Issue 19

Thought for the Week
The great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child. -Mencius

Meet the New Board

Calcasieu Parish School Board members were installed for a four year term on Tuesday, January 14, 2003. Welcome and congratulations to our six new board members: Dale Bernard, Billy Breaux, Brian LaRocque, R.L. Webb, Rev. J.L. Franklin, Dr. Edward Stephens and congratulations to our returning board members Greg Robert, James W. Pitre, Joe Andrepont, Clara F. Duhon, J. L. Duhon, John M. Falgout, James Karr, Sr., Sheral Lavergne, Philip Tarver.

HURRY...LIMITED REGISTRATION!

TUITION EXEMPTION IS AVAILABLE FOR HELP WITH YOUR PLUS 30!

Region V TLTC Online Course:
Curriculum Enhancement with Technology

Spring Quarter: March 12- May 23, 2003
Summer Quarter: June 3 - August 13, 2003

To register for the course visit the following link: http://www.cpsb.org/Scripts/online_course/online_ppt.asp

If you have questions, feel free to contact Kim Leblanc, kim.leblanc@cpsb.org or call 337.437.1244.

Keeping Your Peripherals Clean (Part 1 of 4)

Follow these steps to extend the life of your Monitor

Turn off computer.
Wipe monitor screen with monitor-cleaning premoistened wipes, or with monitor-cleaning solution or water sprayed onto monitor/eyeglass cloth. Never spray anything directly on the screen.
When cleaning LCD screens, do not use alcohol- or ammonia-based products as they can damage the surface. Use water sprayed onto monitor/eyeglass cloth or special LCD cleaner (such as Klear Screen) only.
Wipe monitor case and monitor cable with cloth dampened with water.

NOTE: Never open a monitor case! Monitors store high voltage and can cause severe electrical shock.

Customize Your Start Menu

Would you like to create your own stationery? Outlook lets you create your own from scratch or customize any of the existing designs. Here's how:

Choose Tools, Options
Click the Mail Format tab
Click Stationery Picker, then click New
Enter a name for your new stationery
Select Start With A Blank Stationery
Click Next
Choose the font and background you want
Click OK twice.

Your new stationery will now be included in the Use This Stationery By Default box. To use it, select it and click OK.

Graph Club 2.0

Teachers in grades K-4 ! Graph Club 2.0 is now updated with new features! There are over 150 new symbols and over 30 activities aligned with standards. Take a look at an overview of the software at this link: http://www.tomsnyder.com/graphclub

Outlook Tip -- Using Stationary

Configuring the Start menu to match your habits can help you work more smoothly in small but noticeable ways. First, choose either the default Windows XP menu or the classic menu, which resembles earlier Windows Start menus: Right-click on the taskbar, choose Properties, then go to the Start menu tab and choose Start menu or Classic Start menu. Whichever one you pick, follow up by choosing the Customize button that goes with it, and experiment with any options you don't understand.

Recover a Deleted Document

Even when a document has been deleted, it's possible to recover it. Here are three steps to recover anything from the Recycle Bin.

Double-click the Recycle Bin icon.
When the window is open, single-click the file you want to recover. To select multiple files, just hold down the Ctrl key and single-click the files you want to restore.
Open the File menu and select Restore.

The files will be returned to the original location from where they were deleted. If you've already emptied the Recycle Bin, recovery is a little more difficult

Cut PowerPoint Graphics Down to Size

Add a few images—a photo here, an illustration there—and the size of your PowerPoint presentation can become huge. You could compress images manually, but there's a simpler way: PowerPoint 2002 can do it for you.

On the Picture toolbar, click the Compress Pictures button. If you don't see the Picture toolbar, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Picture.
To compress all pictures in the presentation, click All pictures in document.
Under Change resolution, select how you intend to use your presentation by clicking either Web/Screen or Print.
To further reduce file size, select the Delete cropped areas of pictures check box.
Click OK.

If you compress pictures or delete the cropped areas, you won't be able to restore your pictures to their original resolution or size. This tip also works in Microsoft Word version 2002.

Education Journals

Education Journals is an annotated database for K-12 and teacher educators designed to provide K-12 professional staff and teacher education faculty with a searchable database of English language print and electronic journals focused on K-12 education and professional staff preparation. The annotations and Internet links provided for each title are designed to assist the target audience in identifying professional titles of interest. The database may also be used as a collection development tool and instructional resource by library staff providing professional development services to K-12 and teacher educators. http://webcat.library.wisc.edu:3102/

Article Review

What it Takes to Develop or Participate in a Collaborative Web Project from SEIR-TEC News-Wire, Volume Five, Issue Number One, 2002. -- For those teachers and students who are contemplating the onset of a web project, it is important to know how to set up and manage a collaborative project of this magnitude. For information and guidelines for establishing a similar classroom project, please review http://telecollaborate.net. Understanding how to exchange files via the Internet, access templates for completing the project, and guidelines for interaction among students are important elements that cannot be overlooked. Some considerations might also include:

Know your specific hardware and software needs.
Test your product on a different computer before going "live."
Make sure participants can do what the project requires before the project starts.
Meet the deadlines set.
Encourage and support participants.
Complete the project regardless of complications or surprises.
Have fun.

The Silk Road

The Silk Road. You've heard of it, right? But how much do you KNOW about it??? Where in the world is Samark and why is it mentioned in the same breath as Venice? Find out on the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage's website which offers wonderful teaching materials based on the theme of the Smithsonian's 2002 summer folklife festival. www.silkroadproject.org/smithsonian/index.html

ITEC SPOTLIGHT - Missy Bushnell - Dolby Elementary

In the fall, our school focused on Careers as part of an 8g Grant we had received. In my fourth grade classroom, students brainstormed using Inspiration questions they wanted to find out about their chosen profession. They researched on the internet to find the answers to their questions. The site we used was www.collegegrad.com Students were to incorporate lots of math into their research: they had to find the salary of their career; the salary difference between Lake Charles and the city where they want to live; how far away that city is from Lake Charles; etc. Students then used the writing process to complete their essays (150 word format like LEAP) and print them out using MS Word. Students were given the opportunity to dress up as their chosen career on Halloween. Digital photos were taken and inserted into their writing projects. Overall, the students really enjoyed this unit. They learned a lot about what they want to be, and the response from parents was wonderful. They were excited to see their children learn about something that would truly impact their future.

Top Ten Viruses Found on CPSB Computers

Here are the top ten viruses found on CPSB computers in the past 7 days. The stats are based on 49 infected computers out of a total of 2670 OfficeScan clients.

The information shows the name of the virus, the number of infected files found, and the percentage of the virus from the total. ALL school board employees need to ensure that their Dell, Compaq, HP, IBM or other PC classroom computers stay virus free. Go to the following link to download the district copy of OfficeScan: http://teacherlink.cpsb.org/officescan and your computer will automatically be updated daily to scan for the latest viruses. You must install the software using Internet Explorer 4.0 or later (Netscape will not work!!!!!) Please answer "Yes" to all prompts as the software installs. If you have any questions, please contact the CPSB Help Desk at tech.help@cpsb.org.

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)

Guide to Grammar and Writing: http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar
Apostrophes, brackets, colons, commas, ellipses, run-ons, subject-verb agreement, the writing process, structures of considerations, patterns of organizations- sounds familiar? If you need assistance with any of these areas visit this great site for teachers and students!

EXPLORE THE FANTASTIC FOREST: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/forest/index.html
Students can explore the plants and animals that call this habitat their home. The website offers a panoramic view of the forest, and the students just click on the trees, or following the one sentence prompt to navigate and collect information and images.

Weather Underground: http://www.wunderground.com
This is a great website if you would like to plan a lesson dealing with the weather. You can access weather conditions for anywhere in the United States or Around the World. There is an archive of tropical storms that goes back to the year 1886.

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