SUPER Fantastic Friday: January 21

SUPER Fantastic Friday: January 21-- IHM Mail and Microsoft's Live@Edu

Welcome to our blog entry for Jan. 21, 2011 -- it's a big one! This entry includes information about our new IHM Mail accounts. You all received a notepad with your new email address, and a letter with your login information. We have an in-person training session on January 21, but I wanted to provide you with these resources immediately to help you integrate our new Live@Edu services into your teaching life!

 

To begin, here is an introductory video for our Live@Edu services. It's about 4 minutes long.

Some questions you may have:

Why do we have to all use the same email system?

•  We all need to use the same system for three reasons. First, we want to be consistent within our building. This allows us all to have a standard email address. Second, this system allows us to use groups. By typing in schoolstaff@ihm-school.com , you can send an email to everyone on staff! Teachers@ihm-school.com will go just to teachers. Finally, we are able to keep a more complete archive of all of our emails using this system, which is a legal requirement for schools.

Do I have to use this address, or can I just keep using my personal, Gmail, or AOL email account?

• Once you begin using this system, you will find that it's more professional and powerful than your personal email system. It has features which will enable to you to communicate more effectively with our faculty and your students' families. We do understand that you'll have to let your students know about the new address and change your email address on Edline and other publications, but having a standard, professional email system at IHM will benefit us all.

Are there other features of IHM Mail or Live@edu which I should know about?

• YES! Here are a few of the powerful features of this communication system
• It's FREE. 
• You will be able to access your email with most cell phones.
• Using Office 365 or Office Web Apps, we get FREE access to Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) for all users. That will save IHM approximately $50 per user in software costs.
• IHM Mail will allow us to share a common calendar
• Using SkyDrive, you can store your documents online, to be accessed from any computer!
• Using Contacts and IM, you can "Chat" with other users in the building if needed.
• The "Photos" feature allows us to share online photos. Check it out at http://photos.ihm-school.com . 
• If, in the future, we would like to offer safe, monitored email accounts to students, it would be possible using this service. However, we are not implementing student accounts at this time.

Fantastic Fridays: January 14

Fantastic Fridays: January 14

1. Classroom Spotlight Project: Internet Research in Lower Elementary

Diane D's class has learned a new phrase for homework-- "Google It"! These second graders used the Internet with parent supervision at home to research an inventor. Parents helped students summarize their information, and print a picture of the inventor. Internet research in a large group can be a challenge, but allowing students to research with a parent at home is great way to broaden their exposure to information in all forms. Diane provided an excellent worksheet to structure their research, keeping kids and parents "on track" (instead of blindly copying and pasting too much information) when researching.

2. Student Websites: Charting and Graphing Data, Timeline Tools

Charts and Graphs

• Chartle.net is a kid-friendly template for creating online charts and graphs. Try it as an introductory lesson, using a projector to display your findings to the whole class!
• http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx Create-A-Graph is another visual, guided website for creating graphs with younger (2-5) students.

Timelines

• http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/timeline/ Is a fantastic, web-based time lining tool. No more squished, erased notations on a piece of notebook paper!
• http://www.dipity.com/ Timline application for older students
• http://www.xtimeline.com/ More advanced timeline application for students needing additional use of details, images, and sources

3. Teacher Productivity Tools: Creating a Seating Chart Using Gradequick

Did you know Gradequick has a built-in Seating Chart tool? Follow the instructions at this link to create seating charts without drawing your own tiny boxes and writing each name by hand! An example of a seating chart created in Gradequick is below. Give it a try!

http://www.edline.com/docs/gqdocs/WebHelp/Seating_Chart.htm

 

Your video this week describes changes in the way Americans (and our students!) absorb information. As teachers, we strive to bring information to our students in many different forms, always evaluating for the best media for our classroom goals. Sometimes, there's no better way to learn than touching, doing, or seeing. However, this video points out the variety of media available to our students and how this affects their learning styles and preferences!