That is Latvian for Merry Christmas.  Check out this site to learn how to say season’s greetings in multiple languages: http://www.santas.net/howmerrychristmasissaid.htm  

As the calendar year is coming to an end, take this chance to share with your students how other cultures and countries are celebrating.  Compare and contrast with a venn diagram, use the information for some math problem solving and find some other fun lesson plans!

• December Holiday Lesson Plans and links
  http://www.education-world.com/holidays/archives/december.shtml
• Winter Holiday Round up on Factmonter
  http://www.factmonster.com/spot/winterholidays1.html
• Christmas Traditions around the World
  http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm
• Christmas around the world by country
  http://www.the-north-pole.com/around/
• Hanukkah for Kids
  http://www.theholidayspot.com/hanukkah/
• Holidays year round
  http://www.theholidayspot.com/
• Track Santa, send him an email (within the browser)!  This is a great site to check out on Dec. 24th!
  http://www.noradsanta.org/en/

What kind of writings could you have students do on such a video? Compare and contrast to animals they see on land? Could they write a story or an essay about a Monk Seal, or Endangered Animals? How does an animal become Endangered?
For more on the Monk Seal, check out: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/hawaiian-monk-seal.html
For more on Endangered animals, Look at: http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/map.html

As we start off the new school year, there is so much technology to consider.  Not only do you need to consider technology in the classroom, using laptop carts or computer labs, but using technology as a communication tool with families.  As you learn more about your students and their families, take an opportunity for them to interact with you and your classroom. 

A way to let parents into your classroom is through your Teacher Website or blog.  As you are looking into building a website, think about the purpose and outline best fits your personality. Check out these resources to help you make your website fantastic! …more

 From Card Catalog to Computer Searches! 

• Library: Let’s look at the library, no longer do students search through the card catalog for books, instead they find a book by using a computer and search by keyword, author or title. Books are scanned with a computer and barcode, allowing the librarian to keep track of records with ease.
• Lunch:  Lunch count sent to the cafeteria by a computer to minimize wasted food. Students don’t have to carry money around, they have an id card to scan to keep track of their bills which parents can pay in advance!
• Storing Information: Teachers are able to store lesson plans and student records for years. No longer is it one handout that you can’t change, digital resources can be manipulated to fit different students. Attendance tracking throughout the school and even across a whole district now is made much easier with computer software.
• Communication: Emails from teacher to teacher, and home to parents make communication fast and efficient! Teachers and schools have websites where they can share information of upcoming events and even post newsletters instead of always sending home paper copies.
• Collaboration: Students and teachers can share files and resources with each other. Share thoughts and ideas through digital journals and blogs. The sky is the limit with how much technology collaboration a class can do with others.

As you are thinking of how Technology Affects YOUR life. Consider the following questions:
 How do you retrieve information from technology?
 How can technology be used to organize your thoughts?
 How can you use technology to demonstrate ideas?
 How can technology be used in measurement?
 How can technology be used to solve problems?

Take advantage of a chance to do a virtual field trip!  Take your whole class to a tiger’s cave, or underwater without leaving your classroom!  Check out these fantastic webcam resources:

National Zoo http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

n  Live web cams to specific animals at the zoo.

n  Also has links for kids.

WEBCAMS http://www.lisd.org/technology/itswebs/elem/curr/webcams.htm

n  See live webcams of animals in various habitats.  Choose from Africa came, Sea Otter, Kelp Forest, penguin, Tiger, Ocean cam and much more!

San Diego Zoo  http://www.sandiegozoo.org/kids/index.html

n  Has a kid territory with FAQ and answers.  Some great images, science projects

Seaworld  www.seaworld.org

n  Has some videos and lesson ideas for teachers

Kidport Science  – Life in the Sea http://www.kidport.com/GradeK/Science/SeaLife.htm

n  Images and information on various sealife

Wildlife Channel — www.hancockwildlifechannel.org  
  n  Has fabulous cameras set up in bald eagle nests.  Thanks Ms. Ludden! 

The following is a home video shot from whale watch on the Navatek off Oahu, Hawaii, 02/10/07. Blows, dives and breaches! Mother with calf. 

Great Interactive Math sites to check out!

• Math Playground
• Math Games
• ICT Games, numbers and literacy
• Polygon Playground
• Learn Angles through sport
• Interactive Measurement
• Place Value Pirates

Interactive Fraction sites:

• Name that Fraction
• Fraction Match
• Fractions, basics, equivalent and more
• Pizza Fractions
• Visual Fractions

Experiment of the Week: Sign up for a science experiment of the week.
If you have the time for the science lesson, but not enough time to research and find a steady supply of really engaging science experiments, sign up for a science Experiment of the Week. Each week, a new science experiment will be e-mailed to you.

Bubbles! Do bubbles have sides?  Find out more about Bubbles: http://www.sci.mus.mn.us/sln/tf/books/bubbles.html

Yucky Body Site http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/body/
This site let’s you know why all those want to know where eye gunk comes from, what is a funnybone, and what causes bad breath.  Those human bodies do some crazy stuff!

————————————————————–

Technology I’m Thankful for:

1.     Cell Phones: One price for a call to someone down the street as someone in Conneticut or Kansas, fantastic!  I remember when as a college student I got calling cards to call anyone out of the city I was living in.  Now I can call and text to so many people and afford it!  And when I’m at the store, I can call the house and get grocery ideas.

2.     USB: The number of peripherals since the invention of USB has become incredibl.  No longer is it get one type of cable for one device.  USB has introduced us to a whole new world of computing options. Digital cameras, scanners, web cams, all of these fantastic things would not be nearly as widespread as they are today without USB.

3.     Digital Cameras: What a fantastic idea!  Now I can share pictures with my friends and family via email or facebook, or shoot them a cd chuck full of pictures.  When my nieces and nephews are born and I’m not in town, I can see them the same day!!  Remember the days of film camera?  I would never get a great shot, or have film for a year before developing it.  Then if someone wanted copies, another trip to the store and cost.  I love digital cameras!

4.     Inexpensive Internet: I feel like everything is at the tips of my fingers with internet. It’s so much easier to communicate with others, and the ability to find resources is amazing!  What does a word mean? Why is my washing machine leaking? What recipe can I make with bananas, cornflakes and chocolate chips? Being able to find and share resources quickly has opened the doors to so many possibilities.  And even non-geeks can afford it!

5.     Online Travel Agent:  I used to call a travel agent, or would be with my Dad at the airport to book tickets. Now I can go to Kayak.com and put in the days I want to fly and ask for a buzz and everyday I get an email telling me the cost of flights on the days I requested.  Being able to compare prices quickly I think helps keep the prices down (in some ways).

My final invention is not a technology one, but one Caleb and I both agreed on.  Chocolate Cake!  The invention of chocolate cake was actually begun as a catalyst for eating chocolate in 1674 in Europe.  So to all my nephews and nieces; Caleb, Joshua, Evelyn, Julia, Nathan, Amberly and Jacob, I look forward to talking about more inventions (or eating chocolate cake) next week at Thanksgiving! Love you à, Aunt Angie   

To everybody else, Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are the cousins all together.  I talk to each through cell phones, they are all snapped with many digital cameras, have parents that blog about them & do lots of plane rides to see each other!

Factmonster has been a favorite kid friendly educational site of mine for years!  It has so much information, you can create a webquest about things you find just on this one site. From dictionary, math games, quizzes, world news, people facts and other cool stuff! 

Here’s what I learned in just 4 minutes:

1.       Today  in History, November 13, 1942 they changed the minimum draft age from 21 to 18?

2.       Adeline Whitney invented Alphabet Blocks in 1882

3.       Money around the world: Ethiopia has the birr, Peru the Nuevo sol, Mongolia the tugrik

4.       I didn’t know as much about Turkeys as I thought after taking the “Turkey Day Quiz” at http://www.factmonster.com/quizzes/thanksgiving1/1.html

5.      “Raining cats and dogs.” Came from Norse mythology.  The dog is associated with wind and the cat with storms. This expression means it’s raining very heavily, nothing to do with pets at all!

What can you learn in 4 minutes?