I just found this link to Real Simple, with games that are fun to play with kids .... so as you begin the summer travel, one or two of these may come in handy. Most are not technologically advanced, but creativity is a sought after commodity. Let's help kids THINK!
27 Low-Cost, High-Imagination Games Real Simple
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Tesselations
I was thinking of tesselations the other day because I need to design a quilt. I know what a tesselation is, but in my never ending quest to gain meanings of words and labels, I thought I would search for a definition. According to mathforum.org a tessellation is created when a shape is repeated over and over again covering a plane without any gaps or overlaps. I'm sure Mr. Brady taught me that in 8th grade, but that is ancient history - glad to know I've been using it all these years. So how does this relate to our Instructional Technology class? I'm not really sure, but I am trying to cover all bases, learning and gleaning information that will enable me to reach my goals for this program.
Monday offered another array of tools and the instructional applications; the Fly Lab was intriguing, definately glad I won't be seeing any additional Fruit Flies in our room. Zunal is a great tool - I really like the fact that all the links are right in front of the student, including the assessment. This will make my webquest so much easier to manage with the class. Storybird is perfect for a child development class. I try to teach my students the importance in early literacy and reading within child development; this will give me a tool to create an age appropriate story, without worrying about student artistic talent. Befuddlr - cool tool for photo's and notes - I'm going to try to put together a unit on kitchen tools (you know, those tools that actually tell you what they are)
Well back to my quilt design... enjoy a completed design of a memory quilt.
Monday offered another array of tools and the instructional applications; the Fly Lab was intriguing, definately glad I won't be seeing any additional Fruit Flies in our room. Zunal is a great tool - I really like the fact that all the links are right in front of the student, including the assessment. This will make my webquest so much easier to manage with the class. Storybird is perfect for a child development class. I try to teach my students the importance in early literacy and reading within child development; this will give me a tool to create an age appropriate story, without worrying about student artistic talent. Befuddlr - cool tool for photo's and notes - I'm going to try to put together a unit on kitchen tools (you know, those tools that actually tell you what they are)
Well back to my quilt design... enjoy a completed design of a memory quilt.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
More from the piles of scraps called life...
Life is so fun... and the learning never ends. I've been working on this project of a family tree, tracing our family with a cousin who really does not know many of his extended family. Well through a little questioning and a mother who had some "stuff" we found out we were related to a soldier from the US Revolutionary War... then she pulls out a paper showing membership of a Great-Great Grandmother in the "Sons & daughters of the Mayflower"... so... off we go on that search. Now we have linked the family together through several generations using Family Mingle, a fun way to communicate and keep track of all those important dates. It stays private, so we can collaborate across the many miles that keep us apart. So while I should be working on my contract items, I search for the "scraps of fabric" that made me into the "complete quilt" that I am. So far I have done this using free sites - Rootsweb.com has a clearing house on all sorts of information, and others who are doing the same. Oh yeah - one of my ancestors was hung on Sept 22, 1692 in Salem, MA as a "witch" - Doesn't that explain ALOT!
Monday, May 16, 2011
The Threads that keep us together
Throughout our life there are threads that hold us together. The threads that stayed strong this past week were my team members. Through marathon skyping on weekends, combined with working lunches and independent work, we managed to pull together a project we were equally proud of. Kudo's to Scott and Julie. The amazing thing was how they kept me sane - Thanks.
Speaking of threads, I did take an evening off to visit with my cousin and her family that came in from Durban, South Africa for a short visit. Had the opportunity to work with her son, Jed, to organize our extended family tree. We sat side by side with our laptops, entering the information we knew into the coolest site, Family Mingle. From zero to 144 family members in two days. Check out the site, it allows for secure photo albums, contact information, calendars, event planning, message board... I know it is not "education related" but it is allowing us to organize our family using the family papers we have floating around. I can't wait to be able to send out birthday cards on time - the calendar is GREAT! Hopefully none of the family will pass out when they get their card on time!
Well onward we go... here's a quilt to keep you warm after the FREEZE!
Speaking of threads, I did take an evening off to visit with my cousin and her family that came in from Durban, South Africa for a short visit. Had the opportunity to work with her son, Jed, to organize our extended family tree. We sat side by side with our laptops, entering the information we knew into the coolest site, Family Mingle. From zero to 144 family members in two days. Check out the site, it allows for secure photo albums, contact information, calendars, event planning, message board... I know it is not "education related" but it is allowing us to organize our family using the family papers we have floating around. I can't wait to be able to send out birthday cards on time - the calendar is GREAT! Hopefully none of the family will pass out when they get their card on time!
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