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Virtual Teacher Newsletter March 17th, 2000
THE FREE ONLINE FORTNIGHTLY PRIMARY TEACHERS' NEWSLETTER
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Subscribe: cathy@virtualteacher.com.au (put subscribe in the subject)
Or visit: http://www.virtualteacher.com.au
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subject)
Contact: cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
Website: http://www.virtualteacher.com.au
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CONTENTS
1. Welcome
2. Cut and Paste Countries
3. Technical Stuff- Gifs and JPEGS
4. Great Maths Links
5. Aboriginal Links
6. Check out these Great sites - Webquest
7. Code of 'Netizens'
8. Tips
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Welcome to the inaugural Virtual Teacher Newsletter. Lots of
exciting things are happening in schools today with computers
and the Internet. As a teacher, computer specialist, and Inservice
provider, I am engaged in everything from school computer start-ups,
to digital editing, website design, writing and publishing; I
am asked many IT related questions and find numerous innovative
ideas, fantastic programs, and wonderful internet sites.
This newsletter will include all these things. Contributions from subscribers are not only welcome but positively encouraged. There will be tips for beginners, classroom lesson ideas and templates, updates on the latest developments, like the coming OS10 for MAC, the Wonderful Office 2000 and desktop publishing, Hypercard, Powerpoint Presentation, digital editing, video presentation and anything else you or I can think of.
Computers are one of the tools children will use in the future.
This newsletter will give you ideas on how to use this tool within
the Primary Classroom efficiently and effectively.
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Get started on the Internet Today with - Cut and Paste Countries
Instructions:
1. On an A4 sheet of paper make a heading for the country chosen.
2. Research information at the site :-
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/country.html
in point form using the headings below(or the template below).
3. Provide a map of the country showing major cities, and nearby
countries, seas and oceans.
Here is a sample of a finished version, the student used Microsoft
Word '98. (you will need acrobat reader installed to view this
pages http://www.adobe.com)
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/media/USA.pdf
The heading was done in Microsoft Word - Word Art on this program, as well as using some of the autoshapes. The student used the template below.
(countries template)
1. Capital City
2. Leader
3. Famous River or Mountain
4. Language
5. Neighbours
6. Industries
7. Money
The research was completed online. The student used a copy and paste technique to fill in the above template and to copy the map. (You can copy and paste this template headings above to a word processing program. Copy and paste by highlighting text on the internet, copying it, and pasting it into the word processing program. Copy pictures by holding downthe mouse key over the chosen picture, whenthe dialogue box comes up selct copy image, then paste in word processing program)>
To find the information, required concerted effort on the student's
part, as a great deal more information is available on the site
than is required on the template. For instance The famous river
or mountain can be determined from the map or from the 'elevation
extremes' sub category.
Initially students could work in pairs on this project. This
project could be an ongoing one - a new country could be investigated
every fortnight for one term.
This is a simple internet starter idea for upper primary, particularly 6th class. It fits in with the Global Connections Unit for HSIE
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Technical Stuff
What are gifs and jpgs?
When it all boils down to it, you can't go wrong saving everything
as a jpeg. Jpegs are compatible across both Mac and PC platforms,
they are comparatively small sized files, they can be sent via
email as a attachments, they can be uploaded onto the internet
and can be easily used in newsletters and other print documents.
The 'Kiss' principle for images is - save it as a jpeg. But
here's the low down.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) Is commonly used to display index colour graphics. Gifs are useful for logos, text and drawings in which flat colours have been used. This format is commonly used on the World Wide Web. Gif is a compressed format, thus file size is kept to a minimum. GIFS can be used for logos, illustrations, and design work which use flat colours. The extension is .gif
JPEG (Joint Photographics' Experts Group). This Format is commonly
used for photographs and other continuous tone images. Unlike
GIFs, the JPEG format retains all the colour information. JPEG
format is also a compressed format, thus keeping file size to
a minimum. The extension is .jpg
Use JPEG for all photographic images or continuous tone images.
Set the DPI (Dots Per Inch) to 72 for use on the web, and between
100 and 180 for use in a newsletter. A DPI of 300 is used in
commercial magazine printing.
Both formats are compatible with PC and Mac platforms.
For more information about these file formats goto:-
http://members.aol.com/judinorth/gifs.book/jpegs/jpeg.html
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Some Great Maths Links
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~comfilm1/maths/links.html
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Aboriginal Studies Aboriginal Reconciliation Sites
http://www.natsiew.nexus.edu.au/splash2.html
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/ Journey of Healing Educational resources
http://www.edna.edu.au/EdNA/browse.html?sp=eec103eeeeeb&cattype=1&catpath=000000003830000759000578&cc=11190
http://www.aboriginalaustralia.com/ This site seemed to have
a lot of teaching/learning ideas. Probably the best for Primary
school level.
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Check Out these Great sites
Checkout WEBQUEST Projects like the ones below:-
Great Egyptian Site - Upper Primary - Webquest
Egyptologists, welcome to Lynda's Archaeological Dig. Through
this site you will be digging up information on the internet about
Egypt. To assist you with your dig, there are links to many excellent
sites where you can discover all types of information. You will
be learning about pyramids, Ancient Egyptian religion, gods and
goddesses, mummification, pharaohs, hieroglyphics, and more.
The internet is Lynda's Archaeological Dig Site, and all Dig
Groups will need to carefully work together to find the artifacts
that have been buried here. Have Fun!
http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/lbeloat/egyptproject.html
Maths and Internet Shopping - Webquest
Congratulations! Your group has just won the National 'Name Your
Clubhouse Contest'! I'm so proud of you. You will be happy to
know that your prize is $2000 to be used to furnish your clubhouse
any way you like. That's a lot of money and you can only spend
it on things for your clubhouse. It will take some research, discussion
and planning to figure out the best way to spend your money. When
you finish you will have a great place to spend lazy summer days
together, and you will have interesting things to entertain you.
Visit online shopping centres, and find out the prices then work
out what you can afford.
http://www.west.asu.edu/achristie/598MS/WQ/Theresa/Tacwebquest.html
Volcano - Webquest
Volcanoes have interested and fascinated people for thousands
of years. With one eruption, a volcano can reshape the earth's
surface, destroy forests, change weather patterns and replenish
nutrients to the Earth's soil. Scientists are forever trying to
predict the behavior of these sleeping giants. Even if they could
predict an eruption there is nothing to do but watch and wonder
at what new changes will be brought about.
http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/jsampson/clarquest.html
Voyage to the Stars - Webquest
This is a great webquest, on planets. One of my favourites.
http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us/hschool/webq/webq54/james.htm
If none of these webquests excite you check out the other WEBQUESTS
at:-
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/matrix.html
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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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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.
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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:comfilm1@optusnet.com.au
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