Inside this Newsletter
1 Science, Technology
   A new CD is available
2 ERC
   A short look
3 Homework Help
   A list of Sites
4 MAC Tips
5 haiku

Science and Technology
Internet Resources

A CD has been released that will be of great help to all Grade 1 to 8 Science and Technology teachers. To use it, you need a computer with a CD Rom and an installed Browser. If you do not have a browser, one is included on the CD for easy installation.

The CD works just like “Internet Reality.”  Click on a link and at WARP speed you are transferred to the site. Explore the site, print it or grab some pictures.  However, having
an Internet Connection would be a bonus as this enables you to explore all the links on the CD.  To view, open up the contents of your CD Rom and then click on the START file.  See your CAIT if you have not received one yet.

Reports Revisited

From a CAIT perspective, the ERC proved to be a much friendlier beast this term. The new version had fewer glitches. How about putting in that 70%?

Problems that were encountered included, saving to the wrong drive, doubling up or deleting students and still a few, converting those merge files.  As CAITs we are finding it easier to
recognize and resolve problems.  Happy 3rd term! 

We’ll be there to help you!

EFTO Voice

This is the big paper that we all were sent.  Take a look inside.  There are two interesting articles: Report Card Fails Grade on pg. 7 and Curriculum Heads Up on pg. 10. Both articles are interesting and thought provoking.  Give them a read.

First Class at Home Revisited

In last month’s Newsletter,  we discussed loading First Class on your home computer.  A new version, 5.5, of this program is available from the softarc site on the Internet.
http://www.softarc.com

Internet Sites

Every week we discover or read about new Internet Sites.  If only there was time for us to go up and explore all of the sites that appear interesting.  Here are a few more to think about visiting.

Homework Help

http://kids.infoplease.com
This site is so keen on helping kids with their homework.  There’s even a Homework Center, where you can e-mail questions to a homework helper. The site provides a wide variety of subjects in an easy to use searchable database. Just type in a word you’re looking for and, poof, the search engine comes up with articles, interesting facts and almost everything you need to know about your subject.

www1.sympatico.ca/contents/DNA/learning.html
This Canadian site contains tons of links to help you with homework.  It is an excellent resource site with links to dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauri, general research and writing resources, and
many other useful sites

Destination Canada
http://www.civilization.ca/index1e.html
The index page of this site begins a virtual tour of the Canadian Museum of Civilization located in
Hull, Quebec.  The museum covers all of the important events in Canadian History.

a haiku for you

Dim human user
So wide-eyed and dumb
What do you expect

Windows NT crashed
I am the Blue Screen of Death
No one hears your screams

Serious error
All shortcuts have disappeared
Screen. Mind. Both are blank

Three things are certain
Death, Taxes, and lost data
Guess which has occurred

MAC Tips
Erasing a Macintosh Disk

If you find that you have a disk with several files that you no longer need but you would like to still use the disk you can easily get rid of all of the files by erasing the disk in the Finder.

To do this go to the Finder.  Place your floppy disk into the computer.  Wait a  couple seconds until the computer reads the floppy disk.  Choose Erase Disk from the Special Menu.  A box will appear with two areas for you to supply information.  You can enter the name you would like to give the disk if you want to change it.  The other area called Format should say Macintosh 1.4  MB.  If it doesn’t, you can  click on the Format area and choose it from the list. When you are ready, click on Erase and all of the files will be erased and the disk will be ready to be used to store many new files.