Issue 4, Volume 10 September 10, 2009     Thought for the Week Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way. -- George Evans   Celebrate Constitution Day - September 17th On September 17, 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created. This is an important day in our nation's history, so celebrate Constitution Day through activities, learning, and more by using the following sites for ideas. Check out http://www.constitutionday.com/ for information on the Constitution, the amendments, and our founding fathers. Visit the following sites for more lessons and activities to celebrate Constitution Day: A to Z Teacher Stuff http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Constitution_Day/    Annenberg Classroom http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/Chapter.aspx?Id=61   Constitution Day.com http://www.constitutionday.cc/   Education World http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson347.shtml   EdHelper http://www.edhelper.com/Constitution_Day.htm    National Archives http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/    National Endowment for the Humanities http://edsitement.neh.gov/ConstitutionDay/constitution_index2.html Leading by Example – Transforming Education for the 21st Century As an administrator, why not utilize a Wiki tool to collect, capture, and assess important materials?  A Wiki is a web site that allows users to add and update content on the site using their own Web browser. The term “wiki” comes from the Hawaiian phrase, “wiki wiki,” which means “super fast.” Thousands of users can actually add content to a web site on a regular basis using a wiki format. Since most of our schools already have a school Blackboard site for staff collaboration, consider using the Blackboard Wiki tool for staff members to create and edit content? Then teachers could expand its use by allowing students to create content within a classroom Blackboard site. Transition To ActivInspire Have you made the transition to ActivInspire? Do you want to learn the newest software from Promethean? Then, come to the PRAI 205: Transition to ActivInspire. This two hour hands-on workshop is designed to help the current ActivBoard user transition from using ActivStudio to using ActivInspire. Location: Lab C - Technology Training Center When: 3:00-5:00 pm Dates: September 22nd, October 13th, November 17th, or December 7th. CLUs: 2 Register for any one of these classes https://www.cpsb.org/techclasses/. If you don’t already have an account to register for Tech Center classes, you will need to first create an account before you can register.   Saving Word 2007 as a PDF Document If you need to distribute documents in PDF format, you don't need to have the full version of Adobe Acrobat anymore. Microsoft Office 2007 can save documents in PDF format. All you need is the 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in. When you're distributing documents electronically, you can't count on the recipients having Word installed on their computers. Also, not everyone has Microsoft Word 2007. So, the best way to distribute documents is in PDF format.     In that case, you can download Microsoft's free Save as PDF add-in for Office 2007. It allows you to create PDF documents in Word and other Office applications. It also allows you to create XPS documents. XPS is Microsoft's flat file format. Since it doesn't have the widespread acceptance of PDF, we don't recommend distributing documents in XPS format. Be sure to go and download the free PDF Plug in for Office 2007. After you download and install the add-in, follow these steps to create a PDF in Word: 1.  Click the Microsoft Office Button, point to the arrow next to Save As, and then click PDF or XPS. 2.  In the File Name list, type or select a name for the document. 3.  In the Save as type list, click PDF if it doesn’t already show. *Note: If you want to open the file immediately after saving it, select the Open file after publishing check box. This check box is available only if you have a PDF reader installed on your computer.   4.  Next to Optimize for, do one of the following, depending on whether file size or print quality is more important to you: If the document requires high print quality, click Standard (publishing online and printing). If the print quality is less important than file size, click Minimum size (publishing online). 5.  Click Options to set the page range to be printed, to choose whether markup should be printed, and to select the output options. Click OK. 6.  Click Publish. *Note: If you want to make changes to the PDF after saving it, return to your original 2007 Microsoft Office system file in which you created it and save the file as PDF again.    Animation Library This site features over 13,748 free animations for you to use on your website or send as digital postcards using our powerful Postcard Station. The FAQS page will provide answers to many questions. The site also provides Animation Tutorials, easy to understand instructions. http://www.animationlibrary.com/ Sh!! It’s A Secret!!! Can you keep a secret? Your Windows password should be a secret. Your Windows password is the password you use to log on to your computer. You can help keep your computer more secure by changing your Windows password regularly, and by using a strong password. How do you do that? First of all, login to the computer. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Change a password. Type your old password, type your new password, type your new password again to confirm it, and then press ENTER. Reboot and login with the new password.  Math and Science Grants The mission of Toshiba America Foundation is to promote quality science and mathematics education in U.S. schools. Grants are made for programs and activities that improve teaching and learning in science and mathematics, grades K-12. The Foundation focuses its grant making on inquiry-based projects designed by individual teachers, and small teams of teachers, for use in their own classrooms. Toshiba America Foundation (TAF) is currently accepting applications for grants to support innovative projects designed by math and science teachers to make their own classrooms more exciting and successful for students. The proposal deadline is October 1, 2009 for K-6 applications. Applications for 7-12 are due later in the school year, but you could start now. Decisions about grants under $5,000 are made on a rolling basis and applications are accepted throughout the year. Check out the deadlines for your grade level and download the application form and guidelines at http://www.toshiba.com/tafpub/jsp/about/HowApply.jsp. Flipchart Fundamentals (Step 3 in a series of 6) For the past two weeks, we have begun covering the fundamentals of building effective flipcharts using ActivInspire. The first two steps involved using proven learning strategies and maximizing student participation.  The third step is “with experience comes confidence.”   It's often daunting when you see other peoples' advanced flipcharts and you wonder 'how will I ever achieve that? The answer is, in time you will! Any beginner can advance their own ActivBoard skills by experimenting with the software and starting with the more basic tools, such as rub and reveal. Here's an easy three-point guide to this simple, but effective, technique: 1. Type some text on the page. 2. Write over the text with a pen. 3. Then, in the lesson, you can use the eraser tool to erase the pen, 'revealing' the text beneath... Be sure to log into Promethean Planet and check out the Teacher Feature section of Promethean Planet for great examples of lessons and videos showing award winning teachers in action. If you don’t already have an account for Promethean Planet, you need to create one. The account is free and allows access to flipcharts, resources, ACTIVtips, and more. The URL: http://www.prometheanplanet.com  Online Image Converter This is an online image converter website you can use for free. It supports over 100 major image formats. You can convert files up to 5Mb in size. Converted files will be stored on the website's servers for 5-10 days. You will receive links to the converted images in a download page. Check it out at http://www.go2convert.com/. Office 2007 Online Solutions Being concerned about office 2007 is nothing uncommon. This website from Microsoft, http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX102704851033.aspx will be able to get you ready. This allows you to walk before you run in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Keep in mind some of these documents may only be related to home use. Best on the Net!! -- Visit this site for hundreds of websites for teachers! We would love to hear from you about the best educational sites you have found on the web. Please submit, via email, the sites you feel merit inclusion. Send to tech.connect@cpsb.org. Please include the URL and a short sentence about the site.  Featured Sites: (These sites were submitted by teachers in Calcasieu Parish) Flashcard Exchange http://www.flashcardexchange.com/ Find a very large database of flashcards at the Flashcard Exchange. Free email registration is required to make flashcards on this site, but no registration is required to use the cards that are already posted to the site. The study results feature allows you to assign a set of cards to students. The teacher can view the study results statistics to see how many cards the students completed as well as a simple pie chart indicating the number of right/wrong answers. The selection of public cards on this site is fantastic, but there is a one-time lifetime fee required if you want to export the cards to portable devices or need to print them for hard copy review.   StudyStack http://www.studystack.com/ StudyStack is a site that will create banks or stacks of electronic cards that can be reviewed online, printed, or exported to a portable handheld device. Email registration is required in order to create a Study Stack, but students can use public study stacks if they do not have an email address or if you prefer to create the cards for them ahead of time. StudyStack offers several modes of studying:  each stack can be viewed in flash card mode, in match mode, as a hangman game, crossword, word find, or bug match. Click on the export feature once you have created a study stack to learn the best way to export data to a handheld device.   Quizlet  http://quizlet.com/ Quizlet is another excellent little application that will help students study vocabulary words. It was developed in 2005 by Andrew Sutherland, a 15-year old who wanted to find a better way to study his 111 French animal words. The rest is history and the popularity of his site is a testament to student ingenuity. The site is free to registered users and Facebook users. Data input is fast and easy and study options include a review activity, an input-the-answer activity, a quiz yourself feature, and two game-type features. The application also includes a print function and an export feature that imported fairly easily into StudyStack. Frankly, you may want to import some StudyStack cards into this application since the activities are quite different and complement each other.   An official publication of the CPSB Technology Department If you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Webmaster. For Technical Support:  tech.help@cpsb.org Calcasieu Parish Homepage  Technology Department  Tech Help Site  Best on the Net Tech Guides  Computer Purchasing Information  Tech Connect Archive