Virtual Teacher Newsletter No. 121 February 18th – MOZART 250TH
THE FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY IT TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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CONTENTS
1. Welcome
2. Mind Candy
3. WWWinfo WIKIPEDIA FOR MOZART
4. New Printables - WINTER OLYMPICS
5. Technical Stuff – ADOBE & KAHOOTZ
6. Web Site Focus – WINTER OLYMPICS
7. MOZART
8. Great Sites – BRAIN GYM
9. Readers' Requests/Comments
10 Next Issue
11. Code of 'Netizens'
12. Tips
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1. WELCOME EVERYONE A busy start to the year as usual,
this year I intend to do everything I plan – so I am planning
fewer things, and selecting only the best ideas. You may have
noticed an increase in Mozart mentionings, this year is the
250th anniversary of his birth. There will be so much on,
from Mozart chocolates, music and performances to well,
Legs on the Wall. Don’t miss out, plan to put something
Mozart on your schedule. The Winter Olympics has been
spectacular, love the figure skating, love the snowboarding,
check out the latest info at the websites below. Plan a year
this year that will be thrilling for you charges as well as for
you. Please let me know if anyone manages a fully funded
trip to Salzburg. Have a great fortnight.
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2. MIND CANDY
`There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the
real labour of thinking.” Thomas Edison
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Find out who you are and do it on purpose. random T- Shirt
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“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both
together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that
is the soul of genius.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart quotes
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“I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame.
I simply follow my own feelings.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart quotes
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3. WWWinfo WIKIPEDIA FOR MOZART
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart
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4. NEW PRINTABLES
Winter Olympics Coloring Pages http://www.freekidscoloring.com/sports/winter_olympics/
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5. TECHNICAL STUFF
Adobe Events
Graphic Ideas by Vince Frost
Sydney Opera House Exhibition Hall 7 January - 12 March 2006
Proudly supported by Adobe
In a world first, Object Gallery presents a major retrospective of
internationally acclaimed designer Vince Frost. Frost*bite:
graphic ideas by Vince Frost is a frank and open account of Frost's
work over more than a decade: the good, the bad and the ones
that got away. This inspirational exhibition provides a true
reflection of the ideas-based philosophy now synonymous with
Frost's name.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an inspirational book,
(sorry trees), that demystifies the design process while offering
an insight into the working practice of one of the world's
leading designers.
Open Tuesday to Saturday 11am-8pm Sunday 11am-5pm
(Closed Monday) Free Admission
The next revolution for film, video and broadcast professionals
Tue 28 Feb - SYDNEY: Live Event, Eveleigh (Redfern)
Tue 28 Feb - Live WEBCAST,
Adobe Production Studio is the newest member of the Adobe
Creative Suite family. With groundbreaking features in all-new
versions of Adobe's most popular post-production solutions,
the new suite is set to revolutionise the way multi-media
professionals do their job. But you truly need to see it to believe it.
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Hi Cathy
Are you familiar with the program Kahootz? It was developed by the Australian Children's Televisiion Foundation. The website is http://www.kahootz.com
The program has been bought by the Victorian and the ACT
Educ Depts for all of their schools. It is gathering quite a lot of
support in other states such as Qld. Here in NSW it is really only
just starting to make inroads.
Peter Maggs, from Kahootz, and I are organising a Master's
Training Day in Sydney for the 24th March. The venue will be the
ICT Centre at Macquarie Uni which is a joint Macquarie Uni
and NSW DET unit. Attendance at this event is by invitation only.
The idea is to provide an opportunity for a small group of users
to share with each other what they are doing with Kahootz
and to have access to Peter to update you with the latest
ideas, techniques and examples.
This is an opportunity for you to see what others are doing,
share with your peers, increase your skills and learn about
what is happening at the ICT Centre.
I am hoping that you will be able to take advantage of this
opportunity. Please let me know asap if you are able to attend.
There will be a few others there who are not Kahootz users as
yet such as Peter Mahony from the Power House. I think you
would really enjoy the day and I would like you to meet
Jenny Fergusson who is one of the Director's of the ICT Centre.
Regards
Linda Zugai
Edsoft
Director Business Development (K-12)
linda@edsoft.com.au
http://www.edsoft.com.au
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6. WEBSITE FOCUS – WINTER OLYMPICS
The first Winter Olympic Games took place in Chamonix, France
in 1924 with sixteen nations and five sports. This year in Torino
(or Turin in English) Italy, February 10 to February 26, there
will more than 2500 athletes from eighty-five countries
competing in fifteen sports.
Infoplease: 2006 Winter Olympics
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/winter-olympics.html
Infoplease presents a fun mixture of Olympic history, news,
biography, trivia, quizzes, crosswords and scandal. "The Summer
Games may have it all over the Winter Games when it comes
to history, pageantry, and worldwide television ratings, but
the Winter Olympics dominate when it comes to good
old-fashioned controversy and deliciously irresistible scandal.
" Are you old enough to remember Tonya and Nancy? Scandal
aside, don't leave without trying your hand at least one of the
six Olympic quizzes or four crossword puzzles.
NBC: Olympics 2006
NBC is the official Olympics television network, and is the
site for schedules, results and medal counts. But reasons
to visit extend way beyond stats, because this terrific site is
full of human interest stories, athlete bios, and some awesome
first-person sports games. The games are a bit slow to load
(and require Internet Explorer) but if you can make over these
hurdles, the snowboard, giant slalom, and bobsleigh races are
my game picks of the week. Registration isn't required to play,
but if you do, you can post your scores on the board, and
qualify for prizes.
Olympic Primer
http://www.aafla.org/6oic/primer_frmst.htm
The five interlacing rings of blue, yellow, black, green, and
red became the official Olympic logo in 1913. "The Olympic
rings represent the union of the five continents and the meeting
of athletes throughout the world at the Olympic Games.
However, contrary to a popular misconception, the colors
themselves do not represent any single continent. The colors
were chosen because at least one of these colors is found in
the flag of every nation." Brimming with historical tidbits, this
concise site is great place to find answers to your Olympic
questions.
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7. MOZART celebrations are everywhere. This year marks the 250th celebration of his birth.
The life, times and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Plan a trip to Salzburg, visit Mozart’s birthplace, visit the
Salzburg museums museums take the trip or take a virtual trip.
Today in Salzburg it is
http://www2.salzburg.info/?source=google&gclid=CPSXweuio4MCFTJaGAodMW1Nng
Here IS some of his music online.(site is a bit tricky –
choose English at the bottom of the first image then, one of
the option pop ups.
Site includes paintings of Mozart, sheet music and a biography.
http://www.studio-mozart.com/mozart/index.htm
See the digitally remastered Amadeus - The movie
http://www.bigpondmovies.com/user/movieDisplay.php?movie_id=4930
An online musical story of Mozart’s life(great for (K-6)
http://www.stringsinthemountains.org/m2m/1once.htm
There are events planned everywhere to celebrate Mozart’s birthday
all around the world so just google them up.
One that rather takes my fancy is “The Magic Flute – a new
production with legs on the wall at the Opera house
Hear the entire works of Mozart on ABC Classic FM. At the centre of our celebrations is the broadcast of every complete work composed by Mozart. Find out what we've already played and what's coming up next.
http://www.abc.net.au/classic/mozart/
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8. GREAT SITES
HOT SITES – BRAIN GYM
Simple exercises based on the work presented by Carla Hannaford, Ph.D. . Carla Hannaford, Ph.D. is a neurophysiologist and educator with more than 28 years of teaching experience.
http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/blbraingym.htm
Drink Water, Brain Buttons, Cross Crawl, Hook- Ups.
http://www.iolani.honolulu.hi.us/Academics/UpperSchool/English-Upper_School/EnglishFac/9braingym.htm
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9. READERS COMMENTS/REQUESTS
Cathy,
I've found many items in your latest newsletter to be most inspiring,
especially Jenny Eather's Rainforest Maths.
http://www.rainforestmaths.com
Please pass on my congratulations and thanks to Jenny for
sharing her program. As a teacher working in Distance Education,
this type of resource is invaluable when working with students
from afar. I have recommended Rainforest Maths to several
of my students and their parents and am awaiting
feedback. Will keep you posted.
Megan Hastie
Teacher P-3 Department
Brisbane School of Distance Education
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Cathy,
I found a great free site for teachers to use to set up a closed
class web site that includes a discussion forum, a place for a syllabus,
a place to turn in work in digital form along with other features. I found it accidentally because I was looking for a place for my kids to do more discussion and didn't want to use environments like
www.myspace.com since there is so much controversy over
the safety of that blogging environment.
At this site, http://www.nicenet.org
the kids sign up for the site with a class code I give them and
then it is open to only class members.
The beauty of this is, it is an academic site, so they learn
school appropriate protocols for online discussions and they
can post work to this site at any time without having to chase
around the school to find me. It is great because they can
e-mail me if they are sick and I can upload documents to them
right away. Also, it has an assignment alarm that I can set to
send them a reminder several days in advance.
Jane Blystone
North East HIgh School
1901 Freeport Road
North East, PA 16428
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Hi Cathy,
I’m an Australian expatriate primary teacher working at Tabubil
International School in PNG (where the OK Tedi mine is). We
have funds available to pursue personal Professional Development
which is great, however, I am finding it difficult to find what is
available in Aust for me to attend. I am finishing up here at the
end of the year and hopefully will recommence teaching in
Townsville Qld for 2007.
Can you recommend some sites or do you have list of workshops
available for 2006?
Hope you can help.
Christine Peters Yr 6/7
Tabubil International School
Tabubil Western Province
PNG
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Hi Christine,
Try Edna
Use the advanced search and type in your topics
eg
Adobe also have some great courses in computers from time to
time and their sites are worth checking
http://www.adobe.com.au/events/main.html
Hope this gets you started. I will also ask newsletter members to
send in ideas.
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Dear Cathy,
Many thanks for the great comments about Rainforest Maths in your newsletter.
Glad you enjoyed the site. Speaking of frogs and parrots -
it's amazing what a parrot can do on a Mac (and shouldn't) !!
Have attached a pic of one of my feathered editorial assistants.
They come here freeloading - after doing the rounds at Currumbin
Sanctuary.
Many thanks for a another exciting newsletter.
I've had quite a few emails about Rainforest Maths since
including a couple where I caught up with colleagues from long
ago - lot's of fun.
Have a great 2006.
Cheers
Jenny Eather
PS Maybe this is an iParrot.
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/iLorrikeet.jpg
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Dear Cathy
I'm an avid consumer of your fantastic newsletter. Could you
please assist me to resolve a professional debate and point
me in the direction of any current research that supports the
idea that the earlier we expose kids to ICT the better. I've seen
stuff for older children but I'm looking at an early childhood
focus in Kindergarten and up. Thank you and keep up the
great work. Dale Watkins
I wrote an article on children learning better using computers
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/classroom/noumea.html
a while back.
Also
http://cdmc.georgetown.edu/about_press.cfm#research_examines
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Hi Cathy
I’m teaching graphics for the first time and wondered if you had
any "site" suggestions or directions for some lesson plans please.
thanks
john irving
hamilton college
Not sure what you mean is it graphic design?
You will find various tips and tutorials at this site:-
http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/
Also Atomic Learning
http://www.atomiclearning.com/
There are many such sites.
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Can anyone recommend a fun site for my 9 year old who needs to practise her Times Tables? They need to be random tables and up to x12.
Thanks Tanya
Lots of sites do this:-
http://www.aaaknow.com/mul39ex2.htm#section1
http://www.aplusmath.com/Flashcards/multiplication.html
Check out other maths sites at:-
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/maths.html
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Hi Cathy
I have been reading and gleaning and using information
from your newsletters for 2 years.
Thank you so much for all the ideas you provide for us all.
I have passed on your newsletter address to all my colleagues
and each student teacher that I have. You are a very valuable
and current resource for us teachers.
Thanks again, Ruth Collett
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As National Literacy and Numeracy week is in August this year,
it would be missed opportunity not to give teachers more
information on Jolly Phonics.
Having taught Jolly phonics for over three years, I am still
amazed at how much it improves literacy in students and
helps in reading recovery.
It had been introduced all over the world in mainstream and
ESL schools and is used all over Australia. You can visit http://www.jollylearning.co.uk
for a list of professionally endorsed Jolly Phonics trainers.
As Jolly phonics promotes a fun and multi-sensory approach
to systematic Phonics, children don‚t even know they are
learning and it is so much fun to teach. It can be integrated
into ANY existing literacy curriculum, and does in fact
compliment many programs.
Conferences will be held in Melbourne in the next few months,
but information sessions and professional development
workshops are easily arranged.
Many teachers have already benefited from teaching Jolly
Phonics, many of them have been so impressed they do
what I am doing now and share their knowledge with other teachers.
It would be great to pass this on to other teachers, even
if to just introduce some of the basic concepts of Jolly
Phonics that will help with new ways of teaching phonics.
Regards
Jacqueline Carr
Has anyone used this program??
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Hi Cathy
It was great getting your newsletter again after the hols
(which were not long enough!). I had a great time looking at
Jenny Eather's Rainforest Maths site it is fantastic and I am
going to share it with the other teachers at my school. I found
the site "maths is fun" that was also mentioned in a newsletter
last year and the students at our school love that site and most
of the time don't even realise that they are using maths skills
when they are playing the games.
So thank you so much for your fantastic newletter.
You are doing a great job. Thank you.
Sue Hall
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10. NEXT ISSUE - NEXT ISSUE – I would like some input on
narrative story telling, I think everyone is so over the formulaic
text types that have ruled the world, and we want to get back
to writing great stories – what are your thoughts.
.Ciao Cathy
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11. Code of the 'Netizens'
This Newsletter is not free, despite the misleading advertising
above. The Fee is now due. Each week you must help one
colleague on the Internet who has less knowledge than you.
Help that person even if you have to visit their classroom or
do a little research and get back to them. Trust me, this will
help a lot of people get their computer classrooms running better.
OK I'm trusting you!!!
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12. TIPS
1. Double click on highlighted URLS to open in browser.
2. Send in your Questions, Questions will be published with
Answers, send in your Answers, if you have expertise to share.
3. Nominate a brilliant site for review and inclusion in this
newsletter.
4. Nominate a fantastic school site for review and inclusion in
this newsletter.
5. Make contact with other schools using fantastic programs.
6. Prepare and innovative article for this newsletter.
7. Tell 2 colleagues about this newsletter.
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The opinions expressed here are purely those of the editor,
Cathy Brown. All other small print clauses apply. Such as:
Use at your own risk. Nothing in life is guaranteed. If it doesn't
work for you send me an email.
Editor: cathy brown mailto:cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
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