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newsletter, visit the Tech Connect Archive:
www.cpsb.org/techdepartment/tech_connect
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Issue 9
Volume 3
October
17, 2002
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Thought for the Week
"What lies behind us and what lies
before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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 Web Site
of the Week -- Kaufman Elementary |
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For
several years, our school websites have been a
“work-in-progress”! With the beginning of the 2002 – 2003
school year, we are proud to report
that all but two of our schools have active websites. We have
come a long way baby! In an effort to “showcase” the
outstanding information available on the World Wide Web about
the CPSB schools….we
will in Tech Connect feature a “Website of the Week”. School
webmasters and principals….get your website ready… sometime
this year….you will be in the spotlight!
  Website
of the Week – October 17 – October 23, 2002
Kaufman Elementary School
www.cpsb.org/kaufman
School
principal, Lawrence Primeaux has energized his staff to create
a dynamic, interactive web page with a patriotic theme.
Webmaster, Della Pearce, has skillfully created a web-based
environment that showcases the very best of Kaufman Elementary
School. The "Brag Page" is an interesting focus on what's
going on at this innovative and effective elementary school. |
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Maybe We
Need to Listen to the Students??? |
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"Students Say Internet Not
Used Enough In Schools" A Pew Internet and American Life
Project study found students independently use the Web for
educational activities, but that schools fail to utilize the
Internet as a teaching tool. The study found that students
want more Internet-related lessons and assignments. Visit
these websites to read about the latest research on what
kids want and need in our schools!
The Washington Post
http://rdr.sbml.cc/Click?q=2e-eMXGIiK85w2qPxWx9Wjo2RRR
(8/15) |
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Rename
Microsoft Internet Explorer Favorites |
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 When you
save a URL into the Microsoft Internet Explorer Favorites
folder, the names often are very long and somewhat cryptic.
However, it's not much of a problem to change those names to
something more meaningful. Just choose Favorites to open the
folder. Now right-click a URL that you want to change and
choose Rename. Type in the new name and press Enter. |
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 We're
always looking for computing shortcuts. Here is a way to
copy and paste blocks of text or images in your Microsoft
Word documents in fewer steps than you thought possible.
- Highlight the text or
graphic you want to copy.
- Hold down the Ctrl key.
- Use your mouse to drag
the selected text or graphic to a new location.
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Color-Code Your
Excel Sheet Tabs |
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 In Excel
version 2002, you can color-code sheet tabs for easier
identification or grouping of related sheets. Here's how: Select the
sheets you want to color by holding down the CTRL key and clicking
the tabs. On the Format menu, point to Sheet, and then click Tab
Color. You can also right-click the sheet tab and then click Tab
Color. Click the color you want, and click OK. |
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Inspired Teachers
Scholarship! |
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 Helping
students learn how to think and learn has never
been more challenging. As teacher time shrinks,
information expands, and the world becomes
increasingly more complex, teaching critical
thinking and learning skills becomes increasingly
important. Teachers play a vital role in helping
students develop these skills. In order to support
educators with their on-going professional
development and to champion the integration of
visual learning into the curriculum, Inspiration
Software, Inc. is pleased to award this year's
Inspired Teacher Scholarships for Visual Learning.
For more information visit:
http://www.inspiration.com/prodev/index.cfm?fuseaction=guidelines |
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This in an interactive site
suited for PreK-2 graders. It has many interactive online
games and storybooks you can download and personalize for the
students It also has skill specific worksheets you can
download and print for student use. Billy Bear’s Playground is
kid friendly so even the pre-k students can move around with
ease.
http://www.billybear4kids.com/ |
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 If
you need to browse your hard drive in a hurry and are tired
of opening window after window in “my computer”, then right
click on my computer and select explore. For those of us
with the windows key on our keyboards an even quicker way is
to press the windows key and "e" at the same time. The
windows key is located to left of the spacebar in between
the ctrl and alt keys. |
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Checking Your Computer's Performance |
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Windows 2000 and Windows NT come
with a very useful tool called the Performance Monitor. This
tool allows you to chart your CPU usage (among other things).
Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Performance
Monitor. Once the Performance window opens, click the Plus (+)
button, click Add, then click Close or Done. You should now be
viewing a chart of your CPU usage. You can click the Help
button for more details. |
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Got
a Great Elementary Interdisciplinary Lesson Plan? NSTA Wants
to Hear from You |
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 NSTA
is collecting PreK-6 interdisciplinary science lesson plans,
project-based activities, and thematic units for an
interdisciplinary website designed for and written by
elementary educators. We are looking for plans that
integrate science with reading, English, math, social
studies, and/or technology and are based on the National
Science Education Standards. To submit a lesson plan or unit
for consideration, please complete the online lesson plan
template at:
http://www.nsta.org/main/lessonplantemplate.asp or link
to the National Science Teachers Association homepage at:
http://www.nsta.org/ |
 “Creative Minds at Work” by
Ellen Sung
http://newsobserver.com/news/triangle/story/1780846p-1788687c.html
This article supports the philosophy that hands-on
approaches to learning can add motivation and improvement in
test scores. This staff writer observed several elementary
school classrooms in East Clayton Elementary, located in
North Carolina. Students can be observed in actual problem
solving investigations. Students are assigned to teacher(s)
who have similar learning styles, and the results have
proved outstanding. Almost 91 percent of the students earned
passing scores, and the school was designated a School of
Excellence. It is obvious in this article that “teaching to
the test is out, making lessons fit the needs of the
students is in.” To read more about this change in
instructional philosophy, click the link above. |
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Top Ten Viruses Found on CPSB Computers |
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Here are the top ten viruses
found on CPSB computers in the past 7 days. The stats are
based on 51 infected computers
out of a total of 2267 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.
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Best on
the Net!! NEW FEATURE!! -- 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)
THE SEASON
OF COLOR:
http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2002/09/092302_fall.jhtml
Need a cross-curricular Science/Language Arts Lesson? Welcome to
autumn, when leaves changing colors are one of the first visible signs
that long summer days have definitely left us. What are some of the
other signs of fall? Why does the autumnal equinox occur, and what
does it mean to various animals, plants, and humans? Let students
begin their investigations of fall here, and read and discuss the
poetry included in the article. Locate further examples of autumn
poems and then have students create their own versions, perhaps using
acrostic formats for leaf, autumn, apple, or other symbols of fall.
CARVE A
VIRTUAL PUMPKIN:
http://www.thepumpkinfarm.com/jack/jackboard.html
By selecting a button for eyes, nose, mouth, and eyebrows, primary
students will be able to carve their own virtual pumpkins. There's not
much to it, but the kids will think it's fun.
Happy Halloween from Ben & Jerry's:
http://www.benjerry.com/halloween/
Here is a site for elementary teachers to get seasonal
coloring pages, mazes, word searches, crafts, games, etc.
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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 Teacher
Link
Best on
the Net
Tech Guides
Computer Purchasing Information
Tech Connect Archive
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The following
handouts and many more have been added to the
“Tech Guides” section of the Tech Support website
(