Blog Showcase

We've introduced blogging to our collegues and to PESD students. Blogspot (the Google blogging tool) seems to be a popular tool--probably because it's easy to use and fairly powerful. Here is a showcase of some of the blogs created by PESD staff and students:

http://pesdtechnostuff.blogspot.com/
http://pesdtechnology.blogspot.com/
http://mracedosclass.blogspot.com/
http://msshores.blogspot.com/
http://www.mrquicksclass.blogspot.com/
http://msfranksclass.blogspot.com/
http://whatsupmrroper.blogspot.com/
http://bethunenews.blogspot.com/
http://bethunemediacenter.blogspot.com/

If you are interested in creating your own blog, contact a member of the Instructional Technology team.

Here's a Great Science Resource

The current issue of "edutopia," the magazine published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation (www.edutopia.org), has a great article about a science resource called "Little Shop of Physics." Housed at the University of Colorado in Fort Collins, Colorado, the crew travels to schools to "help them do science." The complete article can be found at http://www.edutopia.org/classroom-science-little-shop-physics.

The Little Shop web site can be found at http://littleshop.physics.colostate.edu/.

The George Lucas Educational Foundation is a good source of information and resources relating to educational issues. Check it out at www.glef.org.

Keyboarding Instruction with EasyTech

Second grade students at Emerson Elementary School are learning to keyboard using Easy Tech from Learning.com. Each student has their own log in and password. Their teachers, Mrs. Eckhardt and Mrs. Gillis, assign each lesson and go over the basics of starting up the computers and logging on to the web site with the students. Students listen to the instructions and practice the skills with their teachers monitoring their activities. At the end of the lesson, they get to race the Kangaroo. When they successfully complete the lesson, they get an on-line certificate and their score is recorded in the teacher's gradebook.

The movie above shows the students as they begin their keyboarding activity. Notice how many of them are keeping their fingers in place on home row.

Third Grade Students at Herrera Elementary School Try Learning.com

Don Hudson's third grade students learn how to do their lessons in Learning.com.

Emerson Elementary Children Begin Their Computer Lessons

Second grade students at Emerson have their first computer lesson. The children learned how to get the laptops out of the cart and how to log in and open Internet Explorer. At the end of the lesson, they learn how to shut down and put the computers back into the cart.

Next they will learn how to log in to Learning.com so that they can begin to learn keyboarding skills.

Let's Explore Easy Tech

Today we begin our professional development for the Easy Tech online program from http://www.learning.com/. This is a technology program that extends into the core curriculum. Today teachers from PESD schools are getting their first look at the program and they will get started creating lesson plans for their classrooms. This is a technology program that extends into the core curriculum.

Professional trainers from Oregon are enduring the Phoenix heat to help us for the next two days. Then teachers will begin to implement the lessons in classrooms around the district. The district has 2500 licenses for use by district teachers. About 1500 are currently assigned. If you are interested in using this tool in your classroom, contact a member of the Instructional Technology Team.

Check Out Some PESD Technology Projects

It's the second week of school and already PESD teachers and students are doing great technology activities. Here are some samples:

Emerson Third Grade: http://www.mrquicksclass.blogspot.com/
Whittier Sixth Grade: http://www.schoolrack.com/mrsramirez/
Whittier Sixth Grade: http://www.gcast.com/u/MrsRamirez/main
Bethune Video Announcements: http://bethunenews.blogspot.com/
Dunbar Sixth Grade: http://msshores.blogspot.com/

If you're ready to try a project, call the Instructional Technology Staff for help.