Testing Blog This feature of Picasa with cool aquarium picture

I thought I'd test the Picasa Blog This feature with this cool picture from the kindergarten field trip to our local science museum. This is the aquarium floor. The divers were cleaning the tank and gave us a nice close-up view of the eel. Tweet

Bookmarks back up

My bookmarks are back up and I've added some new ones. You will find a link to my bookmarks on my home page.
http://www.hoover.k12.al.us/rres/mckinley/mckinleymegabytes.htm
On my bookmarks, try the project ideas folder. I've just added links to some 100 days of school projects, an Excel spreadsheet idea for 5th grade and a mapping activity for 2nd graders. Also, don't forget all the excellent e-manipulatives you can use. You'll find them on each grade level page on my lab home page.
That's all for now! Tweet

Been awhile-Bookmarks site is down

Well, I haven't been blogging much because I'm in graduate school and I am posting on discussion boards there quite a bit. I was a big fan of web-based bookmarks because they are so easy to update and you can reach them from anywhere. However, you can only reach them if the site who hosts them is up and running. There is the problem. I have all my bookmarks on Ikeepbookmarks.com. They have been down for the past few days. I am hoping they come back up this week. I have a backup of the sites but it is from September! Also, the backup is not in the same format as the web-based bookmarks and I cannot add to it easily like I can from the bookmark site. If it doesn't come back up by the end of this week, I will find another bookmark site. Until then, I made a temporary link page so everyone can still get to my links. Sorry for the inconvenience. You should find them here: http://www.quia.com/pages/backupbookmarks.html Tweet

Class Newsletter

Class Newsletter

I am testing using Blogger with Microsoft Word. If this works, it will be an easy way for teachers to add their weekly newsletters to the web. Tweet

Cool Garden Spider

I am testing the picture feature on this blog. We saw a really neat web in our yard and took a picture. My son tried to publish it on Blogmeister but it didn't work. Notice the zig zag pattern down the middle of the web. Tweet

Student Blog is Up

I decided to use Blogmeister (http://epnweb.org/blogmeister/index.php) for my student posts because it allows for teacher e-mail review before posting. It also allows you to add a class password for parents to see the entries. I set up the student blog with 2nd graders. Typing is the only roadblock. They were able to log into the blog and add articles but it takes them a long time to type. I might have them do this as a home project with parents taking dictation.
I will keep using this blog. It is easy to use and has more features like spell check and font changes. Hopefully I will have more time to blog when school settles down. Tweet

New to blogging

This is my first entry on my new blog. I am trying to find an easy and safe way for elementary students to share their thoughts and ideas on the web. I am testing set up on two blogs...blogmeister.com and this site blogger.com. So far, the set up was pretty easy. However, I am not sure how easy it will be to get the younger students to find the site, log in and post information. In addition, I need to be able to see the post before it goes up. I like Blogger because I think it allows images, too. However, I still haven't figured out an easy way to set up a class yet if the students don't have an e-mail address. I will keep working on it. Time to post and see what happens! More later! Tweet