Issue 22, Volume 6 March 2, 2006     Thought for the Week Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson   Win $100,000 In Wireless Lab Equipment And Other Technology CDW-G and Discovery Education are holding their fourth annual "Win a Wireless Lab Sweepstakes" to give schools the chance to win technology for their classrooms. Two wireless computer labs, each worth more than $40,000, will be awarded as grand prizes! More than 30 runner-up prizes of printers and software from CDW-G and multimedia resources from Discovery Education will also be awarded. Public and private school teachers, administrators, and school and district technology specialists are eligible to enter by filling out an online form. To find out more, visit http://school.discovery.com/cdwg/. The deadline for entries is May 1, 2006. Winners will be selected by a random drawing from all eligible entries. Smart Bodies For Louisiana Youth Smart Bodies is an innovative program of nutrition and physical activities that is integrated into core curriculum academics to prevent children from becoming overweight or obese. It is a public-private partnership between the LSU AgCenter and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation, targeting children in grades K-5; and, it integrates classroom activities with hands-on learning to teach children how to build strong bodies and active minds. The Smart Bodies program consists of three components: Body Walk (a walk-through exhibit representing the human body with interactive learning stations), the OrganWise Guys (the OWG are fun characters that help children understand physiology and healthy behaviors), and Take 10! (a grade-specific educational tool with academic lessons). Activities provided in both the Take 10! and OWG curricular materials are linked to the grade-level expectations (GLEs) established by the Louisiana Department of Education. All materials are FREE. Local AgCenter agents will conduct a teacher training, and an OrganWise Guys school assembly to kick off the entire program. Schools must agree to implement the program for a minimum of 12 weeks. Interested schools should visit the website at www.smartbodies.org for additional information. Tables In Word Do your tables look out of place on the page? There's no need to try and click and drag them into place. Word's Table Properties makes it easy to position your tables so they automatically align with the surrounding text. For example, suppose you just created a table which by default aligns itself along the left margin with all surrounding text pushed below it. Let’s say you want your table to align at the right margin and the text to wrap around it.   To do just that, use the following steps: 1. Select the table. 2. Right-click the selected Table and click Table Properties. 3. Under Alignment, click Right. 4. Under Text wrapping, click Around. 5. Click OK. If the table borders have the text too closely wrapped around them, right-click the selected table again, and click the Positioning button from the Table Properties window. You can then adjust the spacing around the table, by increasing the Top, Left, Bottom or Right distance from the surrounding text. Intervention Central The Intervention Central offers free tools and resources to help school staff and parents to promote positive classroom behaviors and foster effective learning for all children and youth. The site was created by Jim Wright, a school psychologist from Central New York. The URL: http://www.interventioncentral.com  Technology Tips For Classroom Teachers This homemade site is a terrific online resource for teachers of K-5 students. Marilyn Western has put together many different resources on her own home site for educators to share and utilize. Everything from interesting articles related to technology in the classroom to links to other teacher websites with even more resources can be found on this site. Enjoy!  The URL: http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/ Make The Most Of Fifteen Minutes We all know how rushed teachers can be! It is hard to find time to communicate with associates, parents, or anyone else. But, if you have 15 minutes, Outlook 2003 has many features to help you accomplish your communication tasks. This site offers tutorials to help you use the tools of Outlook more effectively. How-to’s with features such as grouping and ungrouping items, viewing messages by conversation or thread, flagging items for follow up, and creating multiple calendars are available. Check them out at the following web site: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011361461033.aspx   A Teacher Who Knows All The Answers    Children of all ages are innately curious about our world. They are just bursting to ask any question that pops into their thirsty minds. No matter how good your answers are, there are always more questions to follow! No one can answer them all, right? Well, there is a "teacher" who is always patient and ready for the next question and within seconds will answer it correctly and thoroughly! And it’s free! Go to http://www.teachers.answers.com/ and discover the great tools available there for quickly locating answers on practically any subject, from arithmetic to zoology, without having to waste valuable time searching for information at countless websites. It's a one-stop shopping informational resource for students, teachers and parents. Microsoft Learning Essentials Microsoft's Education Products Group has just launched a new Web site to support its Learning Essentials for Microsoft Office, a free educational resource for teachers and students. Learning Essentials was created to help students and teachers easily complete high-quality work with a task-based interface and education-specific tools for Office applications. It provides academic guidance for students and best practices for teachers from leading educational publishers. The site includes everything from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint templates; tutorials; and a new content development kit, which lets publishers and educators create their own content for Learning Essentials in order to further personalize the tools students receive.  The URL: http://www.microsoft.com/learningessentials The Food Timeline Ever wonder what foods the Vikings ate when they set off to explore the new world? How did Thomas Jefferson make his ice cream? What did the pioneers cook along the Oregon Trail? Who invented the potato chip...and why? Welcome to the Food Timeline. So, if you have a food history question or need to do some culinary research, then this is the site for you!  The URL: http://www.foodtimeline.org/ Get Smart With Smart Board Does your school have a SMART Board? If so, you might want to take a look at ways it could be successfully used within your classroom. Another question you may be asking yourself is if you are using the SMART Board to its full potential. There are interactive websites appropriate for SMART Board use, tips for implementation, lessons, templates and more. Take a look at the site and grab some ideas for your classroom. The URL: http://www.leesummit.k12.mo.us/its/smartboard.htm    Search NETS*T Database Need an idea for adding technology to your classroom or lesson? Check out this database full of lessons and plans for all levels in several different subject areas. The National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers Database is a collection of lesson plans that provide kids with useful technology skills in multiple subject areas. Either search using the drop menus on this page or click on the Table of Contents and see all available lessons! The URL: http://cnets.iste.org/search/t_search.html Project-Based Learning The Buck Institute for Education (BIE) is a non-profit, research and development organization dedicated to improving the practice of teaching and the process of learning. The site houses information about Project-Based Learning, lesson plan ideas for Problem-Based Economics and Problem-Based Government. If you need ideas for ways to engage your students in project-based or problem-based learning activities, you might want to visit this site.  The URL:  http://www.bie.org/pbe/unitsoverview.php OfficeScan Pattern Update The latest OfficeScan pattern as of 3-02-2006 is pattern 3.237.00.  Please check your pattern by placing your cursor over the OfficeScan icon and viewing the pop-up window that appears.  If your pattern is significantly lower from this one (A HIGHER PATTERN NUMBER IS OK), Please email tech.help@cpsb.org regarding this or any other question you have regarding OfficeScan. 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) Strategies To Use With Difficult Test Questions http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/learn/strategi.html With standardized testing just around the corner, it often helps students to be armed with test-taking strategies. Knowing how to approach difficult questions can prove to be a key factor in results; try sharing these tips with your students. Exercise On Following Directions http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/downloads/pdf/read_the_directionsPDF.pdf Students can be well-prepared for exams but still not pull off good grades. Why not? It may just be they are not taking the necessary time to read the directions. Try this exercise to target and improve these skills. Analyzing Study Skills And Habits http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/learn/checklis.html With a little help and guidance, as well as a good deal of motivation and follow-through, students can learn how to approach their assignments and exams with more focus and preparation. Use this checklist here as a starting point, with a link to study skills help for your students. An official publication of the CPSB Technology Department If you have any questions or comments please e-mail the Tech Connect. 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