March 2000

Janice Blencowe - Steve Cox - Neil Mactavish - Dan Mooney - Gisèle Winger - Ric Woltz

| Electronic Report Card Reminders | Internet Safety and Productivity | Lesson Plan Idea | Tips |

ELECTRONIC REPORT CARD REMINDERS
Safely Exiting the Report Card Program Homerep 2.0 Macintosh DO NOT PLACE YOUR FLOPPY DISK IN THE COMPUTER UNTIL YOU ARE THE MOMENT EXPLAINED IN STEP 5 1. To exit the program click on the QUIT button located at the top. 2. A box will appear with the message "Are you sure you want to quit?" Click on OK. 3. A box will appear with the message "Make a back-up before quitting?" Click on YES. 4. Another box will appear with the message "This will create a data file for back-up." Click on OK. 5. The next box to be displayed will ask where you want to save your file. When this box appears slide your *floppy disk into the computer. Your Macintosh computer will begin to read the *floppy disk you have inserted. When it has finished reading you will see a picture of your *floppy disk at the top of the box. Choose Tab-Separated Text from the small box to the right of the word Type:. Type the name of your tab file in the small box below the words Save as:. It will likely be your lastname.tab (i.e. tee.tab) Finally click on the Save button. 6. If you have already saved your tab file on this disk, a smaller box will appear asking you if you want to replace the existing file. Click on Replace to replace the old information with the new, because the file that is being saved contains the most up-to-date information. Once the saving process is completed you will completely quit the program. * If you do not have a floppy disk drive, choose an alternate location on your computer to save your tab file and follow the remaining directions found above for saving the file.
| Top of the Page | Electronic Report Card Reminders | Internet Safety and Productivity | Lesson Plan Idea | Tips |
Safely Exiting the Report Card Program Homerep 2.0 Windows 95/98 1. To exit the program click on the QUIT button located at the top. 2. A box will appear with the message "Are you sure you want to quit?" Click on OK. 3. A box will appear with the message "Make a back-up before quitting?" Click on YES. 4. Another box will appear with the message "This will create a data file for back-up." Click on OK. 5. The next box to be displayed will ask where you want to save your file. When this box appears slide your floppy disk into the computer, if it is not already inserted. Click on the small black triangle at the end of the Save in: line and a menu will pop up. Select the 3 1/2 Floppy (A:). Select TAB (Tab-Separated Text) in the Save as type area by using the same technique you used for selecting the 3 1/2 Floppy (A:). A list of files will appear in the larger white rectangular box below Save in. Select the appropriate TAB file by clicking on it once. In most cases it will be your lastname.tab or just your last name. Its name will appear in the File name box. Finally click on the Save button. 6. A smaller box will appear asking you if you want to replace the existing file. Click on Replace to replace the old information with the new, because the file that is being saved contains the most up-to-date information. Once the saving process is completed you will completely quit the program.

| Top of the Page | Electronic Report Card Reminders | Internet Safety and Productivity | Lesson Plan Idea | Tips |

Internet Safety and Productivity

The Social Studies History and Geography CD ROM
The Internet is a wonderful resource. Libraries, museums and other education organizations are a couple mouse clicks away. One of the problems anyone who has used the Internet is pinpointing the best sites among the thousands related websites. This can be very time consuming. As you know last year the Science and Technology CD ROM was distributed to teachers. This year the Social Studies, History and Geography CD ROM was presented and distributed to teachers. Both of these resources are wonderful time-savers for teachers.

The addition of webquests (guided Internet activities) has made the Social Studies History and Geography CD ROM a resource that can be used as a students as well. Webquests are a great method of using the Internet. The Macintosh technicians have been working hard to put the CD ROM on the school fileserver so it is easily accessible on the school Macintosh network computers. Webquests are the answer to two potential Internet problems. Students taking part in a webquest do not have to do a lot of time consuming searches. Students have specific tasks to accomplish and resources to help them accomplish these tasks. This method also reduces the risks of students going to in appropriate sites.

One of the popular webquests is the Medieval Times Webquest. It is specifically designed for the Ontario Curriculum. It is well organized and contains several forms and rubrics (Research Skills Rubric, Oral Presentation Rubric, Writing Rubric, Student Diagram / Sketch Assessment Rubric, Map Rubric, Self and Peer Assessment Rubric, Medieval Times Individual Assignment Rubric, Internet Site Report and Group Work Self-Assessment Rubric) that can be used as an assessment tool in many subjects.

If you like the format of the Medieval Times Webquest you will also enjoy the following webquests: Aspects of Government in Canada,

Student Reference Portal
The Doug Peterson's Student Reference Portal is also very useful in assisting students in working effectively and safely on the Internet. This webpage contains very useful links organized in four categories.

GECDSB References: Acceptable Use Policy, Announcements, School Webpages , Choices into Action Webquest, Curriculum Internet Links, OYAP Program, Science Links and Social Studies, History and Geography Links.
Search Engines: Ask Jeeves for Kids , Kid's Nook, Lycos Zone, Searchopolis, Yahooligans, Altavista Canada, The Big Hub Canada.COM , Lycos Northern Light and Yahoo Canada
Internet Resources: Ask an Expert, Ask Another Expert, Bridges Career Website, Encyclopedia Britannica, How do I?, Local Weather
News Sources: Canadian Online Explorer, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Newswire, CTV Television Network, Toronto Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Windsor Star

Using this page as the home page for your browser is a good idea since it has great links for both teachers and students and The Acceptable Use Policy is also posted here.

Additional Useful Internet Sites: Science Webquests (Janice Blencowe)
Create-A-Habitat
INTRODUCTION   Remember when you won your first goldfish at the fair? You have probably all gone through several goldfish bowls in your lives. What happened to that bowl that was left behind after the last fish died? Does it have to be filled with water? Does it have to contain fish? What are your options? There is an empty 10 gallon tank in our classroom that needs to be filled! What can we fill it with that we can afford, and that we will be able to maintain?
TASK   You will need to choose a habitat, and describe what needs are specific to that habitat. Within your group, you will assume one of the following roles:
CONCLUSION: As a class, we will choose our habitat! After completing this Web Quest, you should be able to effectively establish and maintain an aquarium or vivarium! You should be able to transfer this knowledge to any pet or hobby!

This Web Quest also provides several assessment tools. If you are going to print these pages be advised that there is a spelling error 'Coopperate with Teammates' on the Group Participation Rubric.

Create-A-Habitat can be found at http://www.biopoint.com/WebQuests/dist204/Welcome.html

UCI Summer Science Institute / WebQuests 1998
K-12 teachers attending the UCI Summer Science Institute at the University California at Irvine have developed webquests that engage students in on-line instruction in various science topics. Some of these webquests are traditional in approach, while others are more innovative and interactive in scope. Each lesson follows a general format with one or more links to WWW resources that are incorporated into these lessons. The webquests include: The Bald Eagle, Body Builders, Comets, Deep Impact, Desert Biome, Earthquakes, Fast Food Nutrition, Frogs, Glaciers, Grand Canyon, Guinea Pigs, Invertebrates, Kilauea, Ocean Waves, Periodic table, Rafting the Gulf Stream, Squids, Topographic Maps,Viruses and Virtual Trip to Antarctica

The Body Builders has some very good information and diagrams. The students should enjoy doing this webquest. It is appropriate for Grade 5 Science. In the Frogs webquest, students can do a virtual dissection of the frog! The Fast Food Choices webquest gives students a chance to discover exactly what fast food has to offer them!

Lesson Plan Idea

Spreadsheet Introduction: Battleship! (Patti Oshar, Janice Blencowe and Ron Brown)
If you want your students to learn to "do spreadsheets", try using the spreadsheet as a "Battleship" game board. This idea was passed along by Ron Brown at Belle River Public School. Here's how! Using a program such as Appleworks, Claris 5.0 or 4.0, or MS Works open the spreadsheet. You will need to change the cell width to 15 pts. Go to EDIT and select all, then find where you change the cell width, usually FORMAT.

Once you have created the first spreadsheet, you will need to create a second one to record where you shoot your opponents. Go to FILE - NEW - Spreadsheet . In order to see both spreadsheets at the same time, click WINDOW - TILE. Your screen should now show TWO spreadsheets or your game boards. The LEFT screen is for your ships. Make the following ships by placing an "O" in the cell as follows:- One battleship 3 cells in size. One destroyer 4 cells in size. One Battleship 5 cells in size. The RIGHT screen is to record the coordinates that you have hit or missed on your opponents screen.

The" Attacker "(guessing student) will give coordinates for the location where the battleship is supposed to be. The "defender" will respond with HIT if there is an "O" in the cell called for, or MISS if there is no "O" in the cell called for. If there was a HIT, the defender will change the "O" to an "X" to show that it was a hit. The "attacker" will record an "H" on his/her RIGHT SPREADSHEET if it was a hit, or "M" if it was a miss.

Students will alternate being the attacker and the defender. The first student in the partnership to locate all the cells that contain battleships wins!. Tips: Have your students do a few ships only so the game will proceed during a period. If time permits in the classroom, you might want to raise the number of ships.

Have fun!

Tips

Hidden Charcoal Characters (Ric Woltz)
You can generate keyboard characters such as the command and option-key symbols in OS 8's Charcoal font, using the following key combinations: control-Q, for command; control-G for the option symbol; control-W, backward-delete symbol; control-J, forward delete; control-D, shift symbol; control-Y, up-arrow symbol; control-P, down arrow; control-Z, right arrow; control-X, left arrow; and control-T, Apple symbol.

Tip Level: Beginner (Ric Woltz)
Now that the Desktop button has disappeared from Apple's Navigation Services dialog boxes you may think you have to use the pull-down menu to access the desktop. You don't. Just use the keyboard shortcut you should have been using all along -- Command-D -- to quickly move to the desktop within Save and Open dialog boxes.

Spam Tip (Ric Woltz)
Many people are nervous about giving their name and e-mail address to Web Sites in order to get access. It is often suggested that when confronted with a website that asks for such personal information as your name and email address, that you lie and provide a false name and address. If you object to this kind of intrusion and would like to let that website know of your objection, try this little trick:

In the email field enter webmaster@ and then the name of the site. For example, if bubba.com demands an email address before it allows you to download an update to BubbaPaint 4.0, enter webmaster@bubba.com in this field. This way, if the site generates spam from these email addresses it collects, that spam will be sent to the site's webmaster.