select “remove.” Further customize your Wordle creations by changing the text font style, font colors, text orientation, and layout settings. Let your students’ creativity guide them as they make assignments and projects more interesting, review key ideas from a lesson, or discover and explore patterns in their writing. “Wordle” is the word!
Professional Development Today’s students and parents are more familiar with online technology than ever before. Many of them keep up with work, email, friends and news updates via the Internet. In order to reduce the amount of paper newsletters generated in our school, many of you have been asking about how you can use the Internet to keep in touch with students and parents.
We have the answer! The August staff development session will focus on how to create your very own blog using the “Edublogs” website. Edublogs allow educators to connect with students and their parents for free.
handouts of the process will be provided for taking notes. We hope to see you on Tuesday, August 18th at 3:00pm. Join us and Get connected!
Join us in the media center computer lab to learn how to create your own blog step by step. Bring a pen as
Maintenance Minutes •
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Never unplug peripheral equipment from the computer when it is powered up. Unplugging with the power on can short out the connector socket. Do a virus check regularly. Everyone should use a virus check program of some kind. The best type of program is one that provides continuous monitoring such as Norton Antivirus,
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Kaspersky Internet Security, Bit Defender or McAfee Antivirus.
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Keep track of the software disks your receive with your computer and peripheral equipment. These CDs contain valuable drivers and programs that will be needed should Windows ever have to be reloaded. Keep all software CDs in a safe, dry place. You never know when you might need them!
Hands-on Technology