Newly Discovered Resources

Can you believe November is almost here and the first Trimester ends next week. While looking for a Microsoft Excel template recently, I stumbled on a really cool area for teachers on the Microsoft web site: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/school/FX102781641033.aspx. I also want to remind everyone that Microsoft provides many really helpful template downloads at this URL: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/FX100595491033.aspx?pid=CL100632981033.

Noreen found and passed along a web link that I find to be very interesting. The speaker talks about the "real" 21st Century skills that our children need to have. Here's the link: http://www.schoolchange.org/videos/the_global_achievement_gap_video.html. When you open the site, the video will begin. The video is fairly long and extremely interesting.

Final Mini Camp Day

At the request of members of the Mini Technology Camp group, I have compiled a list of blogs that are being maintained by PESD staff. Just click on the links below to see each blog.

http://whatsupmrroper.blogspot.com/
http://msshores.blogspot.com/
http://msstewarts1stgrade.blogspot.com/
http://msfranksclass.blogspot.com/
http://lacyslearners.blogspot.com/
http://mrscastro.blogspot.com/
http://herreradance.blogspot.com/
http://maestra-cole.blogspot.com/
http://mrsbernalsclass.blogspot.com/
http://pesdalps.blogspot.com/
http://coyotetalesfromtheprep.blogspot.com/
http://pesd-librariesalive.blogspot.com/
http://lowellmediacenter.blogspot.com
http://mtmediacenter.blogspot.com/
http://mrsnunezsclass.blogspot.com/
http://misspettitt.blogspot.com/
http://mrsramirez.weebly.com/
http://thomaswildcats.blogspot.com/
http://whittiermath.blogspot.com/
http://www.pesdsportsdesk.blogspot.com/
http://pesdtechnology.blogspot.com/

These blogs are all linked to the PESD web site.

PESD staff who wish to link blogs to the district web site can contact Noreen Strehlow. Those needing help with their blogs or who want to create a blog can contact John, Linda, or Noreen for assistance.

Beginning Blogging Part 2

This is my second post today. The afternoon class is learning to use blogger.

Learning to Blog

This is an example of the photo composite that we created with Power Point this morning.

Our Final Days at Sea

After Stockholm, the ship docked in Helsinki, Finland where we explored the city. We visited Senate Square where we saw the Lutheran Cathedral. We continued on past the Olympic Stadium where the 1952 Olympic Games were held.

From Helsinki, we sailed on to St. Petersburg, Russia. In St. Petersburg, we started with a canal boat tour of the city ending at the Cathedral on Spilled Blood. Later the first day we were in St. Petersburg, we enjoyed an evening of opera at the Sheremetyev Palace. The Palace is now a museum of Russian Music. On our second day in St Petersburg, we traveled outside of the city to tour Peterhof, the town of palaces, fountains, and parks that was built by Peter the Great.

Our final stop was Tallinn, Estonia. The network of medieval streets, churches, and dwelling houses has been preserved practically intact. The town has been identified as a World Heritage site by Unesco. Finally, we had a sunny day in Tallinn. It has been cloudy and rainy on our other stops.

Now we are on our way back to Dover, England and then one more day in London before heading home to Phoenix. I’ll see everyone at school on Monday.

The Adventure Continues

It’s 8:30 p.m. on Thursday evening on August 28. Since my last post we’ve spent two days at sea and visited three ports. Our first port was Copenhagen, Denmark. We took a canal cruise and walking tour around the city. Our tour included the site of the famous “Little Mermaid” statue.

Our next stop was Warnemϋnde, Germany. From Warnemϋnde we traveled to Guestrow where we visited a Renaissance castle and had lunch at a country farm house. After lunch we shopped along the pier.

Today we spent the day in Stockholm, Sweden. We toured the medieval “Old Town” and the Vasa Museum. At the Vasa, we saw the restored 17^th century warship that sank in Stockholm’s inner harbor in 1628.

Tomorrow we will be in Helsinki, Finland and after that St. Petersburg, Russia. Check back for more photos.

It’s tomorrow when I’m finally getting this posted at 7:50 a.m. on the 29^th (it’s 5:50 p.m. on the 28^th your time). We could not get on the Internet last night.

Visiting Baltic Capitols

Today’s blog is for the students at Monterey Park School who are checking in to see pictures of England and the Baltic capitols that I am visiting. We left Phoenix at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 21 and traveled to Washington D.C. From Washington we traveled to London, England. We arrived at 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning London time. (Can you figure out how many hours it took for us to get to London?)

On Friday we toured Buckingham Palace and the Queen’s garden that is pictured above along with “Big Ben. On Saturday we traveled by bus through London--where we saw “Big Ben” and other famous sites—on our way to Dover. We sailed from Dover.

Today we were at sea and tomorrow we will visit Copenhagen. Watch the blog for pictures of Copenhagen.