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Virtual Teacher Newsletter March 31st, 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
Unsubscribe: comfilm1@optusnet.com.au (put unsubscribe in the
subject)
Contact: cathy@virtualteacher.com.au
Website: http://www.virtualteacher.com.au
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CONTENTS
1. Welcome
2. Mind Candy
3. Just in Time for Easter on the Web
3. Technical Stuff- downloads.com
4. Subscriber Question - Printers
5. Subscriber Question - Farm Animals
6. Subscriber Shareware - Google and Enchanted Learning
7. Code of 'Netizens'
8. Tips
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Welcome to all our new subscribers. We have already passed our
first 100 subscribers in our FIRST issue, and have also had some
international subscribers, welcome Canada. Easter is nearly upon
us, so I have included a few fantastic Easter sites in this issue.
Some of the printouts are great, and the marshmallow bunny is
a very enjoyable edible activity. And since we are talking about
chickens, here's a rather interesting article on "Why did
the Chicken cross the road?". Yes! that old chestnut, http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/chicken.html
It, once again, shows teachers know what there about.
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Mind Candy 1
5 out of every 4 Australians have trouble with fractions.
Amazing BUT True - tales from the classroom- (Send yours along if you have any) the names have been changed to protect the innocent AND the not so innocent.
Michael C. is 11 - and as 11 year old boys are want to be - always hungry - lunch is the main event of the day - and he attempts to make it last all day.
Teacher - "Michael you've made a mistake in this addition sum, let's see......."
Michael - "Steak! steak! did somebody say steak?"
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Just in time for Easter
Make a marshmallow Bunny at
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/rabbit.html
Sitting Hen
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/hen.html
Easter Word Puzzles
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/easter/word.html
Pokemon Easter Egg Holders - do you believe it??? The children
will love it!!!!
http://www.members.home.net/beldridge/mepokemon.html
Try the Paper Bag Bunnies or the Amazing Transparent Easter Eggs
on this Page - to a happy tune of the Easter Hat Parade(or turn
the sound off)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1465/easter8.html
Here's a Few Links to Easter Stories, both religious and traditional
http://www.holidays.net/easter/
More Stories and Poems for Easter - including some excellent Christian
Easter Downloads
http://craftsforkids.about.com/kids/craftsforkids/library/misc/bleassong.htm?rnk=r1&terms=Easter+Stories
Scrambled Eggs Anyone - shockwave game
http://www.searsportrait.com/family_fun/easter_99/easter.htm
Teacher Tools
Check out the Narrative pdf file. Print it out and use it for
free.
http://www.virtualteacher.com.au/media/narrative.pdf
Send in your 'teacher tools' to add.
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Try this great download site for both PCs and Macs. This site
has a great range of freeware ad shareware for both systems, if
its available on the net you'll probably find it here.
http://download.cnet.com/
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Subscribers Questions
"What printers should we buy for use at our school? We
use Power Macs and IMACS"?
S.A. - N.S.W
Good question, S.A.
Colour Ink jet printers are more expensive per sheet than laser
printers. Cheaper colour Ink jets are not robust, and generally
the cheaper the printer the more expensive the per copy price
is.
My recommendation is that you spend a bit more to buy a good robust
printer which can be linked to all the computers in the school
via a server or file sharing.
Epson Printer 740 colour - $322 ex tax IBM and MAC compatible
via USB
http://www.epson.com/printer/inkjet/sty740/
Black ink life: 900 pages text (ISO/IEC 10561 letter pattern)
634 pages
graphic (5% coverage) Color ink life: 300 pages (15% coverage)
Colour Cartridge Epson - $37- $57.00 - S020191
B/W Cartridge Espon - $37 -$52.00 - S020189
Calidad Injet Cartridges to Fit the Epson 740
B/W - $19.95
Colour - $ 29.95
EPSON EPL 5700 L,- Black and white laser printer is $ 680.00
http://www.epson.com/printer/laser/epl5700i/
black and white only: 6,000 copies for around $185
Xerox Laser P8 price - $570 ex tax is another laser printer worth looking at.
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"Where can I find some sites on farms and farm animals for
my Year 2 class"?
J.G. - Sydney
http://www.kidsfarm.com/farm.htm
This site has good photos and information on actual farm animals
as well as a narration by
children, and sound effects.
Also the zoom farm animals site is worth a look at:-
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/coloring/farm.shtml
This site also has printouts with excellent labels.
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Great site to Check Out
Enchanted Learning
Readers Emails
I just wanted to say thank you so much for your newsletter. I
really believe
it will be very helpful to me. I have been away from the classroom
while my
children were small and I am just starting to learn again. I
have a very old
computer (486), but hopefully in the next month or so will be
getting a new
one. I have been helping out my children's school with getting
their
technology classroom up and running so I believe these ideas will
be great.
Two websites that I have just learning about recently are
http://www.google.com
which is a safe search engine with no advertising and also
http://www.enchantedlearning.com
which has some great quizzes and science facts for
primary students. Hope these will help! As I said, my knowledge
is limited
right now, but as I learn more, I certainly would love to share
it!
Thanks again!
K.A.
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K.A. is absolutely right about:-
http://www.enchantedlearning.com
What a great site. It is filled with great information about
all sorts of animals, dinosaurs, whales, sharks, birds rainforests
etc. There is a great craft section and some excellent printouts.
The information concise and easy to read with terrific drawings.
This is a great site for Grades 2-6, and I recommend it highly
for students beginning research on the internet.
Thanks K.A.
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Next Issue Virtual Teacher will take a look at search engines.
If you have any good ideas send them along. I am also looking
to review some great school sites, so if your school has a good
site send along the URL and I will review it here.
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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.
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:comfilm1@optusnet.com.au
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