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.

September 8, 2010

Bring your thumb drive on September 10.

Today we will learn about searching the Internet using an interactive tutorial at http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/

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.


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.



Independent reading time (receive reading logs)  and individual testing


Filing into your folders -- time to decorate?

September 3, 2010

September 3, 2010

If you didn't sign up for your celebrity, please do it as soon as possible.  Please check Skyward for my records of who is doing which celebrity.  Some of you still need to select a celebrity, or select a different one. 

1. Bell-Ringer:  Read the article about" Dad's Bionic Hand" (found on the Internet),  noticing your inner voices:  conversational (What's the conversation?) or  Waste-of-Time?

Interesting article:  Dad's Bionic Hand!   Dad's Bionic Hand Handout

2. Students were introduced to their major project for the term.  
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.docx
or 
Reading 7 WebQuest Assignment Instructions compatible.doc

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

Today the students received a worksheet to get started.  If you need a copy, you may upload it from either of these: 


WebQuest Assignment Work-Sheet.docx
or 
WebQuest Assignment Work-Sheet compatible.doc

The completed project is due by  September 28.  We will be in the computer lab to do research on two days, and will have one day to put together the  PowerPoint Presentations.  Once you have sufficient understanding of what we are doing, you are welcome to also work on this at home.



3. Students did Independent Reading and we continued individual testing.