December 16, 2010

We will have regular class today.  There will be no Cave Time.  

1. Bell-Ringer:  Individual reading
2. Fluency Practice: reading plays
3. If extra time: Read-aloud -- J.R.R. Tolkien's Father Christmas Letters

Have a great Christmas/New Year's Holiday!

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth, and. . .  

This posting is from the English 7 site, so when it mentions the genres we will be reading, that refers to Ms. Dorsey's English classes.  

Check, though, suggestions for books and other materials. 

December 14 Computer Lab

Your website evaluations are due today, December 14.  You may hand them in late, but make sure you leave yourself enough time to create your PowerPoint.

As you create your PowerPoint, check here for requirements and suggestions: 

http://afcelebritywebquest.blogspot.com
or http://afcelebritywebquest.blogspot.com/p/presentation.html


Jeremy McGrath 
http://nacnac.hookit.com/members/therealmc/biography/

http://www.moto-rider.net/jeremy.html

Extra Credit

1.   Over the Christmas Holiday, if you keep a reading log of what you read each day (the days you read -- which should be everyday), you can earn some extra credit points.

2.  Memorize one or more stanzas of a famous poem and recite it for Ms. Dorsey.  Yes, Shel Silverstein's poems count.

3. See other extra credit opportunities on this blog. Search for "extra credit." 

December 14, 2010

Don't forget your thumb drive!

Bell-Ringer: Individual Reading and fill out reading log.

2. If you haven't yet, or if you didn't finish, retake the SRI -- Scholastic Reading Inventory -- Reading test in the computer lab.

3. Work in computer lab on website evaluations/taking notes for the powerpoint/creating the bibliography

Your website evaluations are all due by December 14 -- Today!
Your PowerPoint is due January 7. We will have time in the lab to finish them on January 5.  

We will have regular class on Thursday, December 16.

December 10, 2010

Don't forget your thumb drive!

Bell-Ringer: Individual Reading and fill out reading log.

2. Retake the SRI -- Scholastic Reading Inventory -- Reading test in the computer lab.

3. Work in computer lab on website evaluations/taking notes for the powerpoint/creating the bibliography

Your website evaluations are all due by December 14.
Your PowerPoint is due January 7.

December 8, 2010

December 8, 2010

Bell-Ringer:  Individual Reading and fill out reading log
Computer Lab 223 for research for webquest.

December 6, 2010

Remember to bring your thumb drive next time.We will be doing more research and filling out website evaluations and notes for your celebrity webquest.

Bell-Ringer:  Scan phone book pages for your first name (or parents' or siblings' first names).
2. Inner Voices/Dad's Bionic Hand -- If you were absent, ask for the handouts.
3. Individual reading time
4. More BibMe practice -- citing sources -- If you were absent, ask for the handout.

These are the examples we used:
Creating bibiographic entries for a website -- Wikipedia entry:
David Archuleta  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Archuleta

Creating bibiographic entries for an article found on the Sirs Discoverer Database:
Emma Roberts  http://discoverer.prod.sirs.com/discoweb/disco/do/article?urn=urn%3Asirs%3AUS%3BARTICLE%3BART%3B0000261707

Emma Watson
http://discoverer.prod.sirs.com/discoweb/disco/do/article?urn=urn%3Asirs%3AUS%3BARTICLE%3BART%3B0000205601

December 2, 2010

Parent-Teacher Conferences Tonight from 4:00 to 7:30 Bell-Ringer: Pick up your website evaluations: 3 for an individual and 5 for a pair.

Bring your thumb-drive!

Computer lab for research on celebrities.  You need to fill out your web evaluations including notes on information you've found that you might be able to use on your PowerPoint.  As an individual you will need at least three sources (three web evaluations with notes).   As a pair you will need five sources (three web evaluations with notes).

Roll and celebrity check. 

#1 -- Look for your celebrity on Pioneer -- Sirs Discoverer
Using Pioneer:  Use Pioneer to search for useful information for school projects, etc. For access from home --
Go to http://pioneer.uen.org
from home: User Name:   Password:

Search for your celebrity at Sirs Discoverer.

Notice that you can email articles  to yourself.
Information on Sirs Discoverer is reliable! 

#2 -- Link to the Celebrity WebQuest Assignment: http://afcelebritywebquest.blogspot.com/ 
Use some of the tools and sites to search for your celebrity. You may search with Google. 
Don't forget to create a bibliography entry/citation for each site. Save it on a document and save that to your thumb drive or e-mail it to yourself.

  http://www.bibme.org/

November 30, 2010

Bell-Ringer:  Students worked on fluency by reading "Ladies First" by Shel Silverstein.  They practiced individually, then read to each other in pairs, picked the best reader to go on in competition, gathered in fours to select the best out of the two previous winners, gathered in eights to further narrow the field.  Those best at reading fast (while remaining understandable) and those best at dramatic presentation competed for the class championships.

Sample PowerPoint for Celebrity Quest
Link to the Celebrity WebQuest Assignment:   http://afcelebritywebquest.blogspot.com/ 
Sample search and reading a site

http://rachelmcadams.org/ 
This site turns out to be a fan-made site, made by an 18 year old girl who goes by Lindsey, and who has been making fan sites since she was twelve.  There are a lot of photos available here, but all facts should be double-checked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_McAdams
How trustworthy is wikipedia?
There is lots of information here that would be useful for the celebrity project.  However, be aware that anyone can edit this.  Wikipedia has staff that checks it, and others check articles for accuracy.  On the other hand, someone could slip in untrue materials and you could read it before the errors are caught.
To see who has edited an article, see the "history" tab at the top of the page.  To find the date and time last edited, see the bottom of the page.  Also look at the References and External Links. 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1046097/bio 
How trustworthy is IMDb?
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_Needham
IMDb has useful information on Rachel McAdams, and many other movie stars, including short biographies, trivia, filmography, and quotes from the star.    This site is owned by Amazon.Com.  They purchased it from Col Needham who originated the database in 1990.  I googled him and was able to find out about him.

Works Cited -- Put it together with bibme.org
For articles from Sirs Discover, use the information given with the article to identify the source. 
For websites, click on the Website tab, and enter the URL for that site.

Example from Sirs Discover:  "Rick Riordan." biography for beginners Spring 2010: 63 - 75. Print.

November 23, 2010

site organization:  a WEB

Website Evaluation Form R3.doc

Individual Reading Time

November 19, 2010

Bring your thumb drive today!

Bell-Ringer:  Crossword about Internet Terms

Computer Lab 223

Important!  Open this blog again in a new window.  Copy and paste the URL.   Leave this window open while you click on links from the other. 


Today we will learn about searching the Internet using an interactive tutorial at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/course
Go to the above web address (URL) and then  
click on START
then click on 06 Searching 

Searching -- Quiz -- Advanced -- Quiz then do the Weakest Link quiz,

and if you have time play with the other games.

4. Internet project: Celebrity Webquest   Link to our blog about the webquest: http://afcelebritywebquest.blogspot.com/
Look through the assignment to get acquainted with what you will need to do.


5.  To help you make a final selection of a celebrity --  Look through the following sources for famous people you might be interested in.

• Take notes on the organizer provided to you. 
• If you brought your thumbdrive, or have an email account, you could open the organizer here, type your notes on it (make sure you copy the URL where you found the information), and save the document onto your thumbdrive or mail it to yourself.  

Organizer for Selecting a Celebrity(2).docx

or  

Organizer for Selecting a Celebrity(2).doc

Important Note:  You will need to end up with 3 to 5 different sources about your famous person.

1. Click on the Resources Tab.
2. Click on Academy of Achievement  either here or there.   Consider possible celebrities/famous people you see there.
3. Check the list at  http://www.people.com/people/celebrities/0,,,00.html 
4. And http://www.rd.com/interviews-celebrity-actors-musicians-athletes/ 
5. And http://www.notablebiographies.com/ 
6. And Incredible People.com   

To select a celebrity, you will fill out this document: WebQuest Assignment Work-Sheet compatibleQ2.doc 
If you are here today, you should already have it.  If not, ask Ms. Dorsey.



Why this project?  Internet Literacy is  an important part of  our modern world.  We are practicing reading strategies while gathering knowledge and skills for doing research online and off.

6. ______________________________________If you have time, read the information below.
Internet and other computer vocabulary
Thanks to Oprah:  http://oprahgoesonline.blackhammer.com/glossary/glossary_pop.html

URL
Simply put, a Web page's address. In the alphabet soup that is Internet-ese, URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Just as every person on the Net has a unique e-mail address, every file and page on the Web has a unique URL. You can see the URL for the Web page you're on in that thin white horizontal box at the top of your browser. The first part of the URL (http) tells the browser it's looking for a Web page written (most likely) in HTML. The rest gives the name of the computer, then the directory that holds the page, and last but not least, the name of the file that makes up that particular Web page. (The file name typically ends with the .html or .htm suffix, which tells you and your computer it's an HTML file.) You can instantly swing over to any page on the Web by typing the page's URL into the white box and hitting the "Return" key.

Domain
The last two parts of an Internet address. Just as file extensions (such as .gif for GIF files) give some indication of what kind of file it is, the suffix at the end of an Internet site's domain name tells what kind of site it is. For example, .com means it's a commercial site, while other common ones include .edu, for educational institutions, .gov for government, .org for organizations and .org, for non-profit sites. For sites based outside the U.S., there are many others; .ca means the site originates in Canada, .au means the server's in Australia, while .uk means it comes from, well, you know.

Search engine
Your tireless cyber bloodhounds are your guides to the Web. The term search engine is usually used to include three different types of guides: true search engines, directories, and search agents. A "true" search engine uses a program (sometimes called a spider) to search the Internet for information and collate it in a database. A directory (Yahoo, for example) uses a database too, but the information in the database is researched by people, not programs. And an agent (Metacrawler) searches existing databases. There are also specialist directories and agents that search only shopping sites, for example.

About Primary and Secondary Sources (These are lesson materials for teachers, but reading through them gives you a good understanding about the difference between primary and secondary sources.)
http://www.cgrove417.org/cghs/KASL/sources.html

November 17, 2010

First Day of the third rotation!   
If you were just with Miss Gadd, you should be coming to Ms. Dorsey's class. 


We are going to focus on Reading the Internet and doing research -- especially online. 

Today:
Bell-Ringer:  Fill out the lower half of the Celebrity WebQuest Assignment Worksheet 1.
Start brainstorming celebrities -- famous people you'd like to research.


Reading strategies -- receive chart, discuss strategies
Inner Voices and read "Truth in Research."
Inner Voices  Individual Reading Time: 

Hand in an inner voices sheet for the article I assigned and one for you independent reading today.



Next time we will go to the computer lab.

Last Day for Late Work

November 15th is the last day of the second rotation. 

The last day to hand in late work for the rotation you just finished (the second third of the semester) is  November 19.  

If you had Ms. Dorsey for the second rotation, hand it in to Ms. Dorsey.

November 15, 2010

If you have not shown your PowerPoint, or if you would like to add points to what you have earned on your PowerPoint -- have it ready on the 15th -- the last day of class for our rotation.   Make sure you have included citations -- not just URL's  on your bibliography slide.  (Use bibme.org to create your citations using the URL of each site.  Remember to copy the URL from the page where you found the information, then click on the tab for websites before you enter the URL.)

Finish poem fluency presentations.

Write about the experience of completing your celebrity webquest.

From Pieces of Flair

     What reading strategies did you use?

 ____________________________

Extra Credit:  Be the first to come tell me the meaning of the word Penultimate. See the information below.

Brian P. Cleary The word PENULTIMATE means “the next to last.” If someone refers to the penultimate scene in the play, it’s the one before the final. The word “vacation,” for instance, has its accent on the penultimate syllable.

Lemony Snicket wrote a book called The Penultimate Peril, so it is about the next to the last peril. 

November 11, 2010

 Bell-Ringer:  Receive form you will  use as you view the Powerpoints.  Prepare to go to the computer lab.

Students will use this form to record their viewing of their classmates' PowerPoints:
Student View of PPTs.doc


The teacher will use this form to grade the PowerPoints: Celebrity PPT Grading.doc


Computer Lab 223.   Move around the room to view everyone's PowerPoint Presentations.
Share

• If you have not shown your PowerPoint, or if your grade is low, please complete it and be prepared to show it on November 15.   
• Do not forget that you need to create citations for the bibliography.  
• The URL is not enough.  Enter the URL on bibme.org to build the citation for each source. 

Places You May Go if You Finish Early

Reading by the Light of the Moon -- From Moon Games -- See a link below to the whole article and other photos.

Learn much more about computers at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/   

Use Pioneer to search for useful information for school projects, etc.
Go to http://pioneer.uen.org
 There's also a link on our school web site -- at the bottom of the home page.
Get acquainted with the resources at Pioneer.  

You don't need the user name or password at school, but you do from home.
User Name:
Password:

World Book Web
http://worldbookonline.com




Here is a site with word games:

http://www.fun-with-words.com

Play a punctuation game at
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/adventure/grammar2.htm

Wonder how to pronounce author names? Go to http://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=3090
and begin with a very popular author. Use the search to find others.

Or look at some neat articles: 

You can fly (a camera on a ladder)  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129429199&sc=fb&cc=fp
Notice that there are fifteen pictures to look at.

Interesting article:  Dad's Bionic Hand! 

World Cup Soccer Ball

Paul the Octopus Predicts World Cup Winners 

Bug Highway in the Sky 

Ants Invade 

Playing with the Moon http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131063948&sc=fb&cc=fp  

A stadium built from legos: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/01/19/133058130/master-builder-makes-legos-bend-to-his-will-in-ohio-stadium-replica?sc=fb&cc=fp

 

November 9, 2010

B2 and B3 -- to the computer lab to work on Celebrity PowerPoints -- B2 in Lab 201 (by Mr. Wright's room), B3 in English Computer Writing Lab.

Don't forget your thumb drive.
 
They are due by the end of the period.

November 5, 2010

Don't forget your thumb drive.

B2 -- view sample PowerPoints
B2 and B3 -- to the computer lab to work on Celebrity PowerPoints
Save them as compatible PowerPoints, not docx.

November 3, 2010

1. Bell-Ringer:  Individual Reading Time
2.  More sample powerpoints (B2 will do this next time.)
      We will be in the computer lab next time to work on our      PowerPoints.
3.  Fluency practice

Notice that this rotation ends on November 15.

November 1, 2010

Happy New Term!
New seating charts

1. Bell-Ringer:Individual reading time.  Quickly grab or get out a book, and read!  (reading logs)

2. See and discuss the sample powerpoint.
3. Scholastic Literacy presentation with Taylor Swift  (B3 still needs to do this.)
 
4. If time, present group fluency poems. (B2 needs to finish presenting.)

Friday and next Tuesday –  We will be in the computer lab to work on and finish PowerPoints.  

October 28, 2010

1. Bell-Ringer:  Text Features on the Internet
2. Finish WebSite Evaluations/collect information in Computer Writing Lab
All WebSite Evaluations packets due by the end of class today.  This is the last day of the term for this class.
 ________________________________________
Here is a new bibliography maker to try.  I just found out about it yesterday.

bibme.org
You need to register, but that's free.  

You might want to try it.  When you first get to it, you need to click on the orange tab in the center for  "Website."

__________________________________________

Taylor Swift on Reading and Writing Webcast

I've registered for us to watch this in class.  We may have the time to do so on another day.  

 

Link to the WayBack Machine -- Archiving the Web: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

October 26, 2010

All Website evaluations due by the end of class today.  We will spend much of our class time in the computer lab.

October 22, 2010

No computer lab today.

Fluency Practice

Inner Voices

Supported Independent Reading

October 20, 2010

Bell-Ringer:  Read article about reliable sources and fill in "inner voices" sheet?

1. About research
2. About finding reliable sources -- the best sources
3. Receive website evaluations
4. Spend time in the computer lab, filling out website evaluations and recording information for the presentation.   
5. Website evaluations are due October 26.  (five for a pair of students, three for a student working alone).
6. Don't forget to create your citations using easybib.com. 

Boring Teacher Stuff 
More Teacher Stuff
And More  
Google Lesson on Reliability
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html 
pro Google/internet research:  http://engage.reading.org/blogsnbspnbsp/blogviewer/?BlogKey=0af31d99-00e2-4e1d-b2fb-d618995d35c3 

Finding Information on This Blog

Finding Information Here

Scroll down and then, if needed, click on "Older Posts" (at the bottom of the page), and continue to scroll down until you find what you want, or check out the "Blog Archive"  (table of contents) at the right, or use the search box at the upper left.

Look at the Blog Archive for posts on various subjects. Click on the arrow by a month to see all posts for that month.

You could use the search bar at the upper left to look for particular subjects.

On blogs, newer posts appear at the top, so as you scroll down, you are reading older posts.

Another useful item is the calendar at the bottom of the page.  Some of the events provide more information when you click on them.  B-Days are marked because that is the day we meet in our Reading classes.

FYI: You can access the district calendar on the district website or here. 

October 18, 2010

Bell-Ringer: 
We will also pass back the papers you handed in with ideas for celebrities. 
We will go to the computer lab right after I present a demonstration of easybib.  

You may sit with your partner in computer lab as long as you are productive.
Take your  handouts, a pencil or pen, and your planner.

Computer Lab 223:
1.  Select the celebrity you most want to learn more about. 
2. Write in your top three choices, with the one you'd like the most in the #1 spot.
3.  Hand in your papers
4.  While you wait to find out. . .
5.  Start looking for sites that would be reliable and provide you with the information you'll need.
6.  Create citations for the sites you find that you think might be helpful.  Create the word document and save it on your thumb drive  or e-mail it to yourself or (if you can't do the others) print it and hand it in with your other worksheets.

Read7 Comp Lab Directions Oct 18(2).doc 

______________________________________
Extra Stuff --

What makes a site reliable?  How can you tell if it's not reliable?
Do you believe everything you read and see?   Is it Reliable?  

Here is a lesson on deciding whether a site is reliable or not.

Time in computer lab to begin doing research.

Extra Credit:  How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?  Find and record 4 answers at http://www.tootsie.com/gal_machine.php  
to earn 5 extra credit points.
Earn an extra ten by creating a citation for the page at easybib.com
Copy the URL from above or from the page navigation bar itself.
Follow the directions here. Using easybib.com
Print it and bring it to me or email it to dorsc405@alpine.k12.ut.us and put Parent of [with your own name] in  the subject line.

Image found at http://www.xconomy.com/?attachment_id=9119

Boring Teacher Stuff 
More Teacher Stuff
And More  
Google Lesson on Reliability

Article on Checking for Reliability

For #3 -- Article for Truth in Research: 

SIRS Discoverer ® on the Web
Copyright © 2010 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.

Read
(Vol. 59, No. 3)
Oct 2, 2009, pp. 30-31

Copyright © Weekly Reader Corporation. Oct 2, 2009. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Truth in Research

By Craig Nadler

• How to find the facts you need online
You've just been assigned a research project. You have the deadline and the topic. What's next? That's right--the research! Although it may seem daunting at first, thorough investigation into a topic can make or break your project. In the 21st century, we often head straight to the computer to begin our research online, where there are literally millions of places to cruise to for information. But while the Internet provides a fast and easy medium through which to gather data, you should always use caution when maneuvering along the electronic information superhighway. Anyone can publish a Web page, and there's no one policing cyberspace to verify that the content is the truth.

Take time to examine each site with care. Remember that Web pages are susceptible to change, and they can move or disappear without warning. Print out any pages that contribute to your research in order to ensure that your bibliography is complete and accurate.[Printing pages is not recommended while you're doing your research for your Celebrity Webquest.  Instead, carefully save the URL, create your citation, and take careful notes.]  You can also call on the help of librarians, who can guide you to trusted research sites.
Stop #1  Stop reading and notice what your mind has been doing as you read.  Has it been paying attention or wandering?  Were you using any strategies to focus or to help yourself understand?  Be honest.  Minds wander.  It will help you if you can notice what's going on in your own thinking.  Write down a couple of sentences about what was going on in your mind as you read the first part.  Do the same for the other three parts of this article. 

I recently came across an article on the Web that claimed a man named John Hanson was the first president of the United States. Hanson had been the first president of Congress in 1781, but could he really be considered the first president of the United States? I thought, "I really need to check out this source?" I used an online research checklist to analyze the credibility of the article. I looked beyond the text to see whether the site's information was reliable. Here's what I discovered.

Content with the content?

As I read the article that defended John Hanson as the first president of the United States, I kept an eye out for citations or hyperlinks in the text that supported the information provided. There were none. I also took note of opinion words, such as definitely, which took away from the serious tone of the article: "George Washington was definitely not the first President of the United States."

Who has the right to write?

After reading the article, I scanned the page for the author's name. The piece was an excerpt from a book. This excerpt's Web site was not controlled by George Grant, who penned the original piece the site referenced. I knew I had to be careful because I didn't have the original source in front of me.
Stop #2

Purpose shmurpose

The Web site--www.marshallhall.org--where I found the article was "[dedicated to the Preservation and Restoration of Historic Marshall Hall in Charles County, Maryland." What exactly does that have to do with the first president of the United States? It didn't seem that my goal matched the site's goal. I needed to rethink its reliability.

Who's in charge?

I could not find any contact information for the Web site's director, a mysterious Peggy Marshall. No information about her life or credentials is provided!

Link me where?

I checked out the provided links, but none of them steered me toward information about the identity of the first president. They were either dead or irrelevant to my topic.

After some online digging, it was clear that this site was not a reliable source of information. It failed too many points on the checklist. I wasn't going to trust this source.
Stop #3

Vocab

SUSCEPTIBLE: subject to some influence

CREDENTIALS: evidence of authority or status

Check a Web Site's Credibility

• AUTHOR: Search for the author's name somewhere on the Web site. Look for a link to his or her home page. Maybe you can find a biography or a list of credentials.

• PURPOSE: Find the goals of the site or the motives behind its creation.

• ACCURACY: Try to verify the material on the page, either with your own knowledge or with alternate sources. Look for primary sources--letters, records, or other documents created during the period that is being studied. Also, check the site for grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors.

• OBJECTIVITY: Try to find the author's point of view, and determine whether the Web site is fact (supported by other sources) or opinion (uses emotion-rousing words).

• CURRENTNESS: Find out when the page was last updated to ensure that its material is current.
• LINKS: Check out the links provided to see whether they are current and relevant to your research.

Stop #4

Our Door -- B2

Last Day for Late Work

The last day to hand in late work for the rotation you just finished (the first third of the semester) is 

October 13.

Link to Newspaper Article About A.F. Junior

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/article_8a796920-556f-5ea1-9300-dfdaf91db625.html

October 12, 2010

1. Bell-Ringer:
a. Work on the handout about some internet vocabulary words.
b. Work on the handout about the CelebrityQuest Assignment. Fill in the names of three celebrities you'd like to learn more about.

2.  Introduction to our class blog:  Look through this blog.
          We have assigned seating for classroom and for the computer lab (computer lab for when you will not be working in pairs).
3.  Introduction to reading the internet and our internet assignment.
      Learning from  BBC
Bring your thumb drive on October 18 and October 20.  Bring it to class every time.

Today we will learn about searching the Internet using an interactive tutorial at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/course
Go to the above web address (URL) and then  
click on START
then click on 06 Searching 

then do the Weakest Link quiz,

and if you have time play with the other games.

4. Internet project: Celebrity Webquest   Link to our blog about the webquest: http://afcelebritywebquest.blogspot.com/
Look through the assignment to get acquainted with what you will need to do. 

To select a celebrity, you will fill out this document: WebQuest Assignment Work-Sheet compatibleQ2.doc



Why this project?  Internet Literacy is  an important part of  our modern world.  We are practicing reading strategies while gathering knowledge and skills for doing research online and off.

______________________________________If you have time, read the information below.
Internet and other computer vocabulary
Thanks to Oprah:  http://oprahgoesonline.blackhammer.com/glossary/glossary_pop.html

URL
Simply put, a Web page's address. In the alphabet soup that is Internet-ese, URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Just as every person on the Net has a unique e-mail address, every file and page on the Web has a unique URL. You can see the URL for the Web page you're on in that thin white horizontal box at the top of your browser. The first part of the URL (http) tells the browser it's looking for a Web page written (most likely) in HTML. The rest gives the name of the computer, then the directory that holds the page, and last but not least, the name of the file that makes up that particular Web page. (The file name typically ends with the .html or .htm suffix, which tells you and your computer it's an HTML file.) You can instantly swing over to any page on the Web by typing the page's URL into the white box and hitting the "Return" key.

Domain
The last two parts of an Internet address. Just as file extensions (such as .gif for GIF files) give some indication of what kind of file it is, the suffix at the end of an Internet site's domain name tells what kind of site it is. For example, .com means it's a commercial site, while other common ones include .edu, for educational institutions, .gov for government, .org for organizations and .org, for non-profit sites. For sites based outside the U.S., there are many others; .ca means the site originates in Canada, .au means the server's in Australia, while .uk means it comes from, well, you know.

Search engine
Your tireless cyber bloodhounds are your guides to the Web. The term search engine is usually used to include three different types of guides: true search engines, directories, and search agents. A "true" search engine uses a program (sometimes called a spider) to search the Internet for information and collate it in a database. A directory (Yahoo, for example) uses a database too, but the information in the database is researched by people, not programs. And an agent (Metacrawler) searches existing databases. There are also specialist directories and agents that search only shopping sites, for example.

About Primary and Secondary Sources (These are lesson materials for teachers, but reading through them gives you a good understanding about the difference between primary and secondary sources.)
http://www.cgrove417.org/cghs/KASL/sources.html

Things You May Not Have Known About Ms. Dorsey

Sometimes she is among the undead, and she hangs out in very scary places.

October 8, 2010

to Ms. Dorsey's part of your Reading 7 class!

We want to create a great door for Red Ribbon Week.  
Here's the information I received: We will be doing a door decoration contest with your B-2 class.  They can start decorating this week and the judging will be done on Oct 12th.  The 3 top doors will win a prize for the class.  They can decorate before school, CAVETIME, or after school.  We do have the late bus on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 4:00pm. that your students can use if they stay after to decorate.

Today's activities:

1. (B2 only) Bell-Ringer:  Ideas for the door for Ribbon Week.

2. Read articles from the internet and notice your inner voices.  

3. Supported Individual Reading Time

4. Fluency Practice
5. (B2 only) Work on the door

October 6, 2010

We'll do a couple of other things, too, but plan to bring a book, along with any or all of these optional items:
a pillow, a blankey, a snack, a drink, and readiness to read.  The last item is required.

Fluency one more time
Inner voices
Reading! 

If you still have work to hand in for this six weeks (Ms. Dorsey's part of the class), you may still turn it in up until Fall Break. 

Are you feeling as if work for school just won't LEAVE you alone?  Is it piling up around you?  Then you have noticed that it's much easier to keep up than it is to catch up.  
Don't FALL for the idea that you can mess around for much of the term, without 
FALLing behind.   

Catch up or stay caught up, and don't leaf it until the last minute.

If you still have work to hand in for this six weeks (Ms. Dorsey's part of the class), you may still turn it in up until Fall Break.  



I found this image at http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2008/02/27/the_big_picture_feature.shtml  It was taken by a fellow named Alex Burgess, The site is sponsored by the BBC.  

Red Ribbon Week

We will be doing a door decoration contest with your B-2 class.  They can start decorating this week and the judging will be done on Oct 12th.  The 3 top doors will win a prize for the class.  They can decorate before school, CAVETIME, or after school.  We do have the late bus on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 4:00pm. that your students can use if they stay after to decorate.

 

We will also have Drug Free Commercial contest where the students can make  a 90 second commercial.  They can pick up entry forms in the front office starting Monday, October 4th.  No more than eight people per commercial.  Everyone that participates will recieve a prize and the top three commercials winners will recieve bigger prizes.  The commercial will be shown on the TV's in the commons the week of Oct 18-22.  The students will vote on October 25th to decide the winners.

 

Monday  October 11, 2010

Sock it to DRUGS!  (Wear crazy socks to school)

Basketball Drug Free Throws in commons during lunch with the impaired goggles.

Candy jars guessing game during lunches.

 

Tuesday October 12, 2010

"Tie" one on against drugs. (wear a crazy tie to school)

Basketball Drug Free Throws in commons during lunch with the impaired goggles.

Candy jars guessing game during lunches

BALLON LAUNCH during CAVETIME

 

Wednesday October 13, 2010

Spirt Day (Wear school colors)

Basketball Drug Free Throws in commons during lunch with the impaired goggles.

Candy jars guessing game during lunches.

Former Miss Utah Heather Anderson will be a CAVETIME ACTIVITY replacing the movie.  She will tell the story of her brother who died from the use of drugs.  We will have CAVETIME on Wednesday, Heather is just replacing the movie for the day.

 

October 4, 2010

1) Bell-Ringer:  On a piece of clean lined paper, respond about the inquiry/research/internet/celebrity project: 

Journal Prompt:  

Part 1.  What did you think about this unit? Was it worthwhile to you? What did you learn that you didn't know before? What did you enjoy most from this unit? What did you like least? What suggestions do you have for me so that future students can have an even better experience?

Part 2.  Look at the chart of reading strategies on our classroom wall. Tell about how you used two or more of the reading strategies as you read from the Internet.   

2) Inquiry Reading and Thinking Critically with the iBrain!


3) Supported Individual Reading Time

4) Reading Fluency Practice

Important:  Hand in your PowerPoint and Website Evaluations if you haven't yet.

This Wednesday is the last day in this rotation.  You will then move(on Friday) to Mrs. Fugal's class. 


image from http://www.clipartheaven.com/show/clipart/anatomy/brain_-_mechanical-gif.html

September 30, 2010

Share PowerPoints -- Rotating and Viewing in the Computer Lab.  Your thumb-drive with your PowerPoint must be here today.  All papers for Website Evaluations should be turned in.

Students filled out a form for the PowerPoints they viewed.

September 28, 2010

Your Web Evaluations and PowerPoint are both due today. We will share them in class next time.
Plan to bring and leave your thumb drive.  Mark it with your name-- you could use tape.  Also make sure your web evaluations are complete, stapled to the grading sheet, and handed in to the wire basket.

Individual Reading Time -- Bring a book.

Fluency practice -- We set up our Fluency Practice.

Bring your thumb drive with your PowerPoint next time!

September 24, 2010

Good news, we will have about half of the period for those who need to  work in the computer lab on their celebrity projects.
Bring your thumb drive.

You'll want to bring a book to read, and you may want to check these out:
   Celebrity Quest Assignment   and   grading for evaluations and presentation.doc

You will need your finished PowerPoint by September 28. Plan to bring and leave your thumb drive.  Mark it with your name-- you could use tape.  You must have your finished PowerPoint here September 28 and 30. 

Here is another resource you might want to check to see if your celebrity is there:

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pagegen/index.html

Using easybib.com

To practice, open cavereading.blogspot.com in a second tab or window so you can still read these directions,  and then go to http://www.easybib.com/

1. Check to make sure that the tab that is showing is the tab for websites.
2. Open (in another tab or window) to the website for which you want to make a citation (bibliography entry).
3. Copy the URL.
4. Past the URL into the space provided (where it says "Enter website address or keywords to cite."
5. Click on the link marked "Cite this."
6. Check at the bottom of the page for a date last revised or a copyright date.
7.   If you find one, fill in that information at the "Electronically published:" box.
8. Click on "Create Citation."
9. Your citation has been made, and you can copy it to a document or PowerPoint, or you can click on "Save as word document" and save that to your flash drive.
10. If you wish, you can prepare the citations for all of your sources (as long as you don't close easybib), and then just make a document or copy all at once.  

Hand in, with your website evaluations, your list of three or five citations. 

September 20, 2010

Today students had more time in a computer lab to work on their website evaluations.

All evaluations should be done by next class period so students can put their PowerPoint programs together.

B2 had also had time for reading in class, so your reading log should reflect that.


 grading for evaluations and presentation.doc for Term 1

September 16, 2010

September 16, 2010


Computer lab -- research/filling out web site evaluations
Applying reading strategies to reading on the Internet.

September 22:  Create Power-Point presentations
September 28:  Presentations due

Celebrity Quest Assignment

The following is information that applies to Term 1, 2010.  See newer posts for the Term 2 information.
 
The project may be found at http://celebrityquest.webs.com/ 
I have made some adaptations, including point values for grading.

The instructions are  available here:

Reading 7 WebQuest Assignment Instructions compatible(2).doc 



WebQuest Assignment Work-Sheet compatible.doc


For those who do not have access to the Internet  at home, copies of the assignment instructions are available in class. 

Find the web site evaluations at 

September 10, 2010

http://celebrityquest.webs.com/research.htm

Prepare your bibliography entries at   easybib.com 

If you need instructions for easybib, see Using easybib.com

The grading sheet is here:
  grading for evaluations and presentation.doc

___________________________ 

Looking for famous person to research?  

Try http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pagegen/index.html

____________________________

Students, if you have this celebrity, did you look at this site:

Emily Rodda: http://www.emilyrodda.com/biography.html

Link to "Great Sites for Kids" by the ALA

The ALA is the American Library Association.


Great Sites for Kids

Girls, Here's a Book Recommendation from Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot wrote The Princess Diaries, and many other books that are popular with teen (and younger) girls.  She highly recommends a series of books that were written way back in the '40's for girls .  Read about why she thinks you'll enjoy the Betsy-Tacy books.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574447514006375536.html

September 16, 2010

computer lab -- celebrity quest
Using reading strategies while reading the Internet.

Citations/Bibliogaphy

reading time /  SIR

fluency practice?

September 14, 2010

Bell-Ringer: Pick up your folder.  Hand back and file.  Finish decorating your folders.

Mini-lesson:  Using reading strategies while reading on the Internet. 


Due Dates for Celebrity WebQuest:
September 10:  Complete at least one site evaluation and gather information
September 16: More site evaluations and gather more information
September 22:  Creating PowerPoints
September 28:  PowerPoints Due/Deadline for full points

Why this project?  Internet Literacy is  an important part of  our modern world.  We are practicing reading strategies while gathering knowledge and skills for doing research online and off.



Individual Reading Time and Individual Testing
Quick Conferences about your celebrityquest

Extra credit for a Useless Fact: The ZIP in Zip code is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan.  Tell me this fascinating factoid and earn 3 points of extra credit.  

ZIP is an acronym, "a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words." (Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.)

Contest -- Write About a Book

This is sponsored by Scholastic, and I just found out about it today.
The entries must be postmarked by September 20, so if you'd like to do it, you'll need to hurry.


For information about the contest, the prize, and how to enter (including the form that must be filled out), go to

http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/essaycontest.htm



To enter, print clearly/or type an answer to
the following question on 81/2 X 11 paper: 
“What is the book you will always remember and why?”
Entries must be fully original, must not exceed 250 words and must be in the English language.

More on September 10

We are learning more about reading the Internet.
Today we learned about primary and secondary sources. 
We spent time in the computer lab, filling out site evaluations (See the other post for September 10.)  and information about student-chosen celebrities.

Dates for Celebrity WebQuest:
September 10:  Complete at least one site evaluation and gather information
September 16: More site evaluations and gather more information
September 22:  Creating PowerPoints
September 28:  PowerPoints Due/Deadline for full points

Why this project?  Internet Literacy is  an important part of  our modern world.  We are practicing reading strategies while gathering knowledge and skills for doing research online and off.



 Try using http://pioneer.uen.org
This is an online library sponsored by the Utah State Department of Education.  To log in from home you use the user name pioneer and the password search.
SIRS Discoverer  is a database created especially for school kids to use in their research.  You'll find newspaper, magazine, journal, and encyclopedia articles. One of the nice features is that each result is labeled by reading level from easy to challenging.

Here is another site  you could  check for information about celebrities:  http://www.biography.com/

About Primary and Secondary Sources
http://www.cgrove417.org/cghs/KASL/sources.html

A New Book by Creators of Phantom Tollbooth

If you're fans of The Phantom Tollbooth, you will want to check this out:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129608795&sc=fb&cc=fp

September 10, 2010

Bring your thumb-drive today!

Score:    /15                       

Student Name (s) ___________________________________________     Period:  _____________

Celebrity: _______________________________________________

Instructions: Use the questions below to first evaluate your site and then take notes. Please note that Google is not a website. It is a search engine to find websites. You need to do evaluations for 3 sites as an individual, and for 5 sites if you are working as a pair.  

Part 1: Can I trust this site? (5 points)

·         URL (Website Address): ______________________________________________________________

·         Title of the site: _____________________________________________________________________

·         Is this a primary or secondary source?  ___________________________________________________

·         Is this your celebrity’s official website? ___________________________________________________

·         Organization behind the website: ________________________________________________________

·         Why did this organization host this website?  _______________________________________________

·         What is the domain (.com, .net, .org, .edu)?  __________________

·         Who is the author of the information? _____________________________________________________

·         Is this author qualified to write about this topic? _____________________________________________

·         Can you tell where the author got his/her information (references)? _____________________________

·         ____________________________________________________________________________________

·         Can people edit this site?  ______________________________________________________________

·         What kind of ads are attached to the site?  __________________________________________________

·         When was the last time this site was updated (year alone is okay)? ______________________________

·         Are there any grammar/spelling mistakes? _________________________________________________

·         Based on the above questions, how reliable is this site? (very reliable, mostly reliable, somewhat reliable, questionable, not reliable) Explain why you think so.  _________________________________

·         ___________________________________________________________________________________

Part 2: What can I learn from this site? (5 points)

Use the space below to write some notes from your site. Remember that you cannot copy and paste information. That is plagiarism. Instead write notes in your own words. The more you write, the better your score will be. You will use this information for your PowerPoint presentations. You may use additional paper, or use a word processor.  You could upload this document from our class blog and type your answers.

·         Life before fame (childhood, parents, education): 

·         How my celebrity became famous:

·         Major Accomplishments (movies, hit songs, albums, awards, stats):

·         Personal Life (family, relationships, hobbies, gossip)

·         Other Information (fan club, tour dates, news, charities, money, site features)

Citation (5 points). Last, you will need to use Easybib.com to create a citation for a bibliography. Here are some directions for using the website:

Begin by clicking on the bluish-grey rectangle to select a source.

Under Most Popular click Web Site.

Copy your URL and paste it in the web address box.

Click Autocite.

Enter any additional information the program may have missed (author, published date) , and check to make sure the titles are correct.

Click Create Citation.

Copy the citation in the blue box and paste it on your website evaluation form.