============================================================= TeAch-nology.com's- Weekly Tips For Teachers **Issue #54** "The Web Portal For Educators!" We're up to 5546 subscribers http://www.teach-nology.com ============================================================= This newsletter is only sent to the users of TeAch-nology.com, but feel free to forward it to all your friends. ============================================================= **New Additions** *Space Theme for Science* Have you visited our Teaching Themes Page at: http://teachers.teach-nology.com/themes/ We added a new "Space" theme for Science...check it out at! *Basic Reading Skills Rubric* Here's a way that you can assess basic reading skills including phonics, word endings, and use of special word types. Our new rubric can be found at: http://teachers.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/phonics/ ============================================================= 1. Best On The Web For Teachers- We've made some pretty big changes to our Best on the Web for Teachers program. Now you can view a new featured site every thirty minutes. Plus view a random best site in one click. See who's leading the pack right now: http://teachers.teach-nology.com ============================================================= 2. Teachers: Write Any Poems Lately? Make Money With Them! Poets !! Free Poetry Contest Your poem could win $10,000 1175 prizes totaling $58,000 to be awarded. All amateur poets invited. The contest is open to everyone, and entry is free. Click below, to check it out: http://by.advertising.com/1/c/22592/20970/54859/54859 ============================================================= AOL users click here ============================================================= 3. Quote of the week- Teaching is the greatest act of optimism. ~ Colleen Wilcox ~ ============================================================= 4. Teachers: The Latest FREE Contest! Join Sweepsclub.com and take part in a WINNING Experience! By playing INSTANT WIN Scratch Off Ticket you could WIN $25,000! They’ll even give you four tickets daily! There’s over $200,000 in prizes to WIN RIGHT NOW including 61-inch TV’s, DVD Players, Digital Cameras, plus more! Come see for yourself. It’s absolutely FREE!! Click below, for FREE: http://by.advertising.com/1/c/22592/20931/54859/54859 ============================================================= AOL users click here ============================================================= 5. Jokes You Can Tell In Class- "Literature Class" On his first day of classes at a university, a student took a front row seat in a literature course. The professor told them they would be responsible for reading five books, and that he would provide them with a list of authors from which they could choose. Then the professor ambled over to the lectern, took out his class notes and began ... "Baker, Black, Brooks, Carter, Cook ... " The student was working feverishly to get down all the names, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. The student in back of him whispered, "He's taking attendance." ------------------------------------------------------------- Like Jokes?? Check Out Our Cartoon Of the Day, Click Below: http://www.teach-nology.com/news/ ============================================================= 6. Download of the Week- PC Download: *Coeli Stella 2000* Coeli Stella 2000 is an astronomy suite that includes a full-featured planetarium. Just about anything you can see in a planetarium, you can also see with this package. They also have friendly little animated characters to help you with pronunciation. ------------------------------------------------------------- Mac Download: *Language Assistant* "Language Assistant is a Macintosh application that gives organized, easy to follow access to several different dictionaries and a translation system that translates to and from English, French, German, Spanish, and many other languages, giving a total of 17 different languages and 272 language pairs." ------------------------------------------------------------- Click Below, To Download These Applications & Others For FREE: http://www.teach-nology.com/downloads/ ============================================================= 7. Teachers: More FREE Stuff! Take your first steps to financial freedom! Become a Fool! Register for free with The Motley Fool and begin your journey to financial independence. -Take control of your finances -Get out of debt -Learn how to invest Receive their free "13 Steps to Investing Foolishly" guide and other nifty investment freebies when you register! Click here: http://by.advertising.com/1/c/22592/18311/54859/54859 ============================================================= AOL users click here ============================================================= 8. Lesson Plan Of The Week- *Stump the Class* http://atozteacherstuff.com/lessons/stump.shtml A fun activity that incorporates the use of newspapers. ============================================================= To View 17,000+ Lesson Plans, Ideas, And Worksheets Visit: http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/ ============================================================= 9. Ask Our Experts- ************************************************************* A question from Anonymous: "I am looking for some insight on how to better integrate computer usage, in addition to the internet, into my curriulum in primary classes." ************************************************************* TeAch-nology.com's Staff Response: In addition to Internet use, key boarding skills can be introduced to primary grade children. This obviously requires letter and number recognition and the ability to use fine motor coordination when typing. Writing and/or composing using technology is another way to integrate the use of computers in the curriculum. Teaching children how to use the many word processing applications and software that can be used to illustrate proves to be motivating to most children. You can post readings for children to respond to and design instruction to meet learning objectives. The important feature about using technology is to design instruction that achieves the outcomes related to any curriculum. In this case, technology can be used to improve reading and writing. Good luck! ************************************************************* A question from Anonymous: "I am a teacher trying to complete an IT course and I need help with a question that I have. Where can I find out the state of the art in computer programs which understand and produce language? I'd appreciate any feedback you might be able to give me, although I know it is not the kind of question you usually receive! Thanks!" ************************************************************* TeAch-nology.com's Staff Response: Some of the best reviews available on the net come from this site: http://www.cnet.com/ Good luck! ************************************************************* A question from Anthony: "I am working in Power Point, I want what I think should be a simple presentation, I have taken digital pictures of the children in my class. I am trying to show those pictures with music playing (Kenny Rogers) CD. Here comes the questions 1. How do I get the music to play while each picture is being shown about 75 pictures? 2.I have managed to get the pictures from the camera into Power Point except several pictures are not right side up, I am unable to rotate the picture, how do I do that? 3. Also, when I am done putting the slide show together, how do I get it from my house to school to show it at our end of the year family party? I hope you can help, my time is running out. Thank You" ************************************************************* TeAch-nology.com's Staff Response: To answer question one, the best way to do this is to find an appropriate CD to play and play it for a set amount of length. You can do this by putting the CD in the drive, clicking on insert > Movies and Sound > Play Audio Track. Then, just set how long you would like the CD to play. To answer question two, depending on the version of PowerPoint you have, it may not be a simple fix. Our best advice is use a photo editing program, i.e. Adobe Photoshop, and rotate the images orientation. To answer question three, if it's small enough, you can fit it on a floppy or you can use large media storage (CD-R or Zip Disk). But if you don't have those handy, you can save it on an Internet Hard Drive and Upload it at home and download it at school. You can get a free on-line hard drive here: http://www.teach-nology.com/freespace/ ============================================================= 10. "Our Latest Idea That Worked!" "Letter of the Week" By: Terry, Grade 3 Teacher "Monday- Introduce the Letter of the Week and words that start with that letter. Tuesday- Teach the students the correct way to write both the upper and lower case letter. Wednesday- Practice writing and reading words that start with the Letter of the Week. Thursday- Do a writing worksheet with the correct letter formations. Friday- Phonics worksheet on inital sounds for the Letter of the Week and read a book about that letter." ------------------------------------------------------------- **To Submit An Idea That Worked For You, Click Below: http://www.teach-nology.com/ideas/tell_us/ ============================================================= Teachnology, Inc. makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, about the truth or accuracy of the content of the TeAch-nology.com newsletter. ============================================================= If you are interested in sponsoring this newsletter place your order online at: http://www.teach-nology.com/advertising/ ============================================================= © 2001 Teachnology, Inc. All rights reserved ============================================================= You are currently subscribed to the TeAch-nology.com newsletter. 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